The U.S. Postal Service Nears Collapse

[caspernc]

Our PO is pretty good also, and would not miss Saturday service. My husband sent flowers to my duaghter and me on valetines day one year when it landed on a sunday....I did NOT know that you CAN get special delivery on a SUNDAY from the postal service. I told him I would have been happy with flowers on Saturday thinking it was expensive to get delivered on Sunday. He told me it was $5.00 extra.......WELL how much did the USPS loose on that one!!!!!!!! Thing that is different with UPS and FEDX is they have to make money or shut down. I think the USPS should be farmed out and make money for a change!

 

[Gargoyle]

Fedex, UPS, et. al. cherry-picked all the most profitable parts of the business, leaving the unprofitable parts to the post office. Then the internet took away half of what was left. They are tasked with maintaining a network that can deliver almost anything to any address anywhere, which is an incredible, fantastic service, but totally irrational from a business standpoint. It's becoming an impossible situation.

I've found employee attitude has improved greatly in the past 10 years, but in many ways it's too little too late.

In Italy the post office expanded their services- you can pay all your bills there, get a credit card from them and use it for online bill payment and money transfer, buy little gift items from point-of-sale stands in the post office, etc... in addition, they, like most of the world, charge more for postage than what we pay in the U.S. (first class and equivalent rates are about double what they are here).

In smaller towns the letter carriers use 50cc motorbikes instead of trucks. That must save a huge amount; even if they have to make a couple extra trips back to the p.o. to pick up more bags of mail.

 

[Dunkopf]

Our local PO is great. Whenever I send something within the Denver metro area, it always gets there the next day if I get it in the box before 4:30 PM. Comparing the PO to UPS or Fed Ex isn't really fair. I doubt either of those companies could deliver letters and junk mail by the ton for what the USPS charges. They do much better at packages but I don't want to pay 9.95 for a letter. Most people do all their business on computer now. I also agree that I could easily live without Saturday delivery. Someone posted that they used to deliver on Sunday. I'm 52 and have been aware of PO delivery since I was around 10 and I have never seen the PO operate on Sunday or any bank holidays.

I say let UPS and Fed Ex handle all the letters and junk mail. See what you think of them after a few months.

 

[Kikiriki]

Quote:
It is already privately run, which happened about the same time you started seeing rate increases every six months. Private businesses, unlike a govt run operation, tend to want to make a profit, and they want to see a growth in profit percentages over time. So, in the long run, this means the end user is going to wind up paying more. Some things are better off remaining in the not for profit category.

 

[Wifezilla]

Fedex, UPS, et. al. cherry-picked all the most profitable parts of the business, leaving the unprofitable parts to the post office.

No, federal law prohibited Fedex and UPS from competing with first class mail so they focused on package delivery.

The post office near me SUCKS. The local route drivers are very nice and helpful, it is just the office staff at the PO that have a bad attitude. They seem to compete to see who can go the slowest so they wont have to help as many people.​

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
It is already privately run, which happened about the same time you started seeing rate increases every six months. Private businesses, unlike a govt run operation, tend to want to make a profit, and they want to see a growth in profit percentages over time. So, in the long run, this means the end user is going to wind up paying more. Some things are better off remaining in the not for profit category.

That's what I've always thought when I read all the complaints about the Gov not being able to run the USPS. It's a private company regulated by the govt. If they want a profit they would have to charge at least 1.00 an ounce.

It's funny that so many people complain about the different things in gov that they feel are run poorly. I would like to see a private company run Medicaid or Social Security without some fraud being involved. It's kind of like comparing managing your 1/6th acre lawn to managing a huge golf course.

 

[HLAC]

Quote:
No, federal law prohibited Fedex and UPS from competing with first class mail so they focused on package delivery.

Ah, you beat me to it.

 

[nonseq]

It was in the 19th century, Dunkopf. I'll look up the actual case later.

 

[gavinandallison]

When I moved here from England 7 years ago I wanted to apply for a job with the USPS. I could not as I was not a US citizen - only married to one. But Uncle Sam is willing to tax me every pay check. Discrimination case anyone?

The Post Office in the UK (the original postal service) has also seen these problems but has overcome them and is now working hard to improve. The best country for service Germany.

 

[classicsredone]

I've dealt with the USPS for a long time in a number of capacities and have noticed a real drop in reliability in the last couple of years. In fact I now just refer to them as the USP as there is no service any more.

No kidding on that! I don't trust USPS for anything important anymore. They started to really go down hill around ten years ago, and it has only gotten worse. Heck, they lost 50 of our wedding invitations that were hand cancelled and only traveling to the next town. They also went against policy and put our chicks on a truck when it was 30* out, killing all but three chicks out of twenty six. Before going out on disability, I used to send registered mail several times a week for subpoenas. They rarely bothered to get signatures, even though they were sent signature required. I just plain don't trust them anymore.

It really is a shame that UPS and FedEx don't allow shipments of live animals. On another note, I saw a special on tv about them shipping race horses on one of their planes. They installed temporary stalls on the plane. Why can't they ship chickens?​