The Postal Service
- Thread starter Neves
- Start date
who knows but i'm glad. the postal service has sucked for as long as i can remember. the employees here are completely miserable. worst customer service around.
USPS lost some custom made items for us in the last few weeks. Their tracking service just says they delivered it.... but was nowhere to be seen. And not like there isn't anyone home all day right now. Seller has to remake all the items and reship.... fortunately not using the USPS for the 2nd delivery.
I have a friend who works for the USPS and he sent me this last year. I kept it just in case this topic ever came up on here:
https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/april-may-june-2019/congress-is-sabotaging-your-post-office/
Now I wouldn't defend incompetent employees or managers but the reason they are losing money is primarily that requirement that was foisted on them to prepay health benefits.
The other big problem is that they have a union that according to my friend focuses on saving the Worst and giving up on valid claims to win back jobs for losers who shouldn't have one... That, combined with incompetent managers who bring in and promote their nieces and nephews is a witches brew...
Hopefully the new postmaster can clean house rather than burn it down around himself...
https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/april-may-june-2019/congress-is-sabotaging-your-post-office/
Now I wouldn't defend incompetent employees or managers but the reason they are losing money is primarily that requirement that was foisted on them to prepay health benefits.
The other big problem is that they have a union that according to my friend focuses on saving the Worst and giving up on valid claims to win back jobs for losers who shouldn't have one... That, combined with incompetent managers who bring in and promote their nieces and nephews is a witches brew...
Hopefully the new postmaster can clean house rather than burn it down around himself...
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It will just take the right person and you can turn it around. How many companies would kill for their infrastructure? You have an existing logistical network that hits every home and business everyday.
Their pension system puts a huge drag on their profitability too. Honestly, just wait for UPS to mature....their overhead is driving their costs up almost at the rate of healthcare.
Supposedly DeJoy has significant investments in competitors.
I think much of this goes back to Bezos. Add in mail voting and it is a perfect storm.
They're lucky to have found someone who would take the job. Let's just hope he's competent...
Following some of the ideas in the article I linked (apologies to all, it's the length of a short novel) would go miles towards putting the USPS back on track...
I recall a cool setup in Switzerland were you could buy your stamps, gold coins, cash travelers checks and buy your train and bus tickets from the postal clerk... No reason we couldn't have a hybrid setup like that here (less the transportation transactions).
If the post office goes we all lose big, in my opinion.
Exhibit A: UPS is adding surcharges just this week ( price gouging in my opinion) even though they're just coming off a windfall of lower fuel prices...; they are simply doing so because they can while business is peaking... Imagine their prices if they had less competition...
USPS is perhaps the most inefficient business in the country.
It needs a major rehab with deliveries limited to three or four days a week and an increase in price for bulk and junk mail of 30%ish.
Better strategic relationships with major shippers such as Amazon, Wayfair etc.
Personally, I would love to take that project on (once Trump is gone)
I'm no logistics expert but it would seem like one could find a way to marry up lower airline customer numbers with small roll on postal containers of some type (maybe in the squared up shape of a seated human) to help keep the airlines afloat and upgrade interstate postal delivery turn around time...
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"Junk Mail Postal People" get the middle seats near the bathrooms. And no drink.
This is the correct answer. He's had a hard on for Bezos and Amazon since day one.
I hear ya. i wonder if competition would eventually bring prices down. i was just wondering if we really need a post office and if it's something that we could phase out in a few years. most bills (utilities/credit cards etc are done electronically). work (i think) largely uses private carriers whether fed ex or ups for packages etc.
...and the USPS needs to be overhauled from the studs out.
I would think that they could make it better if they (the USPS and Congress) are actually interested in doing so...
Maybe they could threaten to contract out management of it? Leadership seems to be lacking there...
It's my understanding that many of their managers are related to one another. There should be some sort of quality litmus test to remain in those types of position.
My friend says that they (the postal managers) can be fired so that's clearly where you start...
This is all really interesting. I guess this is a blind spot for me because I never realized there was that many issues with the postal service. Working as a business analyst, I know that there are issues with getting tracking and rate information from USPS, but overall the company I worked for relied on USPS service for many of our customers without major issues/complaints. Since COVID hit there have been many challenges with USPS, but I assumed it was like all other challenges businesses are facing during this time.
I agree with the issues with junk mail and feel like it is a huge waste financially and for the environment.
I agree with the issues with junk mail and feel like it is a huge waste financially and for the environment.
No question it could be improved. But that would take a commitment that so far hasn't been forthcoming for a long time. Congress has been more interested in hamstringing than supporting, so as the make the case for eventual privatization. While it may not be constitutionally mandated, the post office is the only government service that is actually called for in the Constitution. It should be treated as a national utility.
I can personally attest to the bolded. My wife is a clerk for the post office. And in her office they have a carrier who shows up late every day, doesn’t deliver all the mail she is supposed to(they have found undelivered mail in her personal locker multiple times), and has dropped and broken a glass crack pipe IN THE OFFICE, and they can’t fire her.
They have to document each instance of misconduct and file it with the union and after a certain amount of incidents, she gets a review, after which she MAY get in trouble. It’s unbelievable.
The staffing at our post office would be fired within hours at any private outfit. They are aggressively rude and never suffer consequences.
UPS and FedEx service has been degraded as well. Trust me on this.
IIUC, bulk mail goes a long way toward covering a lot of fixed costs and the USPS depends on it greatly.
Fed ex is a bit difft. They run like franchises. You can buy a route. I looked into many years ago. Not cheap to get a route. Maybe ups is the same. I don’t know.
FedEx Express isn't contracted, but FedEx Ground is. UPS doesn't contract out at all.
A guy over on "The"
AOTF pointed out (correctly) a few months back that the postal service gets close to two thirds of their revenue from "junk" mail.Junk mail advertising lobbyists seem to be attempting to strangle the golden goose by choking out one more egg.
If you go online and look at the postal rate listing it sure appears like those standard rates should be tripled...
There would be a great hue & cry but I'd do away with nonprofit rates too..., just streamline it all and give them the option of either first class or standard rates...
There you go, we've just made up a third of their deficit...
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Whenever cutting deliveries is mentioned, congress gets a flood of hate mail. Older people are VERY protective of their delivery. Now if I lived on a delivered check, I might not be happy about losing a couple days of delivery. But that number should be decreasing daily. The mail should go to 5 day delivery for normal mail.
But it is incredible to think that one can drop a letter in the mail in Mud Lick, Kentucky and have it delivered to someone's individual home in Barrow, Alaska for 55 cents. I don't think people fully appreciate that.
There's another aspect that many don't appreciate. Small town America revolves around two institutions -- the [high] school and the post office. When you lose those, the town dies.
I would quibble and add a church, bar, and liquor store.
I was transferred to Lexington for 3 months several years ago and we would drive home for the weekends. And those three things were prevalent in every small town we drove through.
And here come all the cons with their hatred of the post office and how it’s the most awful organization that has ever existed.
And now they all suddenly know dozens of people who work for the post office and how they’ve all been miserable for decades.
And now they all have dozens of stories about lost packages.
Yes, in my all my time on this earth I’ve had packages lost by the postal service. I’ve also had packages lost by UPS and FedEx.
You need to write a letter to the new postmaster general. I have a feeling this new guy might just light a fire under a few people's behinds...
I once had to drop a dime on a carrier that was sending my W-2s, health care communications and license plates to the wrong house (even with a perfectly good addresses on the mail), I initially spoke with him (politely, doesn't pay to tick off someone who handles your mail or your food
), and he responded rudely and just got worse so I did what I had to... I don't know where they moved him to but he was no longer our delivery guy...Warren I believe had a really good plan about offering some basic banking services there like cashing checks, savings accounts, etc at post offices. Post offices are located in urban/rural areas that are basically "bank branch" deserts (payday lenders but not real banks) and postal banking was already offered up until the 1960s here.
Will do. The post office we have now is notoriously bad. Worst I’ve ever had. And zero accountability. We’ve moved all shipping to fed ex and ups.You need to write a letter to the new postmaster general. I have a feeling this new guy might just light a fire under a few people's behinds...
I once had to drop a dime on a carrier that was sending my W-2s, health care communications and license plates to the wrong house (even with a perfectly good addresses on the mail), I initially spoke with him (politely, doesn't pay to tick off someone who handles your mail or your food
Let him know that too (Fex Ex & UPS).
His response to you will be a great test as to whether he actually wants to make the postal service better or just speed up it's demise...
Let us know how it turns out (please).,.
It really is hit or miss though. This post office is in the county seat and totally unreliable. I’ve lived in many other places and never had an issue.
A guy over on "The"
Junk mail advertising lobbyists seem to be attempting to strangle the golden goose by choking out one more egg.
If you go online and look at the postal rate listing it sure appears like those standard rates should be tripled...
There would be a great hue & cry but I'd do away with nonprofit rates too..., just streamline it all and give them the option of either first class or standard rates...
There you go, we've just made up a third of their deficit...
The other issue is they can't really raise service rates to where they should be without Congress acting, I believe.
And privatization wouldn't work well because of rural areas, etc. where FedEx/UPS dump off mail to the post office already because it's not profitable for them to ship the last leg to someone's door.
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