Post Office

[Bigb13]

Is it just me or does it seem like items are starting to take a lot longer to get where they are going? Rob

[barrysloate]

I think things are getting a little slower. We know that the post office is having problems. That can't be good for speeding up mail.

[Robextend]

I agree, things are slowing down. My local post office had some staff cuts and the electronic transaction machine was removed. Don't you love to hear the screams of the inpatient on that PO line?

[Bigb13]

It will get worse when they cut out Saturday. Rob

[Robextend]

I really hope they don't mess with Saturdays....

[bcbgcbrcb]

It gets worse when the item you are waiting for is coming from Venezuela. I just received a photo today after 21 days in the mail and they don't even provide tracking numbers for you.

[Bigb13]

Well with some of the shipping that some people charge, some items should come FedEx. Rob

[Rob D.]

Amazingly, I mailed a package last Friday from Ohio to Texas via media mail, and it arrived yesterday (Tuesday). That's almost unheard of.

[M's_Fan]

I really don't understand the "cost cutting" rationale of no Saturday delivery. I mean, it will also "cut costs" if they cancel deliveries Monday through Friday as well, but delivering Mail is what the Post Office is supposed to do!

I'm sure UPS and Fedex will be more than happy to grab the post office's market share. Too bad there isn't a politician that will stand up and say, "hmm... maybe we should raise the retirement age of postal workers from 50 to 55 instead..."

[Bigb13]

That would be a great idea

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by M's_Fan

I really don't understand the "cost cutting" rationale of no Saturday delivery. I mean, it will also "cut costs" if they cancel deliveries Monday through Friday as well, but delivering Mail is what the Post Office is supposed to do!

I'm sure UPS and Fedex will be more than happy to grab the post office's market share. Too bad there isn't a politician that will stand up and say, "hmm... maybe we should raise the retirement age of postal workers from 50 to 55 instead..."

Simplisticlly, the move to cut deliveries by one day (it doesn't have to be Saturday) will save them a lot of money.

Although they deliver six days a week, most employees work five days. My carrier is off Wednesdays (and, of course, Sundays.) So every Wednesday I have a fill in guy. He floats from route to route. He covers my guy on Wednesday, someone else on Monday, a different guy on Tuesday, etc.

Therefore, a minimum of 6 carriers are needed for every 5 routes (It's even worse when you try to cover vacations.)

Cutting a delivery day would therefore, eliminate the need for this job and reduce employees by 16%.

[mintacular]

Since 1970 the Post Office was detached from the Federal Govt. All of their costs of business must be paid through their services (postage, insurance, etc.)--there are no government subsidies. It is no longer a "govt service" and an extra workday simply doesn't bring them enough revenue to justify staying open on Sat. I think last year they were hammered by gas prices and fell short billions of dollars. As much as people gripe about their prices, first class mail is still much cheaper than Fedex/UPS.

[egbeachley]

Send 2 packages of cards in a 6x9 padded envelope from Virginia to California. Went to the post office last Saturday at 2:00pm. Regular first class, not Priority. Arrived early Monday afternoon.

Best deal in America.

[brickyardkennedy]

In general, delivery has been about the same for me, with one notable exception. A payment I sent from here in NYC, to California, took a week and a half to arrive and the item took a week to come to me.

As far as cutting back to five day deliveries, the upside for me would be to have the same mail person make all the deliveries, eliminating that off-day person. All the problems I've had with mail going in wrong boxes or being returned to the post office as "undeliverable" has been as a result of indifference or stupidity by the substitute. Having the same carrier make all the deliveries would eliminate that.

[howard38]

The only things I regularly send and receive in the mail are netflix DVDs and packages I send media rate. The netflix deliveries are remarkably and consistently quick and the media rate packages routinely arrive earlier than the five or so days the PO says it will take. Right now it's a great deal. I just hope it remains so when Satrday delivery is cut out.

[alanu]

I may be in the minority, but I think it's a great money saving idea to stop Saturday delivery. They should still keep the post office locations open on Saturday to receive mail.

-Alan

[autograf]

UPS nor FedEx will benefit much from cutting a day of service from USPS. By law, neither can compete in first class mail....may pick up some packages for Priority or Express mail customers but most of those only ship with the post office because of cost--not service, tracking, insurance, etc. Most priority mail and express mail packages ultimately travel by FedEx or UPS now anyway--at least airport to airport.

Reduction in FCM (First Class Mail) and increase in Junk mail (% to total) & increase in Priority Mail are other reasons the post office is losing out. Priority mail cost to you and me does not cover it's cost to the post office. FCM revenue USED TO subsidize Priority, Express & Junk Mail. It doesn't anymore. Our 1 ounce stamp cost is about 1/2 of what it costs in Germany and much of the EU. For the post office to really be profitable, they need to have profitability within each class of mail and stop all the cross-subsidization.

And....cutting a day of delivery--especially Saturday, is supposed to save about $3B annually. Even though they have much larger projected deficits going forward, that's a start. Unfunded pension liabilities are HUGE for them as well as.....drum roll.....current employee and retiree health care costs. Another method they've been looking at is reduction in benefits. Also closing about 10% of the post office locations as well.

[Cowboy Fan]

I talked to a friend that is a clerk in our local PO and they seem to think no way will ending Saturday delivery happen. As explained to me, all postal employees are union members and cutting saturday would amount to about 40,000 employees having to be reassigned to other positions since they can't be fired so how would that really lower operating costs by much. I have lived overseas and our USPS is the best mail delivery agency and when you think about it we get great service for the fees charged.

[lharri3600]

yep a real good idea. now for that politician, NO WAY are they going to lose those votes!!