post office

[GMN]

What will the future of the post office be?Every 6 months they raise prices, but it never seems to help-will they become extinct in 10 years or less?

 

[Anonymous]

What was that thread titled again? 10 things that won't exist in 10 years

 

[Aaron]

I heard they are cancelling Saturday delivery which will save them 2 billion annually. The future isn't in lettermail, it's in parcels. I which case they could move to a 3 day work week if need be in the future. Really important items could be sent via couriers.

 

[chippie]

This is the tracking info on a Priority Mail letter that was mailed from Richmond, TX to Lubbock, TX. My son needed the document ASAP.
The USPS receipt showed Lubbock TX as the destination yet somehow it ended up in Pennsylvania. The first expected delivery date was Jan. 24.

 

[skyhightree1]

I personally hate the post office and wish they would go out of business they are useless they mess stuff up and deliver worthless junk mail all the time.

 

[Brute 23]

The people at our post office are rude. They have no concept of service. They very much think they are entitled to their job.

 

[chippie]

Our post office lady is very nice and the clerks in Richmond are too. The problem here is the automated system. The scanners don't always read things correctly and send it off on a journey across the nation.

You can't blame them about delivering junk mail. People pay to have that delivered. If it is mailed to you, it is their responsibility to deliver it. Complain to the companies that are sending you the mail. It isn't the PO's fault. The carriers hate having to deal with it too.

 

[skyhightree1]

yea it isnt there fault you are right but every time i go to the po i have nothing but issues with the people long lines or delivery.

 

[3waycross]

I NEVER use UPS unless i have to. Over the last few years i have had much better success with the USPS. Especially for mailing smaller packages. They are cheaper and MUCH faster.

Priority mail rocks for me.

 

[GMN]

i sell on ebay and the online shipping is way cheaper than taking the same package to the post office, delivery confirmation is free with priority mail, if you take it to the post office they charge .95 now for DC, I don't know why anyone who sells online would take packages directly to the post office, because it is just way cheaper online.
They moved personnel around where we live, made no sense. The gal who worked there for years, got moved 20 miles away, even though she did not want to be, they brought in this dingle dork for 6 months, who sat there and complained about having to drive 40 miles to work, and to be stuck in this hick town, and one time a package was sent to me parcel post, but shipped in a semi covered priority box and the dink said I owed the priority difference-even though they did not catch it on the other end, just because he thought the box was a priority box someone had re-used, i filed a complaint against him for it online because I thought how rude!

Now a few weeks ago they brought back the other lady, and he is gone-thank goodness, but I think alot of it, is that the employees have too much sick days, opportunities to have days off and they mis-use that benefit-

One time I went to the neighboring city to mail out some stuff, there was a line, right when it was my turn the worker put up his on break sign and went in the back to eat a apple, I just thought what the H-I think the workers are spoiled, they need to put in a hard days work, they got it way too easy, especially the older ones who are just counting the days down to retirement

 

[dun]

especially the older ones who are just counting the days down to retirement

In the military that's referred to as ROAD - Retired On Active Duty

 

[greybeard]

Read on another forum where a USPS employee stated that a study was done and the #1 customer complaint was long lines and waiting times. USPS solution was to remove the clocks from the customer areas.

 

[3waycross]

especially the older ones who are just counting the days down to retirement

In the military that's referred to as ROAD - Retired On Active Duty

Watch it Pal. I think i might just resemble that remark! :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[shadyhollownj]

As a younger guy I still have my iphone and laptop but I still like my lancaster farming newspaper and sale catalogs that come through the mail. I hate viewing catalogs online.

 

[dun]

I hate viewing catalogs online.

I'm the same, but my laptop is hard to read propped on my knees in the crapper

 

[Limomike]

My view on the Post office is they are just wasting their time each time they raise prices on a stamp. The price increase doesnt even cover the REAL cost of the delivery of that letter, or package. They either need to up their cost to what meets their needs or
they need to consider doing like Japan does: include banking service and insurance to make it survive. I dont think the USPS will go away because it is government ran.

 

[TexasBred]

I think this has come up before. Since my wife delivers a rural route every day I'm naturally biased as I see how hard she works and how hard she tries NOT to make mistakes. She's there before 7 in the morning and finishes about 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon. There is no overtime. 4000 pieces of 1st class mail plus parcels and junk mail every day. And then having to put up with a few SOB's that are never happy about anything doesn't make it any better or easier. Furnishes her own vehicle and suppose to keep another in reserve in case something happens to the primary vehicle.

You'd also be surprised how many UPS and FedEx parcels are delivered by your local PO. It's not a perfect system and never will be but the folks on the local level work their rear ends off every day just like everyone else. As for the rate increase, I wish they would have raised it a dime and then forgot about it for awhile. If you can't afford 56 cents you probably can't afford 446 cents either.

For whatever it's worth the PO is the only gov't entity I know of that actually generates income AND if they didn't have to fund their retirement plan every year like other gov't agencies they would have a nice surplus every year.

 

[HOSS]

The USPS has outlived it's usefullness. It was a great idea and needed for it's time but government beauracracy has gotten so big and inefficient that private enterprise and technology has passed them by. USPS could probably be sold to a private entity and be made profitable if government would just get out of it. UPS, Fed-Ex and DHL are all making money while the USPS loses it like a sieve. The taxpayers can't continually throw good money after bad when it to the tune of billions of dollars.

 

[TexasBred]

You may not need them HOSS but a lot of folks do:

The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office and U.S. Mail, is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. The USPS traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The cabinet-level Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation and transformed into its current form in 1971 under the Postal Reorganization Act.
The USPS employs over 574,000 workers and operates over 260,000 vehicles.[4] The USPS is the operator of the largest vehicle fleet in the world.[5] The USPS is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. The USPS has exclusive access to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail" and personal letterboxes in the United States, but still competes against private package delivery services, such as UPS and FedEx.[6]
The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters. Since the 2006 all-time peak mail volume,[7] after which Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act",[8] (which mandated $5.5 billion per year to be paid into an account to pre-fund retiree health-care, 75 years into the future, a requirement unique among organizations and businesses in the U.S.[9]), revenue dropped sharply due to recession-influenced[10] declining mail volume,[11] prompting the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to reduce its budget deficit.[12]

 

[melking]

Unlike UPS and Fed Ex, the post office is required by law to deliver to every address regardless of how far removed. DHL couldn't make it in the parcel business. Post office should eliminate all union representations and the long term retirement benefits and operate like any other business. They would then have more than enough money.