Very OT: USPS

[Adios]

mail holds are always hit or miss.

Depends where you are.

 

[huskyblooz]

[QUOTE="that they're more concerned with having stupid portraits on their stamps rather than simply producing the cheapest postage possible, Dude, they do have one of the cheapest postage in the free world

that they deliver their junk mail 6 days a week unnecessarily, if you're paying for that advertising, don't you want it delivered?

that their "guaranteed overnight" is not guaranteed, 98% is pretty good. If not, you get your money back

that they are federally given a monopoly to deliver normal mail, I doubt any company would even consider getting an envelope from Storrs CT to Laramie WY for .49 cents, and show a profit

that their basic package rates are embarrassingly high for the delivery time, why don't you check postage rates for UPS dude. SERIOUSLY! ... This is your worst claim

that their website sucks Yes you're right there ... it's pretty pathetic

and they have "express mail" as the defaulted mail type when you try to calculate postage Some moron in Washington changed the name of it ... Idiotic, I say!
Two points for you

I say triple their budget and use taxpayer money to not only continue, but to expand - EXPAND I SAY - the level of incompetence. They are not allowed to spend a penny without permission from Congress, but don't get taxpayer dollars ... try to run a company that way ... you seem to have all the answers ... Nobel Prize waiting for you!

After all. They're government employees ... So you're going to stereotype ALL gov't employees

Oh - and if "putting a trace" on the missing package is more that Sally yelling out the back door to Ted, "hey Ted, where is that registered mail from a foreign post office," then I'll eat my head. I know Sally and she's good people[/QUOTE]

 

[Danzz]

Used to feel the same way about the post office. How can they not make money? It comes down to politics. There are thousands of useless post offices across the country that could be closed without effecting service but the politicians (both parties) block it for political reasons. Congress has to approve every dollar of their budget. It is impossible to hold management accountable if you don't give them the authority to restructure the service to a profitable model.
Overall I think the post office does a pretty good job.

 

[Strummer]

Dude, they do have one of the cheapest postage in the free world

Yeah yeah. It's not their fault they suck. Average salary of a mail carrier is over 50k a year, and they get paid by the hour.
Here are the steps I'd say would make a big difference:
1. Deliver regular mail M/W/F only. Have PO boxes available for those who need to get mail between those days.
2. Have an opt-in/opt-out system for junk mail. People have to go online and elect to receive junk mail.
3. Pay carriers by the route, not by the hour. Figure out the fastest pace at which a route can be done. Add 20% to that time and have that as the payable rate, then pay 15xpayablerate to start (depending on location), for that route. What do you need to be a carrier? A 3rd grade education and a driver's license, right? I don't intend that to be demeaning, but that's all there is to it. It is one of the simplest jobs in the country.
4. Carriers can go home when they finish their route.
5. Bonuses for fewer errors. Demerits for screw ups.
6. Close down all the unnecessary offices.
7. Use "cluster" mail box systems - instead of having carriers go door to door in tight neighborhood, put up cluster boxes with 100 or more boxes, and cut way down on "walking routes," which are anachronistic and inefficient.

Of course, every one of my suggestions would either eliminate union jobs or decrease the $ paid for work performed, and that is the real sticking point.

For what they do, postal workers are grossly overpaid compared to your average private sector employee doing menial labor.

 

[gmc1055]

I am a Postal Employee. Log into usps.com and lodge a complaint naming the PO. They do take these compaints seriously. The office opening 5 minutes late is unforgivable and should never happen. The Parcel being not there unfortunately is not surprising. It was probably sitting on the carriers case. The window clerks take a lot of the heat as they are the only ones you see and in just about all the cases they have nothing to do with the parcels being MIA. I hope you have already received your parcel.

 

[John]

I am a Postal Employee. Log into usps.com and lodge a complaint naming the PO. They do take these compaints seriously. The office opening 5 minutes late is unforgivable and should never happen. The Parcel being not there unfortunately is not surprising. It was probably sitting on the carriers case. The window clerks take a lot of the heat as they are the only ones you see and in just about all the cases they have nothing to do with the parcels being MIA. I hope you have already received your parcel.

I did get the parcel finally. Agreed about the 5 minute late opening, esp. when we could clearly hear people talking/moving around in the rear of the building (we were waiting in the lobby where the PO Boxes were, the counter is a seperate area of this particular office). I felt badly for the woman behind the counter, I've dealt with her before and she's nice enough and is usually good at taking care of business, she was just deluged as soon as the door opened and I could tell she was annoyed (not at the customers, I sensed it was more that she was the only one dealing with the long line).

 

[whaler11]

They lose money... but don't have enough employees. Ok...

The real issue is that in 2014 there isn't enough legitimate volume to
support their infrastructure. I don't imagine I'm the only one who immediately disposes of 95+% of what I receive.

The only short term option is to reduce the number of delivery days, which of course is long term suicide.

If the country decides that a mostly reliable postal service is a need then you have to deal with it losing a lot of money. There is no inbetween. You don't see anyone offering to take it private do you?

 

[Waquoit]

They have a mandate to go the last mile. If they were able to ignore that like UPS and Fed Ex, I'm sure they would save a ton a dough. It's just another way the blue states subsidize the red.

 

[CallMeBruce]

If mail carriers are paid hourly, why does this say that they're salaried?

http://www.nalc.org/depart/cau/pdf/wages/paychart0314.pdf

 

[Husky25]

How hard is it to take the "junk mail" from the mailbox and toss it in the recycle bin? I assure you that the USPS does not see direct mail campaigns as "junk." They see dollar signs. They see a cutting of their losses from offering the public the ability to send a letter from Orono ME to Phoenix AZ in 5 business days for less than $0.50. It may be unwanted mail, but so are bills.

 

[IMind]

The model worked fine until a few years ago... but the internet has changed the game. If they raise prices to cover costs you get every oldster with a mobility scooter and a Cricket phone calling their local rep/sen to bitch. It's really a no-win situation.