Is the postal slowdown affecting you?

[Maxify55]

USPS is for junk mail.
I deleted the rest of the hateful things I really wanted to say.

Suffice it to say, our Gov't is broke & needs to do a severe belt tightening {re-budgeting}.
Start with this dinosaur!!

 

[Mat4644]

The machines can sort 35,000 pieces an hour but it still takes manual labor for moving and loading. When a package gets scanned 4 times multi days at the same facility and the computer tracking indicates each time it's going out something's not being loaded and just being recycled.

It's amazing they allow real-time computer tracking because it's highlighting issues.

 

[Doofy]

I would imagine that the Post Office could survive if Amazon paid a fair cost per piece and if it were run like a business instead of a outdated government dinosaur. We actually depend on USPS and life would be tough without them.

 

[tallyho8]

If you search for "name the best postal services in the world" you will find that in 2011, 2012 and 2013, the USA was rated the best postal service. Now it is no longer in the top ten and is rated #13.

 

[grsthegreat]

The USPS operates at a profit. Its the pensions and retirement burden thats sinking it.

 

[oldballs]

I don't know anything about the politics and operation of the USPS, but their service to me has been and still is just fine. I receive my incoming mail just fine. And I put my bills etc. in the mailbox for outgoing mail in my semi-rural location. That's working just fine also. As for voting, I like to go in person....but still have to have my ID...i.e. driver license with picture.....even for people that work the election that I've know for years.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[rswyan]

The USPS operates at a profit. Its the pensions and retirement burden thats sinking it.

No - it’s how Congress decided those costs should be funded that’s sinking it:

How Congress Manufactured a Postal Crisis — And How to Fix it - Institute for Policy Studies

 

[oosik]

I'm VERY rural. The postal carrier puts my mail in my mailbox and picks up anything I leave there - daily. If not the USPS - then who.....??? This service has been exceptionally good for 38+ years out here.

 

[dragoneggs]

The distance from CA. to MS. is ~2000 miles. Average walking speed for adult human is ~4 MPH. So 2000/4 = 500 hours. So 500/24 = 20 days. Therefore, you are correct, your knee brace IS walking. :rotfl:

newberry, I'm thinking you should have ponied up for the bionic option.

 

[CalG]

USPS is a private business (it was forced) but it is still a great deal for sending a letter!.

It has it's "burdens". I know of a fellow who worked at the local post office that took "disability" over his emotional state due to his divorce from his wife.

He has has a couple of "gals" since, so it's not that bad, but he still gets his check mailed to him every month.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I'm happy with my postal service. My post people bring all kinds of packages up my driveway when they don't fit into my mailbox and for that I'm super thankful.

 

[dragoneggs]

My :2cents: on USPS. It is a service that once upon a time could only be run by the government. Now that there is far more interstate commerce at the consumer level and several competing companies to transport 'light' packages, along with email, e-billing, and other more efficient 'mail' methods... the USPS has become a burdensome dinosaur.

I understand that for many, the USPS is still a life line for them. It's not for me. I bank online, I electronically correspond 99.9% of the time vs. traditional mail. If the USPS ceased, I am not sure it would be much of an inconvenience for me.

Mailing a letter at $0.55 is a bargain too good to be true. Expecting a human to come to your private mail box to pick up deliver a 1oz package anywhere in the USA for that price is ridiculous in my opinion. And that is not to mention the huge pension burden the USPS has to service.

I'm pretty sure the current competing companies such as UPS, FEDEX, DHL, Amazon, or others would emerge to take up the slack if the USPS went away. The free market would then dictate cost/price model. More of a pay per use model than everybody subsidizing a government service where some folks (including large corporations) can take advantage.

Time for USPS to go IMHO.

 

[Jstpssng]

A good clerk can sort 800 to 1000 letters an hour The mail processing machinery processes 30,000 to 35,000 pieces an hour. The transportation is already in place so moving the sortation to the distribution centers was a matter of economies of scale.

Yet that town only has 5763 people... and it's the county seat. How much local mail can they get? My town has >200 people; yet if I wanted to mail somebody a birthday card, it would travel 500 miles before they got it. That's efficient?

 

[ruffdog]

"It is, however, an "establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States", (39 U.S.C. § 201) as it is controlled by presidential appointees and the postmaster general." (wiki)

If the usps was lost, the "for profit" private companies would want to make some money. My opinion is you can bet mailing a letter is going to up quite a bit.

 

[grsthegreat]

One good thing about the post office folding...no more junk mail. Easily 75% of my mail are fliers and junk mail, plus those stupid prospectus papers my finance company insists on sending even though i chose to accept them online. Honestly, except for greeting cards and packages, i dont use or need snail mail. The next time i pay irs it will be electronic payment. Ill not wait 21 days for them to receive payment again. I doubt people will send junk mail if private industry rates were to hit.

 

[MarkF48]

If a business is sending someone to maintain equipment and to collect what little there may be deposited in it and the cost and time of the employee to perform that task likely greatly exceeds the revenue that would be derived from the cost, it's probably in the best interest of the business to remove the equipment from service and direct the employee to more productive tasks. It's just one example of maintaining an under performing business model that money(bailout) shouldn't be thrown at in an effort to keep in existence regardless of circumstances.

 

[k0ua]

Is the postal slowdown affecting me? Answer, NO. I didn't know there was one.

 

[deserteagle71]

Is the postal slowdown affecting me? Answer, NO. I didn't know there was one.

Same here.

 

[Oaktree]

My :2cents: on USPS. It is a service that once upon a time could only be run by the government. Now that there is far more interstate commerce at the consumer level and several competing companies to transport 'light' packages, along with email, e-billing, and other more efficient 'mail' methods... the USPS has become a burdensome dinosaur.

I understand that for many, the USPS is still a life line for them. It's not for me. I bank online, I electronically correspond 99.9% of the time vs. traditional mail. If the USPS ceased, I am not sure it would be much of an inconvenience for me.

Mailing a letter at $0.55 is a bargain too good to be true. Expecting a human to come to your private mail box to pick up deliver a 1oz package anywhere in the USA for that price is ridiculous in my opinion. And that is not to mention the huge pension burden the USPS has to service.

I'm pretty sure the current competing companies such as UPS, FEDEX, DHL, Amazon, or others would emerge to take up the slack if the USPS went away. The free market would then dictate cost/price model. More of a pay per use model than everybody subsidizing a government service where some folks (including large corporations) can take advantage.

Time for USPS to go IMHO.

Trouble is, these companies can pick and choose where they deliver while the USPS is obligated to deliver to every U.S. address. Even now, how many packages initially shipped by another service is the "last mile" delivery via the U.S. Mail? Quite a few.
How much you wanna bet some who live in Podunk will lose service if the post office goes feet up?

I for one still prefer to receive and pay most of my bills by mail. The fewer companies with direct electronic access to my accounts the better.
I don't get a lot of junk mail, and what little I get seems to be political ads in election years...all of which go right into the round file.

No argument that the USPS has its problems, and could stand a reorganization, but all in all I think they're doing a pretty good job.

Is the postal slowdown affecting me? Answer, NO. I didn't know there was one.

I sent a package to a friend about 2 weeks ago, he still hasn't received it. Usually it takes 3-4 days. I've also noticed the mailman is about an hour later these days than even a few months ago.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Same here.

Me 3.