Maybe not ...
Posted on 05/12/2008 7:11:30 AM PDT by Victory111
Remember the old Saturday Night Live skit about the First CitiWide “change bank” that does nothing but make change? Our customers ask us how we make a profit, quips the bank’s spokesman. “The answer is simple – volume.”
As laughable as this dubious business plan sounds, it bears many similarities to the business plan the management of the U.S. Postal Service has been practicing for much of the past decade. And, as might be expected, the model isn’t doing much to help the Post Office – which lost $5 billion last year – cover its costs. This week, the Service raised the price of stamps again, in what is becoming an annual ritual.
(Excerpt) Read more at crossactionnews.com ...
USPS has the world’s largest civilian vehicle fleet. As fuel prices continue to rise postage must too.
Expect big rate increases......especially since FedEx and UPS are on the board of directors of the Post Office and are complaining of unfair practices in shipping.
The private companies should be allowed to compete with the USPS.
That makes labor costs less.
Adjusted for inflation, postage is close to what it was in the 1800s. I just wish they’d quit the yearly thing and go back to a larger raise every few years.
The payments to Visa, Discover, and American Express were all made on their web sites at no additional charge.
The rest of the bills I paid via my Credit Union's on-line bill paying service. The fee for them to pay the bill for me is $0.25 each, much less than the $0.41 postage then in effect.
Members of the Board of Governors
Alan C. Kessler, Chairman
Carolyn Lewis Gallagher, Vice Chairman
Mickey D. Barnett, Member
James H. Bilbray, Member
Louis J. Giuliano, Member
Thurgood Marshall, Jr., Member
James C. Miller III, Member
Katherine C. Tobin, Member
Ellen C. Williams, Member
John E. Potter, Postmaster General and CEO
Patrick R. Donahoe, Deputy Postmaster General and COO
Which ones represent FedEx and UPS?
I bet I send something like 10-20 pieces of mail a year. As far as individuals needing to send individual pieces of mail, that day has just about passed. Email and online banking makes regular mail seem like pony express.
We went to electronic bill payment years ago. I go in, put in the amount and click, all at no charge.
I had to buy stamps a while ago to send thank you notes and had no idea how much they cost. LOL
Or eliminate Saturday deliveries...they’re not essential.
It's time to abolish that dumb rule about mail trucks having to keep their headlights on during the day. That would boost their mileage. Maybe they could change to blinky LEDs instead, if there's hard science that proves it would cost effectively prevent accidents. Also it's cheaper to run on propane or CNG right now. The USPS could help ignite a viable cheaper alternative to petroleum.
I agree with your idea of allowing private companies to compete with the USPS. I have no doubt the private sector could do it for less and probably for substantially less.
I hear the lights are to make them more visible to other drivers, but c’mon. Mail trucks are the most God-awful ugly vehicles on the road anyway, you can’t miss them!
That info came from the UPS drivers themselves, as well as people at the Post Office. We ship UPS everyday and with the fuel surcharges, it’s getting pretty expensive. We try to save our customers money by using the Post Office but it’s getting hard to justify. Even the IRS is questioning our expenses at the Post Office. Go on line and check out a 1 pound box at the Post Office and at UPS. I believe it is about $4-$5.
True. Also even though I’m a postal employee myself I must admit I do pay some bills online.
I kinda hate to quote a liberal but Jimmy Tingle
(once seen on 60 Minutes II) once had a comedy bit where he
talked about the outrage when...the price of a stamp went up
to a quarter! Lampooning how some people reacted he said,
“Is there no God?” He then went on to say that for twenty
five cents you could send a letter across the country—
for twenty...five...cents (OK, so now it’s 42...) “You
want CHANGE??? Tip the guy three cents!”
(Though I guess some priority mail will be distance
based. If you send that to short distances it will actually save money.)
Stamp: 42 cents
Boston Globe: 75 cents (buy the Herald instead,
only 50 cents plus not a moonbat paper)
Still cheaper than many things.
If the likes of the Dems ran the post office I bet
you’d be paying a lot more than 42 cents.
(Also note that a few years ago billions had to be
spent on systems to detect anthrax. This after two
postal employees lost their lives due to it.)
Also note that users finance the postal service,
not our tax dollars. In fact sometimes we’ve made
a profit and the govt. takes it away! Right about now
you’ll see editorial complaining about poor service
(”someone found a letter mailed in 1936 and it finally got delivered!” Yeah, one out of billions of letters—because
it fell behind something—and people complain about THAT one! :)
Alan C. Kessler, Chairman (Philadelphia attorney and partner in the firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen)
Carolyn Lewis Gallagher, Vice Chairman ( Austin, Texas, businesswoman )
Mickey D. Barnett, Member (attorney and former New Mexico state senator)
James H. Bilbray, Member (attorney and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada)
Louis J. Giuliano, Member (former Chairman, CEO and President of ITT Corp)
Thurgood Marshall, Jr., Member (Lawyer and partner at the international law firm Bingham McCutchen)
James C. Miller III, Member (former budget director for President Reagan)
Katherine C. Tobin, Member (research and management consultant specializing in the high technology industry)
Ellen C. Williams, Member
John E. Potter, Postmaster General and CEO
Patrick R. Donahoe, Deputy Postmaster General and COO
Hey....mail twice a week would be fine with me.....then people could pay the premium only when they needed something somewhere by a certain date....great idea Joe....except....all that junk mail piling up....THAT would cause problems!
Opps forgot
Ellen C. Williams, member (Formerly with the Kentucky Public Service Commission)
Yes but the way an alternator works is it increases the magnetic drag on the engine the more electricity used. At $3.50/gallon is this a cost effective way of reducing accidents?
Maybe not ...
Private companies *do* compete with the postal service - on everything but first class letters and the like. The objection has always been anybody can “cherry pick” a route in parts of large cities and make a profit. Thing is, the USPS uses UPS aircraft to deliver mail, because the post office can’t own planes for some reason. I think there’s some kind of FED EX agreement too for “last mile” delivery by the post office. So they are cooperating as well as competing? Beats me.
So, do you still believe it?
I have never heard that FedEx or UPS are on the board of directors. I do know that one complaint by UPS has been the USPS using first class mail, which they have a monopoly on, to subsidize their parcel division, which is competititve.
The USPS also used to get a large subsidy from the U.S. Government, like around a billion dollars/yr. Don't know if that's still the case.
I still can’t figure out why they deliver 6 days a week. Why not decrease the frequency for mail delivery to 5 days a week or even 4 days a week? Any delivery that I get is shipped by a competitor anyway. Am I missing something?
I can remember the time, when I was a child, that first class postage went from three cents to four cents.
As a college student in the late 60s, I worked for the Post Office Department. That was where I learned that a #2 mail bag always weighed less than 60 pounds. Hah! Tell that to National Geographic.
It is interesting to see how times have changed.
And yes, I can remember when dirt was new... :-)
“Email and online banking makes regular mail seem like pony express.”
It ain’t called snail mail for nuttin’.
There are three types of mail with get funded totally or in part by taxpayers.
1. Payment for the difference in cost between Non-Profit Standard class mail and Profit rate standard class mail. Congress made the law creating those special non-profit rates and Congress funded that difference with an annual payment to USPS.
2. Franked Congressional mail. That's the propaganda your Congress Critter sends directly to you with no postage on it. It bears his/her signature in place of postage. That is paid for by your taxes.
3. Free matter for the blind and handicapped. No postage is collected from the mailer or addressee. Congress funded it with your tax dollars.
First class mail is where they are getting beat because of email and cheap phone service.Let UPS, FEDEX and the like compete if they want and let’s see what happens.
I believe if the USPS were to be run the way UPS runs their operation the productivity would sky rocket.
You learned wrong. Max on any sack or parcel is 70lbs.
But how come the USPS has enough money to sponsor things. Didn’t they sponsor the US team in tour de france and the Olympics?
90-95% of everything I get in the mailbox goes straight to the recycle bid or garbage can (post shredding for the 2-3 per day credit card / re-fi offers). I wonder how many tons of paper make that trip everyday in this country? Bulk mail and junk mail must make up a majority of all mail in the system these days.
Our subway system does the same thing. Raise the fares (after threatening or holding a strike) and drive more people off the system or to cut their use of the system down. They lose money so they raise the fares. Repeat ad infinitum.
People who buy Hondas know about this phenomenon. I have had more then one Honda owner literally BRAG about the fact they had to pay over sticker for their car.
I still think that it's absolutely amazing that I can send an envelope anywhere in the country for $0.42. And it will get there in a more-or-less speedy delivery.
I still pay my bills the old fashioned way.....through the mail. The last time a bill didn't get through, or a check didn't make it on time was....never. I can't think of once.
I like the postal service.
I have no problems with the Postal Service, either, but if they’d cut out $13,000 dinners, then they might have a little more left over to run their operations.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/04/going_postal.asp
I think they already do. UPS and FEDEX can’t make any money delivering to more rural areas and towns, so they don’t and/or charge a surcharge. It looks as if a lot of bigtime vendors like Amazon have a gazillion different barcodes on their books and stuff like that, so just about anybody can deliver it the last mile, depending. I’m not entirely certain any of the shippers can make money if fuel prices continue upward.
Do you mean certified mail? Registered mail carries insurance and is for items with intrinsic value. The way registered mail is handled it is almost never lost.
Certified mail is handled like regular mail until it reaches the destination and the carrier signs for it. Certified mail is cheaper than registered mail and all you are getting with certified is proof that you sent the letter. When you also add return receipt service you also get proof that the recipient signed for the letter.
Thanks. We weighed a few and found them to be over 100 pounds. Nice
Maybe it will go back to the days when everyone went to the P.O. to get their mail. It’s fine with me.
Yep, makes sense to replace those postal delivery trucks with every mail recipient driving their pov to the post office daily. I'd be fine with picking up the extra fuel expense.
No one said it would be a special trip to the PO. People are going to drive anyway and the PO would be a stop off on the way.
Or maybe the mail could be beamed right to our mail boxes
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