If you aren't on this ping list and are interested
in articles about Oregon, please FReepmail me.
Posted on 01/01/2012 6:18:40 PM PST by Libloather
Postal closings’ value questioned
Dozens turn out in Springfield to air concerns about a plan to close a processing center
By Saul Hubbard
The Register-Guard
Published: Midnight, Dec 29, 2011
First-class next-day delivery could be a thing of the past, and a letter mailed in Eugene would travel 100 miles up and down Interstate 5 to Portland before arriving at its local destination, if the U.S. Postal Service moves ahead with a proposal to close its Gateway processing center in Springfield.
Where will that leave veterans and seniors who rely on mail-order medical prescriptions, small businesses who require prompt mail delivery of their goods or notifications, and the Oregon election system that relies on mailed ballots?
Those were among the questions asked by some in a crowd of approximately 150 people who showed up Wednesday night at Lane Community College to a public hearing on the proposal.
Libby Bottero, who works as a nurse at a local hospital, told a panel of Postal Service officials that more and more people are relying on mail order medication.
“They can’t wait more days to get (it),” she said. “It’s the poorest and neediest people who are going to suffer the most.”
(Excerpt) Read more at registerguard.com ...
Geeesh. That's getting old. I wish the commie 'RATS would come up with something new.
Everybody wants something for nothing....
Postal rate should be alot higher than they are, and junkmail senders should pay full rate!
Want it quick? UPS or FedEx.
Oregon ping...
Mail must travel 250 miles to make it across the street now.
That'll save a few bucks!!!! /s
The time is ripe for a movement to privatize first class mail.
In the western PA area the Postal Service plans to close three processing centers and ship the mail to Pittsburgh to be worked. Employees in New Castle, Erie and Wheeling WV will be excessed and can bump Pittsburgh clerks after a round of bidding.
So people will have to begin to take care of themselves. The end of Fraud by Mail would be a good thing.
Pray for America
Should not be any free boxes or free door to door delivery either.
I’ve already resigned myself to longer turn around on Netflix movies. Oh, the things I put up with :)
I believe Fed Ex sends all their packages to their Memphis hub for sorting and delivery. Works well for them.
I don't know it's it still true today with all their "ground" and "2nd day" offerings but their next-day deliveries all pass through the Memphis hub in the middle of the night.
I recall hearing stories about people moving to the Memphis area and getting a GREAT deal on a home in Southhaven, MS....except they didn't realize that they were directly south of Memphis's 3 parallel runways until the first night they spent in their new home.
Congress needs to let the USPS make the changes it needs, including consolidating sorting facilities. If prescriptions by mail take two days to arrive instead of one in some locations, so be it. Who orders a prescription after it runs out and expects the next day’s mail to arrive with a refill? Let’s get real, here.
....or pay USPS rates similar to what they would pay FedEx or UPS for that service.
Mail order medications?
My mom uses a Medicare complete plan with these. She calls in the order and the arrive via FedEx. The USPS has nothing to do with them.
FedEx used to send EVERY package in the Lower 48 to its Memphis sorting center before delivery.
Perhaps that is no longer the case.
Point is, people were still willing to pay a premium to get that service.
It has been successful for them.
The USPS was built and designed for local letter delivery. Treating local correspondence like overnight nation wide document delivery is not cost effective.
And that's bad why? Yeah, "private enterprise" won't likely deliver a letter overnight for mere pennies, but why should anyone expect that?
Otherwise all of the problems outlined in the article have easy solutions, and it just doesn't look like the end of the world to me. Even the "workers" at Gateway won't be laid off (though I reckon some might end up in a gig where they have to actually put in a full day's work).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.