The Demise of the USPS

CNS News ^ | 4-4-05 | Chuck Muth

[frgoff]

USPS exclusively to get our packages to our customers faster than UPS and FEDEX for a lower price.

It's easy to undercut the competition when you have a protected monopoly (first class mail) providing a steady revenue stream.

[Investment Biker]

The real root cause of post office decline is the Internet. I pay my bills on-line through my bank. At work our reports, which used to cost $3.50 postage and $27 printing are now sent via email using PDF995 printer driver. We use very little postage. When we do use postage at work we weigh and print it ourselves, saving a trip to the rude slow employees of the local office. Overall our postage has gone down by hundreds of dollars more than 75%.

[70times7]

And when something IS stolen the USPS makes good on insured items. UPS? Good luck with that, you are in for a fight.

[Vicki]

I use USPS for my online orders and although I have a postage meter I still have to go the P.O. when I get international orders.

Last week I had a customer pay $120 for Global Guaranteed. I filled out the paperwork online figuring I would save time. I brought the form with the 5 copies with me, only to have the guy at the desk have me fill out the same form again. Why? His form had carbon in between and that way he wouldn't have to write in the weight on the 5 copies I brought.

On top of that when I went back a couple days later the package had been sent back because it still did not have all the proper paperwork.

I spent another half hour there while they tried to find the correct form. I have to go again today because of international orders. I think I would rather go have root canal.

[NW Mike]

Mutliply that change by 50 million families, and the only thing they're good for is mailing IRS forms and junk mail.

And considering how many folks file their taxes online the usefullness becomes obvious.

[GSWarrior]

President's Commission on the United States Postal Service

Sounds like a cushy gig....where do I volunteer?

[longtermmemmory]

aaaaaah just damn.

[Txsleuth]

Hi-again---

I just talked to my husband---the USPS does NOT pay matching funds to our Thrift fund account because we are not under the Social Security system---he pays to a retirement account---

There ARE some postal employees that do pay into the Social Security system---the USPS does match the funds that those employees pay into the Thrift funds account---

[milagro]

Yep--I worked for years in a large city PO--and it was like a large mail factory. People did take pride in their work, but it was hard to think of the customers because you never saw any--only pieces of mail being dropped in front of you at the rate of 60 per minute, while you tried to read the Zip Codes correctly and key them by hitting the appropriate (and unmarked) keys, sometimes for 10-12 hours a day.

When I got to my little small-town PO, it was WONDERFUL. There really is a sense of community inside--and outside--a small PO that you just can't get in a large city. Feel very blessed to have had the chance to experience that.

[longtermmemmory]

Actually I like having one agency totally responsible for first class mail. Then again i base that on presumptive legal notices and return receipt mail.

[discostu]

And you don't really even need to use the DMM, most of the time the person at the counter can give you all the good options for your mailing. And now they've got the overnight package shoot that lets you weight, buy the postage and send out your package any time you want (good for skilled mailers like my wife). Really the USPS does a much better job than people give them credit for.

[kingu]

It's easy to undercut the competition when you have a protected monopoly (first class mail) providing a steady revenue stream.

Sure, I'll bite.. How many letters will it take for you to be able to deliver them anywhere in the United States for 37 cents a piece? Oh, heck, make it sixty-seven, about 50 percent the price that Japan charges for a first class letter.

[NW Mike]

Junk mail is like ads on TV--it pays for the "good stuff" that shows up (like IRS refund checks, letters from kids...)

uhhh... IRS Refund -- direct deposit last 7 yrs.,;
letters from kids: Dear Dad,

Send money.

Love, 'The Kids'

hmmm some usefulness there -- RETURN TO SENDER: ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN REFUSED.

[milagro]

Just wait! :)!!

I surely can understand a lot of the negative comments about the USPS, and there will always be people who have been very soured by rude and lazy PO clerks who treat them as if they were nuisances rather than the source of their income!

The PO is like any other business--it is made up of people, and even though there are many things one person has no control over in a business, the one thing they can control is their own attitude. A smile--and a willingness to listen without arguing or getting defensive when dealing with complaints goes a long way toward defusing an unhappy customer. Even if the customer leaves still unhappy--becoming unhappy oneself solves NOTHING!

[Mannaggia l'America]

They have NO say-so in that. All Federal employees, including military, are eligible for TSP accounts. The Unions would NEVER oppose them, because they make a great return on investment (except in 2001 and 2002 because of the burst of the stock market bubble) and their members would scream bloody murder (no pun intended!!) if they were eliminated.

I meant that the union would oppose private accounts in SS for the rest of us.

I found this on the APWU web site:

The APWU National Executive Board recently adopted a resolution on Social Security, favoring only those changes that would “strengthen the retirement safety net for American citizens.”We oppose, however, privatization efforts that would undermine the guarantees of the current system.

As predicted, they oppose private accounts for everyone else, but it's OK for them.

(I thought newer hires in the post office were in the Social Security system. Is that not correct?)

[milagro]

LOL!!

[milagro]

Good grief!! ALL those Union members are paid by the USPS--and I bet you not one doesn't have a TSP account (if they don't, they're really dumb!!)

Typical liberal hypocrisy!!

[brewcrew]

Actually, FedEx supplies the linehaul (airport to airport) for most of the Express and Priority Mail. The USPS still does the pickup and delivery with the customer. But you're right - it has been a "win-win" for both organizations.

[milagro]

Missed your last question in my last post. All hires after 1985 (or sometime around then) have no choice--they are under FERS, not CSRS.

[70times7]

The real root cause of post office decline is the Internet. I pay my bills on-line through my bank.

First class mail is in decline, and that is due to the internet, but other classes of mail continue to grow - a lot. I think it is great you pay your bills online, but if you follow that trail it is very likely there are letters at the end of it, not electronic transfers.

At work our reports, which used to cost $3.50 postage and $27 printing are now sent via email using PDF995 printer driver. We use very little postage. When we do use postage at work we weigh and print it ourselves…

The situation you describe has been the case for many organizations, including the USPS itself, for many years now, so I doubt there is much impact to mail volume, although I bet the post office is lamenting the loss of all that printing business you used to bring their way. The ability of companies to meter their own mail has been around for many years also, but I'm glad you discovered it for your outfit. (BTW, what are you going to do with all that carbon paper?)

…saving a trip to the rude slow employees of the local office.

Sadly, there are some postal employees who are rude and slow, but such people are not limited to the USPS.

Overall our postage has gone down by hundreds of dollars more than 75%.

Sheesh, I hope you don't work in accounting.