Posted on 06/26/2021 5:22:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
The U.S. Postal Service is the only package delivery service that continues to deliver to every address in the nation. Without its dependable delivery of life-saving medications, essential goods and other necessities to any and every door throughout the pandemic, many Americans would have had nowhere else to turn but to a private carrier like UPS, which was all too willing to hike up surcharges at the height of the pandemic.
Supply chain strains, store closures and unprecedented demand for delivery services threw previous industry projections to the wind this past year. Despite these factors, the U.S. Postal Service was heralded as the most favorable U.S. institution by the public -- regardless of party affiliation -- garnering support from 90% of Americans.
In alignment with the vast majority of people they represent, members of Congress from both parties have banded together in support of the Postal Service. Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate moved bills forward that include financial relief and reform provisions to reinforce the essential role the Postal Service plays in ensuring fair competition and affordable delivery services for all Americans.
Over 100 years ago, Congress mandated that the Postal Service provide a competitive package delivery service to protect Americans in rural and remote areas of the country who were being exploited by private delivery companies. And since then, the U.S. Postal Service has continued to provide integrated delivery services of mail and packages. Now, thanks to the2021 Postal Reform Act and the bipartisan companion bill in the Senate, the longstanding utilization of the integrated delivery network stands to be codified into law.
Private, legacy carriers, meanwhile, are opposed to these bipartisan reform measures that would reaffirm that the Postal Service should maintain an integrated delivery network 6 days a week and leverage the network efficiencies it generates by delivering mail and packages together. In FY2020, the U.S. Postal Service’s package delivery business contributed $11 billion above costs to the organization’s bottom line thanks largely to its growing and profitable package delivery business. Forcing the U.S. Postal Service to operate parallel, duplicative delivery networks for packages and mail would reduce the effectiveness of the U.S. Postal Service — while enriching private carriers and providing them with the cover to raise their own prices. Such a move could benefit private carriers, but it would ultimately hurt American consumers and businesses that rely on affordable delivery services.
Opposition to fair competition and affordable delivery services isn’t new. Private carriers like UPS are actively lobbying Congress to raise the Postal Service’s prices so that they, in turn, can raise their own prices. These lobbyists point to a 2017 Citigroup analysis that actually reveals how raising USPS prices would create a $15-19 billion “revenue opportunity” for private carriers like UPS. Some companies are already making moves. Recently, after recording record profits from turning away deliveries from less profitable customers during the pandemic, UPS told investors that rate hikes and the prioritization of lucrative deliveries, rather than increased volume, will lead to more profitable margins going forward. Additionally, following their quarterly earnings report in April, UPS revealed their plan to increase shipping rates and focus on acquiring business from higher-margin customers.
The long-term implementation of UPS’s plan will result in higher costs and a decrease in accessible delivery service for consumers and small businesses, especially for those that reside in rural communities. As private carriers like UPS increasingly narrow their core competencies and hone in on high margin customers, the rest of Americans need the U.S. Postal Service for affordable and dependable delivery.
Thankfully, through the passage of the bipartisan 2021 Postal Service Reform Act, the U.S. Postal Service will not only be able to continue to fulfill its mission to deliver packages to all Americans, it will also be able to leverage the network efficiencies it generates by delivering mail and packages together. While this legislation would not be a silver bullet for all the challenges the U.S. Postal Service faces, by preserving the service’s integrated delivery network, Congress will ensure the Postal Service continues to pass on cost efficiencies in the form of lower prices to American businesses and consumers, thus, ensuring fair competition and affordable delivery services for all Americans.
At this point I’d settle for just receiving all my mail on a consistent basis.
The USPS delivering Amazon packages for below actual costs, helps Amazon drive brick and mortar stores out of business.
That’s mostly a fait accompli at this point.
I would pay double shipping costs with any other delivery service to avoid giving my business to the USPS
Their international shipping rates have become astronomical over the past 6 years . 20 years ago I could get a letter posted from USA to Japan - where I live - in 5 days . Nowadays ( pre-Wuhan virus mind you ) it can take up to 3 weeks ! And I can assure you the delay is not the fault of the Japanese Postal Service .
I would love to see a study showing USPS cost to operate if deliveries were reduced to 3x/week and a USPS “opt-out” database maintained where customers could opt out of all business promotions and advertisements, i.e., all unwanted mail. My guess is that an “opt-out” option with legal teeth that severely penalizes the sender, would drastically reduce the amount of mail that needs to be delivered.
Wrong. Buddy of mine lives 6 miles away but he's the only one on that gravel road so they won't deliver to him.
My only issue with USPS package delivery is the way they send things around the country enroute to you. Had a package shipped from Wooster, Ohio. It went to Columbus, then Atlanta, then Miami, to Cincinnati, back to Florida, back to Columbus then to Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta, back to Knoxville finally to me. Took 4 weeks to make that trip. Seems they would make more money if they fixed the package routing.
At this point I’d settle for just receiving all my mail on a consistent basis.
—
Right. And because my important mail often did not make it on time and, more often, never arrived at all, I switched to direct payment for bills, lowering the USPS’s revenue even more
It would help if the Post Office would stop cheating the public - like professing to have delivered items and charging for them (like stamps), when in fact those items were never delivered.
And, when complaints are filed, never issuing a reply, or else sending a message that the undelivered item is not eligible for a refund.
Advice: have as little to do with the Post Office as possible. Trump was right - the Post Office is a joke.
Their international shipping rates have become astronomical over the past 6 years .
Good point. It’s near $20 to ship 2 pounds to Canada now. USPS rate increases have killed a lot of small business jobs. Big shippers can consolidate shipments but not the little guy. Meanwhile, it’s gotten much cheaper to ship FROM Europe and of course the Chicoms had their special deal with USPS. Shipping is just another area were American small business is getting the shaft.
BS! I’m buying a house in a small town. There is NO home delivery. Citizens are forced rent a PO Box at $80 a year. Some packages won’t be held at the town post office, oh no, we have go to the main office in another town 15 miles north.
I just submitted a customer service survey to a problem I had previously submitted about a lost package.
The tracking showed the package got to my state and was in transit to my post office, but the person at my local post office who my lost package request funneled down to said the package was hung up in the originating state (not mine).
Basically, the post office person assigned to help me flat out lied, as the package was only scanned as being in that state for the earliest day and a half of the two weeks it was in transit (it was a Priority Mail 2-3 day item). The representative tried to make it look like it wasn’t their local mishandling.
I called this liar out on the survey multiple times.
I go out of my way to avoid using the USPS and “enjoying” their garbage service levels. If they were run like a private company, they’d have rightfully been bankrupt years ago. I say get rid of them—they’re an anachronism.
Love the way birthday cards from my Mom with cash or checks would mysteriously never make it to my home. She would wonder why we never said thank you... we never received them. So now she sends them in big brown envelopes marked ‘photos do not bend’ and we magically receive them.
Love the way my brick mailbox was damaged right at the height of the delivery truck, and no responsibility was taken.
Love the long lines, crappy service, etc over many many years. Love the higher rates.
What I love more? Email, electronic payments, billing, FedEx, UPS and avoiding this poorly run relic of a mail service.
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah.
The international rates ruined my overseas sales. I had a very lucrative eBay business for many years and sold a huge amount of goods overseas.
I’d say about 1/3 of all my sales were overseas. Now such sales only comes along every so often.
Domestic shipping charges are bad enough with first class packages starting in the $3.95 range and going skyward. Shipping anything priority to the West coast is highway robbery.
My business has quite a few international customers. I used to use USPS 1st class but so many of them were going to the black hole of shitcago, Illinois that I changed to UPS or FedEx. They charge more and the paperwork is a time consuming nightmare, but the packages get there.
Back on April 26 I gave USPS Priority International a try but the one package I shipped to France is STILL in shitcago. Every couple of weeks the status changes... rec'd....sent to customs...cleared customs...transferred out of customs....sitting somewhere because some union scale doper dropped his crackpipe and forgot to put the package in the bin....package put in bin...package being transferred to next location...
As of this morning it's status (unchanged since June 11) is "Arrived at USPS regional facility". It's now 61 days and counting but it "isn't lost", just "delayed" and the USPS Inquiry Page that is supposed to allow you to report and trace a lost package has been "unavailable" for over a month.
Eventually the tracking for this package will expire and that will be the end of that.
Occasionally a package will go throught NYC instead of shitcago. Those always get to the destination on time.
Yay postal service?
Usps should be a private business like amazon, twitter and Facebook because we know how much they love free speech and wouldn’t ban someone just because they disagreed with them politically
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.