HorseHillary! Neither is even close to being competent to deliver anything outside a city. When I order stuff,I ALWAYS try to get them to ship it to me using the USPS,because they offer both safer AND quicker service. They also don't leave your stuff out in the rain if you're not home,and they don't require you to stay home ALL DAMN DAY to sign for something that has to be signed for. With the post office,you can just take off and go to your local post office to pick it up on your own schedule. UPS and Fed Ex don't even HAVE local offices. Hell,they don't even really have local phone numbers anymore. The closest UPS office to where I live is 55 miles away,and they have a unlisted number. Even if I could manage to get it,they wouldn't allow me to go there and pick up my package. I know because I've tried.
Your experience differs from mine, but it could be a local issue. My carrier, as friendly as she is, doesn't seem to want to put packages up on the porch where it is dry. UPS always does. I understand what you are saying about there not being a nearby UPS/FedEx office nearby, but if they had to deliver the volume that the USPS does and were required to provide a minimum service, they'd probably have a convenient office nearby. As for having to be home to sign for a package, I just sign the form and put it up on the front door for them to drop off the next day. Again, I am in a suburban setting so it may be different.
"From what I've seen, there's plenty of graft and corruption (not to mention inefficiency) there to cut costs in half."
And every damn bit of it is related to affirmative-action hiring,and fear of EEO complaints. You don't really think the affirmative-action employees will go away if the gooberment closes down the USPS,do you? What they will do is demand UPS and Fed Ex hire them at their old levels,or lose their mail-deliver contracts.
While my original post was a bit facicious, I am certain that private industry stands a better chance of dealing with AA/Quotas than does the government. Granted, there would be plenty of legal battles, but I've seen companies fight and win in many instances. I would think that the workload at UPS would be enough to get rid of half of the AA hires - they'd probably have heart attacks. :^)
Your carrier isn't even supposed to leave packages,PERIOD! Not unless you give her a note authorizing this,and then you have the right to specify WHERE the packages are left. Without this note,the carrier is supposed to leave you a notification that you have a package,with a phone number you can call to either schedule a delivery time when you will be home,or to arrange to have it left without you being there to receive it.
I would think that the workload at UPS would be enough to get rid of half of the AA hires - they'd probably have heart attacks. :^)
BAD assumption! The USPS is a dumping ground for AA and communist types,and will create positions to accomodate them. All you have to do to become a member of management your first day on the job is to be a lesbian,and a black lesbian who was fired from a previous job for being a Marxist is a sure-fire bet. Anybody who is covered by EEO laws are "golden". I know of one single female black letter carrier who complained that her system was too "delicate" to deliver mail after she gave birth to her fifth child,so they let her stay in the station all day to answer telephone calls. That's ALL she did! Meanwhile,other people had to deliver the mail on her route.
I also KNOW of letter carriers who were hired despite not being able to read,and some who couldn't even speak English. Seriously. Unlike the other "new hires",they were only allowed to deliver mail on certain selected routes,and even then only after they spent a few weeks in a special shcool that taught them how to recogonize the addresses.