Posted on 03/04/2010 7:45:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup, it's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out, the more it keeps coming. And then the bar code reader breaks. And then it's Publisher's Clearinghouse day!
-- Newman, on Seinfeld
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The mail never stops?
With an estimated 10 billion piece volume decrease for the United States Postal Service expected in 2010, Newman may have to start applying for a new gig.
Faced by overpowering competition in the private sector and feverishly amassing debt, the USPS yesterday announced its revamped plan to eliminate Saturday delivery, raise delivery prices, reduce national workforce by 30,000 people, and reduce overtime opportunities.
The decision by the USPS to reduce to a five-day delivery week is an attempt to prevent a repeat of 2009, when the government service recorded a $3.8 billion deficit. The Postal Service currently struggles with a $10 billion debt, and its legally allowed to borrow only $15 billion.
However, as the USPS troubles mount, shipping companies in the private sector are having no problem staying afloat. Despite the slowdown associated with the recession, private, non-government affiliated services FedEx (FDX) and United Parcel Service (UPS) still reaped celebratory profits last year. In 2009, FedEx saw total revenue of $35.5 billion and $98 million in profits while UPS made $45.3 billion in revenue and $2.2 billion in profits.
This success isn't entirely a result of the business decay of USPS -- FedEx and UPS are actually negatively affected by the putrefying mess USPS has become.
Companies like UPS and FedEx depend on USPS to deliver more than 400 million of their ground shipments every year. A true I scratch your back, you scratch mine scenario, the USPS returns the favor by contracting FedEx and UPS to deliver packages via air. With USPS suspending Saturday service, these private shippers will have to sail off route.
But theyre not the only ones wholl be immediately affected by the change.
Many e-commerce businesses like Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and eBay (EBAY) that rely heavily on USPS ground distribution will be forced to consult with private carriers to negotiate a partner service. If the private carriers assume this role, the USPS will suffer immensely.
Its not like the USPS ever had it easy. Regulations on how the USPS can charge and handle everyday business have long crippled its ability to make a steady profit. Up against the private carriers who can charge as they please, the USPS is faltered with this governmental handicap, making it nearly impossible for it to gain an edge on its competitors.
Yesterday the USPS revealed its 10-year plan to curb its estimated $238 billion cumulative shortfall by 2020. Postmaster General John Potter expects these latest actions will amount to around $120 billion in saving throughout the present decade.
Of course, these are just the latest efforts in a series of cutbacks by the USPS. According to the Washington Post, since 2002, the USPS has cut costs by $43 billion by reducing overtime limitations, shrinking workforce, and renegotiating contracts.The USPS hasn't received any taxpayer funds to support operations since 1982, and it's responsible for covering all of its costs.
With Potters new 10 year plan on the table, hope seems to be restored -- for now.
However, it seems inevitable that the authority and presence of the USPS, with all its regulations and deficits, will eventually succumb to the power of the private sector. As technology and modernization has slowly eliminated the need for newspapers, magazines, and other classical businesses, the US mail system may be the next victim of the smother.
The facilities you see in cities are stations, branches, processing plants, etc.
For the most part there's only ONE post office in a city.
Call them what you want there’s 14 places to personally interact with postal employees while dropping off and/ or acquiring mail within 5 miles of where I’m sitting right now (and they’re all called post offices on the USPS web site), within that there at at least 3 pairing that are around 1 mile apart. That’s over saturated, they need fewer.
I will not use USPS again for delivering packages...
I ordered some items...It was a priority mail...
I checked the order status on Tuesday...The Website stated that the mailman attempted the delivery on Monday but nobody was home. The mailman left the notice behind.
The problem is that I was home...There also was no notice...
On Wednesday, I went to the post office...The clerk couldn’t find the package...
On Thursday, I went back...Finally, the clerk found the package...
It was not a good experience...
I don’t think I would have had this kind of experience with UPS...
I don’t think the mailman in this case will be disciplined at all...I mean he lied about attempting to deliver the package...I am sure that his union will protect him...
Yep, the machine in my town PO broke down and they said they are never going to replace it. However, a lot of people oh here don't seem to realize that the PO will sell yo stamps, and many other things, on line. Your regular carrier will deliver them to you. As for the people who want the PO to only deliver 2 days a week, I guess you aren't getting your movies via Netflix or your medication through the mail or anything else that needs to be brought to you in a time sensitive manner.
Also, the people who are saying private business couldn't replace the PO that is just BS, it would take time for them to gear up but they could do it, the key would be to make it competitive and not to make it a monopoly.
They "depend" on the PO now because of the laws that govern private carriers. Any private business can do better than the government and that includes delivering mail.
If you buy the stamps in sufficient quantity you will have them on hand when you need to send a letter.
Try to think before you speak, it keeps you from looking stupid, as you did in your reply to me. Did you actually I think I meant buy one stamp at a time online each time you needed to send a letter? If you did, please go in for a brain check, yours seems to be missing a few parts.
BTW,I wasn't defending the post office, if you read my entire comment you will see where I said that private carriers could do the job much better.
“If they can’t figure out a way to make direct marketers pay for themselves, then such mail shouldn’t be allowed. “
Bingo! Direct marketing rips us all off - we subsidize their mailings with every letter or package we mail. And about 110% of it we do not want. It costs us trees, and it cruds up the landfills. Make them PAY!
“But really they are close to breaking even. 1.6 cents a piece of mail is what their loss works out to.”
So add another 2 cents to the price of a 1st class stamp. I would pay that - 46 cents instead of 44 cents. And then make all the direct marketing mailings pay through the nose for cluttering up the system.
They add a cent or two to the postage almost every year, unfortunately it never quite works the balance. Direct mail doesn’t really clutter the system, in order to get the bulk rate mail has to be pre-sorted before it’s given to the post office. When mail marketing got really big in the 90s was the only time USPS was ever profitable.
Oh you’d have that kind of experience with UPS. You’d have worse, if you need to pick up a package from UPS for whatever reason you can only do it at their regional depot, which is almost always in the industrial part of town.
It’s possible the mailman hit the wrong address, it might even have been addressed wrong. Or maybe you didn’t answer (happens, people go to the bathroom and maybe don’t hear the door) so he thought you weren’t there and the tag got blown away.
If you buy the forever stamps they’re immune to rate changes. As for where you put them, upper right hand drawer or pen drawer of your main desk, that’s where Americans have been putting stamps for generations, it’s a good tradition.
We haven’t had a newspaper or magazine in our house in 10 years or more.
Thank you, gracious and wise defender of the PO. I have a suggestion for where you can stick your stamps.
just being friendly. Sorry the simple concept of mail seems to make your life so horrible.
Awwww..... stuff it.
You sure are addicted to your bad mood. Too bad for you. At least I know where my stamps are.
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