1. Decent pay plus good overtime
2. Great benefits
3. Insane pensions
4. They can do their routes in about 3 hours if they hurry. But they don't work for Fedex so why push it.
Unionizing the employees probably doesn’t help much either. I recently had to actually mail a letter, and so went to the local post office to do so (I didn’t have any stamps). First, the automated machine for buying stamps and package labels couldn’t sell me just the one stamp I needed, so I had to add to the tie-up by going through the line to mail it at the counter. So much for saving time. The line had about 20-25 people when I got in it, and 35 minutes later, there were still over 15 people ahead of me. There were two, and sometimes three, clerks at the counter, but it was taking them ridiculous amounts of time to process customers, as they seemed to be deliberately moving without any sense of urgency. I reflected that, had this been FedEx, I would have been able to mail my letter within 15 minutes of arriving, and the clerk would have been polite and efficient, because that’s what he would have been paid to do. If the USPS fails, it’s because they’ve ossified to the point where the customer and the mail they are transmitting are not the main reason that the employees are getting paid.
The private sector can never replace the USPS, and this article accidentally says why:
Companies like UPS and FedEx depend on USPS to deliver more than 400 million of their ground shipments every year.
Their chief competition needs them to do their job. UPS and FedEx could never handle the volume USPS handles, they can’t even truly handle the volume they have right now. He makes hay at the beginning about an expected 10 billion piece reduction, but ignores the fact that that still leaves an expected volume of over 190 billion pieces. Not to mention the problem with mailbox access, I don’t want a bunch of different companies sticking their hands in my mailbox.
It’s amazing how much we complain about the post office losing under 2 cents a parcel. It’s the government, it’s SUPPOSED to run in deficit, profitable governments are over taxing.
The day that I can walk into FedEx or UPS and hand them a one ounce letter and two quarters and not have them laugh me out of the building is the day I believe that USPS is doomed.
Let’s see FedEx or UPS make stops to every single residence in every single city every single business day, then tell me how efficient they are.
as Politicians and both parties make extensive use of direct mail for fundraising, don’t look for them to pull the plug on the USPS anytime soon.
Who was the genius who assigned them the task of processing passport applications?
Anyone who’s used UPS, has a cell phone, has used a fax machine, and send email knows why the post office is toast. But politicians are never going to figure it out because there are too many postal workers and retirees who vote.
Add in constantly changing shipping regulations that no one can figure out including the harried (and often snarky) clerks, who expect patrons to have them memorized, and you have a Titanic-sized mess.
That said, it's time for the USPS to close. Losing too much and oput of date. We live in downtown oceanside, CA. 1 post offce 8 blocks from the other. Time to close one down.
I have been to places in the south where a post office is being kept open in a town of less than 300 people with another post office 5 miles down the road. Clsing a post office is as difficult politically as closing a military base. No one has the balls to pull the trigger.
Technology has mad many of the services outdated. Mostly, I'm getting ads and spam in the mail. All my bills are online or e-mailed to me. Shut it down or deliver two days a week.
If I want to send a letter or box I can do that with any other carrier. No need to keep the USPS open for that.
Just make an announcement. We're going out of business in 2014, July 1 and everyone will adjust. Employees would have time to retire or train for other jobs. Then sell the buildings or put other agencies in there to save money.
Let them raise the rates on junk mail. It isn’t handled as third class mail and they get cut rates. Make junk mail first class mail. Actually, make all mail the same and charge the same rates.
And some folks want these same clowns running health care.....
Ah, government efficiency on display for all to see. Time to hand over another 6th of the economy to these folks.
Don't forget this reason why the Postal Service will fail:
NEWMAN: "Do not bend"? (Laughs evilly) Just crease, crumple, cram.. you'll do fine.
Why the US Postal Service is Destined to Fail.Government operated time to sell it.
Go to a post office and wait in line and you’ll see at least part of the problem: the workers behind the counter move about as fast as a tree sloth. Am I to believe the ones in the back room move any faster?
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...
We haven’t had a newspaper or magazine in our house in 10 years or more.