Posted on 03/18/2012 10:21:29 AM PDT by QT3.14
Let's say you own a store with a good clientele, but sales have been slipping in recent years. A new store with new products has faster service at lower prices and is open 24/7. You're losing money. What do you do?
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
any postal delivery model that depends on tons of junk mail that goes directly from the box to the garbage will never last. It’s a make work postal system
Is there any reason it can’t be both?
I am pretty sure it is both.
Let’s hope the same happens with our healthcare, yeah!
“Internet allows you to communicate at lower cost and pay bills with more certainty. Private sector FedEx stores and UPS stores opening multiple locations (even acrooss street from each other)where you can pack, ship, print, and even purchase office supplies. Got to love free enterprise system.”
Like California ( and probably more than a few other states) going bankrupt, the USPS is on track to fold. I say to all of it, the sooner the better for us all.
dunmp ‘em
When government unions grow, government service shrinks...
Postal unions.
“The USPS says it will “consolidate” this center with one in Medford, Oregon, about 150 miles to the northeast over slow mountain roads.”
“Slow” doesn’t say the half of it. 299 and 101 are the only ways to get to Medford and in a semi, they’re flat-out dangerous.
UPS is union and their prices are outrageous. screw em
Cassettes?
The USPS is making tons of horrible decisions, but the Saturday service cancellation is particularly boneheaded. Unless they have done the research to show that Saturday is an underutilized service day, it seems to me that a Wednesday closing would be more appropriate (if we buy into the argument that reducing the window in which customers can purchase your product improves performance).
The M-F working stiffs like me can’t get to the PO during the week; Saturday hours are the only ones many like me can access. Additionally, weekend closing would by definition create a two day gap in service every week. Better to have two one-day gaps, in my opinion.
Plus, the FedEx folks I encounter are always friendly and accommodating...and the packages are delivered on time.
If the USPS was private I wouldn’t be required by law to pay for the mailbox at the end of my drive way that by law is the property of the USPS that must comply with USPS regulations.
If the USPS was private the mail box would be personal property and unauthorized use of it would not warrant a fine such as when a political candidate tubes political literature.
If the USPS was private I would not be required by law to receive their service whatever my personal choice might be.
Nothing against you personally but I have had enough issues with the USPS over the years as to have no sympathy at all to its continued existence.
You make a good point regarding Saturdays. A few years ago I got a post card telling me I had a certified letter (from the IRS no less) and if not for the PO being open on Saturday I would had to take off work early to go to the PO to pick it up. Other than that however, the only mail I get is 99.9% junk mail.
All my bills are delivered electronically and I pay all my bills electronically. And if I need to receive or send anything of value or importance I use FedEx. The USPS could close every other day or shut down completely and I’d barely notice the difference
Where in my post did you see a pro-postal slant? If anything, I was illustrating how "management" cuts are not being made prior to making cuts and raising costs elsewhere (for those served by the USPS). Friends/associates of mine who've worked for the USPS described to me a top-heavy post office system with pushed to the limit postal workers beneath them, while multiple highly-paid supervisors "supervise.*"
*USPS Supervisor - as in how many "USPS supervisors" does it take to screw in a lightbulb...... It's time for the post office to show accountability by management cuts before raising costs and cutting services.
The internet with mail order sales like on Amazon and e-Bay were supposed to save the USPS. Now, with Kindle and i-Tunes....half of the need is erased from shipping needs. Now people don’t really have the expendable income to buy stuff on e-Bay any longer.
Read between the lines....
I don’t know about that. A lot of people are going to sites like Amazon and eBay in order to save money and avoid sales taxes. Amazon Prime offers free shipping and is often a good deal. Personally in most cases when I’ve purchased anything on Amazon or on purchased or sold items on eBay I go for the UPS delivery vs. the USPS – FedEx if it’s really important or valuable.
I’m with you on the general irrelevance of the USPS in my daily life, but as you mention, there are some things that require interaction with them.
My funniest USPS moment: I was getting my passport (I had lived 30+ years without one) and the line wasn’t too bad, but I had waited about 25 minutes on a lunch hour to get to the front. With the transaction only requiring one more step, the fire alarm went off. The clerk could have easily stamped/done whatever she needed to do to complete the file and I could have gone on my merry way. By the second tone of the alarm, she had dropped everything and said “everyone out”.
I spent the next 45 minutes waiting outside with a bunch of giddy postal employees, thrilled for the unscheduled break. I couldn’t return to my office because my documents (including birth certificate) were sitting literally in plain view on a postal counter. When the all clear was given, I spent a grand total of approximately 45 seconds wrapping the transaction up.
I’m sure there are good people who work for the USPS. But organizationally, they suck.
For the most part the USPS is not bad for what they do and I’ve had some good experiences but when I had to pick up my last certified letter it took a ½ hour of standing on line only to deal with a rather surly and rude USPS worker for whom it was quite obvious, didn’t want to be there.
OTOH, when I accepted my current job my HR manager sent my pre-employment paperwork via FedEx and mistakenly checked the option for “signature” required.
So I came home and found a sticker on my door from FedEx saying they had tried to deliver a package to me and since it required a signature, gave me options for doing so – redelivery or picking up from my local FedEx site and provided a toll free number and a web link for doing so. It was great. At 9:00 PM I logged into the FedEx site with the tracking number and indicated that I would pickup. I was then linked to directions to the closest FedEx site and within minutes received a phone call from a FedEx rep to confirm and ask me if I had any questions or concerns. When I went to the FedEx site, which was open until 8:00PM, I was greeted by a friendly and helpful rep and got in and out with my package in less than 5 minutes.
FedEx organizationally wise is very good in my experiences with them.
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