The USPS continues to be caught in the vortex created by technological advances. The emails and ads you get on your PC used to come by envelope or flyer. Retailers, sellers, etc., have all weighed the value of communications, and the USPS just isn't competitive, nor as effective as they once were when they were the only game in town.
Not only is the advertising end hyper-competitive, but the usually reliable telephone, utility and bank business, is also shrinking. People get their utility bills and credit card statements electronically, and they remit those payments the same way. A shrinking commercial business has no substitute now, or in the future.
For packages, they used to own the parcel business, even competing with the old Railway Express. Then UPS, FEDEX, DHL, etc., came along; USPS had to compete, or lose out entirely. USPS couldn't just adapt to the private model, they had to compete with their own union rules, and an unsympathetic Federal government. As an example, I've bought a lot of camera equipment from Japanese sellers. While their post office is a model of efficiency, the same can't be said of the USPS, once the package arrives in the USA. However, neither is as competitive as FEDEX. Packages through FEDEX are received in 3-4 days.
The USPS problems are large, complex, and not likely to end favorably for them. The current Wuhan virus crisis did them no favors.
PhotogHobbyist wrote:
I live in a small rural town of about 7,000 population. If I want to mail a birthday card to a friend across town, the card enters the post office three blocks from me and then gets sent to a large city in another state about two and a half hours drive from my town. Then after a day or so there it comes back to my town and gets processed for delivery the day after it arrives. It can take three or four days to go across town.
Sometimes it is cheaper and more efficient to get in my car and drive it over to the friend's house to deliver in person. No one ever said the government works logically or efficiently. Look at Congress.
I live in a small rural town of about 7,000 popula... (
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Funny how that works. Our local mail stays in the local PO, but if I send something to the next town over, it goes either an hour north or an hour south to be sorted. I generally drive to the PO of the town where the receiver lives so it will arrive faster.
pendennis wrote:
The USPS continues to be caught in the vortex created by technological advances. The emails and ads you get on your PC used to come by envelope or flyer. Retailers, sellers, etc., have all weighed the value of communications, and the USPS just isn't competitive, nor as effective as they once were when they were the only game in town.
Not only is the advertising end hyper-competitive, but the usually reliable telephone, utility and bank business, is also shrinking. People get their utility bills and credit card statements electronically, and they remit those payments the same way. A shrinking commercial business has no substitute now, or in the future.
For packages, they used to own the parcel business, even competing with the old Railway Express. Then UPS, FEDEX, DHL, etc., came along; USPS had to compete, or lose out entirely. USPS couldn't just adapt to the private model, they had to compete with their own union rules, and an unsympathetic Federal government. As an example, I've bought a lot of camera equipment from Japanese sellers. While their post office is a model of efficiency, the same can't be said of the USPS, once the package arrives in the USA. However, neither is as competitive as FEDEX. Packages through FEDEX are received in 3-4 days.
The USPS problems are large, complex, and not likely to end favorably for them. The current Wuhan virus crisis did them no favors.
The USPS continues to be caught in the vortex crea... (
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I think it is each individual voter telling our elected officials that everything they do must be for the "common good" of all American citizens, not special interests (and their campaign contributions).
Paul Diamond wrote:
I think it is each individual voter telling our elected officials that everything they do must be for the "common good" of all American citizens, not special interests (and their campaign contributions).
Excellent point!
While the Post Office needs to be competitive, it's also one of those entities which can't be considered on price/cost alone. While I'm a firm believer that there is no "common good", I do live in "Realville", and the Post Office is a fact of life. If the USPS is viewed through a strict cost/benefit analysis, it would be gone yesterday. However, the USPS is a function which is historic, stated in its service motto ("Neither snow nor rain...").
If we didn't have the mail to complain about, something else would come along tomorrow.
I recall my childhood when in WW2 we had perhaps 50 chickens. Those chickens were delivered by the mailman to our back porch... all peeping in a vented box. Sears and Robuck was the Amazon of its day and USPO was the Prime.
The role of the PO has been reduced, but it is still a necessary social service and with polls closing down and CV-19 vote by mail is a necessity... I would hate to hear that Jerry has died of CV-19 contracted by a long voting line wait in an early snow in the moutains where he lives.
People please, please don't get me started on the USPS; they should be out of business! Period!!!
jaymatt wrote:
You get an email from the post office? You’re kidding, right?
Lol!
I have the same service...signed up to get an e-mail of what will be delivered each day.
But it is weird😊
brobill
Loc: Fort Worth, Texas ( Haslet)
I’ve used Informed Delivery for several years. When we moved two years ago we soon learned that it shows what we are supposed to receive on a given day. If an item doesn’t arrive on the day we get the notice, it is usually never seen. Last Saturday were to get five pieces of mail. We got zero. As of Wednesday we’ve not seen any of those pieces. I called the main p o and held for over 2 hours to file a complaint.
whfowle
Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque
If our governments: federal, state, and city would just live like a business that had to count every penny to stay afloat, we would see much less bloated operations and every decision pushed to the lowest management level. Big government is way too authoritarian, acts like nobody has enough sense to make their own decisions and cost us tax payers far too much for services that are at best mediocre. I've never seen a government that didn't think it had to control everything, writes way too many regulations and laws, and never finds a way to drop old and unnecessary regulations or programs. We, as citizens, need to start doing things ourselves instead of making government the source to solve all our needs. We will all be better off.
leftj wrote:
Yep, it's called informed delivery. I recently signed up for it. We'll see how consistently accurate it is.
I've had it for about a year now, and it has been pretty much spot on.
jaymatt wrote:
You get an email from the post office? You’re kidding, right?
I get one too. So I know what political pleas are coming later in the day.
I forget where I signed up for it but it was somewhere online.
And you cannot fire them .
jerryc41 wrote:
I don't generally complain about the post office because I usually get good service. I get a daily email telling me what I'll be receiving every day. Yesterday, they said I was getting a package which I was expecting. It never arrived. I went to the PO in the afternoon. "Nope! No package for you."
I just got the delivery notice for today, and the package isn't mentioned. When I checked the tracking number, it indicated that it was delivered to the PO yesterday morning, and it was ready for pickup. Pickup? It's supposed to be delivered. If it doesn't get delivered today, I'll go back to the PO and see if they have it.
I went through something like this about a year ago. The PO supposedly had the package, but they said they didn't. A couple of days later, it arrived.
On the plus side, if you are sending a package Priority Mail, you can pay and print the label at home - no waiting in line at the PO. Just drop it off. Yesterday, I had to wait while the guy in front of me mailed five packages.
I don't generally complain about the post office b... (
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Mail-in voting ballots! What a great idea! Give them to the USPS! Wait, what did I just say?
jerryc41 wrote:
I don't generally complain about the post office because I usually get good service. I get a daily email telling me what I'll be receiving every day. Yesterday, they said I was getting a package which I was expecting. It never arrived. I went to the PO in the afternoon. "Nope! No package for you."
I just got the delivery notice for today, and the package isn't mentioned. When I checked the tracking number, it indicated that it was delivered to the PO yesterday morning, and it was ready for pickup. Pickup? It's supposed to be delivered. If it doesn't get delivered today, I'll go back to the PO and see if they have it.
I went through something like this about a year ago. The PO supposedly had the package, but they said they didn't. A couple of days later, it arrived.
On the plus side, if you are sending a package Priority Mail, you can pay and print the label at home - no waiting in line at the PO. Just drop it off. Yesterday, I had to wait while the guy in front of me mailed five packages.
I don't generally complain about the post office b... (
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Some years ago, I got a notice that a package was at the P.O. for my father who had recently passed away. I had no idea what it was, but thought I'd pick it up. When I got there, nobody could find it, but I was told that someone would be in the next day who knew where it was. This went on for a couple days without anyone producing anything but various excuses. Finally after going in one more time, I was told that nobody had picked it up so it was sent back to the original sender. Never found out anymore about it.
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