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Postal Problems

MechaSpanky

MechaSpanky

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 11, 2007
313
152
I have been living abroad for over 10 years and so I had forgotten how horrible the US Post Office is. To those people who live in the US and have never been abroad, let me be frank. The US Postal Service is terrible. I was embarrassed by how lame the Post Office is here. The staff are rude and unpleasant and the rates to mail things are, in my opinion, over-priced.

I used to mail Christmas cards to the US every year from Japan and it cost ¥110 a card, which is 95¢ (but it changes depending on the exchange rate but it is normally around $1). I got back and I learned that the postal rate went up from 37¢ to 47¢ for domestic mail, not so surprising but when I went to mail "nenga-jo" (Japanese New Year cards) to my friends in Japan, I was shocked when the postal worker (who was super unpleasant) that it would cost $1.15 to mail one postcard to Japan. I told her "$1.15 for 5 of them?" and she frowned and said "no just one". I was shocked, that is crazy expensive. It is only a simple small post card that weighs next to nothing. If I mailed it domestically it would be 35¢. A card to Japan is $1.50. I left the post office and didn't buy them because I was sure that the worker told me the wrong price. I got home and looked it up on their website and sure enough, it was $1.15. I hate that the rates are going up so much and yet the service is going down at even a faster rate. I have been to the post office three or four times since I got back and I have had the terrible service every time. Anyone else have bad luck with the US Postal Service?

Mecha
 
Actually the only complaint - if you could even call it that - that I have against the USPS is their tracking system for packages. It never seems to be accurate or updated. Other than that, I've never had anything but pleasant experiences with the employees and the rates they charge are comparable to or better than what I see from FedEx or UPS.

You sound upset that it costs $0.95 to send a card from Japan to the US but $1.15 to go the other way. As a result, you call the USPS "terrible," "lame," and "over-priced." I think you're reaching to make those statements; just my opinion.
 
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Tomorrow,

It isn't just the price, it is the fact that the rates have increased dramatically (as I pointed out I've been gone over a decade so to me it seems dramatic to me) as the service has fallen. Sure the service was never very good but I feel that it has gotten worse.

Not a card, a post card. The rate for sending post cards is cheaper than cards. It doesn't seem like much but when you think about sending a hundred or more cards, then you can appreciate how much a difference in price makes.
 
MechaSpanky said:
It isn't just the price, it is the fact that the rates have increased dramatically (as I pointed out I've been gone over a decade so to me it seems dramatic to me) as the service has fallen. Sure the service was never very good but I feel that it has gotten worse.
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I get what you're saying, I'm just disagreeing. I haven't seen the service get worse over time - I've never had any bad service, nor have I seen a decline in service. And yes, the price has gone up, like so many other things in life. I just never saw it as something that would make me spit venom the way your post seemed to.
 
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The only complaint that I have is that the postal service is now really slow after they consolidated their processing over a year ago. I used to be able to get a Netflix Dvd a day after they sent it. Now, I'm lucky to get it in two days (usually more) after Netflix sends it out.
 
Tomorrow,

I wish I lived in your neighborhood. The service that I have received at the post office here where I live is horrible and if you experienced it you would be mad too. It was like that even when I was a kid. I have even gone to multiple post offices trying to find a good one. I went to the big main post office in my city (a medium to large metro city) and I even went to small suburban and countryside post offices but it didn't make any difference.
 
MechaSpanky said:
I have been living abroad for over 10 years and so I had forgotten how horrible the US Post Office is. To those people who live in the US and have never been abroad, let me be frank. The US Postal Service is terrible.
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You've been spoiled by the nice service you've received by foreign postal services.:p Those of us here in the US have grown accustomed to the long lines and slow service.:oops:
 
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Plutonius said:
The only complaint that I have is that the postal service is now really slow after they consolidated their processing over a year ago. I used to be able to get a Netflix Dvd a day after they sent it. Now, I'm lucky to get it in two days (usually more) after Netflix sends it out.
Click to expand...

Wait Netflix still sends out DVD's? :p
 
MechaSpanky said:
I have been living abroad for over 10 years and so I had forgotten how horrible the US Post Office is. To those people who live in the US and have never been abroad, let me be frank. The US Postal Service is terrible. I was embarrassed by how lame the Post Office is here. The staff are rude and unpleasant and the rates to mail things are, in my opinion, over-priced.

I used to mail Christmas cards to the US every year from Japan and it cost ¥110 a card, which is 95¢ (but it changes depending on the exchange rate but it is normally around $1).
Click to expand...

Well the USPS is a US government agency. Generally these are not known for great service.

In contrast, Japan Post is a publicly traded corporation.
 
Has everyone forgotten what happened to the US Postal Service in 2006?
Congress attempted to cripple it so it can be privatized at some point. From the LA Times article:

"In 2006, the GOP Congress passed a bill that required the Postal Service to fully fund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years and to accomplish this within a 10-year period. Republicans are always insisting that the USPS be run like a good capitalist enterprise, but few, if any, private businesses could bear the burden of funding three-quarters of a century of retired employees’ medical costs over just one decade.

pixel.gif

In truth, the Republicans who crafted the bill were not interested in turning the Postal Service into a better business; they were seeking to run the post office out of business. With all those unionized employees working for a quasi-governmental operation that competes with private sector enterprises, the Postal Service is an affront to those who hate government, hate unions and hate to think that there is anything that government can do better than the private sector. The post office may be mandated by the United States Constitution, as clearly as freedom of religion or the right to bear arms, but it does not fit with modern Republican dogma and, therefore, has been targeted for extinction.

About the only thing that has saved the Postal Service is the fact that nobody else wants to serve rural areas."
​
Besides postal rates going up a lot in this time, other things languished too like maintenance of buildings & local delivery trucks, slashes to cleaning budgets. Seriously, every post office I've been over the past several years has slowly gotten grubbier & grubbier. Last year our local delivery person's junker truck stalled out every 3rd or 4th house & burnt oil like mad. Thankfully that truck was replaced or repaired earlier this year & our mail now arrives at least 3 hours earlier.

Infrastructure in general..... I watched a documentary about Bolivia last winter which still depresses me to think about ---the buses there were so shiny, clean & MODERN compared to any I've seen in central Maryland.
 
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Pretty much 75% every time I deal with USPS for shipping packages it doesn't end up on time. They can get a letter from A to B with no problem though.

$1.50 to mail a post card, honestly you're talking about fractions of cents how many times a year. Send an email if you're not happy paying the prices.

The price of domestic stamps has decreased, so if you mail domestically at least you're saving money.
 
CrickettGrrrl said:
Has everyone forgotten what happened to the US Postal Service in 2006?
Congress attempted to cripple it so it can be privatized at some point. From the LA Times article:

"In 2006, the GOP Congress passed a bill that required the Postal Service to fully fund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years and to accomplish this within a 10-year period. Republicans are always insisting that the USPS be run like a good capitalist enterprise, but few, if any, private businesses could bear the burden of funding three-quarters of a century of retired employees’ medical costs over just one decade.

In truth, the Republicans who crafted the bill were not interested in turning the Postal Service into a better business; they were seeking to run the post office out of business. With all those unionized employees working for a quasi-governmental operation that competes with private sector enterprises, the Postal Service is an affront to those who hate government, hate unions and hate to think that there is anything that government can do better than the private sector. The post office may be mandated by the United States Constitution, as clearly as freedom of religion or the right to bear arms, but it does not fit with modern Republican dogma and, therefore, has been targeted for extinction.

About the only thing that has saved the Postal Service is the fact that nobody else wants to serve rural areas."
​
Besides postal rates going up a lot in this time, other things languished too like maintenance of buildings & local delivery trucks, slashes to cleaning budgets. Seriously, every post office I've been over the past several years has slowly gotten grubbier & grubbier. Last year our local delivery person's junker truck stalled out every 3rd or 4th house & burnt oil like mad. Thankfully that truck was replaced or repaired earlier this year & our mail now arrives at least 3 hours earlier.

Infrastructure in general..... I watched a documentary about Bolivia last winter which still depresses me to think about ---the buses there were so shiny, clean & MODERN compared to any I've seen in central Maryland.
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Thank you for raising the question of whether a public good, a public service, funded from public monies, should be asked to prioritise profit or service.

There are postal services which are superb, but their stated mandate is not to make a profit, it is to supply a service, and if that service is profitable, so much the better, but this is not the reason the body exists in the first place.
 
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ActionableMango said:
Well the USPS is a US government agency. Generally these are not known for great service.

In contrast, Japan Post is a publicly traded corporation.
Click to expand...
ActionableMango,

You are right in one regard, the Japanese Post is hundreds of times better (faster, more efficient, more polite, more reliable, etc) than the lame US Post Office. The publicly traded corporation part is a bit misleading. You are correct in that it is a "publicly traded" company but it is a state-owned company with the state owning more than 80% of the company. Does that make it more efficient? I'm not sure, I would be more inclined to think it has more to do with the work ethic and attitude of Japanese workers but maybe it is because it is a publicly traded corporation?
 
$1.50 to ship a card from Japan to USA? That's pricey for you? That's what a cheapskate would say. I could understand if you were posting out a few hundred, then that .50 would make a big difference, but one card? Jesus.
 
Funny enough I'm getting ready to buy some Oakley parts from Japan, and they ship postal all the way to my door (kind of fun seeing in the inter-Japan postal stamps and whatnot).
 
I save international mail because it looks so great. I know that's a weird thing to say, but who cares. I've got some lovely Danish and British postal envelopes somewhere in an album. Also stamp cutouts from other countries.
 
rhett7660 said:
Wait Netflix still sends out DVD's? :p
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Yep, I was getting DvDs and streaming from Netflix but I canceled streaming this summer. The Dvd service is much cheaper then going to the movies but now I can only get one / week instead of the two / week I was getting (Netflix stopped Saturday delivery and the postal service is much much slower).
 
Zenithal said:
$1.50 to ship a card from Japan to USA? That's pricey for you? That's what a cheapskate would say. I could understand if you were posting out a few hundred, then that .50 would make a big difference, but one card? Jesus.
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Thanks for your unnecessarily rude comments that are both uncalled for and inaccurate. From your clueless post I have my doubts about whether or not you actually read my posts. Why don't you go back and re-read my posts and then maybe you'll understand things better, or maybe not? You'll see that I never said how many I was planning on mailing. In fact, I said the exact same thing that you said a few posts earlier. Here I'll go ahead and repost what I posted earlier for you to save you some time "It doesn't seem like much but when you think about sending a hundred or more cards, then you can appreciate how much a difference in price makes." Sound familiar?
 
MechaSpanky said:
ActionableMango,

You are right in one regard, the Japanese Post is hundreds of times better (faster, more efficient, more polite, more reliable, etc) than the lame US Post Office. The publicly traded corporation part is a bit misleading. You are correct in that it is a "publicly traded" company but it is a state-owned company with the state owning more than 80% of the company. Does that make it more efficient? I'm not sure, I would be more inclined to think it has more to do with the work ethic and attitude of Japanese workers but maybe it is because it is a publicly traded corporation?
Click to expand...

I don't know. I have to admit that it was an unfair comparison on my part. The two are so vastly different in every way, including the culture that they serve, that it would be difficult to pin the superior experience to any one thing.
 
ActionableMango,

I used to think that the Japan Post was completely privatized like you. I believe that at one point that was the plan but something went wrong and the government backed out on completely privatizing it. It was only recently that I learned that it is owned by the Japanese government and that it wasn't really private. But I completely agree with you, the culture that they serve is very difficult and it is difficult to pin down the exact difference but I can attest to the fact that they are very different and I would say that customer service in Japan is unlike anything I have ever experienced in the US. It is quite possibly the best in the world. The customer truly is king there.
 
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