One of the biggest things on the table is changing or possibly severly cutting back employee pensions and retirement.
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USPS to propose 5-day mail schedule, major cuts
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One of the biggest things on the table is changing or possibly severly cutting back employee pensions and retirement.
My best friend is a postmaster at a small town, and I'm sure he has mixed feelings about such a proposition. On one hand, he wouldn't have to work every other Saturday. On the other, his wife drives a Saturday carrier route for a nearby city to fund extra things for their kids; this position would thus be eliminated, and I don't think a weekday job fits with her family obligations.
I'll have to ask his opinion on all this...
I'll have to ask his opinion on all this...
There're too many post offices already - they really need to consolidate the little poke-and-plum post offices in towns less than, say, 2,000 or so. Coagulate the smaller into the medium-sized and larger, invest more in kiosk and self-service (if that's actually cost-effective; I have no idea) and stop raising the stinking rates! Almost half a dollar to send a small letter is ridiculous. Plus, make their service more dependable, and get rid of the dead weight delivering the mail that makes so many mistakes. I wouldn't mind if they cut mail to just three or four days a week. Or, leave daily mail what it is and packages over a certain size cut back to a few days a week.
UPS & Fedex are more reliable, and the actual mail carriers themselves, ime, leave mail all over where it doesn't belong and the post office won't acknowledge their mistakes. Cut pay for the people who don't perform well, and sack them altogether if they get too many complaints.
UPS & Fedex are more reliable, and the actual mail carriers themselves, ime, leave mail all over where it doesn't belong and the post office won't acknowledge their mistakes. Cut pay for the people who don't perform well, and sack them altogether if they get too many complaints.
I've requested this so many times in the past and congress rejected it every time. They need to do it, in fact, I think cutting back to 4 days makes more sense.
So much of the correspondences occur electronically now a days. It makes no sense to have a 6 day delivery schedule when they're mostly delivering junk mail.
I can't remember the last time I paid a bill/mailed it, let a alone write a letter.
So much of the correspondences occur electronically now a days. It makes no sense to have a 6 day delivery schedule when they're mostly delivering junk mail.
I can't remember the last time I paid a bill/mailed it, let a alone write a letter.
My whole thing is the delivery of packages. The USPS is much more reliable and significantly cheaper than either UPS or FedEX. Plus, missed deliveries I can pick up from my local Post Office. With UPS or FedEX, I have to spend an hour in traffic trying to get to the facility...is the weekend even an easy option for them? I buy a lot of things online and like the possibility of getting my stuff any of 6 days a week.
If delivery days were cut, I would also be getting my Blockbuster DVD's later too. Nothing good can come of this on the consumer/customer side of things. But cuts do need to be made to preserve the healthy functioning of the system. I'm hoping that Congress allows them to expand into other areas of business to help prop up income. And if they do cut a day, Tuesday or Thursday would be the one.
If delivery days were cut, I would also be getting my Blockbuster DVD's later too. Nothing good can come of this on the consumer/customer side of things. But cuts do need to be made to preserve the healthy functioning of the system. I'm hoping that Congress allows them to expand into other areas of business to help prop up income. And if they do cut a day, Tuesday or Thursday would be the one.
Saturday mail delivery could easily be cut. Canada Post doesn't offer that and I'm sure nobody up here misses it. You guys could easily get used to it.
They should cut Wednesday. It's the middle of the week, and I don't want my Netflix to be delayed THAT long.
This will save them a pile of money. Sort the mail into two classes "junk" and "stuf I want". Deliver all the junk mail just once a month all tied in a bundle. Deliver the other mail four days a week. Not only does it save money but I will not have to sort through the mail.
When I pick up mail I sort it as I'm walking back to the house and will many times make a stop at the trash can to dump the junkmail
Another cost saving idea. Why even bother to deliver junk. If they sent it in bult directly to the recycle center the trash pickup guys would have loss to haul and save some money too.
When I pick up mail I sort it as I'm walking back to the house and will many times make a stop at the trash can to dump the junkmail
Another cost saving idea. Why even bother to deliver junk. If they sent it in bult directly to the recycle center the trash pickup guys would have loss to haul and save some money too.
I think the companies paying to have it delivered might have an issue or two with that.
Not that I enjoy the stuff, or that I consider Newsweek much of a source, but the considerations in it are still valid.
i think children's letter's to santa claus will not make it this year
Actually, I heard that letters to the North Pole no longer get delivered. People are happy to respond to the letters, but there was an issue about a sex offender getting in on the act. I think it was a mild problem but now they feel they have to check out everyone who might write replies and there is no money for that. Weird how our world turned out.
I bet the reason they aren't proposing to axe a week day is because the postal workers want weekends off just like you and I do.
Avocados are 33 cents a piece this week at Ralph's. Talk about a deal! Go get your guacamole on.
I'm in favor of ditching Saturday delivery and even going with MWF delivery. But I think the PO needs to at least be open on Saturday and perhaps M-F for people to go in to do business. The business model has completely changed obviously and the PO is dead weight in many respects. 95% of my mail goes right into the recycle bin. Can't remember the last time I actually mailed a letter or anything.
It's obvious to me. Last time I went to mail a package at the PO it took almost an hour of standing in line because they had so few people working.
Saturday delivery - don't care, wont miss it. Though I think they might want to have it during December for the Christmas volume.
One issue I have seen locally is that the post offices seem to be built with only a relatively small number of counters to service customers, and even then they don't seem to have many people serving even if the line is out the door. Surely they could have some extra staff available out back who can spend 5-10 minutes when the queue is 30 deep, i'm sure a good number of people gave up on the USPS because the queue was too long everytime they went.
Passport applications also seem to cause issues, the local post office seems to only do them at certain times but that line itself can be pretty long & cause delays for other requests.
The majority of my trips to the post office are to send packages to my parents in Australia, where USPS is reasonable & often the package gets there within a week, UPS/FedEx are horrendous & only used if you need a tracking number etc.
One issue I have seen locally is that the post offices seem to be built with only a relatively small number of counters to service customers, and even then they don't seem to have many people serving even if the line is out the door. Surely they could have some extra staff available out back who can spend 5-10 minutes when the queue is 30 deep, i'm sure a good number of people gave up on the USPS because the queue was too long everytime they went.
Passport applications also seem to cause issues, the local post office seems to only do them at certain times but that line itself can be pretty long & cause delays for other requests.
The majority of my trips to the post office are to send packages to my parents in Australia, where USPS is reasonable & often the package gets there within a week, UPS/FedEx are horrendous & only used if you need a tracking number etc.
Well, of course, every other day is not viable since the week has an odd number of days. They aren't going to deliver on Sunday! That's just too ingrained as a no delivery day to change it. Besides, with so many businesses closed on Sunday, it just wouldn't work. Many businesses receive mail at the receptionist's desk, Monday through Saturday.
I do use them but I wouldn't have a problem with them shutting down one of the days they deliver on. Whether it is Saturday or one of the week days. But then again I don't have a business that realize on the post office.
It would be interesting to see how much could be saved by stopping just the delivery of mail on Saturday but letting all other functions (i.e. post offices open) continue as normal.
I wonder how much people they have delivering mail on a Saturday, how many vehicles involved that use gas, get extra wear & tear & so on. So long as the removal of one delivery day per week does not cause them to do multiple trips on the exact same route the following day then they gain a bit. If staff have to be in the post office anyway to do sorting/receiving then the savings of not being open to the public is minimal, you need the lights & heating/cooling on regardless.
I wonder how much people they have delivering mail on a Saturday, how many vehicles involved that use gas, get extra wear & tear & so on. So long as the removal of one delivery day per week does not cause them to do multiple trips on the exact same route the following day then they gain a bit. If staff have to be in the post office anyway to do sorting/receiving then the savings of not being open to the public is minimal, you need the lights & heating/cooling on regardless.