Is the postal slowdown affecting you?

[MinnesotaEric]

I'm happy with my postal service. My post people bring all kinds of packages up my driveway when they don't fit into my mailbox and for that I'm super thankful.

 

[dragoneggs]

My :2cents: on USPS. It is a service that once upon a time could only be run by the government. Now that there is far more interstate commerce at the consumer level and several competing companies to transport 'light' packages, along with email, e-billing, and other more efficient 'mail' methods... the USPS has become a burdensome dinosaur.

I understand that for many, the USPS is still a life line for them. It's not for me. I bank online, I electronically correspond 99.9% of the time vs. traditional mail. If the USPS ceased, I am not sure it would be much of an inconvenience for me.

Mailing a letter at $0.55 is a bargain too good to be true. Expecting a human to come to your private mail box to pick up deliver a 1oz package anywhere in the USA for that price is ridiculous in my opinion. And that is not to mention the huge pension burden the USPS has to service.

I'm pretty sure the current competing companies such as UPS, FEDEX, DHL, Amazon, or others would emerge to take up the slack if the USPS went away. The free market would then dictate cost/price model. More of a pay per use model than everybody subsidizing a government service where some folks (including large corporations) can take advantage.

Time for USPS to go IMHO.

 

[Jstpssng]

A good clerk can sort 800 to 1000 letters an hour The mail processing machinery processes 30,000 to 35,000 pieces an hour. The transportation is already in place so moving the sortation to the distribution centers was a matter of economies of scale.

Yet that town only has 5763 people... and it's the county seat. How much local mail can they get? My town has >200 people; yet if I wanted to mail somebody a birthday card, it would travel 500 miles before they got it. That's efficient?

 

[ruffdog]

"It is, however, an "establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States", (39 U.S.C. § 201) as it is controlled by presidential appointees and the postmaster general." (wiki)

If the usps was lost, the "for profit" private companies would want to make some money. My opinion is you can bet mailing a letter is going to up quite a bit.

 

[grsthegreat]

One good thing about the post office folding...no more junk mail. Easily 75% of my mail are fliers and junk mail, plus those stupid prospectus papers my finance company insists on sending even though i chose to accept them online. Honestly, except for greeting cards and packages, i dont use or need snail mail. The next time i pay irs it will be electronic payment. Ill not wait 21 days for them to receive payment again. I doubt people will send junk mail if private industry rates were to hit.

 

[MarkF48]

If a business is sending someone to maintain equipment and to collect what little there may be deposited in it and the cost and time of the employee to perform that task likely greatly exceeds the revenue that would be derived from the cost, it's probably in the best interest of the business to remove the equipment from service and direct the employee to more productive tasks. It's just one example of maintaining an under performing business model that money(bailout) shouldn't be thrown at in an effort to keep in existence regardless of circumstances.

 

[k0ua]

Is the postal slowdown affecting me? Answer, NO. I didn't know there was one.

 

[deserteagle71]

Is the postal slowdown affecting me? Answer, NO. I didn't know there was one.

Same here.

 

[Oaktree]

My :2cents: on USPS. It is a service that once upon a time could only be run by the government. Now that there is far more interstate commerce at the consumer level and several competing companies to transport 'light' packages, along with email, e-billing, and other more efficient 'mail' methods... the USPS has become a burdensome dinosaur.

I understand that for many, the USPS is still a life line for them. It's not for me. I bank online, I electronically correspond 99.9% of the time vs. traditional mail. If the USPS ceased, I am not sure it would be much of an inconvenience for me.

Mailing a letter at $0.55 is a bargain too good to be true. Expecting a human to come to your private mail box to pick up deliver a 1oz package anywhere in the USA for that price is ridiculous in my opinion. And that is not to mention the huge pension burden the USPS has to service.

I'm pretty sure the current competing companies such as UPS, FEDEX, DHL, Amazon, or others would emerge to take up the slack if the USPS went away. The free market would then dictate cost/price model. More of a pay per use model than everybody subsidizing a government service where some folks (including large corporations) can take advantage.

Time for USPS to go IMHO.

Trouble is, these companies can pick and choose where they deliver while the USPS is obligated to deliver to every U.S. address. Even now, how many packages initially shipped by another service is the "last mile" delivery via the U.S. Mail? Quite a few.
How much you wanna bet some who live in Podunk will lose service if the post office goes feet up?

I for one still prefer to receive and pay most of my bills by mail. The fewer companies with direct electronic access to my accounts the better.
I don't get a lot of junk mail, and what little I get seems to be political ads in election years...all of which go right into the round file.

No argument that the USPS has its problems, and could stand a reorganization, but all in all I think they're doing a pretty good job.

Is the postal slowdown affecting me? Answer, NO. I didn't know there was one.

I sent a package to a friend about 2 weeks ago, he still hasn't received it. Usually it takes 3-4 days. I've also noticed the mailman is about an hour later these days than even a few months ago.

 

[Rebeldad1]

Same here.

Me 3.