US Postal Service

[grnspot110]

Another day another USPS screw up. Package yesterday was too long to fit inside mailbox so carrier, instead of 5 minute delivery to house as is normal, just jammed the package in the box, left the door open, exposing part of package. Anybody driving by could have seen/stolen it!

Or hit it driving by! I had a long wood turning chisel left in the box recently with the box door open, fortunately, the wife saw it before anything happened. Later, I ordered another long chisel, different carrier brought it to the house! :thumbsup:

We're inside the city limits, but have rural carriers.

 

[fordmantpw]

Our carrier here in rural central MO is EXCELLENT! We normally get our mail around 3:00 in the afternoon. Saturday, he shows up around 8:30 and I'm wondering what is going on. Well, I had ordered a bug shield for my new truck and that was the only thing he could fit in his car. He made a special trip to deliver it first.

 

[coobie]

USPS are the biggest LAZY idiots.Still waiting on a package that has been bounced around for the last 5 days.

 

[dmccarty]

Dang it!

My last Fitbit decided to loose itself so I needed a new one. I ordered a new Fitbit last week and it was delivered on Sunday. :thumbsup: The problem was that the package was made at the mail box and not brought up to the house. :confused3: So I had to walk a good 2,000-3,000 steps down to the mail box and back to get my fancy dancy pedometer which meant I did not get credit for my 2,000-3,000 steps! The INHUMANITY of it all! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

The last Sunday delivery we had was made to the house so we must have had a different delivery person. No big deal really.

Later,
Dan

 

[hawkeye08]

A little history here - the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 decimated the USPS. One of the main features of the act was that the USPS pay 5 billion dollars a year to pay for future employees health benefits. This 5 billion dollars was submitted to the Treasury which in turn applied it to the Federal deficit. These payments would pay for employees that haven't even been born yet, as far out as 75 years! Congress saw the USPS as a cash cow and tapped into it. No other business or agency in the US was subject to such an onerous payment. This in turn resulted in what was once a profitable, self sustaining entity, becoming a failing business model that was bleeding red. In order to try to stem the bleeding, the USPS took to divesting itself of its' largest costs - employees. Employees account for approximately 80% of their expenditures. In doing so, they offered early outs for their senior and most experienced employees. A large number of these employees have left, only to be replaced with non-career employees who are paid far less. The non-career employees are given little training, and because of their non-career status, do not have much investment in the job. After over 5 years of wrangling, Congress has yet to do anything to overturn the PAEA. The poor service you are experiencing is the result of the PAEA. Just sayin.....

Sounds like what Congress did to Social Security, if the money was actually there earning even a modest return, it will be able to sustain... but no, they raided it and there is nothing except what is being paid into it..

 

[Diggin It]

Only semi recent and open postal thread I could find .....

Bay package coming from a few hundred miles away was initially scheduled to arrive Saturday, but now shows 'out for delivery' today. Not too shabby.

Rural carrier drives a 90s clunker with a loud muffler I can hear over a mile away, but arrives within about an hour window every day.

 

[Mat4644]

Sounds like what Congress did to Social Security, if the money was actually there earning even a modest return, it will be able to sustain... but no, they raided it and there is nothing except what is being paid into it..

Congress didn't raid SS or the Post Office. The Post Office retirement system is grossly under funded with a shrinking workforce to pay for the retired workers benefits. To be self funded more contributions are needed. One of the private companies I worked for was required to add more money to the pension fund because it was under funded. Many private companies such as GM are also grossly underfunded and future benefits might be questionable.

SS pays out a lot of benefits for many that made only small contributions. That is where the money went.

 

[BRMyers]

You do realize that Postal employees are either covered by the Civil Service Retirement or the FERS. Most now days are under the FERS. The challenge with USPS, it is a service and not a business. Laws prohibit the postal service from competing like typical businesses. IF you look outside of the US, many postal services have multiple branches and are in areas such as banking. Yet, Congress has kept the postal service as a SERVICE and not a business, so it isn't designed or able to make the money that a normal business would/could. Yet in turn, every address can get mail service and packages that other parcel carries won't take because they aren't profitable to deliver to rural areas go by the Post Office because they are required to deliver them.

So if you want to change the postal system, you have to change from a Service to a Business.

 

[Mat4644]

The Postal workers union has always prevented any change to a business.

 

[Thall303]

Depending upon what happens in November, we may see a very different Post Office in four years!