Who actually uses the USPS?

[copperhead]

I like USPS but, just as an example, I see the mailman in my complex texting in his [government provided] van, texting on his [government provided] cell phone, adding to his [government provided] paycheck until 5 before 5 when he's due back at the office.

 

3 day a week delivery would be perfect IMO as long as they could still guarantee next-delivery-date service.

 

I'm reasonably sure that they are paid by the route, not by the hour, so if they want to screw around and take longer to get home its their problem.

 

Worlds better than fighting with UPS.

 

But I hate that we are subusidising all of this junk mail. It's the epitome of wastefulness.

 

Probably 1 out of every 10 pieces of mail I receive might not be junk mail and probably 1 out of every 10 of those are things I actually need to get in the mail.

 

I've probably use them more in the last few months than I would have every imagined, with Joe being over seas. Flat rate boxes to APOs FTW.

 

Unfortunately that junk mail is what is keeping the post office alive. Even though USPS is supposedly an independent entity now, Clowngress still decides what goes on with them. The USPS could save boatloads of money by shutting down tiny post offices all over the country that could be served by larger offices, but to shut one down requires an act of Congress. They don't want to be accused of killing jobs by doing that, so they are sitting on their thumbs letting it fall apart.

 

The 6 day delivery week means that for every route they have 2 people assigned to a route, one that days 5 days and someone else that covers the 6th. That's a huge waste, cut it to 5 days and you need far less people so instant savings. Change it to a 3 day work week and that will just turn everything into a fight with the union, not really worth it when 5 day weeks keeps the full time employees going as normal.

 

I'm sure theres a lot of other streamlining they could be doing, if they weren't under the thumb of the government. The question is, do you allow them to make the cuts and transitions needed to survive on their own, or just allow them to go on as they are now but subsidize? The mail can't go away, at least not any time soon, and UPS and FedEx aren't set up for letter carrying to every single house like USPS does.

[copperhead]

oh hey look what I just found:

 

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/12/05/postal-service-confirms-cuts-that-will-slow-mail-down/

 

Senator Durbin kinda proves my point there. He goes out of his way to say he doesn't want to see anything shut down in his home town (full of his voters).

[Clifford Automotive]

I like USPS but, just as an example, I see the mailman in my complex texting in his [government provided] van, texting on his [government provided] cell phone, adding to his [government provided] paycheck until 5 before 5 when he's due back at the office.

 

3 day a week delivery would be perfect IMO as long as they could still guarantee next-delivery-date service.

 

bwahaha... government provided cell phone. They dont have those. LOL

 

Next day delivery is one service being cut in all of this

Its not being cut, the guarantee is being dropped.

 

 

I'm reasonably sure that they are paid by the route, not by the hour, so if they want to screw around and take longer to get home its their problem.

 

 

 

Unfortunately that junk mail is what is keeping the post office alive. Even though USPS is supposedly an independent entity now, Clowngress still decides what goes on with them. The USPS could save boatloads of money by shutting down tiny post offices all over the country that could be served by larger offices, but to shut one down requires an act of Congress. They don't want to be accused of killing jobs by doing that, so they are sitting on their thumbs letting it fall apart.

 

The 6 day delivery week means that for every route they have 2 people assigned to a route, one that days 5 days and someone else that covers the 6th. That's a huge waste, cut it to 5 days and you need far less people so instant savings. Change it to a 3 day work week and that will just turn everything into a fight with the union, not really worth it when 5 day weeks keeps the full time employees going as normal.

 

I'm sure theres a lot of other streamlining they could be doing, if they weren't under the thumb of the government. The question is, do you allow them to make the cuts and transitions needed to survive on their own, or just allow them to go on as they are now but subsidize? The mail can't go away, at least not any time soon, and UPS and FedEx aren't set up for letter carrying to every single house like USPS does.

 

Junk Mail is not what keeps the Post Office going. Its normal mail, priority, and the like.

 

Im not sure where your getting your information from but its all wrong. 1 person covers 1 route. A sub will cover any route needed.

 

USPS delivers everywhere while UPS and Fedex dont deliver to every address.

 

Offices like Grove City are what keep other branches alive. The Grove City office moves over 2 Million Pieces of mail a month. The revenue created by this one office pays for itself and other small offices.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Clifford Automotive

[Wease]

Just like a lot of people said already, USPS is the best to ship with in terms of pricing. That's all I use to ship things... :nod:

[TTQ B4U]

We rarely is ever use US Postage stamps. We pay everything via autopay on 1-2 CC's and then pay those electronically too. The only thing the USPS does for me is bring us junk mail and bills/statements. The only reason they do that is because my wife likes to have paper bills/statements.

 

Package wise they are far cheaper than UPS/Fedex but we still prefer using Fedex as we've had zero issues and customer service is great when it's needed. I wouldn't want to experience service from the post office.

[copperhead]

bwahaha... government provided cell phone. They dont have those. LOL

 

 

Its not being cut, the guarantee is being dropped.

 

 

 

 

Junk Mail is not what keeps the Post Office going. Its normal mail, priority, and the like.

 

Im not sure where your getting your information from but its all wrong. 1 person covers 1 route. A sub will cover any route needed.

 

USPS delivers everywhere while UPS and Fedex dont deliver to every address.

 

Offices like Grove City are what keep other branches alive. The Grove City office moves over 2 Million Pieces of mail a month. The revenue created by this one office pays for itself and other small offices.

 

Normal mail is dropping off, which is why they NEED junk mail to keep them going.

 

So you are saying one person works 6 days a week to run their one route every day? The way into the post office is to be their bitch until a new route opens up, which means you cover that person's off day and have to be available to cover call offs. And I happen to work in the mailing industry, so I try to keep close tabs on what all is going on to see if I'll still have a job next year.

[Clifford Automotive]

Normal mail is dropping off, which is why they NEED junk mail to keep them going.

 

So you are saying one person works 6 days a week to run their one route every day? The way into the post office is to be their bitch until a new route opens up, which means you cover that person's off day and have to be available to cover call offs. And I happen to work in the mailing industry, so I try to keep close tabs on what all is going on to see if I'll still have a job next year.

 

That you a correct the normal mail is dropping off. What keeps the post office alive is Big Companies using them to ship product from warehouse facilities.

 

What I said was 1 person covers one route. A sub picks up days off and Saturdays. Im sure you read that right. So your right about that too, your a bitch until you can get your own route.

 

 

What is it that you do in the "mailing industry"?

[TTQ B4U]

What is it that you do in the "mailing industry"?

 

Pitney ?

[RyM3rC]

Who uses USPS? Well, FedEx and UPS that's who. As of a year ago FedEx was the USPS's largest customer, as a very large portion of their packages they depend on USPS to make the final delivery. FedEx's Smartpost and UPS's Mail Innovations services depend greatly on the USPS and give it a ton of business. Not to mention the APO service they have totally pwned, and the INTL shipments that USPS can somehow get things into places nobody else can, with little or no paperwork. I used to work at a small business that shipped 3k-5k small packages a week, and USPS was very very competitive with the under 1lb, and pretty close on some other stuff. 6 days a week is silly, and I'm sure there's tons of waste (ever been inside a post office? LOL!) but the political crap has already been mentioned.

 

And with regards to UPS and FedEx sucking, a lot of that has to do with your driver. I've met plenty of drivers that were very hard-working, considerate, upbeat, and friendly. Some are total garbage. They should be bagging items if it's raining/wet, and if you leave instructions to leave the pkg. at an alternate location, "on the porch/around back/etc" they will in my experience.

[BIGGU]

fuck their shipping. if you ship anything make sure its tracked and insured that way when they lose your package and they will they will have to pay it.

 

i only ship fedex. they deliver on the weekends.

[Linn1647545492]

I use USPS for shipping all parts and mail a few things each month. Other than bills about 95% of the mail I get is junk.

[ImUrOBGYN]

It's the cheapest on shipping and I haven't noticed any difference any delivery times compared to private companies. It's hard to beat.

[copperhead]

That you a correct the normal mail is dropping off. What keeps the post office alive is Big Companies using them to ship product from warehouse facilities.

 

What I said was 1 person covers one route. A sub picks up days off and Saturdays. Im sure you read that right. So your right about that too, your a bitch until you can get your own route.

 

 

What is it that you do in the "mailing industry"?

 

I work for Pitney bowes, the world's largest manufacturer of mail insertion and sorting equipment. I'm an on site customer service rep. Right now I'm at Nationwide's mailing center, but I've also spent a year and a half working with Chase and over 4 years with Citi. I've been around. There are a couple others on here that do the same as me, but at different sites.

[Franchi]

I use it for cheap shipping on small, inexpensive parts. Anything over $75 dollars though, I'll pay extra to send via Fedex who actually has customer service and tracking/recovery system.

 

But I also ship about 4 to 6 things a week so probably less volume then some, more then others.

 

Post office workers really suck, I stopped using USPS entirely solely because of that but I found that the Post office in Worthington is actually quite excellent, always friendly workers who actually know what they are doing so I go to them for anything I need via USPS.

[99BlownYellowGT]

I ordered something online last week.....they shipped it UPS then UPS dropped it off at USPS to have it delivered the rest of the way. Thought it was weird.

[Akula]

It is how I get day old chickens delivered. The USPS has been doing this for over 100 years. I am afraid this process is going to go away and it will be sad.

[Clifford Automotive]

I work for Pitney bowes, the world's largest manufacturer of mail insertion and sorting equipment. I'm an on site customer service rep. Right now I'm at Nationwide's mailing center, but I've also spent a year and a half working with Chase and over 4 years with Citi. I've been around. There are a couple others on here that do the same as me, but at different sites.

 

 

Alright. Working in the mailing industry that ends up going to USPS and working for the USPS are totally different things. I just wanted to clear that up. Your a service provider for High Volume Mailers.

[harmonda]

out here in the boonies our mail service sux. When I have a choice I order from places that use UPS or Fedex. USPS can't seem to get mail to the right address out here. I went in to complain a couple months ago but there was a line.....to complain. I hope this is a local problem. I'd gladly opt-out of USPS service. I also think there should be amnesty for hunting those damn junk mail delivery losers. I don't know why they are alowed to litter. What's up with that?

[TTQ B4U]

It is how I get day old chickens delivered. The USPS has been doing this for over 100 years. I am afraid this process is going to go away and it will be sad.

 

Will Fedex deliver ewe ? :gabe:

[2pointslow]

i get 1 bill a month from usps, everything else is paid online. Junk mail is unreal these days.

[2 Sweet]

I work for Pitney bowes, the world's largest manufacturer of mail insertion and sorting equipment. I'm an on site customer service rep. Right now I'm at Nationwide's mailing center, but I've also spent a year and a half working with Chase and over 4 years with Citi. I've been around. There are a couple others on here that do the same as me, but at different sites.

 

No shit? I used to work at the Nationwide warehouse in Grove City running those machines

[copperhead]

No shit? I used to work at the Nationwide warehouse in Grove City running those machines

 

I just started in September. I took Myron's spot since he moved to texas

[2 Sweet]

Nice! I worked there for a couple years up until this past July. Good people there. Troy and Harlan and those guys are all cool as fuck. I used to run PB8 on Nick's shift

[3.1cutlass]

We ship everything we sell on eBay USPS using flat rate packages. Makes giving a shipping quote very easy. We shipped a package to Thailand the other day for $5.00, UPS was at least $15.

[Mallard]

The problem I have with these changes is the USPS needs to be run like a business. Making your product worse in order to keep from bleeding cash is not the answer. They should be continuing to offer their trasitional products, not slowing them down (or dropping the guarantee, which is equal in the customers eyes), improve their services (like priority mail and package delivery), and manage their fixed costs (drop Sat home delivery, close failing branches, etc).