Why O' Why Does the USPS Do the things they do???

[Myk]

Rant on
My order from fast tech has been sitting in San Fransisco for three days. Uggggh, move already. It took one day to get from Hong Kong to San Fransisco. I have had one package from Florida that bounced around the US which was actually sort of fun to watch the updates. That little box was well traveled before it got to me in Montana. This order is just making me nervous that the package is lost in the corner of some sorting facility never to be seen again. I don't want to have to reorder as I'm trying to stick to a budget. Ok, I'm taking a deep breath.
Rant over

I love it when a package gets stuck like that. You would think shippers would have a little alarm set up on their computer tracking thing that throws up a flag when a package sits stagnate for too long.

But that too can be a shipping container thing (and probably is from HK). I had something similar with FedEx where some computer parts showed up at the local airport and stopped. I called to see if I could drive out there to get them, they said yes. Once I got there they said it was locked up in a shipping container and I couldn't get it. Since they didn't have to open the container to get anything in it delivered they weren't going to. My local FedEx is really bad about not delivering until the due day.
USPS is even worse. Unless you pay their expensive guaranteed shipping it will get to you when they feel like getting around to it. I had them put off delivering a second package this winter because it would mean they'd have to walk to my door, they couldn't fit both in the mailbox.

I had memory that had to go from Ohio or Indiana to Illinois take a trip to the west coast once. But that was also FedEx and they did get it here on time.

 

[presidentk1]

The USPS is the best, most efficient government agency there is. They do a fantastic job, provide thousands of great middle class jobs that pay well and come with a generous benefits package.

USPS actually makes a significant profit year after year, even with the drop standard letters.

The problem herein lies with congress, specifically the republican party.
It is well known that the repubs hate all that is big government. They have pushed through laws requiring the post office to pay the treasury billions of dollars a year and they required USPS to fund an employee pension plan for the next 75 years up front.

No private company could ever sustain having to comply with such BS requirements.

Furthermore, companies such as fedex and UPS have been taking advantage of the constitutional mandate requiring the post office to deliver no matter what. So what these companies do now is move the package during the easy portions of the trip, then dump it on USPS to go out to the boondocks of the rural areas at a loss.

The greed and disgusting policies of republicans combined with that of private couriers is what is harming the post office. If they were left alone they would continue to operate flawlessly just as they have been since the birth of our nation.

...I apologies for going on a partisan rant, but facts are facts. There is no explanation for the actions of republicans other than their desire to destroy USPS.

 

[Dakota Jim]

My neighbor and I had a discussion on USPS routing in our town so we did an experiment - I mailed him a priority envelope on a Friday (dropped in mail box) and it went to Denver (about 400 miles from me) then to Sioux Falls (about 350 miles from me) and then delivered on Tuesday - He did the same envelope mailed from his personal mail box on a Wednesday back to me, our mailman walked it back to my house and asked me "what the heck are you guys doing???" - he can actually manually cancel letters that are mailed in the same neighborhood (we have a lot of older people in our neighborhood that will mail letters and invites to their neighbors on his route) - he explained the sort facility in our town is shut down on weekends and anything mailed on weekends goes on the next available truck out to a 24 hour sort facility

 

[Penn]

What others have said about the cost effective routing is accurate, and yes, sometimes it is just a matter of something ending up on the wrong truck somewhere.

As for your other point about the USPS losing money, that's two fold. First, there has been a MAJOR drop in physical letters being sent over the past decade because of email. This is pretty standard stuff as technology advances and businesses can't keep up with these trends.

Second, there was a law passed during the GW Bush administration called the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act that forces the USPS to pre-fund retirement health care accounts 50 years into the future. This law that was passed takes about $5.4 to $5.8 billion out of the USPS profit each year, which results in a large contributor to their need for recent cutbacks (office closings and considering stopping Saturday delivery).

Postal Regulatory Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Did you read your own link? I already knew, but it is also in your link, that the post office was losing money BEFORE that act. To cover the loss of money, they were pulling money out of the retirement fund. What was in that act was to put that money back.

Why were they taking money out of the retirement fund instead of raising rates? Before the aforementioned act, they couldn't raise rates without congressional permission. That act gave USPS the authority to raise rates on their own.

 

[presidentk1]

Did you read your own link? I already knew, but it is also in your link, that the post office was losing money BEFORE that act. To cover the loss of money, they were pulling money out of the retirement fund. What was in that act was to put that money back.

Why were they taking money out of the retirement fund instead of raising rates? Before the aforementioned act, they couldn't raise rates without congressional permission. That act gave USPS the authority to raise rates on their own.

you sir are the one that needs to do some reading

pulling money out of a retirement fund, maybe

but a 75 YEAR retirement fund shouldn't exist in the first place
no private company in their right mind would ever pre-fund their employees retirement fund for the next 75 years

its congress(more specifically house republicans) that are causing problems

 

[Horselady154]

If you're referring to my responses, it's all good. I agree with you that the service of the USPS has been going down hill in recent years, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to provide some information as to why it's happening. I rant about this issue all the time, I just try to aim my rants at the people causing the issues rather than the men and women who work in the postal service. Lord knows I wouldn't want that job.

Rant on, friend, rant on!

Really? Have you looked into their retirement and healthcare packages? Pretty amazing, last time I checked and certainly something I haven't seen much in private industry.

 

[Horselady154]

you sir are the one that needs to do some reading

pulling money out of a retirement fund, maybe

but a 75 YEAR retirement fund shouldn't exist in the first place
no private company in their right mind would ever pre-fund their employees retirement fund for the next 75 years

its congress(more specifically house republicans) that are causing problems

Oh give me a break. While I agree with you about the funding of the retirement plan, I don't see the reason why they should have such a lucrative retirement plan to begin with, funded by the U.S. taxpayer. What's more, as I recall, the USPS has had financial issues long before Dubya, and no, I didn't like him either. He was a big government warmongering oinker like his leftist brethren on the other side of the aisle.

 

[jerzi]

I'm guessing this package must of fell between the loading dock and truck, maybe a worker found it laying on the ground outside and brought it back in to process.

May 31, 2013
00:09:00
OPA LOCKA, FL 33054
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS SORT FACILITY

May 30, 2013
05:50:00
OPA LOCKA, FL 33054
DEPART USPS SORT FACILITY

May 30, 2013
05:42:00
OPA LOCKA, FL 33054
PROCESSED THROUGH USPS SORT FACILITY

 

[DoogieTony]

I understand some if the frustrations here, but realistically how long would it take you to personally drive from coast to coast or even a couple states over? How much would it cost you?
Bottom line is that the postal service does a amazing job for a minimal fee.

 

[Penn]

Did you read your own link? I already knew, but it is also in your link, that the post office was losing money BEFORE that act. To cover the loss of money, they were pulling money out of the retirement fund. What was in that act was to put that money back.

Why were they taking money out of the retirement fund instead of raising rates? Before the aforementioned act, they couldn't raise rates without congressional permission. That act gave USPS the authority to raise rates on their own.

you sir are the one that needs to do some reading

pulling money out of a retirement fund, maybe

but a 75 YEAR retirement fund shouldn't exist in the first place
no private company in their right mind would ever pre-fund their employees retirement fund for the next 75 years

its congress(more specifically house republicans) that are causing problems

Wow, you tell me to do research? I made it easy to read my post again. Are you saying the post office was not losing money before the act in question? Are you saying the post office wasn't pulling money out of the retirement fund? What did I say that indicates I don't know what I'm talking about, specifically?

Oh, wait. I see the issue. You are trying to turn this into a partisan argument? I have news for you, BOTH parties are responsible for just about every problem that exists in the government. I'd go more in detail but I don't believe this board is the place for that. Just suffice to say the 2006 act is an example of the government trying to address a legitimate issue and making it worse.

 

[pcrdude]

I guess I've been lucky. All my vape mail has arrived undamaged, and in a speedy manner. All that at a reasonable price.

(maybe I shouldn't have written that with an MBV order on the way)

 

[mare ze dotes]

Just on a lighter note. I like my postal worker. I dont know what to call them since 'Postman' is not accurate. We are on a first name basis now that I have had a bunch of vapemail and I used to mail order my cigarettes too. I live in a appt complex and he shows up at the same time each day. I say I am expecting a package, "I will ring your bell if it dont fit into your box". And such, Very nice person.

 

[presidentk1]

they only lose money because congress siphons cash out of their accounts
absent congressional interference, they are a profitable organization

and you cant call them out for pulling money out of retirement accounts that they were forced to fund for the next 75 years
that means they were funding accounts for employees that aren't even born yet!!

don't blame both parties, only one is to blame and that's the republicans

 

[Penn]

they only lose money because congress siphons cash out of their accounts
absent congressional interference, they are a profitable organization

and you cant call them out for pulling money out of retirement accounts that they were forced to fund for the next 75 years
that means they were funding accounts for employees that aren't even born yet!!

don't blame both parties, only one is to blame and that's the republicans

So when the 2006 decision was made we had a republican president and a democrat congress. Blame the president. Now we have a republican house, democrat both senate and president. Problems are still being worked on but blame congress?

Seems to me the congress (democrat) and the president (republican) of 2006 are both to blame for not correctly fixing a problem that existed before 2006.

Where exactly does your funding for 75 years number come from? 2006 was supposed to be funding for 50 years.

 

[GwenB]

Mega Ditto on the USPS frustration. You pay extra for Priority but First Class gets to me quicker. Tracking says out for delivery yet it doesn't get delivered until the next day.

I think I need to join Mail Stalkers Anonymous.

 

[FnMag]

Same thing happened to me this week. One package came yesterday that probably should have been here today, and I'm sitting here waiting on the package that should have been here yesterday. And forget about receiving a package the day after a Holiday even though it has been local since Friday night. She ONLY delivers junk mail the day after a Holiday.

If AMAZON can do it in 2 days, why can't they ?

 

[Hippieangst]

It's kind of like flying and connecting flights...it's just where the hubs are and where a good flow of mail travels. My vapermail is routed through Macon, GA, which is out of the way for things coming from the east coast...even things coming up from Florida. I would have assumed they would go through Savannah, but there must not be a hub.

they are doing things right

if it wasn't done this way then it wouldn't be cost-effective to ship things

Spoke-hub distribution paradigm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Myk]

The USPS is the best, most efficient government agency there is. They do a fantastic job, provide thousands of great middle class jobs that pay well and come with a generous benefits package.

USPS actually makes a significant profit year after year, even with the drop standard letters.

The problem herein lies with congress, specifically the republican party.
It is well known that the repubs hate all that is big government. They have pushed through laws requiring the post office to pay the treasury billions of dollars a year and they required USPS to fund an employee pension plan for the next 75 years up front.

No private company could ever sustain having to comply with such BS requirements.

Furthermore, companies such as fedex and UPS have been taking advantage of the constitutional mandate requiring the post office to deliver no matter what. So what these companies do now is move the package during the easy portions of the trip, then dump it on USPS to go out to the boondocks of the rural areas at a loss.

The greed and disgusting policies of republicans combined with that of private couriers is what is harming the post office. If they were left alone they would continue to operate flawlessly just as they have been since the birth of our nation.

...I apologies for going on a partisan rant, but facts are facts. There is no explanation for the actions of republicans other than their desire to destroy USPS.

That is the biggest bunch of blind partisan union BS I've ever seen.
Left alone they would've failed before they got started.

The shared shipping helps USPS. Otherwise they're so high priced and inefficient they would not only be losing letters to email and telephone but packages too. If you haven't noticed losing out to private carriers has been one of their complaints when they go begging to congress for more handouts or postage increases.
The way it works is both the private company and USPS worked out a deal where it was beneficial to not only both shippers but the customer by playing to the strengths of both shippers.

I hate to break it to you but USPS has been using private carriers for their long haul for quite a while now, long before UPS and FedEx started offering it to their customers. The only difference with "sure post" and "last mile" the savings is passed on to the customer when they select that option from UPS or FedEx.
Left up to USPS doing the same thing in reverse with FedEx, USPS pocketed the savings.

 

[presidentk1]

That is the biggest bunch of blind partisan union BS I've ever seen.
Left alone they would've failed before they got started.

The shared shipping helps USPS. Otherwise they're so high priced and inefficient they would not only be losing letters to email and telephone but packages too. If you haven't noticed losing out to private carriers has been one of their complaints when they go begging to congress for more handouts or postage increases.
The way it works is both the private company and USPS worked out a deal where it was beneficial to not only both shippers but the customer by playing to the strengths of both shippers.

I hate to break it to you but USPS has been using private carriers for their long haul for quite a while now, long before UPS and FedEx started offering it to their customers. The only difference with "sure post" and "last mile" the savings is passed on to the customer when they select that option from UPS or FedEx.
Left up to USPS doing the same thing in reverse with FedEx, USPS pocketed the savings.

the fact that you through the word "union" in there is in itself evident of your partisan stance

 

[sonicdsl]

Closed per OP request.

Also, take these kinds of arguments to the Outside, this is not the forum for that. Thanks!