Let the Government failures begin: USPS

[coachdb18]

A recent article on money.com discussed the failures of the US Postal Service.

Even after $6 billion in recent cost cuts over the last 12 months, the US Post Office is still running a yearly deficit of $3,800,000,000 ($3.8 billion).

How is it that a business which sets its own rates, determines its own pay-scale and retirement benefits, and has a Government mandated monopoly on certain aspects of mail delivery is losing money?

Most Americans have at least one horror story about their dealings with the Post Office. Lost packages, incorrectly forwarded mail, rude employees, and understaffed offices are just a few commonly heard complaints.

However, with limited or no competition for letter delivery, no real monetary motivation for employees to do a better job, and very little need for management to encourage good customer service... what recourse do tax-payers have when the post office makes a mistake or delivers poor service?

Companies like FedEx and UPS are in direct competition with the US Postal Service for package delivery business. They deliver similar services for similar prices. Yet, as private companies, UPS and FedEx exhibit two distinct advantages over their government competitor.

The most obvious distinction is that these private companies are accountable to their stock holders and debt holders. UPS and FedEx must maintain certain levels of profitability while simultaneously keeping pricing in line with the government sponsored competition.

This drive for profit ties into the second distinction between the US Postal Service and these privately run delivery companies. Private companies must maintain certain levels of customer satisfaction in order to retain clients. It is this level of customer service and accountability that causes most private businesses in America to contract with UPS, FedEx, or DHL for their package delivery needs.

Recently, the President and Congress has been telling Americans that a Government centralized health-care system will be more efficient and more cost effective for the country. However, if the United States Post Office is any indicator of the financial viability and service levels that are to be provided by yet another giant Government run entity, Americans may want to reconsider.

Like most government sponsored entities, the US Postal Service needs to learn to better manage their income and expenses before tax-payers are subjected to another bailout.

 

[sethp]

USPS is just poorly managed. It's not run as a business...they spend too much money on advertising and sponsorships...like the Tour De France team they had for years.....

 

[mercury14]

A recent article on money.com discussed the failures of the US Postal Service.

This a poor article whose author doesn't understand what's going on. In fact he's misinformed on a large range of basic concepts.


1) The post office doesn't set its own rates. Congress sets them.

2) The USPS doesn't set its own pay scale, Congress does.

3) The USPS doesn't structure its own retirement funding, Congress does.

4) Yes the USPS fucks up the mail sometimes. And our furniture delivery company showed up with the wrong sofa the other day, then showed up with the right one badly damaged. Why is perfection required from the USPS?

5) Post offices are understaffed because of cost cutting measures. You can't clamor for the USPS to cut costs and then bitch about the very cuts you wanted.

6) Companies do not work with UPS and FedEx because they have better customer service. They work with them because they do more things. Like package pickup at all hours. And yes, USPS is substantially cheaper than courier services but your author wont give them credit for that.

7) Want to talk cheap? Compare the price of sending documents via FedEx and USPS. The USPS is like $6 cheaper. So you want the USPS to be run like a business? Fine, let them charge $5.50 for a stamp. They'd still be the cheapest option.

8) The Postmaster General has been asking congress to end Saturday delivery ($3 billion savings per year) and end their insane requirement to fund pensions 30 yrs in advance. This would put them back at a surplus. But congress can't agree what to do so the USPS just keeps losing money.

9) Your author talks about how wonderful it is that the USPS has a monopoly. But their mandate to physically go to every mailing address every day regardless as to mail volume is a huge money loser. It's an absolutely insane business model that UPS and FedEx would never touch. But the USPS has to do it.

 

[tactful]

No wonder my mail has been coming late, damn them, I should have e'ed.

 

[ivantheterrible]

USPS goes under do you think UPS or fedx is gonna go door to door or mailbox to mailbox and pick anything up? if they did, it would cost you out the nose. america has a large rural area and it would cost a lot to drive to a local ups fedx pick up point to just mail a birthday card. and some of us, *gasp*, still use the mail to pay bills.
junk mail rates should go up a lot and that would put a few billion dollars a year into USPS coffers. ask anyone in america, the junk mail received is daily, and they pay almost nothing to have it sent out.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

This a poor article whose author doesn't understand what's going on. In fact he's misinformed on a large range of basic concepts.


1) The post office doesn't set its own rates. Congress sets them.

2) The USPS doesn't set its own pay scale, Congress does.

3) The USPS doesn't structure its own retirement funding, Congress does.

4) Yes the USPS fucks up the mail sometimes. And our furniture delivery company showed up with the wrong sofa the other day, then showed up with the right one badly damaged. Why is perfection required from the USPS?

5) Post offices are understaffed because of cost cutting measures. You can't clamor for the USPS to cut costs and then bitch about the very cuts you wanted.

6) Companies do not work with UPS and FedEx because they have better customer service. They work with them because they do more things. Like package pickup at all hours. And yes, USPS is substantially cheaper than courier services but your author wont give them credit for that.

7) Want to talk cheap? Compare the price of sending documents via FedEx and USPS. The USPS is like $6 cheaper. So you want the USPS to be run like a business? Fine, let them charge $5.50 for a stamp. They'd still be the cheapest option.

8) The Postmaster General has been asking congress to end Saturday delivery ($3 billion savings per year) and end their insane requirement to fund pensions 30 yrs in advance. This would put them back at a surplus. But congress can't agree what to do so the USPS just keeps losing money.

9) Your author talks about how wonderful it is that the USPS has a monopoly. But their mandate to physically go to every mailing address every day regardless as to mail volume is a huge money loser. It's an absolutely insane business model that UPS and FedEx would never touch. But the USPS has to do it.

Fuck you for stealing my thunder. LOL

You forgot how the internet and email has adversely hurt the USPS.

 

[tinylittlegnat]

Name me one single business public or private that was mandated to pay out 75 years of medical and retirement in just 10 years. Congress told USPS that it must do that. That's what this payment is about. It's not a bill its them paying for benefits for people that are not hired yet and arnt even born yet because congress told them they have to.

 

[coachdb18]

Name me one single business public or private that was mandated to pay out 75 years of medical and retirement in just 10 years. Congress told USPS that it must do that. That's what this payment is about. It's not a bill its them paying for benefits for people that are not hired yet and arnt even born yet because congress told them they have to.

Great, so one totally fucked up government entity is being fucked up even further by another government agency that is even more fucked up .... and we need a big government because ??????

 

[Adre]

Great, so one totally fucked up government entity is being fucked up even further by another government agency that is even more fucked up .... and we need a big government because ??????

Why don't you do yourself a big favor and move somewhere that has no government? Antarctica comes to mind. You and your ilk can form your own little army to defend yourselves, and forego things like roads and public schools and public health agencies. Maybe you could depend on the government-invented Internet for mail since you don't want a post office

 

[coachdb18]

Why don't you do yourself a big favor and move somewhere that has no government? Antarctica comes to mind. You and your ilk can form your own little army to defend yourselves, and forego things like roads and public schools and public health agencies. Maybe you could depend on the government-invented Internet for mail since you don't want a post office

You forget yourself, it's my country, and I and my fellow conservatives are taking it back from you. You should plan to take all that government service with you to that Antarctic need for big government... maybe you can develop a government expansions for government expansions department there, and provide lifelong pensions for the one guy that still has a job there.

 

[Paendragon]

7) Want to talk cheap? Compare the price of sending documents via FedEx and USPS. The USPS is like $6 cheaper. So you want the USPS to be run like a business? Fine, let them charge $5.50 for a stamp. They'd still be the cheapest option.

This has always been the most amazing thing for me. The fact that you can drop something in any mailbox in the country for under a buck, and have it delivered.

In my business, I'm required to deliver notices through post. It's something FedEx or UPS simply can not do at in cost effective way. I'll never complain about stamp price increases . . .

 

[Adre]

You forget yourself, it's my country, and I and my fellow conservatives are taking it back from you. You should plan to take all that government service with you to that Antarctic need for big government... maybe you can develop a government expansions for government expansions department there, and provide lifelong pensions for the one guy that still has a job there.

That's funny, as I sit here looking out my window at the harbor, retired from business with my own money to pay for all my needs, that you think this is yours and you're taking it back from me. Fat fucking chance, petunia!

 

[coachdb18]

This has always been the most amazing thing for me. The fact that you can drop something in any mailbox in the country for under a buck, and have it delivered.

In my business, I'm required to deliver notices through post. It's something FedEx or UPS simply can not do at in cost effective way. I'll never complain about stamp price increases . . .

What you can drop in a mailbox, you can drop in an email for free. The only thing I get at all from USPS is junk mail, and that is certainly saving the environment as I simply put it out for inclusion in a landfill. We don't need the USPS, business would do just fine by allowing e-delivery of those documents it insists it needs now on paper, and it is that important to get the paper, then FedEx and UPS serve those needs quite well. It's like everything else governmental, make a rule that makes them need you, even when they really don't.

 

[Sean Renaud]

What you can drop in a mailbox, you can drop in an email for free. The only thing I get at all from USPS is junk mail, and that is certainly saving the environment as I simply put it out for inclusion in a landfill. We don't need the USPS, business would do just fine by allowing e-delivery of those documents it insists it needs now on paper, and it is that important to get the paper, then FedEx and UPS serve those needs quite well. It's like everything else governmental, make a rule that makes them need you, even when they really don't.

Are you prepared to deliver free computers and internet to every single American household?

 

[coachdb18]

That's funny, as I sit here looking out my window at the harbor, retired from business with my own money to pay for all my needs, that you think this is yours and you're taking it back from me. Fat fucking chance, petunia!

It's not your money, you didn't earn that .... somebody else earned that for you .... [sending government agents to take it from you, as they need it more than you do]

 

[Paendragon]

What you can drop in a mailbox, you can drop in an email for free. The only thing I get at all from USPS is junk mail, and that is certainly saving the environment as I simply put it out for inclusion in a landfill. We don't need the USPS, business would do just fine by allowing e-delivery of those documents it insists it needs now on paper, and it is that important to get the paper, then FedEx and UPS serve those needs quite well. It's like everything else governmental, make a rule that makes them need you, even when they really don't.

Mail is more reliable than email. No spam folders, power failures, network glitches . . . and that's only for those who have access to the Internet. Like I said, FedEx and UPS can not compete with basic mail service.

 

[coachdb18]

Mail is more reliable than email. No spam folders, power failures, network glitches . . . and that's only for those who have access to the Internet. Like I said, FedEx and UPS can not compete with basic mail service.

I guess that's why all banking is now done electronically... ALL of it! Even that check you write is scanned and converted to electronic format... USPS is a 19th century holdover of the Pony Express...

 

[tinylittlegnat]

I guess that's why all banking is now done electronically... ALL of it! Even that check you write is scanned and converted to electronic format... USPS is a 19th century holdover of the Pony Express...

Why am I not surprised that you nothing about financial services either.