No wonder the USPS is going broke

[barrysloate]

Hi Rick- Businesses and lobbyists can complain all they want, but the fact is the post office loses billions of dollars annually, year after year. Is there anything more stupid than that?

[Leon]

The whole problem comes down to one word for me, UNION. It makes for unrealistic anti-competitive practices. Unions should have been done away with 30-40 yrs ago.

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Leon

The whole problem comes down to one word for me, UNION. It makes for unrealistic anti-competitive practices. Unions should have been done away with 30-40 yrs ago.

Debatable.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Leon

The whole problem comes down to one word for me, UNION. It makes for unrealistic anti-competitive practices. Unions should have been done away with 30-40 yrs ago.

UPS works with a Union. They seem to do just fine.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Leon

The whole problem comes down to one word for me, UNION. It makes for unrealistic anti-competitive practices. Unions should have been done away with 30-40 yrs ago.

I don't know if the union is the whole problem but is is a very big part of it.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

UPS works with a Union. They seem to do just fine.

They don't have internal governmental control. Govt + Union= disaster

The govt is the most inefficient business there is, period.

My nominal understanding is the biggest issue of the USPS is paying their legacy UNION created liabilities.

Barry- we better debate this on the phone and not here. Sounds political to me.

[barrysloate]

I actually agree Leon that most of the reason the post office is going broke is that it has promised too much to their retirees, far more than they can afford to pay them. But I don't agree that all unions should be done away with. All I meant to say is there is room for debate....but not here

[Leon]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I actually agree Leon that most of the reason the post office is going broke is that it has promised too much to their retirees, far more than they can afford to pay them. But I don't agree that all unions should be done away with. All I meant to say is there is room for debate....but not here

Yes there is, Barry. I am always open to good debate with you, mostly on the phone though. Glad to see you posting. Say hi to Judy for me.

[Jantz]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

But I don't agree that all unions should be done away with.

+1

Thank you Barry!


Jantz

[barrysloate]

Thanks Leon, will do.

Jantz-unions have done many good things to protect workers who are being exploited or who are forced to work in dangerous conditions.

On the other end, some are much too powerful and have promised retirees way too much, sending companies and institutions to the brink of bankruptcy (see GM, for example).

Somewhere between those extremes lies a happy medium...hopefully.

[frankbmd]

Now I have to find my phone, just when I was getting ready to go to the Post Office. Oy vey!

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

thanks leon, will do.

Jantz-unions have done many good things to protect workers who are being exploited or who are forced to work in dangerous conditions.

On the other end, some are much too powerful and have promised retirees way too much, sending companies and institutions to the brink of bankruptcy (see gm, for example).

Somewhere between those extremes lies a happy medium...hopefully.

mlbpa :d

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

mlbpa :d

I wish I had even a clue about what Rich just posted.

[ullmandds]

union reference? major league player players association?

[barrysloate]

Thanks Pete. And what about the :d. What is that? Please excuse the fact that I am abbreviation challenged.

[ullmandds]

That would be a facial expression of some sort Barry!

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Thanks Pete. And what about the :d. What is that? Please excuse the fact that I am abbreviation challenged.

Hi Barry.

If you type a colon and then a capital D, the software will turn it into a green emoticon with a huge grin.

It won't do this for a colon and lower case d, though. :d

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Eric

[barrysloate]

Thanks Eric.

[team-of-rivals]

Another example of the USPS' issues.....this was sent to me from a buyer after receiving his package the other day. Beautiful.....

[Runscott]

It's just Rich trying to disguise himself as a millenial

[2dueces]

In the grand scheme of things, can anyone here deliver a letter from NY to California and do it for less than $.40?

Second. Unless everyone here are brain surgeons we all make mistakes at work.

And finally, no I don't work for the USPS nor any other government agency. But I did stay at a holiday inn last night.

[jburl]

Had a buyer contact me about a card that I shipped out over a week ago. Not a terribly long delay, but usually doesn't take long to go from Nashville to Dallas/FW. Check out this tracking history:
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfi...99937411211596

[The Nasty Nati]

I feel everyone's pain. I ordered something from Amazon nearly a month ago. As of 7 days ago it's floating around Cincinnati, I live in New York, NY...at one point in the journey it was so close.

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by Bocabirdman

I humbly bow in defeat............

S*** has been going haywire in the Dallas USPS hub IMHO....for months. Mailing Verizon checks there and for the past 3 months, it has taken 2 weeks plus for them to receive payment and a week to post.

Daughter lives in Shitz Texas, just a stones throw from the ex-wife in New Braunfels. You can have Texas...I'm a California Man!

[Steve D]

I just had another package take the scenic route via USPS.

Mailed in Texas on the 18th, and delivered in Kentucky today, but not before getting to spend a day in beautiful downtown Bismarck, North Dakota! (It was supposed to be delivered two days ago).

Steve

[Theo_450]

Originally Posted by buymycards

There really isn't a good reason why packages are delayed or damaged or lost, except when you look at the scope of the process. During December of 2014, the Postal Service delivered 524 million packages. If the USPS was 99.99% successful and only had problems with .01% of packages, that would mean that 52,000 packages were lost or damaged, and those 52,000 are the ones we hear about, not the 523+ million that were successful. How many of you are 99.99% mistake free at your jobs?

Rick

How many of those successful delivers were pointless junk mail and advertisements that I have no desire to receive and go straight in the trash. I don't even get my bills through the USPS. I Recieved a total of 11 Christmas cards, 14 birthday cards, three letters, 7 packages I wanted, and about 5000 useless wastes of paper in my mailbox in 2014. I haven't bought a stamp or sent a single item via USPS for 10 years.

[earlywynnfan]

I sort of envy you guys whose packages got to tour the country. Mine took an extended vacation in the Cleveland sorting facility for three weeks:


Delivered

Mar-20-15, 18:11 PM, WILLOUGHBY, OH 44094

Arrival at Unit

Mar-20-15, 03:19 AM, WILLOUGHBY, OH 44094

Forwarded

Mar-19-15, 07:38 AM, EASTLAKE, OH

Arrived at Post Office

Mar-19-15, 07:37 AM, EASTLAKE, OH 44095

Arrived at USPS Facility

Mar-19-15, 07:37 AM, EASTLAKE, OH 44095

Departed USPS Facility

Mar-19-15, 01:00 AM, CLEVELAND, OH 44101

Arrived at USPS Facility

Feb-28-15, 04:32 AM, CLEVELAND, OH 44101

[jefferyepayne]

We need the environmentalists to jump on this one ...

Save a tree, kill USPS!

jeff

[jburl]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

We need the environmentalists to jump on this one ...

Save a tree, kill USPS!

jeff

I'm not sure what to think about your 666th post saying "kill." Perhaps, this is a bad omen.

[oldjudge]

"Shitz, Texas" is that really a place or just a comment about the city?

[jburl]

I will say that the USPS has been remarkably competent with my packages. Only 3 lost in the 11 years I've been buying/selling cards online. A few more than that were severely damaged.

I know every company gets a few bad apples. This USPS employee might qualify for that distinction. http://www.cnn.com/videos/justice/20...s-package.koco

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

"Shitz, Texas" is that really a place or just a comment about the city?

My sister lived in that town near San Antonio, but it's not shitz

http://schertz.com/

.

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by Leon

My sister lived in that town near San Antonio, but it's not shitz

http://schertz.com/

.

And I live in Schertz right now

Steve

[autograf]

Got a package a couple days ago from England mailed on 2/16. Had basically given up on it. Generally 10 days works pretty well from the UK. This was about 35.......at least it didn't get caught in Newark Customs, huh Jay?

[Runscott]

As a seller, for me it's all about dependability for my customer - if I can't tell my customer when something is going to arrive, and make it easy for them to receive it, I'm screwed. As a buyer, I know for certain that UPS and Fedex are not dependable, and it creates headaches for me, so as a seller I refuse to use either. 'Dependable' means different things to each of us, but since I deal mostly with 'signature required' items, I need to know approximately when things will arrive. UPS in our area delivers any time between 8:00a.m. and 7:00p.m., and it's completely unpredictable. If I want the item delivered somewhere else where I can pick it up, it's a 20-30 minute drive, and even then they are likely to not have the item when they say they will. They have a 'UPS MyChoice' feature which is basically useless bullshit, as they will still deliver an hour early, an hour late or not at all. And if you complain or offer suggestions, they fall back on their rules and regulations, and the customer is NEVER right. They are friendly, for sure, but so what? The delivery guys are also SUPER-NICE, but their hands are tied by useless bureaucracy at higher levels. UPS could care less about changing anything to become more customer-friendly - they are tied to rules that support their own issues, with no regard to those of the customer. They are stuck in a rut. They are Dilbert in brown.

Fedex is no better, although their delivery times are more predictable;i.e-in any particular area they are 'likely' to deliver within about a 2-hour timeframe from day to day. I won't always be there when something arrives, but chances are better. But they too are stuck in beurocratic ruts - if you can figure out a loophole to convince someone to tell you where items 'might' be held, the item could still be lost in a pile somewhere and then you have to call day after day, speaking with different employees until you find the one who has the sense to know where items of that particular size are most likely to be misplaced. But that's only if they will even listen to you to get a package description. To me, I'm thinking "I'm in a large room with packages of different sizes and shapes. Tell me what shape it is and that could help me locate it." But they are simply thinking "it's not in the spot it's supposed to be, therefore it must not be in the room." No Fedex for me.

USPS on the other hand, is very predictable, and always has been in the areas I've lived. Not only that, the postman prides himself in being somewhat predictable - mine makes an early morning run for large packages, and then tries again in the late afternoon if he misses me. Why? Because it's what their customers want. Imagine that - consideration of their customers. Weird.

[sycks22]

Always send fedex for higher dollar items and USPS for lower end stuff. UPS is a mess and have had multiple issues with them. Fedex's website is also very easy to navigate and don't have 16 letters in each tracking #.