Post Office

[Bigb13]

Well with some of the shipping that some people charge, some items should come FedEx. Rob

[Rob D.]

Amazingly, I mailed a package last Friday from Ohio to Texas via media mail, and it arrived yesterday (Tuesday). That's almost unheard of.

[M's_Fan]

I really don't understand the "cost cutting" rationale of no Saturday delivery. I mean, it will also "cut costs" if they cancel deliveries Monday through Friday as well, but delivering Mail is what the Post Office is supposed to do!

I'm sure UPS and Fedex will be more than happy to grab the post office's market share. Too bad there isn't a politician that will stand up and say, "hmm... maybe we should raise the retirement age of postal workers from 50 to 55 instead..."

[Bigb13]

That would be a great idea

[lharri3600]

yep a real good idea. now for that politician, NO WAY are they going to lose those votes!!

[Jim VB]

Originally Posted by M's_Fan

I really don't understand the "cost cutting" rationale of no Saturday delivery. I mean, it will also "cut costs" if they cancel deliveries Monday through Friday as well, but delivering Mail is what the Post Office is supposed to do!

I'm sure UPS and Fedex will be more than happy to grab the post office's market share. Too bad there isn't a politician that will stand up and say, "hmm... maybe we should raise the retirement age of postal workers from 50 to 55 instead..."

Simplisticlly, the move to cut deliveries by one day (it doesn't have to be Saturday) will save them a lot of money.

Although they deliver six days a week, most employees work five days. My carrier is off Wednesdays (and, of course, Sundays.) So every Wednesday I have a fill in guy. He floats from route to route. He covers my guy on Wednesday, someone else on Monday, a different guy on Tuesday, etc.

Therefore, a minimum of 6 carriers are needed for every 5 routes (It's even worse when you try to cover vacations.)

Cutting a delivery day would therefore, eliminate the need for this job and reduce employees by 16%.

[mintacular]

Since 1970 the Post Office was detached from the Federal Govt. All of their costs of business must be paid through their services (postage, insurance, etc.)--there are no government subsidies. It is no longer a "govt service" and an extra workday simply doesn't bring them enough revenue to justify staying open on Sat. I think last year they were hammered by gas prices and fell short billions of dollars. As much as people gripe about their prices, first class mail is still much cheaper than Fedex/UPS.

[egbeachley]

Send 2 packages of cards in a 6x9 padded envelope from Virginia to California. Went to the post office last Saturday at 2:00pm. Regular first class, not Priority. Arrived early Monday afternoon.

Best deal in America.

[brickyardkennedy]

In general, delivery has been about the same for me, with one notable exception. A payment I sent from here in NYC, to California, took a week and a half to arrive and the item took a week to come to me.

As far as cutting back to five day deliveries, the upside for me would be to have the same mail person make all the deliveries, eliminating that off-day person. All the problems I've had with mail going in wrong boxes or being returned to the post office as "undeliverable" has been as a result of indifference or stupidity by the substitute. Having the same carrier make all the deliveries would eliminate that.

[howard38]

The only things I regularly send and receive in the mail are netflix DVDs and packages I send media rate. The netflix deliveries are remarkably and consistently quick and the media rate packages routinely arrive earlier than the five or so days the PO says it will take. Right now it's a great deal. I just hope it remains so when Satrday delivery is cut out.