No wonder the USPS is going broke

[Bocabirdman]

One would have better luck carrying a hundred pound sack of coconuts than "controlling" a thread around here.

[lharri3600]

Lol

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by Bocabirdman

One would have better luck carrying a hundred pound sack of coconuts than "controlling" a thread around here.

Lord of The Flies - The Sequel.

[ALR-bishop]

"Always carry two large sacks of something around with you. Then, if someone asks you to lend a hand, you can say you would like to, but you have these two large sacks"...Jack Handey

[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

[ullmandds]

If only I could have videotaped my experience at the USPS yesterday morning...as evidence as to why the USPS is bankrupt!!!!!!!


3 customers myself included...2 ahead of me being helped by 2 USPS employees.

1 of the employees excused herself to take a phone call...and in the 15 minutes I was there never returned...leaving the customer alone at the desk livid...wondering what the hell was going on. Meanwhile the other customer had a stack of papers that had to be sorted and put in envelopes which she should have done at home. The teller suggested she step aside until she was ready...but she claimed that she was indeed "ready" and proceeded to shuffle through her papers collating them frantically.

Tick tick tick...smoke was coming out of my ears!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is the USPS's lack of educating and penalizing customers for being stoopid that contributes to this problem!

They should teach all new citizens and children how to act at the Post office!!!!

[barrysloate]

Part of the problem is first class mail is way too cheap. I can drop a letter in the mailbox from Brooklyn and it will arrive at someone's door in California in three days- 3000 miles away- for the cost of 49 cents. Are you kidding me?

It's time for the USPS to face the reality that prices have to come up. If I send a two day fedex it might cost me around $20. Most letters arrive in two days for 1/40th of that amount. Raise the price of a letter to 75 cents or a dollar, or whatever it takes to start making it profitable. They will lose some volume but that is happening anyway.

[buymycards]

Hi Barry, you are correct. The problem is that a law passed by our Congress limits our price increases to the annual cost of living increases, so we cannot raise prices enough to meet the cost of processing a first class letter.

We have been asked 100's of times - why didn't you just raise the price to 50 cents rather than 49 cents? The answer is - we cannot, because of this law.

In addition, whenever the Postal Service proposes a price increase, the lobbyists come out of the woodwork to battle these increases. Paper companies, logging companies, Amazon, Walmart, newspapers and magazine publishers, trucking companies, all 4 of the Postal Unions - the list is endless. So, the Postal Regulatory Commission compromises, and usually the Postal Service is left holding the bag.

My thoughts are that we should emulate some of the other countries by charging for specific services like holding mail, forwarding mail, etc. Then, maybe, we could properly staff our offices so situations like Pete's don't happen. Every PO that I am aware of is horribly short staffed and we don't have enough employees to properly serve the public. Situations like Pete had yesterday shouldn't happen, but in most PO's there just aren't enough people to take care of everybody. During December I was working 55-60 hours a week, including Saturday and Sunday, because we don't have enough people and we aren't allowed to hire anyone. Since I am a salaried employee, I don't receive OT or extra pay, but we have to move the mail.

Rick

[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