No bailout for Post Office

[JL 0513]

The Post Office has the potential to be profitable like UPS and FedEx, especially with all the built in advantages they have over UPS/FedEx.

The idea that they lose billions every year when they have the advantage of almost every house density plus many areas where there's central mailbox stations for large complexes/communities. Meanwhile, UPS often takes a large truck miles to deliver one stop. And we have to take valuable time to walk all the way to each door step vs USPS just hitting mailboxes along the road.

The single biggest downfall for USPS is said to be their pension system. Yet UPS pays a pension. UPS also has the highest wages. And while UPS runs their trucks many years, the average vehicle age is much higher with USPS (20-30 year old trucks). So they're not even investing in their fleet. Problem is, they have plans to roll out a new fleet as they have been seeking a new vehicle design.

Bottom line, they need permission from the stupid law from Congress that severely limits their pricing structure. I know it applies to stamps, but what about for parcels? Why do they continue to undercut UPS/FedEx pricing on parcels when they are losing billions?

So while they are a "quasi-governmental" agency, they still need to operate like any other business. Yes, they do need to be profitable. Maybe not like UPS/FedEx, but they need to be north of break even point.

 

[fishtm2001]

The Post Office has the potential to be profitable like UPS and FedEx, especially with all the built in advantages they have over UPS/FedEx.

The idea that they lose billions every year when they have the advantage of almost every house density plus many areas where there's central mailbox stations for large complexes/communities. Meanwhile, UPS often takes a large truck miles to deliver one stop. And we have to take valuable time to walk all the way to each door step vs USPS just hitting mailboxes along the road.

The single biggest downfall for USPS is said to be their pension system. Yet UPS pays a pension. UPS also has the highest wages. And while UPS runs their trucks many years, the average vehicle age is much higher with USPS (20-30 year old trucks). So they're not even investing in their fleet. Problem is, they have plans to roll out a new fleet as they have been seeking a new vehicle design.

Bottom line, they need permission from the stupid law from Congress that severely limits their pricing structure. I know it applies to stamps, but what about for parcels? Why do they continue to undercut UPS/FedEx pricing on parcels when they are losing billions?

So while they are a "quasi-governmental" agency, they still need to operate like any other business. Yes, they do need to be profitable. Maybe not like UPS/FedEx, but they need to be north of break even point.

The U.S. Postal Service Reported a Big Loss. Here’s What That Means for FedEx and UPS.

 

[JL 0513]

Convert all trucks to electric, add a little speed to the employees, and stop all unessential paid holidays for example: flag day.

Electric should be a consideration for their new fleet, whenever that'll come. Although it will take years to realize savings as the upfront costs will be much higher. Not only the high cost of the vehicle itself, but outfitting buildings to charge the whole fleet together each night.

You raise an important point on holidays. Because they are tied in with government guidelines regarding holidays, they get every single one off, while UPS/FedEx works most of them. How many hundreds of millions do they spend on paid minor holidays each year??

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

The Post Office has the potential to be profitable like UPS and FedEx, especially with all the built in advantages they have over UPS/FedEx.

The idea that they lose billions every year when they have the advantage of almost every house density plus many areas where there's central mailbox stations for large complexes/communities. Meanwhile, UPS often takes a large truck miles to deliver one stop. And we have to take valuable time to walk all the way to each door step vs USPS just hitting mailboxes along the road.

The single biggest downfall for USPS is said to be their pension system. Yet UPS pays a pension. UPS also has the highest wages. And while UPS runs their trucks many years, the average vehicle age is much higher with USPS (20-30 year old trucks). So they're not even investing in their fleet. Problem is, they have plans to roll out a new fleet as they have been seeking a new vehicle design.

Bottom line, they need permission from the stupid law from Congress that severely limits their pricing structure. I know it applies to stamps, but what about for parcels? Why do they continue to undercut UPS/FedEx pricing on parcels when they are losing billions?

So while they are a "quasi-governmental" agency, they still need to operate like any other business. Yes, they do need to be profitable. Maybe not like UPS/FedEx, but they need to be north of break even point.

Concerning the pension requirement, it’s ironic that it’s the first thing big government types point to and blame for USPS’s financial woes. Because I’m pretty sure they were praising the mandate when it was put in place and they would definitely throw a hissy fit if the pensions were altered/affected in anyway in an attempt to save the post office.

My opinion has always been, and will continue to be, that the government should not be competing with private business. But until they stop they should have to play by the same rules and be just as vulnerable to financial/economic problems as private companies. If that were so they would’ve closed along time ago. The pension mandate is not the sole reason why they are struggling.

 

[Two Tokes]

It's not the price of stamps it's the low price on packages.

True but they could start with that and by sheer volume help a little

 

[Two Tokes]

Convert all trucks to electric, add a little speed to the employees, and stop all unessential paid holidays for example: flag day.

Yes they do like to drag their ass

 

[IVE GOTTA PACKAGE 4U]

True but they could start with that and by sheer volume help a little

first class mail has dropped a lot over years with the internet you could do many transactions online as for myself a book of stamps might last me all year because I'm paying everything online

 

[govols019]

Mail is a public service that is allowed under the US Constitution.


It's not going anywhere.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Article 1, Section 8 says that [The Congress shall have the power] to establish Post Offices and Post Roads. It does not say that the federal government shall have the exclusive power to deliver mail. Nor does it require that the mail be delivered by an agent of the federal government to every home in the country, six days a week.

 

[govols019]

I get mail seven days a week.

 

[Karma...]

suggestions......usps deliver 4 days a week.....usps should only deliver letters........tighten up on their operations......having a post office or offices in every town is counter-productive........usps carriers are very very sloppy and they need to have appearance standards.......

 

[Karma...]

suggestions......usps deliver 4 days a week.....usps should only deliver letters........tighten up on their operations......having a post office or offices in every town is counter-productive........usps carriers are very very sloppy and they need to have appearance standards.......

..........they should do their job

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

There should be more centralized mail boxes. They should only deliver M-friend. They should close branches in towns within 5 miles of one another. The only packages that they should deliver are the ones tendered at a Post Office location by an individual person.

The complex where I live has 6 centralized drop boxes. Takes the "mail man"----he is not a postal carrier-----roughly 20-30 minutes to deliver our complex. It would take him at least 2-3 times that if he went to each and every unit.

Finally, and most importantly, they should have the ability to run the PO like it was any other business.

 

[Poop Head]

I get mail seven days a week.

Just amazon on sundays here. Even this sunday.

Mail is a public service that is allowed under the US Constitution.


It's not going anywhere.

Is amazon pkgs "mail"?

@Tom Jefferson please help

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Mail is a public service that is allowed under the US Constitution.


It's not going anywhere.

It’s allowed. Not required or mandated. It probably will go away in the near future.

Article 1, Section 8 says that [The Congress shall have the power] to establish Post Offices and Post Roads. It does not say that the federal government shall have the exclusive power to deliver mail. Nor does it require that the mail be delivered by an agent of the federal government to every home in the country, six days a week.

For most Americans it’s nothing but unsolicited junk mail and bills they are already paying electronically. LOL

 

[Poop Head]

The only packages that they should deliver are the ones tendered at a Post Office location by an individual person.

I agree with you on this

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

It’s allowed. Not required or mandated. It probably will go away in the near future.


For most Americans it’s nothing but unsolicited junk mail and bills they are already paying electronically. LOL

I can't recall the last time I got a "real" piece of mail.

 

[Non sequitur]

If they raised prices across their services problem solved going forward. Legacy whole different story

 

[govols019]

I can't recall the last time I got a "real" piece of mail.

I got my census notice through the mail, did you not?

People like my parents depend on the mail...not everyone has internet access.

 

[Misthios]

No but there was a FedEx chick on my route that I would have done things too that are illegal in 27 states.

Not feeling risky enough for those things banned in wyoming?