Bye Bye Saturday Mail Delivery

[dmc]

I so disagree...
there's so many people that need mail.. And depend on it..

Just let the USPS do it's own thing and grow...
The Postal Act keeps them from doing so...

and that's a pile of crap...

 

[ScottySkis]

I so disagree...
there's so many people that need mail.. And depend on it..

Just let the USPS do it's own thing and grow...
The Postal Act keeps them from doing so...

and that's a pile of crap...

All I know is my job is only shipping to customers online retail. We never use USPS but always use UPS.

 

[riverc0il]

I so disagree...
there's so many people that need mail.. And depend on it..

Just let the USPS do it's own thing and grow...
The Postal Act keeps them from doing so...

and that's a pile of crap...

I don't believe there are enough people that absolutely NEED Saturday service to justify the cost. Surely that population is extremely limited. There are Saturday delivery services (albeit expensive) available from the parcel companies. Maybe USPS should keep an option for Express Saturday delivery at a premium cost.

The business world certainly survives without receiving/sending any regular FedEx or UPS deliveries on Saturday. People could easily adjust their needs and shipping schedules to accommodate the change. Does it serve enough people to justify the expense? I just don't see how that argument could be logically made. There is a difference between a convenience and an absolute need that cannot be accommodated.

How could the USPS grow? What changes could they possibly make to even stop the bleeding, let alone grow, even with the shackles removed? I just don't see it. They're labor force is dedicated to low margin, high volume, labor intensive work. Without substantial price increases, I can't imagine they'll ever get their revenues up to expenses. And any increases in fees or decreases in service will only further hurt USPS in a feedback loop.

The whole service needs to be reevaluated for the current needs of a modern and internet based society. How many times has the postal service been overhauled since its beginnings or at least since universal road access and interstates? It is time to address what USPS does, what other services could take off the shoulders of USPS, and what people actually need. That needs to be a short term and long term plan, what is going to happen when people in their 20s and 30s are old age? By that time, many college students might never have used a postage stamp in their lives even if things at USPS didn't radically change...

 

[AdironRider]

The Saturday thing is really not going to hurt the people who really need it. According to Yahoo, parcel post, medication, and express will all still run on Saturdays, and any post office that is currently open on Saturdays will remain so. All in all, not that bad as they are mainly just saying, dont expect junk mail on the weekend.

Only thing that seems remotely annoying is mailing checks, but at the same time, how many people get their mail early enough to make it to a bank by normal hours (noon) on a Saturday, if they are even open? There are also wire and ACH payments that are easy to do online from anywhere.

 

[dmc]

Bank Statements, Checks, cards/letters and prescriptions...

Lot's of people still use the USPS for this...

The USPS can't even think of growing while shackled by the Govt ridiculous attempt to shut it down...

 

[dmc]

Republicans want to privatize everything...

And will stop at nothing...

 

[riverc0il]

Bank Statements, Checks, cards/letters and prescriptions...

Lot's of people still use the USPS for this...

The USPS can't even think of growing while shackled by the Govt ridiculous attempt to shut it down...

How are people negatively effected by not getting their bank statement until Monday? Unless someone is mailing a check out the day it is due, no problem (for those that still write checks instead of online banking). Not getting a letter on Saturday isn't even an issue, you can wait until Monday to read Grandma's letter. Prescriptions can sent via parcel and arrive on Saturday. I use USPS. I am forced to rent out a PO Box because USPS doesn't deliver to my home. And I understand not everyone is online. However, even if this was 1970 and there was no internet, we could still live without Saturday delivery. USPS delivered on Sundays in the past... who misses that? Changing times, changing services.

Republicans want to privatize everything...

And will stop at nothing...

Not a good argument. I'm a liberal that has never voted Republican ever, not local, not state, not national. USPS is a broken model of operation loosing relevance. You want to talk going against stereotypes? I always thought it was the right trying to cling to useless tradition and stop progress.

 

[dmc]

It may not be a big deal for a bank statement - but a prescription or a SS check could have impact...
I'm not really mad about Saturdays... But this whole shut it down thing makes me mad...

In rural areas people really depend on the USPS...
Old people depend on it...
It employs 600,000 people.. I've read that 25% of those people are US Veterans.
Why is everyone in such a rush to make 600,000 people unemployed if it doesn't affect you?
Just doesn't make any sense to me that people would wish bad on people that need jobs in this economy..
To me it's downright mean spirited...

Why not let it try to succeed??

have some compassion...

 

[AdironRider]

Bank Statements, Checks, cards/letters and prescriptions...

Lot's of people still use the USPS for this...

The USPS can't even think of growing while shackled by the Govt ridiculous attempt to shut it down...

Do you absolutely need a bank statement on a Saturday when the banks arent open?

Do you absolutely need a check that you cannot cash until Monday? SS doesnt send checks starting this year and will only be deposited to debit cards directly, so no issue there either.

Again, medications, parcels, and express will all still be delivered on Saturdays, so whats your beef other than blind political bias?

Your comments that 600k people are going to lose their jobs because they got rid of Saturday delivery is absurd.

 

[dmc]

Your comments that 600k people are going to lose their jobs because they got rid of Saturday delivery is absurd.

Dude.. was referring to people wanting the post office of go away completely..

Beef with Saturdays is only that some may suffer... Not me... Not you... But some may suffer..
If it takes eliminating Saturday to save $ then so be it..

It's their business to run - since we don't support it with taxes...

And this is not blind political bias... It's the truth.. Republicans want EVERYTHING privatized... And get a ton of $$ from UPS and FedEx for campaigns...
And the fact that they are making the USPS prefund retirement and no other Govt agency is a no-win designed to make the USPS fail...

 

[o3jeff]

Maybe they have to relook their wages, healthcare and retirement packages. Might have to adapt to the economy and eliminate paying pensions/retirement health care to new employees or take a look at other retirement package options.

DMC, iirc doesn't your girlfriend work for the post office?

 

[dmc]

Maybe they have to relook their wages, healthcare and retirement packages. Might have to adapt to the economy and eliminate paying pensions/retirement health care to new employees or take a look at other retirement package options.

DMC, iirc doesn't your girlfriend work for the post office?

Yes - she is employed by the post office and works around my area at different places to fill in..
So I know a lot about the USPS and ow it works...

They have been eliminating a lot of people and cutting hours at some PO's around here..
There's is cost cutting going on but they will never do well prefunding the retirement...

 

[Glenn]

I agree with the nixing of the Saturday delivery. They should also nix Tuesday and Thursday delivery. I think there's still a need for mail, just not the volume of junk that gets sent out.

This article sums it up nicely: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_23/b4231060885070.htm First class mail is their bread butter...but the volume of first class mail has fallen below junkmail.

The USPS needs three pieces of junk mail to replace the profit of a vanished stamp-bearing letter.

If you want an governmental agency that will deliver important, first class mail. I'm fine with that. However, I'm confident UPS, FedEx of someone else could handle it as well. But I do see an issue with a governmental agency that has become nothing more than an advertising distribution system.

 

[ctenidae]

They could increase revenue, decrease waste, adn make everyone happier by just raising the price of sending bulk mail. That, I would vote for quickly.

 

[dmc]

They could increase revenue, decrease waste, adn make everyone happier by just raising the price of sending bulk mail. That, I would vote for quickly.

Well - since we have no say in the USPS we can't vote.. At least until we start using our taxes to pay for the USPS..
I'd support that too..

But I do know that they make a lot of $ on bulk mail..
I just toss the bulk mail into the paper recycling... Doesn't really bug me for some reason..

I hate spam emails way more...

 

[Cannonball]

My father in-law was a letter carrier. He's retired now but I know this would have really been a blow to him. He would have had to golf on his own time on Saturdays instead of getting paid while he was out there.

 

[thetrailboss]

My father in-law was a letter carrier. He's retired now but I know this would have really been a blow to him. He would have had to golf on his own time on Saturdays instead of getting paid while he was out there.

:lol:

 

[riverc0il]

They could increase revenue, decrease waste, adn make everyone happier by just raising the price of sending bulk mail. That, I would vote for quickly.

Would that not hurt more than it would help? The level of bulk mail decreases every year from what I understand. Increasing the price may make the volume decrease faster than increases in revenues, no?

 

[ctenidae]

Would that not hurt more than it would help? The level of bulk mail decreases every year from what I understand. Increasing the price may make the volume decrease faster than increases in revenues, no?

Potentially, but it may just free up resources that could more profitably sort adn deliver packages.

 

[riverc0il]

Potentially, but it may just free up resources that could more profitably sort adn deliver packages.

They would need more people shipping with USPS to have more packages to deliver. Your solution supposes they can't generate enough revenue because they have a labor allocation problem. I don't see the logic in supposing that freeing up labor to deliver packages will generate more revenue by default. On the flip side, if there is less junk mail to process, they might have less work for all employees to do but then they can't lay them off either due to unions and productivity and revenues would decrease.

The problem I think, overall, is that discussions about USPS always gravitate towards "how do we fix USPS" or "how can we make it sustainable" etc. When the better question is "what purpose does USPS currently serve? What needs are or are not being met?" Etc. Let's get right down to the root of the issue. Solutions need to be based in the USPS of tomorrow, not trying to band aide the USPS of two hundred years ago.