Exhibit A: How Govt is Too Slow to React. The Postal Service

I saw an interesting article this morning in the Wall Street Journal about the United Postal Service and how they'd like to cut mail delivery down to five days a week. The article did a really good job (although not intentionally) of highlighting how slow, bureaucratic, and out of touch government is when trying to run what should be a private enterprise.

Post Office Boss Ponders Cutting Delivery Days

The postal service served a function back in the day and is part of our constitution. However, I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who believes it is currently efficiently run, kept up with the times, or hasn't outlived it's usefulness.

The big problem with the postal service is that it's executives can't run it like any other business. They can't raise prices or make any real operational changes without congressional approval. As a result, the post office is extremely slow to make change that would be common sense from a business perspective and why the USPS tends to be sink hole financially.

Much like FedEx and UPS, the business is moving towards parcel delivery. The traditional letter carrier role is dying and there is no reason the post office needs to deliver mail everyday with email and the vast majority of bills being paid online. Apparently, cutting down delivery to five days would save about $2 billion/yr. Keep in mind, the USPS loses about $4 billion/yr.

Hardly anyone receives anything of importance through snail mail anymore. My wife and I did an experiment a few years ago when this topic came up before and found about 98% of our mail was junk (magazines, direct mail adverts, etc). I don't even check my mail daily. We take mail out the box maybe once every three days. Personally, I think letter mail should only be delivered twice per week. Heck, I'd even go so far to say if you want letter delivery, you should either have to pay extra for it or go pick it up at the local post office.

Of course, as mentioned in the article, some of the congressmen don't want to cut delivery days as their constituents like the postal unions are against it for obvious reasons.

Whether it is healthcare, schools, or postal delivery government is always less efficient and results less than because the enterprise is not governed by competition and profits, but bureaucrats.

a reply to: Edumakated

It will change when the boomers are gone. They have an odd obsession
with physical mail.

Yes, there is way too much junk mail. Ever get Sirius radio trial with a new car. If so, get ready for 75 years of daily physical mail from them!

My husband took me to the opera in Chicago in 2004. He got some of the most expensive seats in the house. I still get a ton of mail from them. I've moved several times. I swear the Opera of Chicago can track a person better than the FBI!

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Edumakated

It will change when the boomers are gone. They have an odd obsession
with physical mail.

Yes, there is way too much junk mail. Ever get Sirius radio trail with a new car. If so, get ready for 75 years of daily physical mail from them!

My husband took me to the opera in Chicago in 2004. He got some of the most expensive seats in the house. I still get a ton of mail from them. I've moved several times. I swear the Opera of Chicago can track a person better than the FBI!

This comment in the comment section of the article is insightful...

"I believe that we should view that fact that a quasi-governmental agency dedicated to delivering garbage to our homes exists in this country is a sign of what a great and prosperous nation we truly are. In fact it's garbage that keeps on giving since much of it must be seperately recycled using our local tax dollars. It is a perfect cycle of government."

Why the USPS won't raise the cost of a stamp is beyond me too.... A stamp should cost like $1.00. Doing something this simple would more than help them balance their budget, etc. Yet, here we are paying odd numbers like 55 cents for stamp. Ridiculous.

I think 99% of my mail is junk now. About the only bills we receive by mail are the occasional medical bill. Everything else we pay online. We get a few birthday cards, etc.

It really is kind of sad .
Junk mail 90 % junk mail .
Bills online every last one ( but still get paper bills .

Yes sad as it is post office is no longer effective . Could it be saved ? well the better question is with all the privet mailers should it be saved ?


Hold on ill ask the dog ( BK ) dog wants mail service to keep going and be 7 days a week .
I guess it do to she likes fast food and trys getting killing and eating the mail truck .

So much history Please a moment of slience for the death of the mail(( umm )) person lol

There are a million things wrong with USPS:

*Random annual postage price raises that do nothing.

*Allowing a parcel to make it from Michigan ALL THE WAY TO SACRAMENTO before realizing it was 2 cents short on postage, AND SHIPPING IT AL THE WAY BACK! (yes, this really happened..... that's not wasteful or stupid or anything...)

*Paying postal workers money hand over fist to lose mail. Literally, over $25 an hour average to suck.

*driving poorly maintained vehicles from the 1970's that randomly burst into flames

* Getting on soapboxes and proclaiming their royal status of "Federal Government Worker" as some sort of badge of superiority

*Delivering 90% junk mail (garbage) to everyone's homes

I mean, it would be no better if it were privatized - prices would skyrocket to the point of business collapse.......

.........HHHHMMMMMMM maybe thats what we need? It would clear the roads up a little bit, thats for sure.

There's a newer USPS product I actually like, I think it's a good deal. The Priority Mail Express is advertised as a guaranteed 1-2 day "overnight" service that delivers on Sundays. UPS nor Fedex deliver on Sundays even for an additional cost.

It's described as overnight most of the time with the second day added on incase there's a delay which could be more common in USPS vs UPS and Fedex due to the sheer amount of mail being processed and shipped, or if it's travelling across country I suspect.

I haven't had a chance to try it yet. Almost did and will soon because I live in Virginia and two of the websites I shop at are in North Carolina and Tennessee. Priority still takes the third day to ship from 6 hours away. Priority Express $7-$10 cheaper than Fedex Standard Overnight.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Edumakated

It will change when the boomers are gone. They have an odd obsession with physical mail.

We do? I don't. Everything important is online. One of the issues with the USPS s that they MUST deliver to every household regardless, and junk mail is pervasive. UPS and FedEx have no such mandate so they are more efficient right out of the box.

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Edumakated

It will change when the boomers are gone. They have an odd obsession with physical mail.

We do? I don't. Everything important is online. One of the issues with the USPS s that they MUST deliver to every household regardless, and junk mail is pervasive. UPS and FedEx have no such mandate so they are more efficient right out of the box.

I think he is saying that boomers are the ones preventing congress from making the changes necessary. Yes, they are mandated to deliver to all addresses, but the question becomes is that mandate necessary now given we have instantaneous communication?

a reply to: r0xor

The added day on USPS can also be because they work with UPS and FedEx with smartpost packages. So since FedEx and UPS have more infrastructure for parcels, they do a lot of the heavy lifting for the beginning legs of the journey. The smartpost packages will then go to a USPS terminal and they will make the final leg of the delivery since they go by every house every day. So a Sunday in the process could mean UPS or FedEx sat on the package for a day.

If you're in Virginia and get a package from North Carolina and only have the option of FedEx, ground is 1-2 days, typically one if the order was made before hot cuts, but if you're in a rural place two.... Express is just tripling delivery fee because it goes on a plane.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I like physical mail. I often get cards, books and CDs and even a magazine I subscribe to in the mail. I hope they keep it to 6 days. I also am part of a letter writing club but i haven't written one in a while. I am meaning to start up again.

I am 36 so I know there are people out there who still use it. I also prefer to physical copies of things like hospital or insurance bills, tax related things for my records. Digital things can be edited or wiped out without our knowledge.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I've never tried Fedex ground from a bordering state, I'll try that next instead because it's cheaper, thanks.

Yep, the idea is to get next day delivery from a border state. I live in a city of 300,000+. USPS Priority will deliver Wednesday if it's shipped Monday @4pm. I want the option of a reliable overnight for less than Fedex overnight/UPS next day.

a reply to: r0xor

Yea, depending on where you're at some of them are cheaper and you can even get overnight.

Check your PM's.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

You can always print your bills when you pay them online...

There really is no reason for 6 day a week mail delivery. No one is saying we should get rid of all mail delivery. Getting mail say 3 days a week would not disrupt anyone's life.

Remember, the USPS is embodied in the Constitution. I worked for them from 1994 to 2007 and had to retire due to Agent Orange. After that experience they are more screwed up than DOD and I speak from experience. However, as long as there's a US Government I suspect there will be some form of postal service. My best,

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Edumakated

It will change when the boomers are gone. They have an odd obsession with physical mail.

We do? I don't. Everything important is online. One of the issues with the USPS s that they MUST deliver to every household regardless, and junk mail is pervasive. UPS and FedEx have no such mandate so they are more efficient right out of the box.

I think he is saying that boomers are the ones preventing congress from making the changes necessary. Yes, they are mandated to deliver to all addresses, but the question becomes is that mandate necessary now given we have instantaneous communication?

What evidence is there that "Boomers" are preventing Congress from addressing USPS issues? The biggest problem here is that it is a Constitutional issue requiring an amendment to "fix", i.e.: abandon the Post Office. The opposition to this would not be coming from Boomers; it would be from the SJW crowd that would say doing so would discriminate against poor people who rely on the post office and cannot afford to go online. Of course, most of these people have cell phones, but that would be the argument.

I have to agree, the USPS is not a viable entity. Only because it's government funded does it still exist. It employs a lot of people and that's probably the number one factor that keeps it going. As for package delivery, we can see the handwriting on the wall that Amazon is going to do that themselves eventually. We may even see the day when UPS and FedEx aren't what they are now.

Hello to all, nub here. Just had to chime in on this. USPS doesn't have time to service the little people. As with FedEx and UPS, there's more money to be made servicing Amazon and high volume commercial customers. I heard USPS loses at least $1 intentionally for every single piece of mail coming into the US from China. Your mail system was basically privatized about 14 years ago thanks to Susan Collins from Maine.

The Union will never allow it. They will fight it tooth and nail, and if they somehow come to make an actual decision, it will be a result that some workers are paid still but dont have to go to work

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: Edumakated

It will change when the boomers are gone. They have an odd obsession with physical mail.

We do? I don't. Everything important is online. One of the issues with the USPS s that they MUST deliver to every household regardless, and junk mail is pervasive. UPS and FedEx have no such mandate so they are more efficient right out of the box.

I think he is saying that boomers are the ones preventing congress from making the changes necessary. Yes, they are mandated to deliver to all addresses, but the question becomes is that mandate necessary now given we have instantaneous communication?

What evidence is there that "Boomers" are preventing Congress from addressing USPS issues? The biggest problem here is that it is a Constitutional issue requiring an amendment to "fix", i.e.: abandon the Post Office. The opposition to this would not be coming from Boomers; it would be from the SJW crowd that would say doing so would discriminate against poor people who rely on the post office and cannot afford to go online. Of course, most of these people have cell phones, but that would be the argument.

Just a hunch... I know when we discussed this topic locally on a forum, it was the boomers who were against it... "I can't get my Readers Digest... It always comes on Monday and if I have to wait till Wednesday, blah, blah, blah.." Boomers are also probably more likely to call their congressman.

Sometimes I am getting something expensive or special from overseas and if I didn't have Saturday delivery I would be very annoyed to have to wait 2 more days especially since sometimes they lose things if they sit too long.

I agree they are somewhat inept. But they do have a lot of volume to deal with. It's sad but it's pretty useless to bother filing a claim with them. Esp. since there is a lot of theft.

a reply to: Edumakated