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And we don't pay for it now? Let's take the post office for example, the way you make money in the delivery business is to have an area saturated as it's very difficult to keep costs down and service up if you are making deliveries all over the place. They have 100% saturation becsue of their monopoly on first class mail, they deliver to every address almost daily. They don't need to be profitable reducing the cost to the consumer even more. Their service should be so much better and cheaper than the private industry UPS and Fedex shouldn't even exist.
In the case of Fed Ex, the business model was so innovative that it transformed the nature of package and document delivery. Customers were happy to pay premium for the services offered. I highly doubt that any other delivery operation could price Fed Ex out of existence.
Way back in the day I heard a story of the terror of the government monopoly on mail service. It came from a retail store manager I worked for at the time. To whit, that when shipping packages containing paperwork, invoices, delivered via bus or included in freight deliveries to stores, the Post Office declared those as being "mail" and therefore required postage. Back then store people had to buy postage, fix it to those packages, then hand cancel the stamps. The Post Office aggressively audited to ensure compliance.
You are correct that because USPS provides 100% coverage their expenses are much higher than those operations that do not. Although I am not sure that most delivery operations do NOT offer universal service.
Why are social security, welfare office, DMV, postal workers so lousy?
I don't find them lousy. I call social security, I get answers and solutions to my issues, every time. I wouldn't know about welfare workers as I've never used their services but wouldn't the fact that a welfare worker's customer service skills are lousy make every right wing conservative happy? So what's the beef?
DMV? No problem. I take a number and in 30 minutes I'm at a window and every time without fail, I get resolution to the reason I came there in the first place.
USPS? Once again, friendly, courteous, and always willing to go the extra mile by delivering my packages right next to the carport door, sheltered from the elements. I tip her 20 bucks every year at Christmas time.
Might have to do with where I live, which proves the point I'm trying to make. You can't paint all SS workers, Welfare workers, DMV personnel or USPS employees with the same brush. Like everything else in our society, there's good and bad. I work with government people all the time, including the VA. Honestly, more often than not the customer service I get from government workers is superior than the average civilian/consumer service I get.
Try finding an honest mechanic sometimes.
I think of all institutions in the nation that need to be privatized, the soonest that will possibly change is the PA Wine & Spirits chain. Unfortunately, the Democrats are waging a propaganda war to stop it from happening, but the Republicans (even though they have the support of the Commonwealth Foundation) seem asleep.
Well the GOP had the governor, state Senate and House and failed to privatize. Why? nobody could think of a good reason to do so other than getting rid of the union. They would rather see liquor sold in Walmart where the employees are subsidized by taxpayers providing foodstamps. Great idea? I think not.
#1 To get those jobs you usually have less ambition. Steve Jobs didn't struggle in his career choice with the thought of standing behind a government counter at the DMV.
#2 It is hard to get fired.
#3 Raises are not tied to job performance.
These are good answers although I disagree w #2. Most mistakes mentioned were minor except maybe the SSA where I think the incompetence is by design to discourage people from utilizing the services.
I haven't read the rest of the thread but I would add:
4. Not only "less ambition " but those are also often lower educated and/or less intelligent workers.
5. Over worked. I have found worlds of differences between busy post offices and slower post offices.
I hope people realize that "underperformance" isn't only present in government jobs. I can't even count how many times I've been disconnected by a customer service rep or a doctor/nurse has misdiagnosed and been rude to me.
4. Not only "less ambition " but those are also often lower educated and/or less intelligent workers.
.
Lower educated? I'm assuming you mean poorly educated. In any event, I can only imagine your attitude towards wait staff, the workers who pick up your trash, and the rest of the people you think you float above. And I'm certain that you have no idea how intelligent any of them may be.
Bandwagons are, apparently, an E-ticket ride for some, but generalities are seldom true.
For example, I asked SSI the simplest question through their email address, and got a ridiculous answer by someone who OBVIOUSLY did not READ my question. The welfare office always loses my paperwork and denies I ever sent it. The mailmen CONSTANTLY send me mail that either was meant to go to my neighbors, was meant to go to a house in my town with the same house number but on a different street, or that was meant to go to a house at an address VERY different from mine. And as for the DMV, they put the WRONG month in the date section of my newest driver's license! What the ****?
Why are they so lousy? Because they have to put up with people like you ( not a personal attack just an observation) x 100 daily.
It's going to get worse ... Wait until your life depends on it... Obamacare... Hey at least Obama kept his promise in making shovel ready jobs... grave diggers.
Obama are is legislation, not insurance or healthcare.
I guess you figure people were better off without healthcare insurance.
Why are social security, welfare office, DMV, postal workers so lousy?
I don't find them lousy. I call social security, I get answers and solutions to my issues, every time. I wouldn't know about welfare workers as I've never used their services but wouldn't the fact that a welfare worker's customer service skills are lousy make every right wing conservative happy? So what's the beef?
DMV? No problem. I take a number and in 30 minutes I'm at a window and every time without fail, I get resolution to the reason I came there in the first place.
USPS? Once again, friendly, courteous, and always willing to go the extra mile by delivering my packages right next to the carport door, sheltered from the elements. I tip her 20 bucks every year at Christmas time.
Might have to do with where I live, which proves the point I'm trying to make. You can't paint all SS workers, Welfare workers, DMV personnel or USPS employees with the same brush. Like everything else in our society, there's good and bad. I work with government people all the time, including the VA. Honestly, more often than not the customer service I get from government workers is superior than the average civilian/consumer service I get.
Try finding an honest mechanic sometimes.
ITA with the above. It really does depend on where you live.
I recently moved back to my hometown in OH and the service at practically all our government offices is superb. Mostly IMO due to the fact that good paying jobs are hard to find here so people in those offices show exemplary customer service because they want to ensure that they keep those jobs.
In regards to these below from another poster:
Quote:
#1 To get those jobs you usually have less ambition. Steve Jobs didn't struggle in his career choice with the thought of standing behind a government counter at the DMV.
#2 It is hard to get fired.
#3 Raises are not tied to job performance.
they are not true.
#1 I have worked in government and depending on the type of job people are VERY qualified and they do have specific educations and experience for those jobs. Of course lower level positions don't have as many requirements - like the counter person at the DMV but in my area they do have to have an associates degree or 5 years of customer service experience and must be knowledgeable about state rules and regulations pertaining to the DMV. For executive government positions or management, those persons are usually very well educated and many people do have a career in mind in public administration/public service.
#2 That is VERY untrue. People can and do get fired in government all the time. At my last government position, I worked at a housing authority and they routinely fired people. Prior to my leaving, they fired practically a whole department because they received so many complaints about the staff and audits showed that they were not effective at their jobs.
#3 Raises are tied to both performance and seniority depending on the place of employment. All of the places I worked were only tied to job performance for raises. One did offer a "seniority" bonus but it was basically just a Christmas bonus and not a raise.
In summation, many people are very ignorant in regards to what government workers really do or how they work. Government is really not very different from the private sector. Also, all government employees are not unionized. I worked for 3 agencies and have never been a union employee. Management and above especially are very rarely a part of the union in the public sector.
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