Curbside mail delivery vs. porch-side mail delivery... (Union: house, bankruptcy)

[ansky]

Originally Posted by msulinski

I just moved to a neighborhood with porch delivery. One thing I noticed is that they won't take any outgoing mail from your box. Does anyone with porch delivery know how to indicate to the mail carrier to take the outgoing mail?

I have a mail slot where the mail comes right into my front door breezeway. Now that's convenience! If I want to send outgoing mail I just stick the envelope in the slot and the mail carrier takes it no problem.

[JerseyStrong1]

Originally Posted by msulinski

I just moved to a neighborhood with porch delivery. One thing I noticed is that they won't take any outgoing mail from your box. Does anyone with porch delivery know how to indicate to the mail carrier to take the outgoing mail?

We clip our mail to the newspaper holder (two hooks attached to the bottom of the mailbox). If it's just in the box with nothing, such as a flag, indicating that it's outgoing, they probably just assume it's leftover incoming mail.

[nybbler]

The biggest problem with cluster mailboxes is package delivery. If the packages don't fit in the box or too many people get packages on the same day, you have to go to the post office to pick them up. Who has time for that? And with FedEx using USPS as last-mile delivery for regular shipping, you can't even get around it that way.

[ca2ny]

Originally Posted by tdstyles

Eventually it is going to be all curbside. Then centralized mailbox "annexes". The post office is dying and the only way to cut costs is to make it possible for the postal carriers to do more with less. As far as the mail goes the numbers are actually pretty compelling and interesting.

"The amount of money that could be saved by changing modes of delivery is considerable. The Postal Service currently spends about $25 billion to deliver mail to more than 150 million homes and businesses. The average annual costs for city delivery are $353 for door delivery, $224 for curbside, and about $160 for centralized. For rural delivery, the costs are $278, $176, and $126, respectively.

A study on “Modes of Delivery” done by the USPS OIG showed that the Postal Service could save more than $4.5 billion a year by shifting 35 million homes and businesses from door-to-door to curbside. It could save another $2.8 billion by shifting 52 million homes and businesses from curbside to a cluster boxes. If the door-to-door delivery points were shifted to centralized instead of curbside, it would save another $2.2 billion.

Congress seems ready to go along with the conversion plan. Congressman Darrel Issa’s proposed legislation already has a provision pushing centralized delivery, and Senator Tom Carper says Issa’s idea to shift mail delivery from door delivery to cluster boxes may be included in some manner in the final bill."

But would enough congress people vote for such a legislation?

There have been proposals to end Saturday delivery for residential areas, but it has not become a law. How about just 2 times a week delivery, different days in different part of the town? That would immediately reduce the need for postmen by 1/2. Would union / junk mail lobby allow that?

[Goldendoodle1969]

Originally Posted by ca2ny

But would enough congress people vote for such a legislation?

There have been proposals to end Saturday delivery for residential areas, but it has not become a law. How about just 2 times a week delivery, different days in different part of the town? That would immediately reduce the need for postmen by 1/2. Would union / junk mail lobby allow that?

Of course not between the lobbyist and voter impact(people hate losing any benefit regardless of if it is bankrupting whatever organization it is being funded by(see social security).

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by tdstyles

Of course not between the lobbyist and voter impact(people hate losing any benefit regardless of if it is bankrupting whatever organization it is being funded by(see social security).

the problem i see is that when it comes to the usps, its not the service level that is bankrupting the business.

[Goldendoodle1969]

You are right, that is only a part of the problem but saving $9.5B would go a long way to closing the $15.9B hole.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by ca2ny

How about just 2 times a week delivery, different days in different part of the town? That would immediately reduce the need for postmen by 1/2.

Since the GAO announced last year that existing regulations would not permit the elimination of Saturday delivery, then it clearly follows that any proposal for twice-weekly delivery is dead on arrival. Congress would have to specifically re-write the existing regulations for any change in service of this nature.

Postal Service Can

[bigjake54]

Originally Posted by tdstyles

A study on “Modes of Delivery” done by the USPS OIG

Link?

Originally Posted by Retriever

Congress would have to specifically re-write the existing regulations
Postal Service Can't Cut Saturday mail Delivery

Then, do it!
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-347T
"USPS had an almost 25 percent decline in total mail volume ... since fiscal year 2006. ... USPS expects mail volume ... to continue decreasing as online bill communication and e-commerce expand."
http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/pos...since-1926.pdf
http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/pos...lfacts2013.pdf
2001 = 103.7 Billion to 2012 = 68.7B is a 34% drop in First Class mail.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by tdstyles

You are right, that is only a part of the problem but saving $9.5B would go a long way to closing the $15.9B hole.

but why should the customers suffer when the cuts should be made on the business side of the equation? the usps has a monopoly on first class mail so nobody is allowed to compete with them. so customers have no choice but to use them. so let them take the cuts and not the customers. if you cut the service side and get your savings, they aren't going to cut the business side.