Curbside mail delivery vs. porch-side mail delivery... (Union: apartments, homes)

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by nybbler

I live in a neighborhood with mailboxes by the door, but one of my neighbors put up a curbside box. Odd, I guess he didn't want the mailman coming to the door.

i have a dog. i would LOVE to put a mailbox down on the curb!

[bradykp]

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've left letter in my mailbox hanging out .... so instead of inserting them in my wide mailbox with the left-to-right configuration you would normally hold a letter, i insert it top to bottom so that about 1/2-3/4 of the envelope is hanging out. my postal carrier when I first moved in didn't always take them, but the current person seems to.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by davenj08

Alternately, I would be OK with having mail delivered to my home just 2x a week. When was the last time I received a mail that needed immediate attention??

you're forgetting that a big portion of the USPS revenue is direct-mailers from companies and organizations. if they cut delivery, that makes the direct-delivery less lucrative. they should really cut the lowest volume mail day, which i believe is Tuesday, for all residential properties.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by CaptainNJ

I also think that's a great cost saving idea. I don't need daily mail. anyone fighting to maintain 6 day a week mail has an ulterior motive or they are just dumb and selfish.

the problem that hit me after I made my initial post was that I believe the postal service is viable based on their regular operations. its their pension expense that puts them in the red. so they could cut their employee costs instead of cutting their level of service. I guess the compromise is to do some of both. I believe they have cut tons of jobs, im not sure what they have cut from per worker/retiree costs.

if any other company was required, by law, to fund their pensions at the same level the USPS is, virtually all companies would be in the red due to their pension expense. it's a really odd thing the way Congress treats USPS.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by Retriever

Congressional oversight or not, do you honestly think that either of those companies could or would deliver a letter from...let's say...Florida to Alaska...for 46 cents? Everyone gripes about postal rate increases, but the reality of the situation is that no private entity would be willing to deliver first class mail as cheaply as The US Postal Service does. Additionally, there are places in the US that are not served by either FedEx or UPS. By contrast, The USPS goes everywhere.

I say that The USPS should be allowed to raise their rates to a more realistic level, and if people don't like it, then they can seek alternate ways to send their letters.
Once they see what is charged by other services, they would probably be glad to pay The USPS...perhaps 75 cents...instead of 46 cents.

I recently shipped sunglasses in to the company for a warranty repair. Priority Mail, 3 day delivery, from NJ to Peoria, IL with $200 worth of insurance cost me $9.

If i went to UPS or FedEx it easily would have cost me double. I honestly don't know why people complain about USPS so much. I'll choose to use them over UPS or FedEx virtually any day.

I'd surely pay more.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by manderly6

I have to get mail delivered 6 days a week. How else would I fill up my recycling bin?

with a teeny bit of effort, you can stop most of that mail. i go through periodically and call the numbers to stop certain pieces of mail.

[Goldendoodle1969]

Originally Posted by bradykp

I recently shipped sunglasses in to the company for a warranty repair. Priority Mail, 3 day delivery, from NJ to Peoria, IL with $200 worth of insurance cost me $9.

If i went to UPS or FedEx it easily would have cost me double. I honestly don't know why people complain about USPS so much. I'll choose to use them over UPS or FedEx virtually any day.

I'd surely pay more.

And that is part of the reason why they are losing money.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by Retriever

Congressional oversight or not, do you honestly think that either of those companies could or would deliver a letter from...let's say...Florida to Alaska...for 46 cents? Everyone gripes about postal rate increases, but the reality of the situation is that no private entity would be willing to deliver first class mail as cheaply as The US Postal Service does. Additionally, there are places in the US that are not served by either FedEx or UPS. By contrast, The USPS goes everywhere.

I say that The USPS should be allowed to raise their rates to a more realistic level, and if people don't like it, then they can seek alternate ways to send their letters.
Once they see what is charged by other services, they would probably be glad to pay The USPS...perhaps 75 cents...instead of 46 cents.

who cares? take away the monopoly and let them decide. its not my place to decide whether or not a business could compete if they were allowed to enter a market.

[CaptainNJ]

Originally Posted by bradykp

i have a dog. i would LOVE to put a mailbox down on the curb!

that's what I was thinking, my dog would be going nuts whenever the mailman dropped off the mail.

[Taiko]

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?

You shouldn't have to do anything but make the outgoing mail visible to the carrier. Now there are caveats such as if you are not getting any delivery, more common as everyday passes and volumes of mail decrease, the carrier is not suppose to detour to your box but most regular carriers know their customers and will pick it up anyway. So if your box is set too far from the street where he can't see it he is not going to walk up your driveway to go check as the time prediction he is working on for that day supposes he will skip a certain percentage of delivery points and save that time.

Or perhaps you have a high set box and the carrier is too short to see mail you have inside of it and reach in as he can barely reach over to drop mail in. While city carriers as a rule are not told to check out a flag on a mailbox being up like rural carriers are, thus saving time and money for delivery on that day, they should know that is what the flag is for and if you don't just put it up everyday when there is no outgoing mail he will generally check for outgoing until you cry wolf too many time by leaving the flag up on an empty box