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The problem is that the total services of the Post Office will never be profitable, so privatizing them is impossible. UPS and Fedex ship through USPS. Why? Because USPS delivers to every address, every zipcode, no matter how remote or expensive.
We'll set the issue of letters aside for now. Package delivery is far too expensive for many areas to have it under a completely private-sector approach. Private sector delivery to every address in the nation would have to take a form similar to the insurance industry: Either all total costs are added up and divided among every delivery, and therefore all deliveries are very expensive, or those with the riskiest (most time-consuming) routes pay the most, with some being so expensive they are simply not covered or cannot afford it.
Live down a lonely stretch of dirt road in the middle of the woods, an hour from the nearest large city? Good luck to you! The post office will go to your dinky town, because the cost is irrelevant. Fedex will charge you for every nickel of gas, every dollar in wages, and a premium for vehicle cleanup and maintenance driving down your unpaved road to deliver two little parcels. It's only prudent to recoup such losses.
Now, as for a "Solution" to the problem, you never posted a problem, so we cannot address it. Some of the problems I know of are those you find in any business with waste and inefficiency topping the list. Audits, maybe?
Yesterday, when it was 108 degrees, he delivered a package to the elderly lady across the street. She asked him if he had put her letters in her box yet (it's down the street) and he said. "No. But I'll go get them for you." He then went back to his truck, dug around in his boxes and pulled out her mail. Which he then walked up to her. He even said, "Y'all have a good one."
The Fedex guy would never take the time to do that and the UPS guy is just plain grumpy. Hats off to you cool mail guy!!
Do you understand the difference between how the U.S. Postal Service is run and private companies such as UPS?
Maybe you have never observed the difference in gait between the two? The postal clerks saunter, the UPS guys hustle! The UPS people work like dogs and the postal workers barely work. OMG such a different culture it's incredible.
I have friends while they were in college loaded trucks for UPS on a 2:00am shift and the stories they told about efficiency and expectations and the pressure they were under was crazy.
The problem is that the total services of the Post Office will never be profitable, so privatizing them is impossible. UPS and Fedex ship through USPS. Why? Because USPS delivers to every address, every zipcode, no matter how remote or expensive.
We'll set the issue of letters aside for now. Package delivery is far too expensive for many areas to have it under a completely private-sector approach. Private sector delivery to every address in the nation would have to take a form similar to the insurance industry: Either all total costs are added up and divided among every delivery, and therefore all deliveries are very expensive, or those with the riskiest (most time-consuming) routes pay the most, with some being so expensive they are simply not covered or cannot afford it.
Live down a lonely stretch of dirt road in the middle of the woods, an hour from the nearest large city? Good luck to you! The post office will go to your dinky town, because the cost is irrelevant. Fedex will charge you for every nickel of gas, every dollar in wages, and a premium for vehicle cleanup and maintenance driving down your unpaved road to deliver two little parcels. It's only prudent to recoup such losses.
Now, as for a "Solution" to the problem, you never posted a problem, so we cannot address it. Some of the problems I know of are those you find in any business with waste and inefficiency topping the list. Audits, maybe?
Exactly. You hit the nail on its head. It's impossible to have it be run well without it being prohibitively expensive. And most people would likely decide to just opt out of mail, making it more expensive to do business, etc.
You may hate government run entities, but privatizing it wouldn't work.
The same government that provides for them also ensures they will remain inneficient by not letting them close slow offices or fire worthless workers.
Well, what you have is somewhat correct. The USPS hasn't been run by taxpayer money since 1970. So my question is, why do people care if they make money or not? It's not coming out of your tax dollars. And they are not supposed to make a profit anyway.
Now to some of the problems. The USPS could easily get rid of 25% of their workforce. There are people, that I see daily, who work at a snails pace. There are also way too many in management. They have 3 people doing the job of one person, while in other area's, they have 1 person doing the job of 3. It's a clusterf---.
Also, if UPS or FedEx did box to box delivery, do you understand how much that would cost? You wouldn't be getting your subscription magazine delivered free like it is now, UPS would charge you a fee to stop at that box.
Well, what you have is somewhat correct. The USPS hasn't been run by taxpayer money since 1970. So my question is, why do people care if they make money or not? It's not coming out of your tax dollars. And they are not supposed to make a profit anyway.
Now to some of the problems. The USPS could easily get rid of 25% of their workforce. There are people, that I see daily, who work at a snails pace. There are also way too many in management. They have 3 people doing the job of one person, while in other area's, they have 1 person doing the job of 3. It's a clusterf---.
Also, if UPS or FedEx did box to box delivery, do you understand how much that would cost? You wouldn't be getting your subscription magazine delivered free like it is now, UPS would charge you a fee to stop at that box.
No taxpayer money? I don't think so. http://www.uspsoig.gov/FOIA_files/ESS-WP-09-001.pdf
"[SIZE=4][SIZE=4]
[LEFT]Annual Appropriations to the Postal Service[/LEFT] [/SIZE][/SIZE][LEFT]One reason that some stakeholders are confused about the “off-budget†status of the
Postal Service is that the Postal Service does indeed receive a relatively small annual appropriation (generally around $100 million) from Congress that appears in the[/LEFT]
president’s budget every year. This is to compensate the Postal Service for providing
would cost about $100 million a year in
support for free mail for the blind and overseas voters, but this cost is small
compared to the public service and non-profit costs the Postal Service already
bears.
I'm sorry. I forgot about the service for the blind and ballots. Maybe they should go without.
Nothing is wrong with being able to send a letter anywhere in the US for only 44 cents.
That is unless you are a private business that would like to break into the market to make a huge profit from grandma who wants to send a birthday card to her grandson.
I'm amazed at the great job they do. What needs to be changed is the early retirement and fat pensions they get. No wonder they keep having to raise the price of a stamp. Athough I think they do a good job, considering the huge amount of mail that gets processed, I know if it was a private sector business it would be run much cheaper and more efficiently.
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