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I was in the Post Office at Crabtree today and saw a sign that they would be closing in June. This Post Office has been in that same spot since the mall opened in 1972 (though renovated, obviously) and has always been the "home" of the 27612 zip code (27622 for PO boxes). They said the boxes will be transferred to the Six Forks branch and other functions to the Westgate office.
This makes two old post offices going away in a very short time (the NC State one was just a few months ago).
^^^The USPS has actually agreed to reconsider closing the downtown one after a ton of lobbying to keep it open. Certainly not a done deal either way yet, but would very nice to keep that historic one open.
Product of the USPS killng themselves with a completely inefficiently run business.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SFspiderman
The USPS has actually agreed to reconsider closing the downtown one after a ton of lobbying to keep it open.
The Post Office will never get efficient if every proposed closing is met with resistance. In my view, history and convenience and other factors are no longer a sufficient basis to keep locations open. They've got to run it like a business and put their shops where it's profitable for them to be.
Regarding the Crabtree Post Office, the N&O ran a story on this on May 5:
As long as it is a govt agency it will continue to downsize and fail. More and more locations will reduce hours, services, and close.
Not to belabor the point, but they're not really a government agency anymore - taxes don't fund regular operations - although still plenty of Federal oversight.
I actually think they provide good, essentially services. At least until I get Netflix streaming to work.
I'd like to see them close more offices and keep running without raising stamps any higher. I think I could live without saturday delivery as well. With the internet and email these days I really get only bills and circulars delivered by mail anyway. The occasional birthday or christmas card thrown in can wait until monday to be delivered lol
Not to belabor the point, but they're not really a government agency anymore - taxes don't fund regular operations - although still plenty of Federal oversight.
I actually think they provide good, essentially services.
Agreed. Not to mention, it is not expedient for a private company to deliver to many rural locales at an affordable price. Without the USPS, many places wouldn't be able to get packages and mail affordably.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SVTLightning
I'd like to see them close more offices and keep running without raising stamps any higher. I think I could live without saturday delivery as well. With the internet and email these days I really get only bills and circulars delivered by mail anyway. The occasional birthday or christmas card thrown in can wait until monday to be delivered lol
Agreed. There's not really any mail I need on Saturdays. And my post office is becoming increasingly automated. They can set up a few do-it-yourself kiosks here and there, maybe in grocery stores or something.
Slightly-off topic: having lived in both Durham AND Raleigh, I always thought Raleigh had way too many post offices anyway. I have NEVER been far away from a post office, regardless of where I worked or lived in Raleigh. They seem to be everywhere. In Durham, it seems like you sort of have to make a trip TO the post office. There was never one really close to me.
(How is it that UPS (UPS) and FedEx (FDX) can run profitable, successful delivery services while the U.S. Postal Service blunders its way into insolvency?)
1. Its union is too strong. The USPS cannot lay off employees due to union contracts. And in the next four years, union members will get a 3.5% raise and seven (yes, seven) uncapped cost-of-living increases. That's a shocking commitment.
2. It spends too much on salaries and benefits. About 80% of its budget goes to salaries and benefits, writes BusinessWeek's Devin Leonard. Can you even imagine that? Compare that with the 43% spent at FedEx and the 61% spent by UPS.
3. It hasn't raised prices enough. It costs the same to mail a letter to your neighbor as it does to deliver it by snowmobile to the Alaska wilderness. (Yes, the USPS actually does that.) The Postal Service should charge higher prices for longer travel distances.
4. It relies too much on junk and first-class mail. Total mail volume fell 20% from 2006 to 2010. The USPS relies too much on first-class mail for money, and when mail volume falls, its revenue falls as well.
5. It has too many post offices. Most of the post offices around the country lose money. What if the USPS took a page from Starbucks (SBUX) playbook and opened mini post offices at supermarkets, gas stations and retailers like Target (TGT)? Still convenient but with lower overhead. Even better: Nonunion workers can staff those offices, Leonard writes.
6. It hasn't embraced the Internet. Email has been a killer. But maybe the USPS has taken the wrong approach to the Internet. In other countries, Leonard reports, postal services let people pay bills online and even scan mail and send it to customers online.
In Sweden, people can take pictures on their phones and turn them into postcards. People can use their phones to send letters without stamps.
The USPS is incapable of owning up to its problems. And the revenue picture is just getting worse. The service predicts total mail volume will fall from 171 billion pieces a year now to as little as 118 billion by 2020, Leonard reports.
So far, the postmaster general wants to stop delivery on two days a week instead of just one. And he thinks that attrition will shave 20% off of the USPS workforce over five years. That's not going to be enough to stop the bleeding. The USPS needs to change dramatically, and that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.
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