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11/30/09 | Report as spam
Curtail home deliveries
Maintain business deliveries on Saturdays.
Most people could care less if their personal mail wasn't delivered or picked up on Saturdays. The volume isn't there, nor is the $$$.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
The USPS needs to examine its core business and understand the trends toward electronic and alternative delivery methods that people and businesses are using. I believe there is a business case for the USPS. I personally find them very competitive in the area of Express Mail which costs generally about half of what the cheapest rate from FedEx or UPS charge for small packages.
As far as Saturdays go, it's not as simple as Dr_Zinj things (who is basing his opinion strictly on personal mail). As the article points out, there are many business implications to Saturday delivery that would need to be through through before the USPS eliminates it. What they need to study is how much of their business is due to this demographic.
All that said, I am in favor of privitization of business, not government ownership. So perhaps it's time for that to happen. But I would like to see the rates for small packages, air freight, go down. 
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Instant profitability: Charge businesses the real cost of delivering advertisements.
If service reduction is necessary, eliminate all Wednesday deliveries and post office hours, but retain Saturday home deliveries and post office hours.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
The USPS is heading down the wrong path. Have you tried to buy a stamp at a Post Office? All the machines are being removed. When I inquired at the counter on one of the rare occasions I was able to visit a post office during business hours, the clerk said the machines were taking their jobs. Therein is your problem. A service that is not service oriented.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Saturday delivery would not impact business customers as much as this article implies.
Most business customers readily adjust to "holiday" schedules by making their mailings the day before or after holidays. The main impact is on the mail carriers who see their one day load increase.
My eliminating Saturday deliveries. the same would occur. Mail carriers would routinely have much larger loads on Friday and Monday, taking them longer (overtime?) to deliver on those days.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
The USPS is technically already independent of the US Gov't, and has been for nearly 30 years. The last taxpayer dollar that went to them was in the early 1980s. That's why it matters that they aren't making money now. Otherwise they would just get more tax dollars and it wouldn't matter. It may be as simple as that with the decrease in mail, they may have too many carriers on the payroll.
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Wrong trybble1
When they are short, like the $7 billion in annual losses they are posting, who do you think makes up the difference ? The taxpayers. Another government entity sucking up our funds like a sponge.
Getting rid of their vending machines and Saturday delivery are two very bad ideas. This is what is helping them to stay in the game. I love walking into a postal location after work and walking up to their machine and input how I want my package delivered and put my credit card in and be done with it.
The problem with the postal service is one word: unions. Their labor costs and very high and then of course since they are public sector their benefits are high. They need to get them in-line and back to reality.
Other countries are starting to privatize their mail function. It may need to be an option here.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good bus
Rather than acting with a prescriptive approach to financial issues,
the United States Postal Service must take a preventative stance to
its financial situation. It is an all-together irresponsible
proposal to eliminate the statutory responsibility of Saturday
delivery of mail. In addition, the consequences of doing so would
actually increase costs to the USPS; the decreased work hours of its
employees would directly impact the unemployment tax rate charged to
the Postal Service. Instead, the USPS must raise revenue by
increasing the bulk-rate charges for all consumers. There is
absolutely no reason for any for-profit business to not pay the
then-current rate of postage that all others must pay. In addition,
the Postal Service needs to prioritize where its money is spent.
What legitimate reason was there for the prior sponsorship of a
bicycle racing team? The USPS was even critical of its own
mismanagement and accounting practices of this venture, as
documented and reported by the the USPS Office of the Inspector
General. The Postal Service needs to focus on its statutory onus of
delivering mail six days per week, and rightfully charge all
consumers the same rates for the same services.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Makes more sense to drop Mondays. Businesses use fax and email.
Snail mail is for getting catalogs to addresses. (Don't believe me? Count or weigh your personal vs. "junk mail.")
So, it makes more sense to drop Mondays, when everyone's too busy to read/mail anything anyway.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Cutting service is not the answer. The postal service needs to streamline its service to meet the needs of a fast paced economy. Standing in line for half an hour at a post office to mail a package is not what I call good service in this day and age of instant gratification.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
I can live without the ability to get mail in my mailbox on Saturday, but the problem comes from not having access to items
that I need to sign for or larger items. For that, I need a
Saturday post office to be open.
Consider how many people work 9-5 jobs. Add to that the travel
time to work which usually puts them a good distance away from
their home. Most people can not get their mail at work and in many
cases should not have it sent there. Consider the classic plain
wrapped package.
I often get items sent to me insured which I need to sign for.
If I have no way to pick it up, then the USPS loses me as a customer
and I tell everyone to use something else to ship to me as I will not be able to get the item.
So, why is the post office losing money?
Well I imagine rural delivery is still fairly expensive and mandated by the congress. They need to adjust the routes to
reflect the load sent. Some carriers finish their route in a few
hours and are still paid for 8 hours. You need to increase their
workload or cut the hours paid.
IF the USPS were willing to give up its monopoly on first class mail
I imagine someone would come up with a way of making it work. Think of postal box stores that people would go to for pick up and
delivery. Inconvenient in some ways, but likely would be cheaper to
make up for it, and less junk mail.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good bus
Having lived outside of the US I find the USPS does a tremendous job. I
can count on my mail being delivered in a timely fashion (sure there
are exceptions and problems). Raising the price of first class mail and
perhaps all mail seems like the only long-term solution. I am so
pleased with the USPS I will put a 90 cent stamp on a first class if
that is what I have and be happy about it.
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11/30/09 | Report as spam
Bulk mail at full rate? Not a chance!
Marmers apparently has no idea of how bulk mailing works. Commercial printing companies and mail houses pre-sort the mail for the post office. They are given these discounts because of that presort. The more detailed the sorting, the bigger the discount. If the bulk mailers have to pay full rate, there is no incentive to presort or even barcode their material, and all the mail can just get dumped into receptacles and dropped off at the post office for them to sort. When you are talking about mailings with millions of pieces, it would take the post office forever to sort all that mail! (mailers presort and warehouse their mail, then drop at a scheduled date allowing all the pieces to arrive in homes about the same time)
The post office is run exceedingly poorly and if not backed by our tax dollars, would have been out of business years ago. At some point all the execs and unions are going to have to get there hands slapped away from the honeypot. My 12 year old paper boy does essentially the same job as a huge number of postal employees and gets paid a whole lot less with no benefits and screws up a lot less, too!
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
They need to eliminate the walking routes and go to community mailboxes in all subdivisions.
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11/30/09 | Report as spam
Correcting some misinformation
It is not true that USPS receives tax dollars for its operations. The only money USPS receives from the federal government is reimbursments for federally mandated subsidies.
I also question the perception that USPS is poorly managed. For years, the USPS has pushed the leading edge of mail automation and has been a leader in green initiatives (many of which also save money). Their lean Sigma Six practices have identified additional areas where they have improved performance while cutting costs. USPS consistently provides equal or better service than its competitors, often at a better price.
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Hmmmm..... Privatization, Really????
C'mon, think about it..... The USPS goes private. But wait! As a private company it can NOT hold a monopoly to therefore has to be broken up into national, regional, and local entities.... So, if you want to send a letter to grandma who lives in another state, just how many separate companies will it have to pass through in order to be delivered?? And how will rates be determined?? If you think stamps are high now, just wait until the greed of privatization kicks in!
I'm not sure that reducing the current delivery days is the answer, but there's got to be something better than going private.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Cut the waste by removing those at the top who get big bonuses to cut the little people who are the backbone of service. Contractors and star route who pay their own gas, insurance, oil, tire, truck, car or van payments, health care, taxes and SS taxes. Cut the useless 6 figured thousands and see the ink go to black.
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Good idea or bad, it is the reality of the marketplace!
Gee, for 44 cents, I can send a letter and wait a week or two and MAYBE I will have a response to my communication.
Or, I can call (usually for no additional cost above and beyond my telephone/cellphone service) and have an immediate response. E-mail is even less expensive if I am willing to wait hours for a response.
Granted, if you have no phone and no access to the Internet, the US Postal service is the most cost-effective way to go but if you have access to a public library, more likely than not, you have access to free e-mail.
In the end, it is hard to envision a situation which will permit the US Postal Service to remain competitve with e-mail or phone service - with or without Saturday delivery.
In the long run, the best the US Postal Service can hope for is a niche in the the package delivery bisiness which can remain compeitive with UPS, FedEx, and a handful of others.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
The USPS needs to improve its revenue stream. One place where it can do that is by being a competitive alternative to FedEx and UPS. price wise, they are; but service wise, they have a long way to go. My last employer used UPS to send most of his packages out to our customers. WHY? Because, at the end of the day, the driver stopped by, signed the sheet and took them away. For the fee paid to UPS, the first $100 of value was covered by insurance, and it was easy to purchase additional insurance in the event it was necessary.
Compare that with sending things through the USPS, You have to take any package heavier than 13 ounces to a Post Office, wait in line to have it accepted, and in the event insurance is required, wait in line for that. For businesses, TIME IS MONEY!!! No business owner, in their right mind, wants to pay for someone to stand in a (no) customer service line to mail a bunch of packages. Case in point. I got a package recently via UPS, it weighed less than one pound, and I was charged nearly $7.50 to have it shipped. The USPS cost to mail that same package was quite likely less than $5.00 (it would quite likely have fitted into a 'Priority Mail' box). But someone would have to have waited in line to mail it.
If the USPS wants to improve itself, it needs to think 'outside of the box' and stop acting like a government bureaucracy; and more like a self sustaining business, and put service back into its name.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
remove 80% of the management staff as they do not do anything constructive.
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RE: Privatization Option
Perhaps we need to consider ways to unleash the spirit of innovation within the Postal Service?
bfilipiak raises an interesting observation: that UPS and Fedex delivery personnel take and deliver packages right onsite with the assistance of a e-signature-enabled digital assistant. This is a huge competitive advantage over the USPS.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
"Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor dark of night shall stay this carrier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds... however budget cuts and such may wipe out all or part of the aforementioned"!
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Back in the early 1980s, there was a task force called President Reagan's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, aka Grace Commission. I and another person had 5 weeks, while keeping our current industrial jobs going, to come up with recommendations for USPS Retail and Delivery Operations. Unfortunately, a Big Eight firm was charged with heavily editing what we presented.
Some recollections:
Community mailboxes were one aspect which needed greater thrust in implementing.
Increased use of contract postal stations was another. They are cost effective and get postal services distributed closer to es, who run these (often as part of their own business) want. There seems to be fewer stations today than what I remember although there are more chain commercial mailing places.
We liked what Tucson, AZ had done to reduce abuse of medical excused time off. As soon as an employee was well enough, from say a broken arm, they were told to report to work. If they could do some work, may be not their usual assignment, fine. If not, USPS owned their body for the work day and they must sit there at work. Worked wonders! I don't know how much there was of the problem, but at least in Tucson, it solved.
Thoughtful creativity and focused implementation to get results are needed. Back when USPS had a slew of ideas and projects, but it seemed prioritzation and management over them was not at all what it should be.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Considering that the Postal system is a Private Company with Government oversight, I think a business model is a requirement. This is the same organization which in the past has raised the cost of sending mail because they were not making enough PROFIT. I'm sorry if I sound cynical but the standards in recent months have fallen through the floor and now they want to further reduce what their customers are paying for.
I great example of their decline is a recent delivery from a VA Pharmacy. The mail carrier delivered a package on Monday with two prescription bottles, it fit in the customer mail box with plenty of room to spare, in fact 6 letters were delivered with it. On Tuesday the same carrier delivered another VA Pharmacy package that was half the size of the first, but instead of putting this in the mailbox, the carrier dropped it off at the apartment office with no note in the mailbox saying it was there.
The second package was an anti biotic that was required after a surgery which ended up being delivered 10 day late because he office has no "mail room" or staff dedicated to this. Had the patient not been someone who resists infections well (which he did get infected but recovered before the arrival of medication) the Post Office could have ended up with a law suit on their hands instead of a complaint that was ignored.
When I was a child, the Post Office was posting Millions in profits and the Postman, even the one who took over on sick days, vacation, etc, went out of his way to ensure that packages were delivered properly. When I was in high school, the PO was posting profits in the Billions and requested a 7 cent increase in the cost of stamps because they made lower profit than the previous year, but the Postman still was working his tail off for the customer.
Fix the business model, give the carriers pride enough to care about the customers again and keep Saturday delivery. Maybe if the PO went through an overhall their customers would use them more.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good bus
How silly is this entire conversation. The solution can be
easily made. Cut the delivery service in half. One part of
the distribution network delivers MWF and the other part
delivers TTS. I remember when delivery for businesses was
twice a day. When it moved to once a day, they survived!
They will survive this, too!
Another solution includes opening many more "Pomma
Poppa" substations where businesses can come to pick up
their mail if they need it delivered daily. Let them pay for
the box and the agent to go get it. These substations can
service the mail on a daily basis and provided jobs so
desperately needed in today's world. Better than welfare, if
you ask me!
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Much ignorance here. The USPS gets no government subsidies or tax dollars. It's actually the other way around- the Federal government has been taking some dollars from the USPS.
The key problem is that the USPS is so highly leveraged. The cost to deliver to 1 letter, flat or package to 300 million addresses (homes and businesses) is enormous. The cost to deliver a second item is low. There's the rub. When the volume fell, all the infrastructure cost had to be absorbed by 20% less income. Since the USPS was working on a 5% margin, you can see the problem.
The USPS is pretty well run. It has 2 other problems: Expenses are mainly set by law: required delivery of first class mail to ALL addresses, and income (rates) set by an outside agency. But nothing controls their costs. When the price of oil went over $100, UPS and FedEx imposed a fuel surcharge. The USPS could not, and lost 5 billion dollars because of unrecoverable unanticipated fuel costs.
The USPS is in a tough place and there are no simple solutions.
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11/30/09 | Report as spam
People lose sight of the fact...
that the Post Office is not supposed to be a private money-making enterprise. It is a public service, drowning in the neocon trickle-down free-enterprise philosophy of making a profit.
Another stupid idea of privatizing what's in the public interest.
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
First point: Kindly recall that "service" is also a verb. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask your local dairy farmer.)
Second point: The talk of privatization is all well and good and I am generally in favor of such things, but the Post Office is a Constitutionally mandated function/responsibility of the federal government. It would take a constitutional amendment to privatize it.
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12/01/09 | Report as spam
Multiclass postage
I would be able to take no Saturdays, although I believe a no private mondays (business only) is a better choice.
My personal choice for better cash flow is leave delivery alone, start charging bulk mail what the real cost is. if a first class letter is $.44 then bulk mail, 2nd class and third class need to cost more to deliver. I can't accept that USPS saves that differential by having mail presorted. delivery is still by hand and that is the main cost. some prorating is justified, but not the subsidy that is provided to junk.
And anything that has "Resident" or the equivalent needs to be first class. If the snder doesn't know who lives at my house it is Junk by definition. Why should they get ANY preferential cost break?
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RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Too bad so much of the competition isn't very good (FedEx Home delivery anyone?) or any faster (UPS anyone?)
In fact, the USPS has consistently delivered more consistently to more users than any other service. And I do not work for them, but I always tell the people I buy from to ship USPS, not any other way, because it is invariably as fast if not faster...except for FedEx overnight, when I absolutely have to.
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12/01/09 | Report as spam
Is there a problem with "public service"?
First point: Kindly recall that "service" is also a verb. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask your local dairy farmer.)
And you'll also notice I bold faced it as a phrase. Two words.
And for the truly clueless:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_services
Your second point I fully agree with.
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12/03/09 | Report as spam
RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
I am a fan of the PO, how else could I send or receive mail inexpensively? Would UPS or Fedex do it? They cherry-pick their business. Privatize? Do we require a profit from the military? Do we require a profit from SSA, FDIC, SEC or Medicare, to name a few? As to bulk-mailers having to pay more, what would they switch to if they didn't like a price increase? Obviously they'd always get a discount for pre-sorting. I'm pretty sure UPS and Fedex couldn't (and wouldn't if they could) deliver junk-mail to every household. If they could they'd already be doing it. I like what we have now, private with a public option. Now if we could just get this in our health-care system. Maybe we need another constitutional amendment. Reference Article 1, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution
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12/03/09 | Report as spam
RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Cut Saturdays? No(less jobs). Add Sundays? Yes(more jobs). Charge more to bulk-mailers? Yes(what are they going to switch to?). As much as first-class? No(they deserve a better deal by pre-sorting). Sympathy for bulk-mailers? No(they suck eggs)). Offset USPS costs with increased tax to corporations? Yes(corporation is a legal entity, not a person). Privatize? No(illegal, see above).
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12/22/09 | Report as spam
RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
No;
Their business model is dysfunctional. Management was a sleep at the helm while their competitors walked out with most of their core business. Would seriously consider privatizing or at the minimum putting entire function under GSA and have it out sourced their processes (mail, packages, etc) along with a secure email service to the highest bidder. I know a number of firms that could ramp up nation wide secure email and we all know their primary competitors are capable of taking on the rest.
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12/22/09 | Report as spam
RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
Comment: reference Publics Service & Gov functional areas.
Public Servant to Contractor ration I last had was 1(ps):18(contractors). Any one ever hear of Blackwater and the functional roles they were contracted to perform. Understanding the nature of their role and whom they were contracted by I would submit that 80% of our remaining GOV operations could be contracted today. Our Gov has all ready given the green light to Contract out any position that has not been designated sensitive/Gov in nature by the Agency head. Some thing to consider though is the hidden cost of Gov operations, most Agencies were paying out four times as much for contractual services as it would have cost to hire and perform the functions in house.
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12/25/09 | Report as spam
RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
I think they should charge the same price for junk mail as we are paying for first class. This will solve the revenue problem fast and be good for the environment.
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01/01/10 | Report as spam
RE: US Postal Service wants to cut Saturday deliveries - is this a good business idea?
I've been saying this to deaf ears for years--There has never been a need for delivery every day! Isn't this a left over from horse and buggy days??? The mail can't be processed any faster on the receiving side if delivered every day or every other day.
Eliminate Tuesday and Thursday delivers and keep the offices open on Saturdays to accomodate those that are unable to get to the PO during regular work week. Those days of nondelivery can still be utilized to sort and pack mail for next day delivery. Too heavy to shoulder carry? Use the rolling cart that have been availabe already. Find ways to become more efficent in every other aspect for the PO's work. Less options is very good if you can gain the results for less money and manpower.
Have automated kiosks that efficiently and simply work to speed up the processing of geting out our mail--become more 20th century! If all this causes some downsizing, so be it--no one's job is ever guaranteed--government or not. Some will be downsized, but the real workers at the PO will still be there being better utilized.
Change is never an easy pill--master the possibiities of what can be done when the head is extracted from beneath the sand pile. Make it right and we can work with it. Update folks! Thanks.
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01/11/10 | Report as spam
Just Keep A PO Open & Use The Internet For Notices of Delivery
I can handle not getting mail delivery one less day. But keep a PO
open just in case people want to go deliver or pick up something. Just
a simple suggestion but there will probably be some kinks to resolve.
The mail might pile up and make Monday a long one. Might affect
business or dated mail where time is important but other alternatives
could be made available.
Possibly use the internet more for notices just in case people want to
know what is being held could provide further savings in terms of
delivery and energy costs.
