MyE28.com

slammin_e28 wrote:USPS, well, it is a gvmt entity.

Not exactly. Taxes don't pay for it any more. In addition some express services (like transportation of USPS packages across the country) are partially subcontracted to other companies like FedEx.

scootermcfly wrote:

Let me get this right. You are complaining about the USPS not offering complete coverage for a product? The reason for that is because it cost them too much (read operates at a loss). They really are not in the express business. That is why most USPS locations have a FedEx box on the property. The USPS has many problems, but the lack of an real next day product is not one of them (it would just be more red ink) and the private carriers do a pretty good job in that segment. You just made an uninformed choice as a consumer. Not exactly the USPS's problem.[/quote]

Yes I am complaining that they are unable to provide next day delivery to a major metropolitan area such as NY when they spend a good deal advertising for their express mail service. Likewsie they charge an arm and a leg for that service as well. You are correct in saying that private carriers do a good job in that segment but you are wrong in saying that it is not USPS's problem. The fact is that private carriers do a substantially better job in that area and make a profit doing so. The idea that next day service is nothing but red ink is ridiculous. If USPS would conduct their business with the efficiency of certain other private carriers they might not be billions of dollars in the red every year. They certainly have the infrastructure in place to do it, just not the motivation.[/quote] M-racer responds: Sorry, but you are out of your depth here. The USPS does not provide service (and not required to by the Universal Postal Sevice Obligation as set by Congress) in areas where they are deemed to be unprofitable. That includes rural areas and unban areas. As a taxpayer, that is the way I want it. Why would you want to force a gov't entity to operate unprofitably when a private sector (two actually) cover the sector profitably? Your comment on infrastructure is nonsense. The infrastucture required to run a next day network (planes, gateways, early am couriers) is not the same as schlepping mail. The USPS gets the traffic that no one else wants (residential, low weight, low density, low value, small, letters, ad mail, etc.). Never have you seen FedEx or UPS make a play for that traffic. Know why? It is because you can't make any money from it, even with the various surcharges. The USPS has many problems (aging infrastructure, not enough capital to buy the best technology and unions that hold a choke hold on innovation to be exact). I want the USPS to do only what is actually necessary and leave the rest to private industry who can innovate and compete. Anyway, you have the right to your opinion. That said, I think I can say as an industry insider (who has worked for and consulted to the major carriers and posts arround the globe) that you might be a little off base in wanting the USPS to try to compete with UPS and FedEx in the express business. So there you go.

m-racer wrote:M-racer responds: Sorry, but you are out of your depth here. The USPS does not provide service (and not required to by the Universal Postal Sevice Obligation as set by Congress) in areas where they are deemed to be unprofitable. That includes rural areas and unban areas. As a taxpayer, that is the way I want it.

As a taxpayer it isn't really your problem since your taxes no longer pay for the USPS services. Also, they are required to operate in unprofitable areas.

Why would you want to force a gov't entity to operate unprofitably when a private sector (two actually) cover the sector profitably? Your comment on infrastructure is nonsense. The infrastucture required to run a next day network (planes, gateways, early am couriers) is not the same as schlepping mail. The USPS gets the traffic that no one else wants (residential, low weight, low density, low value, small, letters, ad mail, etc.).

Absolutely. What's more is that they have to take that low profit crap. They have no choice and they are obligated to serve all Americans.

Never have you seen FedEx or UPS make a play for that traffic. Know why?

Because they aren't allowed to by law. The USPS has a government granted monopoly on non-urgent letters.

Tim is just pissed off that he had to cancel golf with the Secretary of State to correct you idiots about the Postal Service.

(Sorry, couldn't resist the jackass comment, I just love that particular Seinfeld episode and the subject of the USPS comes up, it's really where my mind goes . . . .)

Moose, I've got this handled, you can go take your 3 hour break . . . .

rlomba8204 wrote: Moose, I've got this handled, you can go take your 3 hour break . . . .

Will do as you say, boss. After all, it is your money

(my company is largely funded by government grants)

mooseheadm5 wrote:

m-racer wrote:M-racer responds: Sorry, but you are out of your depth here. The USPS does not provide service (and not required to by the Universal Postal Sevice Obligation as set by Congress) in areas where they are deemed to be unprofitable. That includes rural areas and unban areas. As a taxpayer, that is the way I want it.

As a taxpayer it isn't really your problem since your taxes no longer pay for the USPS services. Also, they are required to operate in unprofitable areas.

Why would you want to force a gov't entity to operate unprofitably when a private sector (two actually) cover the sector profitably? Your comment on infrastructure is nonsense. The infrastucture required to run a next day network (planes, gateways, early am couriers) is not the same as schlepping mail. The USPS gets the traffic that no one else wants (residential, low weight, low density, low value, small, letters, ad mail, etc.).

Absolutely. What's more is that they have to take that low profit crap. They have no choice and they are obligated to serve all Americans.

Never have you seen FedEx or UPS make a play for that traffic. Know why?

Because they aren't allowed to by law. The USPS has a government granted monopoly on non-urgent letters.

Commonly held beliefs. A couple of points: 1) I am afraid that your tax dollars do fund the the USPS. I must have missed the play when they went public. I was probably busy with taking the Dutch Post (KPWN) and DeutchePost (DPWN ag) public. Your payment for stamps also cross substidizes the parcel products 2) Your logic that they have to take mail and the other junk no one wants is correct. It's called the Universal Postal Obliblgation and is defined by law. That is also the reason that the USPS remains supported by your tax dollars. No private company would carry it without guarantees from the Gov't. (case in point Netherlands, Germany, etc.) 3) You made a point earlier that the USPS was not a governmental agency because they used lift and trunk transport from other carriers (including FedEx and UPS, which is a pretty good deal for all involved as it increases utilzation of airplanes). They do indeed (and always have, as the USPS does not maintain an aircraft fleet and have long used contract carriage for ground moves between hubs) use private carriers. That has nothing to do with their governance. 4) The private carriers are only prohibited from carrying first class mail and that has never been tested in court (and never will be as no one wants to build a separate infrastructure for letter sortation and given the probable impact on local USPS employees it would be politically smelly). All the rest of the USPS traffic is fair game, but as said earlier, no one wants it.

m-racer wrote:3) You made a point earlier that the USPS was not a governmental agency because they used lift and trunk transport from other carriers (including FedEx and UPS, which is a pretty good deal for all involved as it increases utilzation of airplanes)

I made no such point in that direction. That was meant to mean that their express services are partially handled by other businesses and that not all of their failings with their express services are necessarily solely theirs.

http://www.usps.com/strategicplanning/_ ... 7_2010.pdf

0 tax dollars received to operate the Postal Service.

I'm certain as with all businesses there are various incentives/credits given, but that is their official stance.

rlomba8204 wrote:Tim is just pissed off that he had to cancel golf with the Secretary of State to correct you idiots about the Postal Service.

(Sorry, couldn't resist the jackass comment, I just love that particular Seinfeld episode and the subject of the USPS comes up, it's really where my mind goes . . . .)

Moose, I've got this handled, you can go take your 3 hour break . . . .

I like that episode as well. The USPS is a difficult mess at the moment. Good client if you are a gov't contractor though

mooseheadm5 wrote:

m-racer wrote:3) You made a point earlier that the USPS was not a governmental agency because they used lift and trunk transport from other carriers (including FedEx and UPS, which is a pretty good deal for all involved as it increases utilzation of airplanes)

I made no such point in that direction. That was meant to mean that their express services are partially handled by other businesses and that not all of their failings with their express services are necessarily solely theirs.

Only the trunk transport is handled by other carriers (see above) and it runs at the high 90's in terms of time in transit, so indeed any problems and failings are directly attributable to the operations and service design of the USPS. Got to go back to work. That is all you get for free!

The idea of this thread was not to argue about the Postal Service. Seriously. The last thread I make about the grocery store gets a bunch of whiney douche bags calling everyone a racist. Now some guy is pissed off about the Postal Service.

I would never argue with m-racer about issues of couriers and logistics.

The point of the thread was about the guy who received a letter that the Postal Service didn't get paid to deliver and he wanted to pay the $.44. HOW OFTEN DOES THAT HAPPEN?!

This is ridiculous.

rlomba8204 wrote:Tim is just pissed off that he had to cancel golf with the Secretary of State to correct you idiots about the Postal Service.

(Sorry, couldn't resist the jackass comment, I just love that particular Seinfeld episode and the subject of the USPS comes up, it's really where my mind goes . . . .)

Moose, I've got this handled, you can go take your 3 hour break . . . .

Knew a guy in college who thought Wilford Brimley was the Postmaster General and he made a cameo appearance in that episode.

That never got old. "Hey Steve, you better make sure you've got the right amount of postage on that envelope or the Postmaster General will come by and he'll wanna tell you about his diabetis."

Well, you haven't convinced me that the USPS, which is a business, while also being a semi-gov't entity, should not provide services in a market that has proven to be profitable. With people giving them consultation that they should stick to unprofitable sectors of the market and completely ignore other proven profitable sectors they can expect only to fall deeper into the red. The USPS's failuer to adapt to changing social patterns is failure on their part as a business, not on my part as a consumer.

The postman drives by my house six times a week. There's a number of POs within 15 min drive of my house. Your assertion that they do not posses the necessary infrastructure to handle large scale competent next day delivery service in addition to their normal charge made me curious. The USPS website states that their Express Mail Service offers "Guaranteed overnight delivery to most locations or your money back." Except, according to my experience, when means going from the second largest city in Georgia (by population) to the largest city on the East Coast. Strange that it would also say that their Express Service is "The fastest way to send packages" when its own taxing paying consultants and industry insiders are aware that it isn't and actually prefer it that way. If I made an uniformed choice as a consumer it is because I was directly mislead by the PO itself. How silly of me to expect them to offer a service they advertise.

Some statistics pulled off the USPS website concerning the capabilities of their inept infrastructure include:

171 billion — total number of mail pieces processed in 2010
563 million — average number of mail pieces processed each day
23 million — average number of mail pieces processed each hour
391,000 — average number of mail pieces processed each minute
6,516 — average number of mail pieces processed each second
40 — percentage of the world’s card and letter mail volume handled by USPS
215,625 — number of vehicles in the Postal Service fleet — the largest civilian fleet in the world
1.25 billion — number of miles driven each year by our letter carriers and truck drivers
31,871 — number of postal-managed retail locations nationwide

Seems like they could figure out pretty easily how to deliver a package consistently overnight.

....and the kicker from the USPS website:

0 — tax dollars received for operating the Postal Service

Yes, that's right folks, $0 tax dollars. That's because the USPS is supposed to be able to hold its own as a business. Similarly, I believe, it should be allowed to die a pitiless death, just like any other poorly run business. Granted, I don't have the experience of having consulted in the operations of a business that finds itself billions of dollars in the red every year, but it seems like it only takes a modicum of common sense to figure out that the USPS needs to change its business tactics and services.

Chris, You are absolutely right. Off track as usual That was an "oh my" incident at your PO. After my experience at my dry cleaners this am, I should start another thread. I just wish someone had the camera rolling (for your USPS experience and mine this am).Tim

scootermcfly wrote:Well, you haven't convinced me that the USPS, which is a business, while also being a semi-gov't entity, should not provide services in a market that has proven to be profitable. With people giving them consultation that they should stick to unprofitable sectors of the market and completely ignore other proven profitable sectors they can expect only to fall deeper into the red. The USPS's failuer to adapt to changing social patterns is failure on their part as a business, not on my part as a consumer.

The postman drives by my house six times a week. There's a number of POs within 15 min drive of my house. Your assertion that they do not posses the necessary infrastructure to handle large scale competent next day delivery service in addition to their normal charge made me curious. The USPS website states that their Express Mail Service offers "Guaranteed overnight delivery to most locations or your money back." Except, according to my experience, when means going from the second largest city in Georgia (by population) to the largest city on the East Coast. Strange that it would also say that their Express Service is "The fastest way to send packages" when its own taxing paying consultants and industry insiders are aware that it isn't and actually prefer it that way. If I made an uniformed choice as a consumer it is because I was directly mislead by the PO itself. How silly of me to expect them to offer a service they advertise.

Some statistics pulled off the USPS website concerning the capabilities of their inept infrastructure include:

171 billion — total number of mail pieces processed in 2010
563 million — average number of mail pieces processed each day
23 million — average number of mail pieces processed each hour
391,000 — average number of mail pieces processed each minute
6,516 — average number of mail pieces processed each second
40 — percentage of the world’s card and letter mail volume handled by USPS
215,625 — number of vehicles in the Postal Service fleet — the largest civilian fleet in the world
1.25 billion — number of miles driven each year by our letter carriers and truck drivers
31,871 — number of postal-managed retail locations nationwide

Seems like they could figure out pretty easily how to deliver a package consistently overnight.

....and the kicker from the USPS website:

0 — tax dollars received for operating the Postal Service

Yes, that's right folks, $0 tax dollars. That's because the USPS is supposed to be able to hold its own as a business. Similarly, I believe, it should be allowed to die a pitiless death, just like any other poorly run business. Granted, I don't have the experience of having consulted in the operations of a business that finds itself billions of dollars in the red every year, but it seems like it only takes a modicum of common sense to figure out that the USPS needs to change its business tactics and services.

Just tring to push you down the path of logic. No argument about their ineptitude or your willingness to believe their advertising (which you paid for. I would write your representative if I were you). Yes, they come down your street every day but Sunday. That means they are set up to deliver your mail, not express letters or packages which often require more than stuffing something in your mail slot (you know, that pesky run airplanes, get a signature, scheduled delivery, guarantees kind of stuff). They will never hold their own as a business because of a long legacy of problems. They are not my clients or I would not have commented. I work for the guys who are responsable to stockholders and know how to make a buck.

m-racer wrote:Just tring to push you down the path of logic. No argument about their ineptitude or your willingness to believe their advertising (which you paid for. I would write your representative if I were you). Yes, they come down your street every day but Sunday. That means they are set up to deliver your mail, not express letters or packages which often require more than stuffing something in your mail slot (you know, that pesky run airplanes, get a signature, scheduled delivery, guarantees kind of stuff). They will never hold their own as a business because of a long legacy of problems. They are not my clients or I would not have commented. I work for the guys who are responsable to stockholders and know how to make a buck.

Fair enough. This wasn't meant to be a pissing contest. You make some very valid points.

The post office here closes from 12:00 to 1:30 for lunch.

I hate it.

You folks seriously get mail delivery on Saturday!

That's nuts!

Us Canadians finally got mail today for the first time in 11 days but that's another thread...

slammin_e28 wrote:

M. Holtmeier wrote:

Brian in TN wrote:

slammin_e28 wrote:What is "mail"?

This thing called "mail" is the crap that shows up in yer mailbox for recycling.

And quite often references these things called "bills."

Bills = mail? I have heard of these bills. They are the reason I quit going to the mailbox. There was always a bad surprise in there.

You have a mailbox on your 540i?

KillerPM wrote:You folks seriously get mail delivery on Saturday!

That's nuts!

Us Canadians finally got mail today for the first time in 11 days but that's another thread...

Interestingly, during my visit, I had a couple sets of prints to send to Canada that were heavy enough that I didn't want to chance it with stamps and they still weren't taking Canadian items until today, so I had to wait with those. No big deal. Apparently, there's a ton of Canadian mail sitting down on the border.

wkohler wrote:

KillerPM wrote:You folks seriously get mail delivery on Saturday!

That's nuts!

Us Canadians finally got mail today for the first time in 11 days but that's another thread...

Interestingly, during my visit, I had a couple sets of prints to send to Canada that were heavy enough that I didn't want to chance it with stamps and they still weren't taking Canadian items until today, so I had to wait with those. No big deal. Apparently, there's a ton of Canadian mail sitting down on the border.

Yep... Go back to work legislation!!!

Anyway, for those who think the mail service is dead, you don't know the havoc that is caused when its not running.. Companies (at least up here) send each other checks as payment. No mail, no checks... No checks, no paying employees.. Some smaller places were beginning to lay people off already and it was only 11 days.

So letter mail might not be used much anymore for personal reasons, but for the business world its vital. That and fax machines.. Why the hell do business' still use fax machines???

Cactus wrote:

slammin_e28 wrote:

M. Holtmeier wrote:

Brian in TN wrote:

slammin_e28 wrote:What is "mail"?

This thing called "mail" is the crap that shows up in yer mailbox for recycling.

And quite often references these things called "bills."

Bills = mail? I have heard of these bills. They are the reason I quit going to the mailbox. There was always a bad surprise in there.

You have a mailbox on your 540i?

I wish I had a 540i to put a mailbox in.

What i hate is when you send someone their DELIVERY CONFIRMATION for their USPS shipped package and they bitch they dont have live tracking like fedex and UPS.

Also 95 year old women who have to ask what the latest STAMPS they have are available...its a ****ing stamp, holding up the line.

Bimmerguy2002 wrote: Also 95 year old women who have to ask what the latest STAMPS they have are available...its a ****ing stamp, holding up the line.

Yesterday I had to go to 3 Post Offices before I found one that carried the stamps with the poodles wearing the pink knitted vests.

Karl Grau wrote:

Bimmerguy2002 wrote: Also 95 year old women who have to ask what the latest STAMPS they have are available...its a ****ing stamp, holding up the line.

Yesterday I had to go to 3 Post Offices before I found one that carried the stamps with the poodles wearing the pink knitted vests.

Does your lady know you swing the other way?

Bimmerguy2002 wrote:
Also 95 year old women who have to ask what the latest STAMPS they have are available...its a ****ing stamp, holding up the line.

Ummmm, well now you know not only 95 y/o women do that...



(I always ask)

option00002 wrote:

Bimmerguy2002 wrote:
Also 95 year old women who have to ask what the latest STAMPS they have are available...its a ****ing stamp, holding up the line.

Ummmm, well now you know not only 95 y/o women do that...



(I always ask)

in that case, its courteous to look behind and let the guy go ahead like in a grocery store where the fat ass 350 lb woman has 3 carts of frozen pizzas and sees that you have two items and doesnt let you go ahead

You don't get to be a 350lb woman by letting others go ahead of you in any line that involves food. Dummy.

rlomba8204 wrote: All important life issues -- moral, financial, personal -- are covered by a relevant Seinfeld episode.

This.

mitch wrote:You don't get to be a 350lb woman by letting others go ahead of you in any line that involves food. Dummy.

I had a very nice woman let me go ahead of her in Kroger the other day.

I had to get another 6 pack of Newcastle because the project wasn't done and I ran out.

She was making fun of the other lady who didn't let me in front of her. A good time was had by all at check lane #4.

Cooperman wrote:

rlomba8204 wrote: All important life issues -- moral, financial, personal -- are covered by a relevant Seinfeld episode.

This.

Ditto (not sure how I missed that line yesterday.) All other important life issues are covered by relevant Calvin & Hobbes cartoon strips.