USPS to propose 5-day mail schedule, major cuts

[hoagiepete]

By the way, why can't USPS compete with UPS, Fed Ex and the others on package shipment? Better question is...why are they trying to?

That's a better question. The USPS has it's new flat rate shipping out now. I would think that will do very well vs FedEX and UPS. It's cheaper and the same speed and also, it delivers on....Saturday for the same price. Fedex and UPS charge extra for Saturday delivery. On second thought maybe if this works for the USPS, they should compete against the other carriers.

But they are losing their ass doing it and we end up paying for it. That is my point. Again, why should government be competing with private industry on this, especially when it has to be subsidized by taxes in order to be competitive?

[Rockindeano]

That flat rate shipping isn't really new. What I'm wondering is why it took them THIS long to advertise it.

Desperation.

At least contribute a semi intelligent comment to the conversation. You sound retarded.

[hoagiepete]

"USPS employs about 600,000 workers, about half of whom will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years."

This blows^^^ me away ... This means employment for approx. 300,000 in the next ten years, if they
stay in business!!

Before you slam the USPS too much, think about this. Before email really came on the scene the postal service was making money every year. And now, while they are losing money, who cares? If you can find a better deal anywhere on anything than sending a stamped letter from say Tampa to Seattle for 42 cents,or whatever it is, let me know. The USPS is a good and decent government service. All the Cons out there who desire private operation of everything from prisons to highway upkeep, are notably absent from the letter carrying business. This is one of those things you pay taxes for and it is a killer deal.

Why should we pay taxes for this in the first place? If I mail a letter, I should pay for it...whatever the fair market cost is. Why should my tax money pay for your letters to be mailed? Why should my tax dollar be used to subsidize all the junk mail that I receive? Sounds like a great place to cut to me.

By the way, why can't USPS compete with UPS, Fed Ex and the others on package shipment? Better question is...why are they trying to?

Ok Pete, I'll play along. Try sending a letter from Topeka to say, Charlotte via Fed Ex or UPS for 43 cents. Good luck. You'll pay 11.50. Junk mail is a pain in the ass, but it's paid for by the sender. perhaps they should raise the junk mail rates up? I still think the USPS provides a great service to every American for the cost. It costs literally dollars a year per citizen.

Assuming that it actually costs USPS more like the $11.50 to send that letter, that means someone else is paying $11 for me to ship the letter. Point is, someone is paying for it, just not the person sending the letter.

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

[Ehwmatt]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

[Behshad]

That flat rate shipping isn't really new. What I'm wondering is why it took them THIS long to advertise it.

Desperation.

At least contribute a semi intelligent comment to the conversation. You sound retarded.

She is right though . Why else would they push for this service now , when this has been available for years !??

I vote for desperation! dont make me add a poll to this thread

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

[hoagiepete]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words in there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

and handcuffs !

Stevew2 Jr

[Ehwmatt]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

What do you guys sell?

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

Which makes sense,,, you shouldnt give a crap,,,
but I have paid extra to Ebay sellers before to send it UPS or Fedex! and most of them do it for the same price anyways if you ask nicely,,
USPS is perfect for letters and Netflix,,,, thats it !

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

and handcuffs !

Stevew2 Jr

I was never stevewjr til I got an iPhone

and handcuffs are in my home yes, but we don't sell them

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

Which makes sense,,, you shouldnt give a crap,,,
but I have paid extra to Ebay sellers before to send it UPS or Fedex! and most of them do it for the same price anyways if you ask nicely,,
USPS is perfect for letters and Netflix,,,, thats it !

Well we'll use other shipping services if people ask too, but they have to pay the extra. We aren't that nice, so don't buy from us

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

What do you guys sell?

Lots of crap

[Michigan Girl]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

As an ebay winner( ), I have often wondered why sellers charge soooo much
for regular ground shipping e.g. an item will have shipping listed as $10.00 and
when I receive it the shipping cost was only $3.74?!?! ...this has always confused me!!

[Rockindeano]

Assuming that it actually costs USPS more like the $11.50 to send that letter, that means someone else is paying $11 for me to ship the letter. Point is, someone is paying for it, just not the person sending the letter.

Well I don't have the numbers but I know it doesn't cost UPS 11 bucks to send that letter. They have to make money right? Let's say it costs 5 bucks to send that letter(UPS makes 6 bucks)..the USPS moves so many more letters than UPS or Fedex that it costs them a lot less because they handle more volume. The USPS handles 100 times as many letters to each city pair in the nation, that theymove letters much more inexpensively then the other two carriers. The costs per letter is reduced significantly based on volume(you're carrying the same letters with you to the same city-distribution center) so that doesn't increase costs. So I would guess as the USPS does not lose that much money(definitely not a jillion dollars), that the actual subsidy is more around 5-10 cents or so per letter. Hell, remember how cheap it was before email? A stamp was 32 cents! Well, if we were to send more letters instead of email, the subsidy would actually end up having a reverse effect(the USPS would again profitable). However, that is not practical or likely. So, we are stuck with 43 cent stamps.

One other big point I would make here is the difference between letters and packages. I would hasten to guess if the USPS didn't meddle with packages, their overhead would decline, making them more or less self sufficient.

[Ehwmatt]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

What do you guys sell?

Lots of crap

I hope your husband handles the marketing end of the business!

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

As an ebay winner( ), I have often wondered why sellers charge soooo much
for regular ground shipping e.g. an item will have shipping listed as $10.00 and
when I receive it the shipping cost was only $3.74?!?! ...this has always confused me!!

Its called extra profit !

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

What do you guys sell?

Lots of crap

I hope your husband handles the marketing end of the business!

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

As an ebay winner( ), I have often wondered why sellers charge soooo much
for regular ground shipping e.g. an item will have shipping listed as $10.00 and
when I receive it the cost was $3.74 ...this has always confused me!!

Because SOME ebay sellers like to rip off their customers! That's why you really have to look at the whole picture as a buyer. When you are deciding if an item is worth it, use the shipping calculator and add what they want you to pay in shipping with what the auction will cost you, and see if it's even worth it. When I do buy on rare occasion, I look at shipping they are charging before I ever start bidding. It's one of my deciding factors.

there is the chance that some people are clueless and don't have a way to weigh their items and don't bother looking up the shipping costs per weight, but they should be if they are a business. And it's not an exact science. I am sure that we are guilty of charging a little more here or there also, because we don't want to underestimate our weight and lose money if our scale is off or something. But we try to be as close as we can. The other thing is, Ebay allows us to put in an invisible "handling fee" and any seller can charge what they want for a handling fee! That's why buyers need to be smart and really pay attention to it

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

What do you and your husband do again? I forget... is it an eBay business?

Its like eBay for adults,,,, used dildos etc ,, and handcuffs with her husband being a cop and all

um Matt, the only true words I there are eBay, husband and cop no adult material in my shipping boxes

What do you guys sell?

Lots of crap

I hope your husband handles the marketing end of the business!

Hey, one man's crap is another man's treasure...Im sure I sell lots of treasures

[Behshad]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

As an ebay winner( ), I have often wondered why sellers charge soooo much
for regular ground shipping e.g. an item will have shipping listed as $10.00 and
when I receive it the cost was $3.74 ...this has always confused me!!

Because SOME ebay sellers like to rip off their customers! That's why you really have to look at the whole picture as a buyer. When you are deciding if an item is worth it, use the shipping calculator and add what they want you to pay in shipping with what the auction will cost you, and see if it's even worth it. When I do buy on rare occasion, I look at shipping they are charging before I ever start bidding. It's one of my deciding factors.

there is the chance that some people are clueless and don't have a way to weigh their items and don't bother looking up the shipping costs per weight, but they should be if they are a business. And it's not an exact science. I am sure that we are guilty of charging a little more here or there also, because we don't want to underestimate our weight and lose money if our scale is off or something. But we try to be as close as we can. The other thing is, Ebay allows us to put in an invisible "handling fee" and any seller can charge what they want for a handling fee! That's why buyers need to be smart and really pay attention to it

Can we have your ebay user id ,,, Im gonna add it to my block list !

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

As an ebay winner( ), I have often wondered why sellers charge soooo much
for regular ground shipping e.g. an item will have shipping listed as $10.00 and
when I receive it the shipping cost was only $3.74?!?! ...this has always confused me!!

Its called extra profit !

keep in mind too the cost of tape, bubble wrap, packing popcorn, etc... there are handling charges. But some people go overboard with that.

[Behshad]

[StevePerryHair]

Well we use USPS for our business. We always have. It works well for a small home business like ours and for a long time now we've been able to print our labels at home and place everything we are shipping, no matter how large or heavy, on our front porch for pick up. They have made changes like this to try to compete.

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

USPS benefits the SENDERS for sure. But if youre at the recieving end, you have to suffer to get the damn package,,,

yes, but as a sender and not a receiver, I tend to not give a crap

As an ebay winner( ), I have often wondered why sellers charge soooo much
for regular ground shipping e.g. an item will have shipping listed as $10.00 and
when I receive it the cost was $3.74 ...this has always confused me!!

Because SOME ebay sellers like to rip off their customers! That's why you really have to look at the whole picture as a buyer. When you are deciding if an item is worth it, use the shipping calculator and add what they want you to pay in shipping with what the auction will cost you, and see if it's even worth it. When I do buy on rare occasion, I look at shipping they are charging before I ever start bidding. It's one of my deciding factors.

there is the chance that some people are clueless and don't have a way to weigh their items and don't bother looking up the shipping costs per weight, but they should be if they are a business. And it's not an exact science. I am sure that we are guilty of charging a little more here or there also, because we don't want to underestimate our weight and lose money if our scale is off or something. But we try to be as close as we can. The other thing is, Ebay allows us to put in an invisible "handling fee" and any seller can charge what they want for a handling fee! That's why buyers need to be smart and really pay attention to it

Can we have your ebay user id ,,, Im gonna add it to my block list !

huh?

[bluejeangirl76]

That flat rate shipping isn't really new. What I'm wondering is why it took them THIS long to advertise it.

Desperation.

At least contribute a semi intelligent comment to the conversation. You sound retarded.

Does it make you feel good to belittle people for sport?

I was serious. The USPS has been in a big hole for a long time, which is why they've been talking about cutting delivery for so long. That's why, as Lynn said, it's taken them this long to advertise things that have been around for a long time. They've cut the FT jobs and salaries, they're using the temp carriers as full timers yet not giving them FT status so that they can avoid offering benefits and cut days off their schedule ... (I know this first hand from an employee who I just had a conversation about it with last week) ... now they're suddenly wanting to advertise the hell out of an old service as if it's something revolutionary. They are desperate.

[Rockindeano]

But why SHOULD government be competing with private industry that has demonstrated the ability to do it just fine, if not better, without the postal employee rampages?

Easy. Private industry can't or won't do certain jobs because it can neither afford to(non profitable) or the lack of interest is there. An perfect example is Amtrak. It never makes money. No rail passenger system in the world does. So do we cut it and say that's it? Ok, well before you say yes, remember Amtrak is the nation's third largest carrier behind United Airlines and American Airlines. Oh and by the way, you know only two airlines made money last year? Jet Blue and Southwest, both of whom move a little more than half of Amtrak's riders. We may soon see a government run airline system. Think about it, if not for taxpayer monies, how would airports be constructed, expanded, maintained, etc? yep, taxpayer money. Airlines by republican train of thought should have to pony up the dough themselves, and we all know they can't. They don't have any dough. So if the argument is all for private industry to run things, say goodbye to airline service, because they can't possibly operate without taxpayer money. Same with the freeways we all drive. Hell, cancel all taxes and see how fucked up the roadways get after delayed maintenance or no maintenance at all. Taxes are a necessary evil for the everyday things we all use and need.

As for the rampages, I can't explain that one.