Our mail system BLOWS! (No wonder they're bankrupt, they SUCK)

[eatbrie]

Why does it take so fucking long???

I have 22 pieces of mail in transit.  Some from Europe from 2 months ago.  WTF do they do with all this mail?  Does it just sit in a corner until someone decides to get rid of it.  I don't get it.  I want my mail, goddamnit!

T

[guest8]

I sent a package to France via Priority and it made it in no time (like a week or close to it) .. But I also sent a few packages to Australia via Priority and technically thats supposed to only take 6-10 days and its been closer to 14 and they havent made it yet .. and my tracking/customs code only shows it at Chicago sorting facility.

[eatbrie]

What I really want to know is what they do with all these packages.  Doesn't it make more sense to deliver them right away and be done with it?  Where does a package go when it takes 2 months to come to you.  Or even 14 days to Australia.  It flies there, it gets dispatched and delivered.  5 days max.

T

[Bruce]

How do you think WE feel? We send 500 packages a week, and most of them get there fine, But whenever one takes "too long" (some people say this is more than five days) then lots of people send US angry e-mails demanding WE find out where their packages are and when they will be delivered!

One thing I have to say is that yes, far too many packages take "too long" but we have sent around a quarter of a million packages, and all but a tiny number (a dozen or less) have gotten where they were supposed to undamaged. Now of course our packing so well plays a big part in this, but that still is a pretty astounding record!

Bruce

[Disheveledamethyst]

What pisses me off is that anything over a pound gets stuck at US customs for almost six weeks. Whenever I buy internationally, I know I won't be seeing it for a month and a half.

[jayn_j]

What pisses me off is that anything over a pound gets stuck at US customs for almost six weeks. Whenever I buy internationally, I know I won't be seeing it for a month and a half.

Basically because somebody decided to hide bombs in printer cartridges.  And people say we won that round 

[Chop-Top]

Private sector>Public sector

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Private sector>Public sector

not with the Post Office it isn't

#1 the Post Office was founded so that the business of the country could go forward and it's biggest reason for creation was for the delivery of newspapers and magazines

#2 the Post Office was never meant to make a profit. It was meant to be a tax-payer funded entity with external revenue as well and the Postmaster General was a Presidential Cabinet appointee from 1829-1971  

#3 most people don't know why the past 8 years, the Post Office has been losing more money than ever.
the reason: BECAUSE FED-X NOW CARRIES MOST OF THE MAIL

Yeah, you didn't know that did you?

in 2003 the Postmaster General inked a contract with Fed-X to carry all Express and Priority Mail. Letters were to be transported by commercial cargo or by USPS truck. The contract was set up as a windfall for private industry. For instance, when Express Mail does not get to it's location within the stated time frame, the shipper gets a full refund. The Fed-X contract stipulates that should Express Mail not reach it's destination by the allotted time, that the USPS and not Fed-X will pay the refund. In other words, Fed-X has no downside to not delivering the mail on time. Since 2003 when the contract began, the amount of Express Mail that does not get delivered on time has more than tripled, resulting in serious losses to the USPS

But now, we can't easily unwind the contract because when the Postmaster General signed the contract, the USPS sold all of it's own cargo planes, seeing as they were no longer needed and by doing so locked us in to an unfavorable position

so while the USPS is a Government GSE, PRIVATE INDUSTRY IS IN ACTUALITY HANDLING THE MAIL

Private industry is a for-profit business model. the USPS is not a for-profit business model. In order to satisfy the private contract, rates had to necessarily increase to support private industry profits and to that end - and I'm sure Bruce can bolster this - shipping rates have more than doubled (and more than tripled in a great % of situations) during the time that Fed-X has been handling the mail.

Anyone who wants to say Social Security needs to be privatized only needs to examine in great detail what has happened at the post office since 1971 to see why privatization of Government business is a bad idea

[MoviePosterBid.com]

by the way.. there are other reasons the USPS is in trouble and one is salaries. My buddy who manages one post office here in town says the USPS has more employees making over $150k a year than the military does (and yes, he was in the military too and he also makes more than 150k). Senior employees in all areas make lots of dough. When managers need to be moved to another city, the USPS buys a house for that person to live in. It's the property of the USPS, but there are few restrictions on how big or how expensive the house is and no penalties to the employee who searches for the house he/she wants to live in. the USPS has scads of homes all over the nation that are empty as the employees have moved to other cities. Many of these homes can be considered mansions

there are many other issues of similar nature.

[Bruce]

I had a friend in 1970 (the year I graduated high school) who told me he wasn't going to college, but was going to work for the Post Office instead!

He was a real smart guy, so I asked him why. He said "You can see the guys working there are not rocket scientists, so I bet I can work my way up to Postmaster within 10 years at the most. Then I only need to work 25 years [*I think he said 25] until I can retire with a full pension and great benefits. I'll still be a young enough person to have a second career if I want it, or I can live a life of leisure, all on the government's dime".

I heard he did just what he said he would, and I bet there are tons more like him, living off the fat of the government.

And to echo what Rich said, just a few years ago I charged $6 for U.S. orders and $14 for international. Now it is $11 and $35 for most, and I lose lots of money on shipping.

And it's mostly because they are not accountable to anyone when they do a very inefficient job.

But they DO get all the packages where they are supposed to (and they are unharmed when they are packed right)!

Bruce

[MoviePosterBid.com]

And to echo what Rich said, just a few years ago I charged $6 for U.S. orders and $14 for international. Now it is $11 and $35 for most, and I lose lots of money on shipping.

I also lose money on shipping, though not the actual postage. It used to be that the $2 and then $3 charge added to the actual shipping cost paid for materials and the employee making the packages. NO MORE

I lose about $2-$4 on 75% or so of all packages we send out and just barely break even (which is all I want to do) on the rest

and I did a search.. the deal between Fed-X and the USPS began in Aug 2001 after various lawsuits brought by other shipping companies were resolved (the resolution was that the Courts didn't feel any companies were being disadvantaged and so the deal can go forward)

[MoviePosterBid.com]

something that Bruce and I did not mention, is that the cost of shipping has become the #1 issue with internet sales and more particularly, non-paying bidders of which I've seen a considerable uptick in the past year.

The cost of shipping depresses final bid prices on anything under $100 and many items that may have been $20 or so previously are now just $1 items in part because of shipping costs to buyer.

of course, this is why both Bruce and I offer monthly packing services and the like

[Chop-Top]

Why does the government have to deliver junk mail for us? Can't I pay a private business to do it?

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Why does the government have to deliver junk mail for us? Can't I pay a private business to do it?

who cares about junk mail.. in case yuo haven't noticed, you get an awful lot less of it than you did 10 years ago

I'm concerned about shipping of packages and cost

[Chop-Top]

who cares about junk mail.. in case yuo haven't noticed, you get an awful lot less of it than you did 10 years ago

I'm concerned about shipping of packages and cost

A lot less? What planet are you on? I get tons of it, when I want none of it. Since I have no say in the matter due to the government monopoly on first class mail, I guess I'll continue to suffer.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

A lot less? What planet are you on? I get tons of it, when I want none of it. Since I have no say in the matter due to the government monopoly on first class mail, I guess I'll continue to suffer.

Chop, I get maybe 1/5th of the junk mail I used to get and my addresses are all published addresses.
My mailbox used to be stuffed full daily while now I get only a few pieces a week at either mailbox.
The reasons are obvious: most advertisers have given up junkmail due to cost

also, seeing as all junk mail in my box goes from mailbox to trashbox and all I have to do is transport it 15 feet in the process.. It doesn't bother me much. I'm more concerned about paper waste than I am the energy of throwing it away

I am however very concerned with the cost of shipping movie poster packages to buyers

[jayn_j]

I will agree that my volume of junk mail has gone down, but the volume of legitimate mail has gone down faster.  Thus the percentage of junk has actually gone up for me.

These days I get 5-6 pieces of mail a day, and 1-2 per week is legitimate.  Most of my bills are sent online.  I have cancelled all magazine subscriptions.  All my friends write me e-mail.  What's left?

[Zorba]

I will agree that my volume of junk mail has gone down, but the volume of legitimate mail has gone down faster.  Thus the percentage of junk has actually gone up for me.

These days I get 5-6 pieces of mail a day, and 1-2 per week is legitimate.  Most of my bills are sent online.  I have cancelled all magazine subscriptions.  All my friends write me e-mail.  What's left?

Same here.

I hardly ever get any real mail as I have gone paper less with my bills.  All my mail is junk mail and it just keeps on coming home. Pretty amazing actually. You would think these assholes would be affected by this mythical rise in cost. Doesnt bother them any at all.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

I will agree that my volume of junk mail has gone down, but the volume of legitimate mail has gone down faster.  Thus the percentage of junk has actually gone up for me.

These days I get 5-6 pieces of mail a day, and 1-2 per week is legitimate.  Most of my bills are sent online.  I have cancelled all magazine subscriptions.  All my friends write me e-mail.  What's left?

movie poster packages

[crowzilla]

Anyone who wants to say Social Security needs to be privatized only needs to examine in great detail what has happened at the post office since 1971 to see why privatization of Government business is a bad idea

Except of course that I want Social Security to be privatized to the extent that I make my own decision about what to do with the money that is set aside, not blindly hand it off to Goldman Sachs to lose for me.












[/quote]

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Except of course that I want Social Security to be privatized to the extent that I make my own decision about what to do with the money that is set aside, not blindly hand it off to Goldman Sachs to lose for me.

Sean, if everyone, or a super-majority of the population had the ability to understand the markets and ins/outs of investing, the upside and the downside, then there could be some merit to that. Unfortunately, if everyone had to make their own investment decisions, we'd find ourselves supporting all the losers in much the same way we were before any such privatization, and therein lay the rub.

We both know what the deal really is about though is that Wall Street lobbyists want the GOP to privatize SS so that Wall Street brokers can invest the money & reap windfall profits in the form of fees, and that there is no guarantee that any investments the money goes into will only go up, not down which is where the government is a better backstop as SS money is turned into Government Bonds which do not go red, and the government pays interest on the loans

[Tang Lung in Rome]

Dont you have a junk mail sticker in the US ?

I still get newspapers which annoys me as they contain ads......ads to me is junk mail.

[Chop-Top]

Sean, if everyone, or a super-majority of the population had the ability to understand the markets and ins/outs of investing, the upside and the downside, then there could be some merit to that. Unfortunately, if everyone had to make their own investment decisions, we'd find ourselves supporting all the losers in much the same way we were before any such privatization, and therein lay the rub.

We both know what the deal really is about though is that Wall Street lobbyists want the GOP to privatize SS so that Wall Street brokers can invest the money & reap windfall profits in the form of fees, and that there is no guarantee that any investments the money goes into will only go up, not down which is where the government is a better backstop as SS money is turned into Government Bonds which do not go red, and the government pays interest on the loans

The only logical way to privatize SS is to keep your money and do as you please with it. But if that were to happen, it's not doing anything to SS itself, but abolishing it, thus gaining some of our freedom back. You seem like you're easily fooled by the false-left-right paradigm.