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Subscribe to RSSNo CEO of a struggling business would propose a turnaround that hinged on degrading the service of its flagship product, but that's essentially what the U.S. Postal Service is doing with its cost-cutting proposals that include eliminating Saturday mail delivery and virtually eliminating overnight delivery of first-class mail.
"The changes the Postal Service announced don’t make the essential issues go away," says Michael Crew, director of the Center for Research in Regulated Industries, and CRRI professor of regulatory economics at Rutgers University. On Thursday, the USPS acknowledged it was facing a "new reality" as it continues to lose business to electronic forms of communication.
"It'll probably result in the further decline of the postal service," Crew predicts, as customers ranging from consumers who still pay bills via snail mail to companies that depend on overnight mail turnaround like Netflix alike seek out electronic alternatives more aggressively.
The problem, say experts, is that the USPS isn't run like a business. "The essential problem is that the law does not create a framework for the Postal Service that gives them sufficient flexibility to adjust to a changing market," says James I. Campbell, an attorney and consultant on postal policy.
Although the USPS isn't funded by taxpayer dollars, it still has to follow a host of Congressional mandates on its operations.
"What's costing them is their business model doesn't encourage them to innovate," Crew says, "So all they can think of is cut, cut, cut — and that's probably the only option that's available to them under current law."
Other industrialized nations have mail-delivery systems that aren't bleeding red ink; the difference is that those are run like corporations (some are entirely privatized). And in business, cutting costs is only half the solution to an underwater balance sheet. What's even more important is stimulating demand.
The USPS could do this in a few ways, experts say. First, it could ramp up parcel delivery. Market research firm comScore says online retail spending in the second quarter of this year alone was $37.5 billion. That adds up to a lot of goods that need to be transported around the country. Now, though, the USPS only handles around 15 percent of this market, with the rest handled by UPS and FedEx.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe also suggests increasing demand by growing "last-mile service," in which a private courier delivers a package to the farthest stop on their route and a mail truck takes it to its final destination.
Conversely, the USPS could offer a similar service in congested urban areas, says Crew. Private companies would bring their packages most of the way to their destination to be handled by the USPS for the final leg of the trip. This "urban logistics" service would grow in appeal as congestion pricing increases the cost of vehicle access to urban centers during peak hours.
Even with the mail volume lost to digital transactions, "(i)n the US we have two to three times as much mail per person as any other industrial country," says Campbell. "There ought to be some way to make this work."
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, in a CNBC interview, says postal volume is in long-term decline and the service needs to cut costs.
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This is such BS. The USPS was doing just fine until the republiCON congress under Bush decided the post office needed to pay billions of dollars in advance for pension funds. Why do people continue to lie about everything? Oops, I know why, because you people want to privatize everything so you can get your dirty hands on the money. Unbelieveable.
Donna..that's true but this bad economy and the proliferation of email lead to the decline of the USPS. It needs to move more aggressively into the parcel business which it has only 15% of ..this is the future as more and more people order online. Ironically, the biggest opposition to privatization of the USPS are the republicans from rural states like Dakota and such..because they fear it result in higher fees for their constituent. It's a joke that USPS charge packages based on weight and distance yet charges the same rate for 1st class to some town in rural America that is not even on the road map!
Donna - The problem wasn't Bush the problem is Congress essentially insisted that they operate like a business financially without giving them the ability to operate like a business. Next they saddled them with a work force for whom the USPS does not control pay and benefits. You try to run a business like that and eventually you are bound to fail.
Donna,
The problem with government in general is it is no forced to recognize and adequately plan for pension obligations. Having the USPS plan for pensions is a good thing - and this approach should be used for all government and GSE pension plans. We talk about a $15 Trillion debt now, but if we accounted for public pension plans like we do in the private industry, that number is well over $100 Trillion in unfunded liabilities.
We can't keep sticking our head in the sand and hope the problems go away. We need to make some decisions - either cut benefits, raise revenue or some combination thereof.
Donna...Everything is a conspiracy, right? Give me a break. So, let me get this straight. You would rather have the postal service employee's retirement fund be unfunded, is that correct? Yes, more brilliant logic from the folks that just LOVE deficits and unfunded liabilities. Then, when it comes time to pay....they blame the hell out of everyone else. Typical liberal magical thinking.
All of you attacking donna are so full of **** your eyes are brown.
Or just plain stupid as he11.
It is precisely because the Republicans forced a mandate down the USPS throat that mandated they FULLY FUND their pension with a 10 year projection!!! For those idiots in the room that is 658 Million stuck in escrow that EVERY other government or PRIVATE agency/business are not required to do...NONE Zero zilch there is NO other agency or business that is FORCED to escrow all of their profits ALL at once in one year to STUFF into an escrow...and then try to operate under budget...
This is total and complete BS to create the "Appearance" of a Crisis where there is None...
And you fools gobble it up like its kibble N bits.
Its time to kick out all of these privatizing Corporatist bastards from congress Republicans AND Democrats.
Oh and to the writer Martha...if you don't know what the heck you are talking about and can't be bothered to do even a minutia of research, perhaps you should try children's books; pablum fantasy seems to be your thing.
Donna & Drewrichards... Thanks! The real story is not being reported.
I totally agree with MichaelC #1.6. I'm convinced we're only hearing a smidgen of this whole story. In my opinion, any entity that needs to cut cost, needs to start at the top. Too many fat cats getting very big salaries and doing very little. While they’re at it, they should revamp their relocation policy. Spending $800k to buy the home of a relocating employee is ludicrous. http://articles.cnn.com/2009-03-05/us/postal.service.relocation_1_postal-service-relocation-policy-cnn?_s=PM:US I don't go to the post office very often, but every time I'm there, the people behind the counter always seem to be busy and I've never noticed anyone "slacking off." The delivery people, too, seem to be well-occupied, but I have little use for Saturday delivery. Cutting out Saturday delivery should help and try getting a bigger share of parcel post. We buy a lot online and most of the time the stuff gets delivered by UPS or some other private service. Why can’t the post office do it as efficiently? There are numerous ways they can improve the bottom line and at least break even.
The reason the USPS has difficulty expanding their parcel service is because federal laws have allowed UPS and FedEx to sign "exclusive" contracts with businesses.....in other words, even if you demand that the business ships to you by USPS Priority Mail, they will say: "HELL NO", we can't, we have a shipping exclusive with UPS or FedEx. Here in the USVI, that means we have to pay international rates which are 5 times as high as USPS Priority rates, or else have it shipped to someone in the mainland for them to forward on to us, which then can add as much as three weeks to the delivery. I actually had something that was shipped FedEx to a friend in CO because they would NOT accept anything other than a stateside address credit card and the final leg for some reason was handed over to the local post office for delivery.
As the article states, the Congress has hand-tied the USPS in many ways, not just on the advanced payment on pensions.
I have a great solution. Make all deliveries curbside, the usps pays for the each residents initial mailbox and you could condense routes and give the carriers an early out. That would take care of a big problem. There are so many carriers holding on for an early out and they wouldn't have to talk about layoffs. You can get a lot more mail delivered quicker on a mounted route than a walking route. That would be the way to go and they wouldn't have to eliminate Saturdays and they would save money, too. The one time cost of the mailboxes would be covered in no time.
@Ron-1861300
The pension provision that requires the USPS to fully fund their pension for every new employee out to 75 years is ridiculous. NO BUSINESS FUNDS THEIR PENSION AND NO INSURANCE COMPANY FUNDS THEIR INSURANCE POOL THIS WAY. The general rule is 30 years (the length of the average retirement or length of the longest fixed-term policy). It makes no sense to fund a pension for people who are not even born yet. If the USPS should be run like a business then it needs to be given the freedom to act like one by Congress. It may be required to fulfill its traditional mission (deliver to every address) but that must be married to the ability to price its services and structure its work force and infrastructure to do that without running losses. I don't think the USPS is the issue; the issue is politics and the unrealistic expectations of the American public accustomed to not being told the truth.
The Federal government's various funding problems are not caused by the USPS. The U.S. spends far more on Social Security, Medicare and the military than any other programs. These programs absorb 2 out of every 3 dollars spent. The military alone accounts for 1 in 4. The money we are spending on the wars alone (about $150 BILLION PER YEAR - for 8 years now) would have paid for any number of shortages in other areas: NASA, NIH, education, financial regulations, healthcare reform, fixing our roads. Anyone who tells you that there is not enough money is only telling HALF the truth. It is a matter of priorities. Because this country does not have any real economic or industrial or energy or transportation policy, it wonders around aimlessly without purpose. That is why there is waste. That is why we have deficits without actually accomplishing results.
Other countries do have funding and government waste as well but they do not have the problem to this level. Countries like the PIIGS spend too much but the source of their dysfunction is different than ours - they spend too much on social programs. I don't think anyone who actually knows the numbers can claim the U.S. spends anywhere near the levels of those countries as % of GDP or budget. The biggest problem the U.S. needs to tackle in the short-term is military spending and a lack of focus or direction. People are not even aware of the choices available or possible policy solutions. What business would run around without a mission statement or a project plan? Duh!
Death spiral. They have no clue, or if they do understand what it takes they lack the political will to do the right thing to save the Post Office.
Put any Fortune 1000 CEO in charge and give them the ability to reorganize as he or she sees fit and you'd see a reenergized, customer focused, successful Post Office. As long as it is run by political appointees, government unions, and Congressmen who only care about "their district" it is doomed.
And for those of you who are going to throw out a couple of bad CEOs as reasons why not to do it your argument is specious and doesn't disprove these points, so save it for another thread.
If the USPS were a real business it would refuse to serve rural America because it is too expensive.
If the USPS were a real business there would be no franking privileges for Congress.
Donna...you are 100 percent correct.......
If we could replicate the "do not call" registry with a "do not mail" registry, we could eliminate the need for half (or more of) the people in the post office. 99% of all the mail I get is junk mail. If there was a way I could eliminate that, I would do it in a heartbeat.
This is one entity that could easily be privatized--not social security or medicare!
This decline and "new reality" has been approaching for decades. It's a ponzi scheme (sorry). Run it like a business? Yes, use business sense, but no business in it's right mind would guarantee to deliver to EVERY house EVERY day regardless of the real need. That "last mile" may be able to be leveraged to deliver UPS and Fedex, but that would be a tough sell since it brings additional delays to guaranteed deliveries and possible loss of brand recognition as they deliver.
This is just like your phone company. They are REQUIRED to provide phone service to EVERY residence, regardless of the need, all for one flat rate... it's competitors do not have that requirement to "wire" every house, and, thus, eat their lunch. This is exactly the same issue... a government mandate without government assistance.
No, we can watch the USPS degrade until it fails or levels out at some minimum service level while technology takes us away from their offerings... just like the phone company.
Donna is correct. Let's look at what is happening to other jobs with unions, and you can see that the Bush adminstration put in action the declive of the Postal Service with the 5.5 billion pay out that he used for the war. This was th first step at eliminating the Postal unions & then they went after the rest. We, the Postal Service was forced into this and now we have a just say no congress to understand why we are having trouble. We do have our problems, but it was put in place in 2006. Ask Bush & Cheney where is that money? The prices we charge are much lower than UPS & Fedex. If the government allow us to run our business like a business, we could still deliver to small town America. Our pension was being funded before the help of a party that wants smaller government, but yet stole our money for a war. For those of you who want a smaller government, and since what ever party is in charge, that is the way the vote goes, then we need to cut the positions of congress to 1 position per state. That would save us money. And put term limits on all aspects of government including at the state level,county commissioners & the like. The Postal Service don't only deliver mail, but provide jobs for other segments of the country.
There seems no reason to have a letter carrier at my front door 6 days a week. It seems to make more sense to reduce the delivery to every other day, and to divide the routes into even and odd, so that alternate days the letter carrier would be on another local route. This way, special deliveries (more$) and box pickups could still be handled. Also, existing boxes and the disabled won't be singled out. Getting mail 3 days a week delivered just as it always has been seems like a great compromise.
if they would quit giving small townpostmasters and suporvisors raises and bonus for fudging numbres and harrassing clerks and carriers maybe they wouldnt be going broke. a small small town postmater makes over 200 thousand a year and a supervisor makes 190 thousand a year.
Reading is the cure for all ignorance: Republicans and Democrats alike oppose this tragedy: bit.ly/qKnkeR
The USPSOIG states to Gongress the gross overpayments to the OPM of 75 Billion: bit.ly/w01xPu
Postal math, how to make a $200m profit look like a $3.1b loss: bit.ly/yE0RHU
Congress has stopped Prefunded retirement payments for 8 months but USPS is still accounting it as a lost ( what got us here in the first place bad accounting): bit.ly/rO2gw5
Another thing they need to do is find a way to eliminate employees that aren't pulling their weight. My neighbor is a letter carrier and the tales she has told about carriers whose work ethic is sadly lacking. In the "real" world these employees would have been gotten rid of and replaced with people who actually want to work. When you get the pay & benefits that most postal workers receive, you should be putting out at or very near to 100% on a daily basis.
The USPS has always operated like they do not have to compete! Even now their shipping prices are not competitive to other shipping compainies like FEDEX and UPS. The USPS has gone in the way of the pony express, that once served a valuable service, but now is antiquated. Our worldwide financial problems exist because of inefficiencies of improper management. Either the USPS finds a way to compete or it should be allowed to fail. Why should our government be on the hook to fund a business that is in actuality a non government entity?
My company has used the USPS as our primary shipping provider for nearly the past decade and a half and not only has the USPS stepped up with extremely good mail delivery transit times and deliveries, but for a business that ships countless packages at less than one pound a box, you can't compete with the USPS on pricing. FedEx and UPS packages at their base rate for ground delivery akin to First Class Parcel can range up to 6 times the price. Do a tad bit of fact checking on the rates because what you state isn't close to being true.
The government has tied the USPS' hands behind their backs. However, many of you simply will bash the USPS because it's a "government" entity.
Eric - There are a lot of different senarios dealing with shipping, and I am not sure as to what types of shipping your company engages. However, based on many shipments coming to me, I have noticed the price differences between the USPS and other shipping companies, and through my personel experience, USPS has the highest rates.
It appears to me that you have vested interest in the USPS? Legislation made the USPS a self sustaining organization and they made billions of dollars in the past. Where has all the money gone? You sir should be checking your facts instead of allowing emotions to control your thought.
No. Eric probably does not have any vested interest - especially since USPS is not a publicly traded corporation.
I used to do a LOT of online auction selling and I always used USPS for shipping when possible (some items were just too big). The price and delivery schedule could not be beaten. PLUS, they provided 90% of my boxes - FREE, AND they delivered the boxes to my door!
You're kidding, right? Fedex rates are expensive and UPS delivery is rubbish.
USPS flat rate all the way.
Yes, we postal workers agree that we don't need government bail out, but what we need is freedom to run our business LIKE A BUSINESS. If we have to have a small Post Office in every town and 90% of which only makes less than $50/day and we have to deliver to every household in U.S. 6 days a week by LAW then yes government has to support us or give us the freedom to run our business. The way Post Office is pushed in a corner right now it is forced to do cuts, cuts and only cuts, is going to end up costing everyone a lot in longer run. POST OFFICE CAN BE SAVED, IT JUST NEEDS FREEDOM.
If USPS is doing so well, then why are they asking for a handout from the government?
Every man can argue to his own advantage. The fact is that there are too many variables involved with shipping to simply state that the USPS is always cheaper. I simply stated that in my experience, the USPS rates have been higher than their competitors. Maybe you people have received better rates from the USPS than what I have been able to receive. Maybe I have been able to bargain for better rates from UPS and FEDEX.
The bottom line is that the USPS is going broke because they have not ran their company efficiently. They are a business as legislated as such with several privileges other corporations to do not have. A little bit of research will go a long way to understanding the dynamics of the USPS. They have made billions of dollars in the past, but where did all the money go?
Furthermore, vested interests can mean more than owning stock in a company. If your wife or family is employed or has been employed and receiving benefits from the USPS, then you have underlying interests in seeing the USPS continue. I have no way of knowing the real motives of people, but in my silver years I have come to understand that most people care less about others, except when they have a personal hand in the game.
You people who stand behind failed endeavors will really be crying when the USPS ceases to exist. It is time for everyone to put on their big boy pants and make some very hard decisions for our country. If the USPS cannot survive even after all the government assistance, then why should we continue to prop up poor management?
yes wecare, freedom is all we need. But, as long as we have to service every address in the country AND remain non profit, then yes maybe the gov't must step in with some $$$
and to DisabledVoter: As a non profit gov't agency, whenever our revenues exceeded our costs in the past, where do you think the money went? The US Tresury, that's where!
Disabled voter
I don't know what you ship regularly or where, but the USPS is far cheaper than UPS, or FedX unless you have some kind of special shipping agreement with them.
There are a lot of variables when shipping packages so it is difficult to make blanket statements about who is cheaper or more efficient. I recently shipped a large (28 x 20 x 10") 35 pound package to Minneapolis. UPS provided 2 day delivery for $27.00; USPS offered 5 day delivery for $20.00 - I needed the quicker delivery so I went with UPS and it did arrive in 2 days. Both UPS and USPS websites have easy to use cost calculators.
I have enjoyed the service; and I am very appreciated their service. They have lined up my mails very neatly in my mail box. They do not just push my mails to my mail box. But they have stacked and piled up my mails very neatly in my mail box. I wish they can survive for this economic tough time.
They can do a lot of things for delivering the online orders and othe mails. They can adjust the rate for their service. For instance, if we pay the internet connection each month is about 45.00, then this cost is at least to guarantee the email system. But to allow us to use the internet connection, we must have the electricity and the tools that allows us to use the source. Average person to send email is about 5 each day.
It is just an example to think about the cost of a stamp, which has to be average out to cover the human resource and energy, such as gas and maintenance of the vehicle.
Raise the fees of stamps.
The problem and the fix. Fist Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe needs to go. Then the Postal Service needs to get rid of the over paid management who do little to nothing to keep it running. The big one is too also convert all the truck on the street from using Gas to Clean Natural Gas to run it's fleet. (Which is made in America.) This would bring a huge saving in there overhead. End Saturday mail, Stop with the supermarket adds. (Unless there are willing to pay the first class postage that we pay.) Put an end to spacial bulk rate postage given to large companies for all there unwanted junk mail. Update there entire computer system which is old and dated, for todays way of doing business. Finally end as much overtime paid to the letter carriers. This is not a Republican or Democrat created problem, It's there own. On the upside this will create more jobs.
De-unionizing the postal service would certainly help. And before anyone starts the argument about good workers, badworkers, hard workers, I know some union workers are good but the wage compensation and benefits are inflated and there are many "dead-wood" employees protected by the union who do little r nothing for their pay. The postal service alreadys hires many, many temp workers who perform many of the same functions as union postal employees for 1/3rd the cost. It isn't rocket science
Thats right liberals , private companies are ran more efficiently than govt boon doggles are.
Sure they are but then again the USPS cannot afford millions in lobbyists to get Congress to pass a requirement that forces them to retain a pension fund more than twice the size of any business. If the USPS is required to maintain this 75 year fund then ALL companies should have the exact same requirement. One thing the supposed party of business seems to be really bad at is simple arithmetic and another is DEMOCRACY: The idea that EVERYONE is created EQUALLY.
Spelling seems to be a really challenge as well since boondoggle is ONE WORD super genius. Maybe if idiots would stop cutting education so you can start wars and pay for rich people (who would not spend piss on you if you were on fire) you might be able to get educated enough to at least spell correctly.
Ever stand in line at a post office when its out the door? Those clerks work at the same liesure pace no matter how busy. I am a retail manager and when my store is busy my employess know they'd better hustle. Customer service is the most important thing at any business. And the post office is definitely not being run as one.
Why don't you stop being a manager and go work at a Post Office window? I'm sure you'd quit after one day. I love people like you who have no clue what it's like to work somewhere, then you measure up where you work with some organization like the Post Office where you have never worked. By the way, John, the Post Office is not a business. It never has been, and it never should be. It's meant not to make a profit, like your little store is, but to act as a service to all the people in the country.
It's managers like YOU John, working at the Post Office, who have screwed things up. It certainly is not the workers at the Post Office who despite your little tiny view are some of the most productive workers in the country.
By the way. Why are you standing in line at the Post Office? Haven't you heard of Stamps dot Com?
The biggest asset the Post Office has is a location in every community. They should use that to leverage a different model to stay in business.
They should approach all of the other shippers and offer to be an outlet for a percentage of the shipment cost. They could be a one stop shop for not only their services, but also UPS, FedEx, all the other main carriers, and even local deliveries. Now FedEx and UPS probably wouldn't be interested, but DHL and the others could gain access to a huge market and not have to build or staff stores. You, as a customer, walk in and decide which way you want to ship your package.
USPS could also lease space to government agencies and private businesses that needed a local and national presence that they could serve with information and kiosks without need for staff.
DHL tried to get a piece of the market and failed misserably a few years ago. UPS and FedEX do not want the letters of the USPS, there is no profit in them. The USPS isn't making mony on the pkgs so get rid of that arm.
They need to stop acting like a bunch of A-holes when you go into the post office. I usually go through some other service because I don't want to deal with rude miserable people at the post office.
If they are rude and miserable at your post office, it's probably because of your bad breath. Seriously, have you ever given any thought to what they are going through? The Postal Service hasn't hired any career workers for over six years in may parts of the country. They are bean counting everything, from toilet paper to stamps. They won't even buy retiree cakes any longer, unless you're a manager.
To learn how to be a window clerk, a good window clerk with knowlege of the rates and rules takes many years of experience. The managers at many locations have to resort to placing no time in grade non career employees on the window due to hiring constraints.
Of course, you could give a fat flying fork so all of the above is lost on you. I'd suggest you brush your teeth.
DUH?
Headline should have read "In Order to Survive the United States Government Needs to be Run Like a Business". It's not just the Postal Service...
Let's just hope it's not Lehman Brothers.
Yeah, well what's good for the goose...
Yeah Sean, that's exactly why the USPS should not be privatized.
I'm surprised you aren't living in an olygarchy. Or a faschist regime. You'd love a good dose of despotism coupled with corporate greed, wouldn't you?
The USPS has been running in the red for years. The problem is complicated, but the author is correct in saying other countries successfully run postal services at a profit and we need to figure out how to do the same thing. A good start would be charging more for bulk mail, third class mail, and magazines. Most commercial mail, including political and religious mailings get close to a free ride paid for by a dwindling pool of private users. Change the pattern so that businesses, especial junk mailers pay their share.
The last year USPS did not run a deficit was 2005, the year I retired. May not be cause and effect - I'm just sayin'.
I agree that the non-profit rates are ridiculously low. All bulk rates should be the same, regardless of the business organization that sends it. It's the cost of handling and delivering the items that should matter, not whether the mailer has a non-profit status. Sears and the Salvation Army should pay the same rate for mailings with the same volume and delivery standard.
Other postal systems are not bleeding ink and are "privatized". Hmmmmm. That should tell us something.
How many other postal systems are there in the US? When was the last time you got junk mail from FedEx? Way to think that one through, slappy.
Yet another example of some right wing half wit who really deep down wants the US to be NAZI Germany, where the trains, the clocks and the political rallies all run on time.
The writer does not understand the "last mile" concept. It means that private companies (like DHL) deliver batches of packages (which they collected from various customers) to USPS delivery units. The packages are presorted by carrier route, with a discounted postage rate prepaid. The delivery unit just hands the packages to the Postal Carrier with the rest of the sorted mail for the route, and all of it is delivered normally. It is already used in urban, suburban, and rural locations - don't know what the writer is talking about with the suggestion to expand to congested urban areas. It has been in place for some time. It is a system that takes advantage of the fact that USPS already delivers to every address daily - it saves the private courier from developing their own deliver-to-every-address system - probably saves some fuel and avoids pollution also.
Stop listening to management for the solution. They seem to be part of the problem with USPS. The NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) supports a bill before congress called HR 1351. This bill would transfer 50 to 75 billion dollars we overpaid into our federal pension system between 1971 and 2002 and satisfy the over burden mandate for us to pay 5.5 billion dollars annually to pre-fund our future retiree health benefits. Which is, by the way, 90% funded. This is the first step into bringing USPS back from the RED.
Well the main reason why the USPS has a hard time is the customer service. Walk into a post office and the person behind the counter treats you like you are beneath them because they work for the post office. I have met some mail carriers that really are very nice people , but not many. They have the opion they have a hard job they should try working a real job. Now what the USPS is doing is the same old story just to raise the price of mailing a letter. When you spend 50 dollars for a book of 100 stamps now you see why people do electronic banking where they save 50 bucks. Until they relize they are the same as us not any better the post office will always be in sad shape. They need to change their image starting with customer service.
Its funny you say that Alex. The post office continually employs a third party survey company to find out what the public thinks. The post office routinely scores very high in customer service. Luckily, most of the people who answer the surveys aren't at the same time suffering from self esteem issues. But in your defense, I would agree that window clerks can be a bit crotchity at times. Just remember that it is not the decision of the window clerks as to how many window clerks should be working the window at any given time. You can hand that responsibility not even to that location's post master, but to his bosses boss. Add that to the fact that there are in many many cases not enough clerks to handle the other jobs let alone staff the window.
One thing that might help them would be to remove the signs on the doors that direct you to go to one of the private postal service centers if you want fast service. It's not a very good business model to tell your customers to go away before they enter the building.
Big issues, union - inflated wages and benefits and customer service. I keep getting a new mail person at my work and my mail is delivered to all the nearby companies. Their personnel (of the other companies) bring me my mail and we exchange pieces of mail because invariably I have some of theirs as well. I have had invoices and checks (and one package) lost in the mail never to resurface, not just once or twice but several times. Its aggravating. If you go to the post office, you wait in line for ever. Meanwhile, they take their breaks as scheduled and leave the lines out the door. Just things I have personally observed. However, I do think they have a hard job. Dealing with the public isn't fun and it can be stressful and I would like to see the USPS succeed. I don't feel they will succeed until they change their business model and get rid of the union. Just sayin.
Wow... get rid of the union...
I say, extract your head. The Union is not running the post office. Postal Managers are. The Union is not leaving routes without regular carriers. Postal Managers are. The Unions don't make sure that your mail comes completely addressed with the suite number on it. The Unions don't hire contract workers. The Unions don't want to cut the pay of the Postal Workers who handle your mail. Please place the blame where it belongs.
Excuse me Martha, why is this news? It was a government agency..............and still tries to function that way. We tax payers are not here to bail it and it's communist UNION out! De-unionize and that will help for places to start.
Excuse me ARIFELIFE - Taxpayers don't currently support the USPS except when they expressly chose to use their services.
Try getting your facts straight...
Well, digitalnoise, we are about to. The federal government is already considering making "loans" to the Post Office to prevent their shutdown. Nobody expects the loans to be paid back.
ARIFELIFE, I hope you do a little research before you post again. Do you have weekends? Blame the communist. No, wait, thank the unions. Do your eight year old children work in sweatshops? Thank the unions. Are there communists in unions? Highly unlikely. There aren't really very many communists ... never were. But don't let that get in the way of your name-calling. No sir, reality is just an annoying fly in the ointment.
Disclaimer: Neither I, nor anyone in my family, is a union member.
I almost didn't reply to Afterbirth's comment here denegrating Unions as communist organizations bent on destroying the government, as most of your comments put him in his place. Back in the swamps of Mississippi... I hope he reads a newspaper pretty soon and stops listening to Haley Barbers' old campaign speeches...
Neither fish nor fowl...While youre at it...try to trim some of the fatcat compensation that goes to the bureaucrats there,,,,
Focus on profitability, focus on quality, accuracy and performance, and reorganize to achieve. If this does not work, file for BR and negate the union contracts. Start over. Right now they still are a gov. progressive works program for non performing dead beats. It is the holly grail of cronyism, and featherbedding and favoritism.
There is still a business need for efficient, cheap delivery of letters and small packages. The post office should either adapt or go under and let another company fill in the space. Personally, I think eliminating Saturday delivery or maybe something else creative like eliminating Tuesday/Thursday delivery would be a big saving. Some consolidation certainly couldn't hurt, either. They also need to take a good look at their pension plans. I don't think it's a coincidence how so many government agencies are struggling due to these very generous pension plans.
I was in Utah, Park City and area, every, EVERY little town had a post office!!! nothing else, just a post office and you know it was staffed with relatives of Orin Hatch. Consolidate. Get a new model. And retire the deadbeat relatives.
Unfortunately the USPS doesn’t really have the power to totally act like a business. You have to wonder though, if total privatization would finally give the USPS the tools it needs to get out of this mess.
That said, the USPS must stay away from the National Association of Letter Carriers plan proposing that the USPS should be robbing money from their future pension payouts to briefly prolong an inevitability, which would be the epitome of “kicking the can down the road.”
Until the USPS can bring forward a plan that accounts for massive loss of income and volume of mail, robbing the NALC plan seems like an indefensible waste of money.