Five-day delivery

[snafu]

WORKING TOWARD CHANGE DONAHOE CONCLUDES VIDEO SERIES ON FIVE-DAY DELIVERY

In his latest video, Field Updates, DPMG and COO Pat Donahoe concludes his three-part series on the possibility of moving to a five-day delivery week.

Donahoe doesn’t minimize the impact of the five-day delivery week on the Postal Service. “This is the biggest change any of us has seen in modern postal times,” he says.

Yet the change is “absolutely necessary,” according to Donahoe. That’s because no one expects mail volume to return to levels in place before the economy began its slide, and because the current USPS business model is “not sustainable.”

While emphasizing that all projections at this point are preliminary, Donahoe discusses the effects a change to a five-day delivery week will have on employees. He says USPS will use “every tool at its disposal” to make sure the change to a five-day week has a minimal impact on employees. Donahoe says USPS has reduced by 170,000 the number of employees since 2000 “with no layoffs.” And, he says, USPS will comply with all collective bargaining agreements.

Finally, he says USPS has been consulting and will continue to work with Congress — which must approve the change — as well as the Postal Regulatory Commission and customers.

“The bottom line,” he said is that if approved, the change will keep USPS strong. “A strong Postal Service means a strong mailing industry that is good for customers and employees, he says.”

I know some blast the Post Office and use it as an example of how the government runs things to the ground. But the Post Office had regulations attached that the private sector didn’t. The prices were regulated as to not make a profit. They also were made to be equitable in the delivery business. Probably about 10 or 15 years ago I remember them putting in FedEx and UPS pickup boxes next to the Postal drop boxes on Postal property and I new then that this was the beginning of the end. Back in them days FedEx use the Post Offices Express mail system to get thier mail out. Now its the other way around. We use thier planes.

We’ve always had the rumor hovering over our heads that one day we would become privatized. Being a Union person I never liked this concept but the way things are going now I think it might be for the best.

 

[timesjoke]

I am not a big fan of Unions, to me they milk the company dry until they actually kill it off, take the UAW for prime example.

FedEx and UPS do not have anywhere near the employee overhead that the USPS has and yet they are more reliable, faster, and they seem to be much happier. There is a solid reason for the saying "going postal" in my opinion.

The USPS should be privatized, face it, the Federal Government has never been capable of operating anything on a large scale in an efficient way.

 

[snafu]

I am not a big fan of Unions, to me they milk the company dry until they actually kill it off, take the UAW for prime example.

FedEx and UPS do not have anywhere near the employee overhead that the USPS has and yet they are more reliable, faster, and they seem to be much happier. There is a solid reason for the saying "going postal" in my opinion.

The USPS should be privatized, face it, the Federal Government has never been capable of operating anything on a large scale in an efficient way.

Yeah well the Post Office has been around for a few hundred years so I guess your wrong on that one.

I'm not much on Unions anymore. They served thier purpose already.

 

[timesjoke]

Yeah well the Post Office has been around for a few hundred years so I guess your wrong on that one.

In what way?

Are you saying that the post office is run efficiently?

 

[wez]

In what way?
Are you saying that the post office is run efficiently?

I got a better idea.. why don't you just post a single novella and tell snaf what he's saying/feeling/thinking, then deny everything you said and claim you're being personally attacked and be done with it.. we know the drill.. let's see how efficient you can be..

 

[Chi]

I got a better idea.. why don't you just post a single novella and tell snaf what he's saying/feeling/thinking, then deny everything you said and claim you're being personally attacked and be done with it.. we know the drill.. let's see how efficient you can be..

LMAO!!!! TOTALLY pegged TJ right there!

 

[timesjoke]

LMAO!!!! TOTALLY pegged TJ right there!

Well first of all Wez knows I can't see anything he posts, so everything he says is to entertain or otherwise play with people like you Chi.

Too bad there are people who can't see that even though it is so clear. This is why I will never have anything to do with someone like him. Even though he knows I will only see what other people quote, he still is a never ending hate/attack machine, the energizer bunny of hate........he is right, I am not him, I can't keep up that constant stream of negative without end, I have a real life to live and better things to do with my time.....

Now, back to the topic instead of the flames and flame baiting that is not supposed to be a part of the forum but is allowed for certain people as long as it is against me:

I said, "The USPS should be privatized, face it, the Federal Government has never been capable of operating anything on a large scale in an efficient way."

snaf said I was wrong so I wanted to clarify what part snaff thought I was wrong about and if it was the efficient part I had a couple studies ready to post that proved the USPS has been bleeding money from for the entire history of it's existence.

 

[RoyalOrleans]

Private companies like UPS and FedEx provide superior service, often at a lower price, despite the USPS having a government supported monopoly on mail delivery. Laws prohibit anyone but the USPS from delivering items to the millions of mailboxes at consumers homes around the country. This regulation effectively prohibits private companies like UPS and FedEx from competing with the government on letter delivery and forces consumers to pay the constantly increasing USPS letter rate with no other options. Given the opportunity, private competitors would likely improve letter delivery service and provide it at a lower rate, just as they did with package delivery. Despite the government upheld monopoly, private companies do compete on package delivery. While the USPS already has the infrastructure in place to handle package delivery, they do such a poor job of it that private competitors thrive.

What is the impact of this situation on consumers? Higher prices and fewer choices. Private companies like UPS and FedEx face higher delivery costs than they would if they were able to take advantage of the infrastructure savings associated with letter delivery. These premiums are passed on to consumers, yet UPS and FedEx rates are still competitive with those of USPS because of the amount of waste in the government supported system. New competitors find it too costly to enter the market because of the restrictions on mail delivery, meaning most Americans are stuck with just 3 options instead of the many that would be available under a truly free system.

The Post Office is notorious for its long lines, poor customer service, and inability to meet its commitments. The limited number of alternatives that have emerged are overpriced due to the government interference into the free market. Is this really a situation that we want recreate with health care?

 

[timesjoke]

Exactly RO, the Government made it illegal to compete against the mail service in many ways but even with those restrictions, FedEx and UPS have done very well for themselves. If the Government got out of the way in regular mail delivery, we would see prices drop instead of climb and service severely improve to the customers.

One thing that I always see in any Government run, public access location is the Government employees are almost always not very friendly. They give off the air of owning their job and not having to earn it with good service or pleasant treatment of 'customers'. The UPS and FedEx guys are always happy and curtious, willing to help and ready to take care of you very fast. Even when I have to travel to a local distribution to pick something up that could not be delivered, the people at the counter are twice as nice as those same people you find at the post office.

If the USPS is dying, it is because they are shooting themselves in the foot because like RO said, they have a monopoly on things and still cannot figure out how to make ends meet when they do not have to cut a profit.

 

[snafu]

Private companies like UPS and FedEx provide superior service, often at a lower price, despite the USPS having a government supported monopoly on mail delivery. Laws prohibit anyone but the USPS from delivering items to the millions of mailboxes at consumers homes around the country. This regulation effectively prohibits private companies like UPS and FedEx from competing with the government on letter delivery and forces consumers to pay the constantly increasing USPS letter rate with no other options. Given the opportunity, private competitors would likely improve letter delivery service and provide it at a lower rate, just as they did with package delivery. Despite the government upheld monopoly, private companies do compete on package delivery. While the USPS already has the infrastructure in place to handle package delivery, they do such a poor job of it that private competitors thrive.
What is the impact of this situation on consumers? Higher prices and fewer choices. Private companies like UPS and FedEx face higher delivery costs than they would if they were able to take advantage of the infrastructure savings associated with letter delivery. These premiums are passed on to consumers, yet UPS and FedEx rates are still competitive with those of USPS because of the amount of waste in the government supported system. New competitors find it too costly to enter the market because of the restrictions on mail delivery, meaning most Americans are stuck with just 3 options instead of the many that would be available under a truly free system.

The Post Office is notorious for its long lines, poor customer service, and inability to meet its commitments. The limited number of alternatives that have emerged are overpriced due to the government interference into the free market. Is this really a situation that we want recreate with health care?

I can agree to most of this. But it is cheaper to mail via USPS other than private companies. Also the letter monopoly has dissolved with the advent of email. The real money is in Express mail which we are competing and losing to FedEx and UPS. Yeah the Post Office has run it?s self to the ground but it wasn?t always in the tank. Maybe TJ can enlighten us on the statistics. The Post Office is a dying dinosaur and it?s only a matter of time it crumbles.

 

[timesjoke]

The only time the USPS did well was when it was the only game in town. Once they started facing competition for some of their areas, the problems started but the biggest blow the USPS has faced has been the union. If you fired every postal employee tomorrow and put the CEO of FedEx in charge of rebuilding the USPS from the ground up, the USPS could lower prices and make money.

It is not the mail delivery that sucks, it is the management and employees that have killed it.

 

[RoyalOrleans]

I can agree to most of this. But it is cheaper to mail via USPS other than private companies. Also the letter monopoly has dissolved with the advent of email. The real money is in Express mail which we are competing and losing to FedEx and UPS. Yeah the Post Office has run it?s self to the ground but it wasn?t always in the tank. Maybe TJ can enlighten us on the statistics. The Post Office is a dying dinosaur and it?s only a matter of time it crumbles.

That little box in my front yard is not mine to receive letters from UPS or FedEx.

 

[RoyalOrleans]

I was a delivery driver with UPS for **** near ten years. I joined the Teamsters, because at the time they were small and somewhat disorganized at my particular hub. Now they are megalomaniac vampires with a thirst for power and a penchant for enforcing signatures.

No secret ballots! No votes! No voices! Sign here and shut up... this is for YOUR benefit! Fukkers. Now you know why I hate unions!

I use FedEx exclusively now that I am running my own business. The USPS delievers junk mail, while FedEx brings everything else to my front door.

FedEx is organized as an airline and UPS is organized as a trucking company, thus different labor laws apply.