USPS

[wicky998]

Anyone read the article in the Washington Post concerning the new head of the postal service?

Being an ally with the President and Trump already wanting to raise the cost of shipping a package up to four times the current amount!?

Priority rate is average 9$ or so give or take a few coins, that's 36$! For a single package!

I'm sure I'm starting a raging war zone here talking about something political but man seriously?

 

[trailhunter]

Once, they are really going to drive usps down the hole faster than covid spread. I will start going to ups/fedex and I'm sure these companies will lower their prices to make it more enticing to use their services.

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[wicky998]

Once, they are really going to drive usps down the hole faster than covid spread. I will start going to ups/fedex and I'm sure these companies will lower their prices to make it more enticing to use their services.

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+1

That's outrageous!

 

[jrgold]

When everyone is earning way less and commerce is struggling is really a great time to raise rates on doing business.


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[trailhunter]

Blame it on the last administration. That's the new thing.

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[pilo7448]

I don't think everyone is ready or understands what's about to happen, we all (or most of us) recieved a stimulus check and billions of dollars was loaned out to large and small companies, unemployment was raised.. Etc etc, none of this will be free, we will all eventually pay higher taxes along with everything else being more expensive, my grandfather always said "nothing is free son".

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[richbuff]

The USPS is not charging enough to send junk mail. Raising the cost of junk mailings four times the current rate would be a good start.

 

[bykfixer]

The USPS is a self governing body, kinda like a non profit. It gets issued X number of $ each fiscal period and is supposed to generate it's own revenue from the original cash infushion in order to pay for itself. Problem is it's costs are a lot higher than the money being generated.

There are lots of reasons why. The US Congress over sees the postal service and you know how uber efficient they are. Give it a chance to shake out and definitely figure on flat rate priority boxes going up some. But four X? I'd be surprised.

 

[Poppy]

Last year Trump made some comments about Amazon and a deal it made with the USPS. He didn't like it and it was unfair to other shippers. It gave Amazon an unfair advantage. I suspect that he has them in his sights, but isn't mentioning them by name.

This past Christmas, I bought two pairs of hiking boots, and had to return them. It cost me nearly $40 to ship them back to Cabella's.

About 8 years ago, I had a small Wear Ever stainless steel pot that a spot weld broke and I wanted to ship it back for a repair/replacement. $20 - $30 shipping was way more than the pot was worth, and it hit the trash.

I've been using duo (similar to face time) to play cards long distance with my Dad. We play with make believe jewels to put into our make believe crowns, and the over-all winner gets the honor of wearing the King's Crown!

@ $13 it was cheaper to buy this and have it shipped free with Amazon, than it would have been to ship one that I already have. So now he has one, and I the other.

So to reiterate, I think that increasing the shipping rate is to reduce the extreme advantage of the big shippers who have negotiated huge discounts.

Also there was mention of an imbalance in that the USPS delivers to the most out of reach little communities, and Amazon uses the USPS to deliver there because it is too expensive to deliver too far away, and the USPS, although contracted to do so does so at a net loss.

 

[bykfixer]

Spot on Poppy. It's called "last mile delivery" and it's causing the USPS to hemorage money. DHL, UPS, FedEx and others use it. And all that junk mail as someone pointed out. My company for example pays 13 cents to send me a big ole envelope that I would probably have to use 2 or 3 stamps for. I can see big discounts for non profits, sure.

But at one point I paid $2.95 postage for a package from China. It tracked in New York one day and was at my house the next day. To have that same package delivered by DHL would have costed $76. Someone in China sent me a package about the same size and paid DHL $76 to send it.

 

[Poppy]

Yes bykfixer, I didn't want to go into the fact that I can get stuff shipped from China at a lower cost than it would cost me to send it 40 miles away, but it's true!

I'm surprised, THAT has not been corrected!

I suppose it is coming. Maybe in the next trade deal. ?

 

[scout24]

According to the GAO, the USPS has lost $69 billion over the last 11 years. If the rise in our shipping costs had been gradual they probably wouldn't hurt so much.

 

[bykfixer]

Pensions is another huge cost. Postal workers have a good retirement package and in many many cases live extra long lives from being physically fit throughout their career. Many are former military who were already in good shape when they got the job. They largely have very active jobs so they stay physically fit. The huge output of money to fund pensions is what is so burdensome on many large cities, some states and probably the USPS.

Every person who I've seen deliver mail to my house my adult life appear to be about the same weight they were when they graduated high school. Some perhaps more muscle toned but to be doing your job 6 days a week in rain, sleet, snow, hot, cold, pandemic, ya gotta be in pretty decent shape. Just a logical conclusion on my part not based on any charts n graphs.

 

[mightysparrow]

I believe they accumulate a pension as their years of service increase, but the total amount accumulated is fixed - they don't get paid indefinitely, as long as they are alive. They can either get a larger amount every year for a shorter number of years, or a smaller amount every year for a longer number of years, but once the total amount accumulated is paid out, the fund is empty (similar to federal government employees).

As for the price increases, I think the proposal from the administration is focused on 1) giving the USPS more pricing flexibility on "non-essential" postal services and products that compete with private shippers; and 2) redefining the services the postal service has to provide to all areas of the country. The proposal also includes redefining the collective bargaining rights of postal workers, reducing pay at various levels to make the USPS pay scales more similar to those of federal government employees, and re-amortizing pre-funded postal worker retiree health benefits.

 

[MAD777]

USPS should charge a dollar for every piece of junk mail. I think they could knock a significant hole in the deficit with only my junk mail, LOL.
Package rates need to be competitive with UPS, FEDEX, etc. or else USPS will be out of the package game.
I have no idea what USPS charges for "last mile delivery" of UPS, FEDEX and Amazon, but they need to be making a profit on that.

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