USPS... of course it's broken! But what the hell?

[hatidua]

FedEx Ground - usually cheaper than USPS for parcels and (in my experience) significantly more reliable.

[cmailliard]

I was walking in my front yard, postal carrier comes down the street like a bat out of hell as usual. Puts the mail in the box and drives on. I go get the the mail and guess what is in there, a slip for a certified letter, ya know the one that says sorry we missed you, you can pick this up at the Post Office. The shitbag didn't even bother to get his fat ass out of the "truck" to get me to sign for the certified letter. Fuck'em, let'em fail, I would bet my left nut that FedEx and UPS have a business plan in writing to take over this sorry agency and are waiting for the right time. There may not be a right time, it may be that there is no money in this, which is why they have not done anything yet. No money + a de facto monopoly by USPS has kept them out. But I bet they have ideas.

[mtnhack]

I was walking in my front yard, postal carrier comes down the street like a bat out of hell as usual. Puts the mail in the box and drives on. I go get the the mail and guess what is in there, a slip for a certified letter, ya know the one that says sorry we missed you, you can pick this up at the Post Office. The shitbag didn't even bother to get his fat ass out of the "truck" to get me to sign for the certified letter. Fuck'em, let'em fail, I would bet my left nut that FedEx and UPS have a business plan in writing to take over this sorry agency and are waiting for the right time. There may not be a right time, it may be that there is no money in this, which is why they have not done anything yet. No money + a de facto monopoly by USPS has kept them out. But I bet they have ideas.

Turn him in, or don't bitch when it happens again. Ps; There are shitty employees everywhere.

[KestrelBike]

Hmmm... and the dumb ass democraps want to raise taxes to pay for schools, yet the postal service is overworked and underpaid? Makes perfect sense. I do feel bad for some of those people, I'm sure they put in long hours and are constantly denied overtime.

They're pretty much only hiring part timers now to skirt under obamacare and avoid other benefits.

[Buff]

I have an under-achiever brother in-law that spent 30yrs as a part time sorter for USPS and I believe he retired with the same benefits as a full time employee. Ths was 10yrs ago.

USPS and DVM are dead even as places that piss me off just thinking about going to.

[JM Ver. 2.0]

I wish my mail came by noon..... or 1.... or 2.... Fuck I wish it showed up by 3!!!

Meh..mm. More white people problems I guess.

Sent from my teepee using smoke signals.

[MrPrena]

It will be really annoying if it happens to me again.
It happened to me before. I live in Thornton 80602, and I gotta drive all the way north of Brighton 80601 to pick them up.

I was walking in my front yard, postal carrier comes down the street like a bat out of hell as usual. Puts the mail in the box and drives on. I go get the the mail and guess what is in there, a slip for a certified letter, ya know the one that says sorry we missed you, you can pick this up at the Post Office. The shitbag didn't even bother to get his fat ass out of the "truck" to get me to sign for the certified letter. Fuck'em, let'em fail, I would bet my left nut that FedEx and UPS have a business plan in writing to take over this sorry agency and are waiting for the right time. There may not be a right time, it may be that there is no money in this, which is why they have not done anything yet. No money + a de facto monopoly by USPS has kept them out. But I bet they have ideas.

[Ronin13]

In the words of my father... "quit your bitching". That is all.

Don't get it misconstrued... this is not really intended to be a rant, just curious as to how a once somewhat good service has fallen so quickly- I mean, I have some ideas, but wanted to get other input on the issue.

That kinda goes for anyone throwing the accusatory "Ronin's bitching" around... If you actually took a few seconds to read my OP, you'd see that I say things like "Not that I'm upset, it's just puzzling that these wonderfully motivated human beings can place next to no pride in their work anymore" not intended to rant or "bitch", but observation with some sarcasm mixed in expressing a slight displeasure and annoyance with a service that was once reliable and has now fallen into a disapproving state of affairs. If you call that bitching or any other term synonymous with that, I invite you to spend a few minutes actually looking up what the difference between registering a frivolous complaint, and making a disapproving observation.

[JM Ver. 2.0]

Don't get it misconstrued... this is not really intended to be a rant, just curious as to how a once somewhat good service has fallen so quickly- I mean, I have some ideas, but wanted to get other input on the issue.

Because people expect a lot but only want to pay a little.

[BigDee]

So a few things worth mentioning.

Bulk junk mail is the only thing still keeping the USPS alive. If it weren't for the junk mail they wouldn't make enough to keep the lights on let alone pay their people, pay for their buildings and etc.

If you go to Fed Ex or UPS and try to ship a letter it's a $3 minimum charge. Many people believe it is that expensive because shipping letters is very costly and cheap shipping is not profitable which is a leading cause of USPS current woes. That is not the case at all. UPS and Fed Ex could likely ship a letter for 10 cents or so but it is illegal for them to do so. Thy are required under federal law to charge (I believe) $2.40 or $2.50. The USPS knew that privatized couriers would put them out of business so they had a law passed to make sure they were the only organization in the letter game.

How did the decline happen so quickly? Electronic funds transfers have taken over. The younger generation checks their mail once maybe twice a week. Everything is now done paperless and all the bills are paid online. The transition from paper letters and mailing checks happened in less than a decade and the decline will continue until there is nothing left but junk mail which is likely only a couple years away. Hell even writing letters to prison inmates and sending them money for their books is now done online. Add in the fact that the USPS has MASSIVE legacy costs due to pensions and lifetime health benefits to retirees and you get the perfect recipe for financial disaster.