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Another Postal Service rip-off.

B

Bluefront

Golden Member
We're being ripped-off by the USPS again with another rate increase. I know they can prove their expenses are way up..sure. But you'll never get the real truth here. Now I've got some inside information about the downtown St louis post office. I don't know if these things are the same at every post office, but they probably are at most urban locations. (My best friend works there. He/she tells me how things really are).

They do not hire the best people to work there. This is some type of affirmative action/welfare thing. If you are a minority person, you automatically get at least a 20 percent advantage on any tests you take for different positions. The real amount seems to be a secret...it may be more than 20 percent. If you have a disability you also get this advantage. That's how my friend got hired...he/she claimed to be deaf. If you happen to be a normal white male without a disability, you don't stand a rat's chance in hell of getting on. So what does this lead to? For one thing, it leads to postal workers who cannot read. Hard to believe but true. Imagine someone who cannot read sorting mail..happening as we speak.

It's hard to get a firm estimate on what this practice costs the USPS. I suspect they could get by with at least 25 percent fewer employees, if they hired the best people who applied. They could probably lower the cost of a first class stamp if they did this. Instead we get a raise in rates every few years. The amount of waste in the USPS is monumental...and not likely to change either. I've learned a whole lot of different things about the downtown Post Office from my friend..but you probably wouldn't believe most of the crazy stuff that goes on....



 
It's hard to get a firm estimate on what this practice costs the USPS. I suspect they could get by with at least 25 percent fewer employees, if they hired the best people who applied.
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I don't know about you, but whenever I go into a post office, there are always 2 or 3 people actually working the counters and 50 people in line. I'd at least like them to hire more people and put them at the counters if they are going to raise prices.
 
I for one don't have a problem paying 37 cents to mail a letter across the country. And I know it'll get there. Not so with UPS. I ship packages via USPS because I know the employees face a felony charge if they steal a package. UPS employees would just get fired.

And yes, I agree with you 100% that affirmitave action is bullshit. Unfortunatly, we're stuck with it until the government agrees with us.
 
Well let's see...If they lowered their expenses 25 percent, that 37 cent stamp could cost about 28 cents.

Edit: Math. Heh.
 
Originally posted by: Bluefront
Well let's see...If they lowered their expenses 25 percent, that 37 cent stamp could cost about 26 cents.
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And if the Queen had balls she'd big King.
 
I wish they would just wait until the upcoming UPS strikes later this year. Then they can postpone the increase for a couple more years 🙁
 
Here's one funny story you might believe.....You know the USPS is union. The supervisors are not allowed to even go into the workers rest-rooms for any reason. Union rules. So if you want a nap on duty, you go into the john, close the stall door, and sleep away the afternoon. Since nobody seems to keep track of who's supposed to be working, many workers get long naps in the john.....

Here's another funny one. This one woman had some kind of back pain, and at doctor's orders, she went on "light duty" (at full pay of course). Well this post office doesn't have any "light duty" jobs. So she sits in a chair all day, doing nothing. Still sitting there as far as I know.
 
Originally posted by: lnguyen
regardless, isn't our 37cent mail still the cheapest anywhere in the world for the kind of "service" we get?
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Yes it is very cheap, but how long will it stay cheap?

The USPS is now being faced with declining mail volume. The more they raise stamps, the more electronic billing paying will be used. Would suck to be in charge of the USPS right now.
 
USPS lost one of my packages that I sent to a friend for Christmas. It ended up returning to me 2 years later. True story.
 
to send a letter to hawaii for 37 cents is quite profitable. If you think about it, USPS has contracts with all the airlines for containers to come to Oahu. Each container prolly costs a grand or 2 grand to put on a plane. Probably not that much since thats the volume.
Each of those metal boxes can carry at least 10000 letters. At thirty seven cents each, i cant see why they would be losing money.
 
Originally posted by: phatcow
to send a letter to hawaii for 37 cents is quite profitable. If you think about it, USPS has contracts with all the airlines for containers to come to Oahu. Each container prolly costs a grand or 2 grand to put on a plane. Probably not that much since thats the volume.
Each of those metal boxes can carry at least 10000 letters. At thirty seven cents each, i cant see why they would be losing money.
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And they still manage to not break even year after year.
 
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: phatcow
to send a letter to hawaii for 37 cents is quite profitable. If you think about it, USPS has contracts with all the airlines for containers to come to Oahu. Each container prolly costs a grand or 2 grand to put on a plane. Probably not that much since thats the volume.
Each of those metal boxes can carry at least 10000 letters. At thirty seven cents each, i cant see why they would be losing money.
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And they still manage to not break even year after year.
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Actually for a long time they were profitable.
 
IMHO, the USPS has several things wrong with it

#1 is their unionized labor. i'm not saying that unionized labor is bad, its just that theyre skimming the cash flow so much they cant possibly be in the black.

#2 segway's for all mail carriers! no, really. in urban areas i think that could eliminate a lot of the need for motorized vehicles and cut back on a lot of costs.

#3 UPS and FedEx have the USPS cost structure beat. ground service for both are extremely cheap and dont even come in comparision with priority rates. granted, you may spend an extra 3-4 days waiting, but you cant complain about the price.

#4 Air freight contract. IIRC, USPS gave FedEx the gig and they're hauling most priority mail. I'm curious how much they could save if they used their own aircraft.

#5 Delivery. I could live with regular mail coming 3 times a week, Monday Wednesday and Friday. It would save me numerous trips to the mailbox. That could save them a fortune.
 
.34 to .37 is an 8.8% increase.

When did the rate go to .34? I think it was 1999? Has inflation gone up 8.8% since 1999. Probably not. I believe it's been at 1-1.5% a year since then. Which begs the question, why is the increase higher than the rate of inflation?
 
Again, quit wasting cash on trying to find out if a President really did get a blow job, on helping poor starving children in Zimbabwe and rebuilding Afghanistan...and for the love of god cut down on all other frivolous wastes of taxpayers' money so we can have free shipping and medical care.

A few dead kids in Africa to send that new 2.4 GHz computer to your little nephew Timmy in Alaska? I'm all for it! Seriously.
 
Originally posted by: Valinos
Again, quit wasting cash on trying to find out if a President really did get a blow job, on helping poor starving children in Zimbabwe and rebuilding Afghanistan...and for the love of god cut down on all other frivolous wastes of taxpayers' money so we can have free shipping and medical care.

A few dead kids in Africa to send that new 2.4 GHz computer to your little nephew Timmy in Alaska? I'm all for it! Seriously.
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Why do you think you're entitled to anything free?
 
Valinos....What the hell does your post have to do with postal rates? We need a leaner Postal Service in order to get the rates down...and there are ways to do it.

PsychoAndy has some good ideas but I think all his Segways would get stolen. Delivery only three days a week...I'm for it. The union will fight it all the way no doubt.

Here's another solution. Free up the mail box. You don't own your mail box...the USPS does. I propose we let any delivery service use the box, maybe providing competition for the USPS in local small mail delivery. You know some smart young company, unburdoned by the USPS mentality, could beat the USPS rates....but only if allowed to use the mail box.

Just think what the dial-up rates would be if AOL was the only allowed ISP. The USPS is sitting in that spot right now, ripping us off at will.
 
It's just like road construction. They have to hire "X" number of blacks, "X" number of mexicans, "X" number of everyone to do this and that means that it will take forever and it will be a horrible job because no one knows what they are doing. It took 4 years to repair the freeway by us. Luckily is was 1 exit down, but that meant that all that traffic was routed to our exit and just try to get around there during lunch. 4 years to just repave a 4 miles section and tear down and put back in a new bridge going over the freeway (about 2/10 of a mile). 4 freaking years. It took 4 years to add another lane to a highway road near us too. That was only about 3 miles long. Affirmative action is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Sure, it's nice to get some equality, but this is America and I don't want to be descriminated against because I'm a white male, and I don't want to suffer through road construction for 4 years because some people just sit around on the job.
 
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Quotes:
Valinos: A few dead kids in Africa to send that new 2.4 GHz computer to your little nephew Timmy in Alaska? I'm all for it! Seriously.
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Bluefront: Valinos....What the hell does your post have to do with postal rates? We need a leaner Postal Service in order to get the rates down...and there are ways to do it.
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AmusedOne: Why do you think you're entitled to anything free?

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Valinos, thanks for shairing who you are.

Bluefront, think. The answer to the postal problem is right there stairing you in the face. We simply need to kill everybody in Africa. Seriously.

AmusedOne, way to go there buddy on picking up on the relavant and central flaw in somebody's thinking.

Don't forget the Postal Service is installing sterilization equipment nation wide to protect against Anthrax and also lost the use of commercial airliners to transport the mail. It must also deal with a loss in revenue with the business down turn like everybody else, is profoundly fuel price sensitive.

To all the geniuses that know the answer to Postal woes, please go take the test and join where you can have a real effect. I'm sure a 25% handicap for the retarded minorities will pose no real obstacle.
 
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