Mailing a letter is a great deal.

[jumpr]

$0.39 to have a document hand-delivered to anyone in the United States is pretty darn cheap. I wonder if the USPS makes a profit on stamps, or whether it costs more than $0.39 to get a letter to its destination.

 

[notfred]

The USPS funds itself, so they're not losnig money.

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: notfred
The USPS funds itself, so they're not losnig money.

I realize that. What I'm asking, however, is if they take a loss on stamps and make it up in Priority and Express Mail profits. Because $0.39 to mail a letter is incredibly cheap compared to Priority Mail and Express Mail

 

[MiniDoom]

$0.39 is great if your letter makes it to the destination.

 

[Firsttime]

$.51 here, still a deal. But email is cheaper.

 

[trmiv]

The USPS has lost enough of my stuff that I don't consider it a good deal anymore.

 

[Tom]

I've read that 2nd class mail, junk mail, subsidizes first class mail.

 

[NutBucket]

Funny, I don't think USPS has ever lost any of my mail.

*knock on wood*

And oddly enough, I just mailed out a couple of letters this morning. Letters seem to be taken much more seriously than phone calls or e-mail.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: notfred
The USPS funds itself, so they're not losnig money.

What does this mean? While you are correct in that the USPS runs itself, it does not affect whether or not it can lose money or not. I fund myself, and I have debt. What's your point?

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Tom
I've read that 2nd class mail, junk mail, subsidizes first class mail.

That's what I've heard as well, and I'm friends with several postal employees, including two bulk mail handlers (one in IL, one in OH).

 

[Trey22]

That I can remember, have never had USPS lose anything.

 

[RossMAN]

Online banking FTW!

 

[antyler]

The USPS only loses the good things, like birthday presents from across the US of A. Or perhaps some computer equipement that you had sent out.

 

[simms]

I just thought about this yesterday as I was mailing in some rebates.

:thumbsup:

 

[vegetation]

They lose money on consumers who use regular stamps and mail them with hand printed addresses. Just the cost of printing stamps and distributing them is probably a fourth of the face value itself. And then handprinted envelopes have to be pecked in by a human, adding to labor costs. Metered mail (electronic stamps) has no such issues; no printing costs, no distribution, all addresses are typewritten so OCR readers can process quickly, etc.

 

[Firsttime]

Originally posted by: antyler
The USPS only loses the good things, like birthday presents from across the US of A. Or perhaps some computer equipement that you had sent out.

Gee I wonder where that stuff goes. Maybe its a perk of working for USPS.

 

[Stvfarmboy]

I don't believe that I've ever had anything lost in the USPS so I consider $0.39 a heck of a deal.

 

[Jawo]

Originally posted by: Tom
I've read that 2nd class mail, junk mail, subsidizes first class mail.

You are pretty much correct! Why else do you think the cost of a 1 oz letter has risen so much in the past decade? 12 years ago it only cost 29 cents an envelope....now inflation hasnt risen that much!

 

[gsethi]

39 cents is still pretty cheap. I have a cousin who works in the USPS as a branch manager for one of the branches. He was telling me the other day on how each penny increase in gas prices costs them millions every day. He was also telling me that in few years, USPS will be reduced to 5 days instead of 6 days presently (maybe b/c of increased labor costs for the 6th day).

Also, he was explaining me on how mail is delivered in rural areas in Nevada, Arizona etc and those carriers are on contract earning ~60-70k/yr just for delivering mail in remote places couple of times a week. He was telling me that they have to deliver it on horsebacks etc b/c apparently some people have build their houses in remote corners of the country not accessible by any motor vehicle. Same goes for houses in marshy areas etc etc and rural delivery costs a lot.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: vegetation
They lose money on consumers who use regular stamps and mail them with hand printed addresses. Just the cost of printing stamps and distributing them is probably a fourth of the face value itself. And then handprinted envelopes have to be pecked in by a human, adding to labor costs. Metered mail (electronic stamps) has no such issues; no printing costs, no distribution, all addresses are typewritten so OCR readers can process quickly, etc.

wrong. mail is sorted by optical scanners. Some needs to be resorted by hand, but most does not.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: vegetation
They lose money on consumers who use regular stamps and mail them with hand printed addresses. Just the cost of printing stamps and distributing them is probably a fourth of the face value itself. And then handprinted envelopes have to be pecked in by a human, adding to labor costs. Metered mail (electronic stamps) has no such issues; no printing costs, no distribution, all addresses are typewritten so OCR readers can process quickly, etc.

wrong. mail is sorted by optical scanners. Some needs to be resorted by hand, but most does not.

Not necessarily. The majority of mail is sorted automatically, but there is a significant quantity that is not. I know that all of the carriers at a particular post office spend several hours a day doing nothing but hand-sorting mail, because DPS was unable to do so.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: vegetation
They lose money on consumers who use regular stamps and mail them with hand printed addresses. Just the cost of printing stamps and distributing them is probably a fourth of the face value itself. And then handprinted envelopes have to be pecked in by a human, adding to labor costs. Metered mail (electronic stamps) has no such issues; no printing costs, no distribution, all addresses are typewritten so OCR readers can process quickly, etc.

wrong. mail is sorted by optical scanners. Some needs to be resorted by hand, but most does not.

Not necessarily. The majority of mail is sorted automatically, but there is a significant quantity that is not. I know that all of the carriers at a particular post office spend several hours a day doing nothing but hand-sorting mail, because DPS was unable to do so.

Even the poorest handwriting can usually be deciphered by computer

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
Funny, I don't think USPS has ever lost any of my mail.

*knock on wood*

And oddly enough, I just mailed out a couple of letters this morning. Letters seem to be taken much more seriously than phone calls or e-mail.

Mail something important, like a car title sometime. Guarenteed to be lost.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: vegetation
They lose money on consumers who use regular stamps and mail them with hand printed addresses. Just the cost of printing stamps and distributing them is probably a fourth of the face value itself. And then handprinted envelopes have to be pecked in by a human, adding to labor costs. Metered mail (electronic stamps) has no such issues; no printing costs, no distribution, all addresses are typewritten so OCR readers can process quickly, etc.

wrong. mail is sorted by optical scanners. Some needs to be resorted by hand, but most does not.

Not necessarily. The majority of mail is sorted automatically, but there is a significant quantity that is not. I know that all of the carriers at a particular post office spend several hours a day doing nothing but hand-sorting mail, because DPS was unable to do so.

Even the poorest handwriting can usually be deciphered by computer

Your point? I don't care what they have the ability to do -- I've seen, and have heard, about what they actually do.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: vegetation
They lose money on consumers who use regular stamps and mail them with hand printed addresses. Just the cost of printing stamps and distributing them is probably a fourth of the face value itself. And then handprinted envelopes have to be pecked in by a human, adding to labor costs. Metered mail (electronic stamps) has no such issues; no printing costs, no distribution, all addresses are typewritten so OCR readers can process quickly, etc.

wrong. mail is sorted by optical scanners. Some needs to be resorted by hand, but most does not.

Not necessarily. The majority of mail is sorted automatically, but there is a significant quantity that is not. I know that all of the carriers at a particular post office spend several hours a day doing nothing but hand-sorting mail, because DPS was unable to do so.

Even the poorest handwriting can usually be deciphered by computer

Your point? I don't care what they have the ability to do -- I've seen, and have heard, about what they actually do.

I don't know why your arguing with each other, you're both right. I'm sure there's a lot of mail that gets sorted by hand, but percentage-wise I bet it's a very small number. But even a fraction of a percent of 10s of millions of pieces a day, is a big number.