poll: cut USPS delivery days?

[FoBoT]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0218151920100302?type=marketsNews

USPS is going to lose almost $8 billion this year
one idea is to cut Saturday delivery

i would go one step farther, how about only deliver Monday-Wednesday-Friday
anything that needs quick delivery can go email/electronic. 3 day a week postal delivery would just deliver paper backups or serve those that can't get into 21st century electronic age

expansion of private delivery (UPS and FedEx) would be needed for packages etc

 

[TheUnk]

screw that, would totally kill my Netflix !!

 

[darkswordsman17]

i would go one step farther, how about only deliver Monday-Wednesday-Friday
anything that needs quick delivery can go email/electronic.

Unless you've figured out a way to teleport packages, I don't know what you think will be accomplished.

 

[shiner]

The answer is to privatize the postal service. There's so much waste in that organization now that it is mind blowing.

 

[Vette73]

The answer is to privatize the postal service. There's so much waste in that organization now that it is mind blowing.

Such as?

 

[FoBoT]

Unless you've figured out a way to teleport packages, I don't know what you think will be accomplished.

UPS and FedEx

 

[Vette73]

But they should just raise the rates to $.50 for first class and cut Sat.

 

[Vette73]

UPS and FedEx

Which one will take my letter from east coast to west for less than $.50 ?

Or small package in less than 5 days for less than $5?

 

[Brainonska511]

I thought most of the reason they are losing a lot of money per year lately is because of the rather recent requirement to pre-fund their retirement fund.

Edit:
And privatizing the post office is not the answer. That will just jack up costs for everyone.

 

[FoBoT]

Such as?

from the article

Other efforts to save money include restructuring how it funds retiree health benefits, said Corbett.

The Postal Service said last month that it may not be able to meet obligations to make about $6.6 billion in cash payments in September and October to fund retiree health benefits and for its workers' compensation liability.

same things that put GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy

 

[Vette73]

I thought most of the reason they are losing a lot of money per year lately is because of the rather recent requirement to pre-fund their retirement fund.

Thats only part of it. The inflation factor covers more than just fuel so when fuel goes up and other goods, like food, go down the USPS get the short end of the stick. Let alone they HAVE to deliver to all those in the US. They have mules in the grand canyon, planes in Alaska, etc...

 

[I Saw OJ]

Three days a week seems perfectly fine to me.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

3-days a week would reduce the delivery costs but all of the infrastructure of sorting, transporting would still need to be 5-days a week. Gotta wonder how much the USPS would save by reducing the number of delivery days?

The people who work within the USPS physical locations who sell stamps and weigh packages should be non-union members that make $8 - $15 an hour depending on location/COLA.

 

[Engineer]

I say cut Tuesday. That is actually the lowest volume day of the week...same number of trucks/carriers are rolling on that day even with reduced volume. Kill Tuesday.

Edit: Now that I think of it, Saturday might be better in that there would still be so many Express packages sent during the week that they simply couldn't shut down completely on Tuesday like they could on Saturday.

 

[PottedMeat]

from the article


same things that put GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy

they really should fix their crazy benefits. on the news they said 100% of costs are covered - wtf?

 

[Jumpem]

Where's the "Go Private" option?

 

[HannibalX]

The charged me almost $40 to ship a small package Priority Mail today.

 

[darkswordsman17]

UPS and FedEx

UPS is like USPS but with worse service and higher prices. FedEx tends to be better but they're also often signficantly more expensive (in fact the last several packages I've shipped through them were right about twice as expensive and a day slower compared to Priority for Ground Service).

I actually wouldn't mind them not delivering everyday, but you'd better be able to go pick it up at the post office. I think it'd actually be good for them to stay open til 5 on Saturday. I would say they need to adjust how they operate to better suit a the current world.

 

[darkswordsman17]

The charged me almost $40 to ship a small package Priority Mail today.

Where'd you ship it to, how much did it weigh, and why didn't you use their Flat Rate shipping?

 

[Number1]

Us Canadians have had 5 days delivery for decades now, were OK.

 

[IAteYourMother]

The answer is to privatize the postal service. There's so much waste in that organization now that it is mind blowing.

you know that tax dollars don't fund the Postal Service don't you?

 

[MiniDoom]

one day a week would be fine with me. do everything online now.

 

[HannibalX]

Where'd you ship it to, how much did it weigh, and why didn't you use their Flat Rate shipping?

Florida-Pennsylvania. Flat rate wouldn't have worked for this item (odd shape, but light, packed in a medium size cube box... smaller than a microwave). I'd say it weighed maybe 7 pounds total. Item is a notebook PC BTW. I can have one shipped to my house brand freaking new 2-day ground with UPS for $20. Last time I'll be using USPS.

 

[FoBoT]

UPS is like USPS but with worse service and higher prices. FedEx tends to be better but they're also often signficantly more expensive (in fact the last several packages I've shipped through them were right about twice as expensive and a day slower compared to Priority for Ground Service).

but UPS and FedEx makes money, not loses billions

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:UPS&fstype=ii

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:FDX&fstype=ii

 

[MiniDoom]

usps does deliver fast here.