# An example of the efficiency of government (US Postal Service) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 9, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783 "2013-10-09T16:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/41 "2013-10-10T00:09:46Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Since it is priority mail it gets “whisked” (she used that word) to the central processing center over 120 miles away for sorting and “prompt” (she used that word) delivery by tomorrow or Friday at the latest. Regarding this bit about the package going to a central processing center, I know that in the little 12,000 person town where I grew up, the local USPS branch just has window service and a bunch of PO boxes. They used to sort the mail for the town in the back area, and send out the the delivery trucks from there, but a few years ago, they consolidated these functions in the next town. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/42 "2013-10-10T00:16:33Z")
Shipping can be weird and whatever system is in place can rarely be overridden for common sense. Our company recently needed to send something in town by 5pm the next day and for whatever reason we couldn’t just take it there, so they sent me to UPS. I had two options, I could send it 2-day and it would certainly be there in time or spend three times the amount and send it overnight and they’d guarantee it. What’s the difference? With 2day, it goes on the truck and the driver delivers it whenever. They usually try to go to businesses first so there’s almost a 100% chance it would be delivered by 5 the next day, but if the driver has a bad day, the truck breaks down, or it’s at the end of his route, he may not get there until after business hours. With Overnight, it’s guaranteed to be there by noon or something. Since it absolutely had to be there by 5pm, I had to do overnight just for the guarantee. I know a FedEx mechanic, he maintains the van fleet for the largest FedEx facility in the area. He purchases parts from wherever and has them all shipped via UPS. Why? Because FedEx won’t insure employee packages, so if a $500 part gets lost he has to eat it. When I was 19, I worked in a warehouse for a large national company where we took products in by the truckload, stocked them, and distributed them to fill orders. I worked in receiving. The origin of the goods would be listed on labels, manifests and other paperwork and the destination would be listed as our facility. Occasionally we’d get a truck in from a sister facility about 700 miles away but it’s destination would be the same as the origin, except a few numbers different. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a mistake and asked the manager. He explained that the company owned two facilities in another state that were literally across the street from each other in the same industrial park, let’s call them A and B. When B needed something from A, A would ship it to us because we were the distribution center. We’d unload it in the back and without it touching the ground we’d load it on a truck in the front where it would then be shipped to B. A 1400 mile trip that ended a couple doors down from where it started. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/43 "2013-10-10T00:20:03Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Still, every PO in the country could easily have a policy that they’ll deliver your package to a PO Box within the building for a dollar. It wouldn’t be that difficult. The clerk processes it, stamps it, and drops it in a specified bin. They could do that, sure. How much would it cost to update all the manuals, and let everyone know about the new policy, and add the new bins, and update the computer software? Vs how much time and gas would be saved for how many of these same-building deliveries? I’d hazard a guess that it’s cheaper to just stick to the system as is. When dealing with a large organization, it’s never as simple as “let’s just do this, it makes more sense!” ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/44 "2013-10-10T00:26:23Z")
Yes, it sometimes is that easy. If an entire manual needs to be updated to add something so minor, that’s an organizational issue. Another issue is that they don’t give enough flexibility to their employees when situations like this arise. Inflexibility is a bug, not a feature. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/45 "2013-10-10T00:33:02Z")
“Organizations” don’t have to submit their proposed regulations for public notice and comment or justify them to Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/46 "2013-10-10T00:35:37Z")
At this point, you’re just making the OP’s point for him. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/47 "2013-10-10T01:38:23Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the USPS is inefficient because they made a mistake. They didn’t make a mistake. They executed the transaction exactly the way their systems dictated it should be done. It’s their system that is inefficient, at least in this case. Their system was not inefficient in this case. By using their system, the package’s route thru the system is documented, thus preserving the integrity of the item and ensuring that once it is delivered, it is done in a manner consistent with the total needs of both the sender and the receiver, while also ensuring that the carrier didn’t tamper with the item or obstruct delivery. There’s more at play than just dropping it off, otherwise the sender would have simply walked to the intended receiving party and handed it to them… but as he said in the OP, he could not do that because of procedures and rules in place on the part of the receiving party. ETA: Also: [Tyler Durder]You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.[/Tyler Durden] ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/48 "2013-10-10T01:39:42Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Still, every PO in the country could easily have a policy that they’ll deliver your package to a PO Box within the building for a dollar. It wouldn’t be that difficult. The clerk processes it, stamps it, and drops it in a specified bin. I think my local USPS branch already has a mail slot for stuff going to PO boxes in that building. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/49 "2013-10-10T02:01:07Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Their system was not inefficient in this case. By using their system, the package’s route thru the system is documented, thus preserving the integrity of the item and ensuring that once it is delivered, it is done in a manner consistent with the total needs of both the sender and the receiver, while also ensuring that the carrier didn’t tamper with the item or obstruct delivery. There’s more at play than just dropping it off, otherwise the sender would have simply walked to the intended receiving party and handed it to them… but as he said in the OP, he could not do that because of procedures and rules in place on the part of the receiving party. > > ETA: Also: [Tyler Durder]You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.[/Tyler Durden] There are easier and cheaper ways to do all of those things. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I think my local USPS branch already has a mail slot for stuff going to PO boxes in that building. There you go. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/50 "2013-10-10T02:02:39Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Yeah, there’s an entire industry created around the concept. It’s called “logistics”. It’s not hard to constantly create improved efficiencies for every step of the process. That’s what companies have been doing since the dawn of industry. How many times do you think the average post office gets a customer who wants them to deliver a legal package to somebody in the same town? Maybe once or twice a year? There’s probably a hundred other situations that come up that rarely. Try to come up with a optimum procedure for each of these situations and you’re going to be taking time and effort away from the 99% of your mail that’s routine. The post office is better off creating procedures that move routine mail as efficiently as possible rather than trying to cover every possibility. And note that the OP’s package would have been delivered even if not as efficiently as possible. Keep in mind if you spend just fifteen minutes figuring out the best way to deliver an item of mail, you’ve just limited yourself to delivering a maximum of thirty-two items of mail each eight-hour day. If you want to deliver hundreds or thousands of items each day, you’ve got to stop treating each item individually. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/51 "2013-10-10T02:11:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How many times do you think the average post office gets a customer who wants them to deliver a legal package to somebody in the same town? Maybe once or twice a year? No idea. I’d guess dozens of times a week or month, but I have no way of knowing. I get tons of Amazon fulfillment orders from my town. > [@](#): > > There’s probably a hundred other situations that come up that rarely. Try to come up with a optimum procedure for each of these situations and you’re going to be taking time and effort away from the 99% of your mail that’s routine. Nonsense. Dealing with a package heading across the room isn’t the slippery slope you’re making it out to be. See Dewey’s post above. > [@](#): > > The post office is better off creating procedures that move routine mail as efficiently as possible rather than trying to cover every possibility. And note that the OP’s package would have been delivered even if not as efficiently as possible. > > Keep in mind if you spend just fifteen minutes figuring out the best way to deliver an item of mail, you’ve just limited yourself to delivering a maximum of thirty-two items of mail each eight-hour day. If you want to deliver hundreds or thousands of items each day, you’ve got to stop treating each item individually. Strawman. Nobody is advocating that the PO make decisions for every piece of mail. They’re suggesting they update their logistics system, like every other company in the world. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/52 "2013-10-10T03:05:15Z")
The post office in the village where I used to live had two mail slots: local and… huh. I forget the name of the other slot. So regular first-class mail went into the local slot and didn’t get sent to another facility for sorting and got delivered the next day. But all packages were different. Packages were sorted at the other facility. And no, they wouldn’t deliver a package for free. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/53 "2013-10-10T03:18:03Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > The post office in the village where I used to live had two mail slots: local and… huh. I forget the name of the other slot. “Out-of-town,” if it was like the town where I grew up. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/54 "2013-10-10T03:21:07Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the USPS is inefficient because they made a mistake. They didn’t make a mistake. They executed the transaction exactly the way their systems dictated it should be done. It’s their system that is inefficient, at least in this case. Correct. This isn’t like Wendy’s screwing up your order or FedEx delivery to the neighbor’s house. Those are mistakes that private businesses, the government, and you and I all make. What happened today was mandated by federal procedure. An item that needs to be placed where I walked within feet of the destination needs to be routed, by federal regulations, for a 240 mile round-trip. I’m not a snowflake. The documents aren’t time sensitive; they can get there (HERE) next week for all I care. It’s the process that’s absurd. I know a lot of you want to defend government policy, but there really is no defense of this. Just walk over and drop it in the box across the room. That’s the entirety of the task. It doesn’t require a complex departure from something that will screw up the process. If your internal policies are so inflexible to not allow such a simple task to be completed, then the policies have not been reviewed by a competent manager. I didn’t expect it to be free. A lot of private businesses would have done a similar thing for free, but I don’t expect that. I’m only mildly perturbed at the $5.80. What I do expect is for there to be common sense in the policy so that something so very simple doesn’t require a complex procedure. And the next time that the government wants to handle something else, like health care, for example, I am reminded that I will face similar absurdities in the future. Oh, and the reason I couldn’t hand it to the person? A different government rule related to the federal courts. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/55 "2013-10-10T03:55:35Z")
OP, the way you describe the interaction, maybe you should have just waited until somebody came to retrieve their mail from the P.O. Box and handed the parcel to him. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/56 "2013-10-10T03:58:54Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > No idea. I’d guess dozens of times a week or month, but I have no way of knowing. I get tons of Amazon fulfillment orders from my town. Then you happen to live in a very atypical situation. There are about 31,000 post offices in the United States and only sixty-four Amazon fulfillment centers. And even for those people like yourself who happen to share a post office with a fulfillment center have to deal with Amazon’s inventory system - when you order a book that happens to be in one of the other sixty-three centers, you lose your local advantage. So let’s do the numbers. Let’s round the population off to 310,000,000 to make the math easy. That means each post office has an average of a thousand customers. So 64,000 people live in a town that has an Amazon fulfillment center. The average American reads 15 books a year - let’s be generous and assume that person buys eight of those books from Amazon. That means that even those people who live in a town with a fulfillment center will only be buying a book from their town’s fulfillment center once every eight years. So the situation you described would only be available to one out of every 4800 customers and even those customers would only use it once every eight years. So, yes, I’m calling that a rare situation that the post office shouldn’t develop a special rate for. Now perhaps you’re going to argue that you only gave Amazon as an example. If so, I’ll point out that Amazon is the largest online retailer in the country and is therefore the best-case example. If we used any other business, we’d come up with much smaller numbers. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/57 "2013-10-10T04:05:12Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Some post offices are far worse than others, though it sounds like the clerk you talked to was following procedure, not being obnoxious or incompetent. > > I’ve had clerks reject flat rate boxes because they were too heavy. Really. I had to shut down half of a sorting machine for fifteen minutes last weekend to clear out about thirty pounds of 2.5" nuts and washers that had broken the flat rate box they were being shipped in. I’m guessing it wasn’t your package. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/58 "2013-10-10T04:09:36Z")
It’s a sorting issue. All mail (even addressed to the post master) goes first to the central sorting office. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/59 "2013-10-10T04:52:42Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > “Out-of-town,” if it was like the town where I grew up. There we go. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783/60 "2013-10-10T05:19:59Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > It didn’t “have to” go Priority, but for certain weights that really is the most economical method. Mail that contains personal information, is handwritten, or typewritten must go First Class, Priority, or Priority Express. (“Priority Express” is the new name for Express Mail. Some genius decided it would be less confusing to the public that way.) First Class can only be up to 13 ounces. If it’s over that, you only have the other two choices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-example-of-the-efficiency-of-government-us-postal-service/670783.md?page=4)