They are high on the “America’s Favorite Punching Bags” list, but in my experience the USPS does an excellent job, rapidly and cheaply.
I record concerts and author and mail DVDs, mostly in the same city. I can drop them off at the local Post Office and have them in my clients hands the next fricking day for less than $2!
I ordered an item on eBay, sent “Priority Mail” on the 7th, and it is on the truck for delivery and I’ll have it today, the 9th.
In both of those cases, the competitors to the USPS would have charged much more for comparable service and wouldn’t have done any better.
They deserve praise for doing a job well (especially during their busiest time of the year).
“ACSI tracks customer satisfaction with the regular mail delivery of the U.S. Postal Service and the express delivery of the Postal Service, FedEx, and UPS. For express delivery, ACSI looks at shipping initiated by consumers to send packages to other consumers. The category improved 1% to 83, matching its highest level in more than a decade. FedEx has long been on top, leading UPS and the Postal Service for thirteen years now. This year FedEx edged up slightly, gaining 1% to 85. UPS trails a bit, unchanged at 82, while the Postal Service improved 1% to 77 but remains well behind. Customer satisfaction with the Postal Service’s regular mail delivery fell 4% to a score of 71, the lowest in five years.”
Huge deficit and worst service? Sounds about right for the gubmint.
Nitpick: it’s paid by postage-buyers, not taxpayers. Part of the problem is how much they’re required to overpay into the pension system, and IIRC the Postmaster General is trying to roll that back some.
That is not a nitpick, it invalidates lindsaybluth’s whole rant. So, the company is taking a loss and customers complain about service? Sounds like an airline. My experience is that they offer excellent service at a great price, and it would still be a great deal at twice the price.
I spy with my widdle eye someone whose reading comprehension isn’t up to snuff! Still piss poor satisfaction ratings, chump.
Ferret Herder, that’s quite interesting. I’ve never heard the argument before. Do you have a cite? I had a coworker over the summer (he was a temp) looking to get out of the house from his wife, retired from the Post Office. Something like the #3 guy in the region, said things were awful and liable to get worse because of pension problems. I’m surprised he didn’t speak of what you are.
The postal service does an excellent job, at a lower price than any other sender. It’s especially notable when you’re sending things overseas. My daughter was in Namibia for two years; the USPS charged about $50 a box; other vendors wanted a minimum of $400. Not a single box was ever lost, including the one that was sent to the wrong country.
I’ve been mailing manuscripts via USPS for 25 years and, despite the fact that I often used rates other than first class, never had one lost. They’ve returned manuscripts to me despite the fact that the postal rates had gone up while the manuscript was out.
It costs me less to mail my checks out to pay my bills than it would to do it electronically (the bank charges $5 a month; I rarely have ten bills a month).
Frankly, the contempt of the USPS has turned into class warfare on people who don’t have a lot of money.
Most of the time I’m happy with the post office. The only complaint I have is that it’s next to impossible to get a live human on the telephone when you call their CS line. Recently I had a problem with a package that was shipped to me with the incorrect zip code (correct street address and city, just the zip was wrong). It was a pretty simple fix once I finally spoke to an actual person. Getting to that point was really frustrating.
Keep in mind the Post Office has its own baggage required of it by Congress and the taxpayers (leaving the Constitutional requirement out for the moment) that private enterprise is not burdened by. Add in the societal changes made to communicating electronically (cell phone, texting, email, the Intertubes) vs. hard copy and it should be expected that the Post Office is having difficulties and running a deficit. Private enterprise would just cut service to save money but your Post Office is required to offer universal service at a price affordable to anyone.
That translates into lousy customer satisfaction scores at some point. But let’s not forget a potential hidden bias against the Post Office, because it is a government agency. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and blame “government” when in reality, government is restricted in what it can do and how fast it can change with the times because Congress, and by direct inference, you, don’t want it to change, for you (the hell with other taxpayers).
Finally, that “gubmint” comment. I can agree, for part of it. For much, I can’t. Full disclosure. I am a federal employee. I could offer much more stories about real poor quality and lousy service than you can imagine, just as I find every frickin’ day with private enterprise in stores, corporations, etc.
And yes, FedEx and UPS. We don’t use FedEx and UPS anymore to deliver our stuff. Only the Post Office now. Why? Because too many times FedEx and UPS do not adhere to their own policies, such as signature deliveries, only deliver to specific locations, etc. We can’t stop others from using FedEx and UPS as they ship to us. But we make it known when a delivery that can only be made with a signature to a real person is too often let at the door anyway, without the required signature, just doesn’t cut it. (Anecdote - Years ago, the Oscar Mayer company used to have it’s payroll – hard cash – delivered from the bank to the factory, where the workers were then paid, via the Post Office. At the time it was more cost-effective, and safer, than to use private enterprise armored cars. BTW, that same level of security used by the Post Office back then is still available to anyone today when you mail a document, or even a package.)
Finally, the Post Service service can’t be beat, compared to FedEx or UPS. I’ve always had good to great service with them over the years, compared to FedEx/UPS. Yeah, an occasional misstep but we’re all human. I really don’t begrudge FedEx/Ups here. But the Post Offices does what it does, much of the time, very, very well, considering the constraints it must operate under.
And think of how much more of a loss the airlines would be taking if they had to fly to every cow town.
I delivered mail one summer, and I took the same amount of time whether I delivered one letter to a house or ten. As email and electronic payments cut into first class mail and bulk mail, of course productivity goes down. It has nothing to do with government efficiency.
While you you can make a gross comparison of how satisfied customer claim to be, how meaningful is that when the PO provides a different service from the alternatives? AFAIK, none of the private carriers will let you “mail” a letter for less than the smallest package rate, which is far more than the first class letter rate. I do have to admit that first class mail seems a bit slower these days, however.
Bringing the rate into line with that of other developed countries might help there. Maybe then they could also hire some more staff to work the counters. But even as things are, I’ve often had to wait just as long to pick up a package at the UPS store as at the post office, if I hit it at the wrong time.
Having watched the prices of things double, triple and more in my lifetime I am thrilled that I can send a letter across country for less than a dollar.
True, I can send an email for considerably less, but there are those among us who still value a card or a handwritten letter.
No problems here with the postal service (other than a drunken postman who once walked five steps across our newly cemented sidewalk.) Dude was postal, I tell you.
I use the USPS every day, mailing orders for my wife’s online business. I have no complaints, in general - but we’ve recently moved and the workers in our new local office are a bunch of unhappy fuckers.