They’re raising first class stamp rates AGAIN…to 37 cents at the end of June. They’re claiming the anthrax and 9/11 are to blame. The GAO has warned them that raising rates will probably make things worse.
How come any private business that’s facing a budget shortfall tries to do things to run more efficiently, but the gov’t’s solution is to raise taxes/rates/tariffs/impact fees? Why is there no accountability??
For instance, how much would they save if they stopped Saturday delivery? I certainly wouldn’t mind…hell, half the time I forget to check the P.O. Box on Saturday anyway.
I’ve had it…I’m definitely going to investigate this on-line banking thing…:mad:
I’m not a postal service employee and I don;t send a whole lot of mail, but am I the only one who thinks that giving someone an envelope and having them hand it to Aunt Myrna on the other side of the continent and only giving them 37 cents to do so is a real bargain?
The postal service is, in operation, if not in fact, a ‘private business’ that answers to the federal government. It gets little or no federal funding, nor does it turn over its profits, if any, to the federal government
And I’m more willing to accept the increase than reduced service. As the USPS considered this prior, I would hazard a guess that feedback about reduced service was negative overall.
Although I do find it rather funny that in ranting about the government, you say the GAO (a government agency) is warning the USPS against raising rates.
The Post Office did recently float the idea of stopping Saturday delivery. The general reaction from the public (and IIRC, the posters to the Straight Dope) was that we would rather pay a little bit more than lose the Saturday delivery option.
I know that if it were put to a vote, I’d vote to keep Saturdays and pay the 37 cents.
No you’re not, and I don’t even have an Aunt Myrna on the other side of the continent!
P.S. Did you know that servicemen and women and civilian employees participating overseas in Operation Enduring Freedom were given free postal service. Eveeel quasi-governmental agency.
I’m more than happy to pay the extra. The service is still excellent, and remains a bargain.
But, since Ivylass is an expert in how the USPS operates, perhaps she can tell us how to make things cheaper. C’mon, snookums, don’t hold back. I want specifics, mind you.
Long time lurker, first time poster, inspired to post by this thread. So thanks.
I’m married to a letter carrier for the USPS. Now my husband will be the first to admit that the USPS does screw up at times. He particularly complains about the high numbers of middle management folks, and so on. But you really can’t blame all of the rate increase on ‘mismanagement’. Did you miss the implications of the anthrax mailings? The need to purchase multimillion dollar equipment to disinfect the mail, or to spend money to clean out infected post offices? With the depressed economy, fewer businesses were sending out bulk mail catalogs/ads, which does bring in a fair amount of revenue for them.
(Side note: During all of that, the postal workers kept going to work, and I’m proud of my husband for him just saying, “Well, it’s my job” and going in. He also had to deal with a number of paranoid customers on his route during that time, who wanted him to do special things to their mail - place it in plastic bags, etc. - before he delivered it or who’d refuse to take mail for a few days during the height of the scare. Not to mention those who verbally berated him when his answer about what he personally was doing to ensure their safety wasn’t adequate. Clue phone, the guy who takes your mail to your house does not have a personal anthrax detector, but does keep an eye out for anything suspicious.)
In December, the Postmaster General testified in front of the Senate that their security measures would cost $1.1 billion dollars ( http://www.usps.com/news/2001/press/pr01_1204position.htm ) to implement. Regarding the GAO’s statement, the USPS has not yet released their business plan to them and the Senate ( http://www.usps.com/news/facts/welcome.htm ); the GAO is basically saying ‘your plan had better include some serious changes’. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the USPS who disagreed with that.
The USPS is a government agency only in a loose sense; it is not funded by tax dollars but by postage. Furthermore (I wish I had a cite for this, but all I have is my husband’s word; he’s explained it to me a few times before), the rate increases are set by a board that includes not only people in the USPS, but also ‘civilians’ and others. It is not up to the Postmaster General or one of their bean counters to determine how much the rate goes up.
I’m with Lego…even at 50 cents it would probably still be the best deal going. I’ve used USPS Priority Mail exclusively for my business and eBaying and have never had a problem. (I even dropped off a package for my brother at 5 'til 5 on a Thursday evening in California and it reached his house in Illinois by Saturday afternoon.)
I’ve seen a lot of people come on here and gripe because they got something late, or something damaged, or something returned. But consider HOW MUCH mail you get and for HOW LONG you’ve been getting it. If you get 5-15 pieces of mail a day that’s between 1500 and 4500 pieces of mail a year. If once every 5 years or so something is smushed, delayed or lost, I’d say that’s still a pretty damn impressive record, and one I’d think not many other businesses can match. (Especially considering how SMALL some mail is. Teeny-weeny wedding thank-you cards, light slippery postcards, etc. )
The USPS has to request a rate hike before the PRC will give it one, of course, so the USPS isn’t a passive player in the drama. But you’re right - they don’t have the final say.
I, too, think 37¢ is one hell of a bargain, even for sending a piece of paper across town, let alone across the country. And they keep post offices open in far more locations than UPS or FedEx have offices.
And want me to count some other services USPS provides for free (or close to it, but usually free) that I’ve taken advantage of? [ul][li]Having mail forwarded to me after a move[/li][li]Having mail held for me while on vacation[/li][li]Picking up special deliveries from the local P.O. that they tried to deliver during the daytime, but I wasn’t home to receive [/ul]If UPS won’t leave a package on your doorstep or with a neighbor, retrieving it can be a major ordeal. (I can’t speak about FedEx, but I have far too much personal experience with UPS in this area, and none of it has been pleasant. :mad:) But with the USPS, it’s waiting for you at the local Post Office, and yes, it’ll still be there Saturday morning, when you’re off work.[/li]
They’ve had their problems on occasion, but on the whole, I think I get a lot of bang for the buck with USPS. And I’m all for paying 37¢ instead of 34¢ per letter, in order to keep Saturday service.
I don’t mind $0.37, still seems cheap to me, but I do have a question.
The USPS has been raising its rates pretty frequently, but the price of the stamp isn’t on the stamp. It’s often just the flag. Does this mean my $0.34 stamps will still be enough to mail a letter after the hike, or do I have to find three cent stamps? How will I be able to tell which is a 34 and which is a 37 cent stamp?
Wow, sounds like you stocked up on those stamps; mine all say 34 cents. Post-hike, you’ll have to find some 3-cent stamps, I’d think. They’ll probably also release a new ‘interim’ unlabeled stamp - I think this next one will be the J-rate stamp. I gather they put a letter on them in case the PRC approves a different rate increase, that way they don’t get stuck with useless stamps after printing up a ton in advance to meet the demand.
[unsubstantiated rumor]Someone high-up in the USPS made the last batch of stamps be unlabeled because they didn’t want them being known as the “I-rate” stamps and being joke fodder.[/unsubstantiated rumor]
It would be nice if people were going to criticize others if they gave a moment’s thought first. But apparently the desire to feel superior trumps the desire to be reasonable.
As noted, you can send up to about four ounces across the U.S. for about a buck, less than $0.35 for an ounce. For some morons, that isn’t good enough, never mind that FED EX and UPS charge several times that amount, maybe even 20 times, I don’t know. And yes, USPS has run deficits that are relatively small compared to it’s overall budget, despite having to give free service to various branches of the government which far exceed the deficits in value. The USPS moves hundreds of billions of pieces of mail every year. All said and done, they do a great job. When they run a deficit, they normally ask for an increase and get it. This is just like a normal business that was able to borrow some money to cover short term overruns. It really depends on the size of the buisness and the overall deficits. The USPS deficits are really small compared to their overall business and their business “goodwill”.
Personally I think the post office is an excellent example of a business that should be run on a non-profit basis by the government. It is vastly more cost effective than FED EX and UPS, its private, super-service competitiors, which I use a lot less.
I also tend to view people who hate the post office and minor price increases as cretinous idiots. Nothing is a surer sign that people don’t know what they are talking about and are really stupid and lazy thinkers, as to whine about how much it costs to send mail through the USPS and how bad they are. In fact, the USPS is not only the best in the world at what they do, they are far, far better than the rest. It is almost like complaining that the sun is an insufficient source of light and heat because its cold and dark at night.
The only thing I wish the USPS would do is stop the incremental rate hikes. I know, I know, it happens because it takes a long time for an increase to get approved and enacted, and by the time we’re done with one it’s time for another.
Why not just swallow the damn pill, raise current rates to $0.50, and leave it that way for a decade or so? At least save me the hassle of buying those one-cent “makeup” stamps all the time.
Other than that, the USPS is a great service, and I don’t understand the folks who diss them without cause.
I second (or third, or fifth) the comment about wishing they’d quit jacking the rates so often. I don’t care if they make a billion dollars profit like UPS, just quit changing the damn stamp rate.
I would live fine at 50¢ a stamp, and let them store some money, reinvest it, fucking sleep in it, I don’t care. Just give me some time to use the stamps I buy.
Yup, add me in as well. I’m still in the habit of buying rolls of stamps . . . dammit, I should have learned by now that I just don’t go through them as fast when I’m paying all my bills online.
I still have 32 cent and “H” stamps, so what the last couple of people said
Every time I hear a complaint or rant about postal rate hikes I’m reminded of a cartoon I saw in the paper about a decade ago. There’s this little old lady knitting away while listening to the news. The announcer says “The federal deficit reached an all time high of $XXX trillion dollars…” and she keeps knitting. “The US has spent $XXX billion dollars on the war in Kuwait…” and she keeps on knitting. “The US Postal service is going to raise the price of stamps to 29 cents…” and the knitting balls, cat and her hair pins go flying as she starts swearing (in that cartoon manner, ya know).
I just can’d find it in me to bitch about three cents.
My biggest problem with the rate increases is that there are so damn many of them, Everytime i turn my head, they are raising the godammnded rates again. Make it an even forty cents and fucking STOP DICKING around already!!!
Who the fuck do they think they are fooling?
You think you’ve got troubles? Have you seen what has happened to the once proud and all-conquering UK postal service?
We’ll leave aside the whole rebranding-as-Consignia-and-rebrand-back-again fiasco. Let’s instead concentrate on the loss of forty fucking thousand jobs over the next three years.
Is this because they have a surplus of staff? Is it fuck. The service itself has been going down the pan for years. When I was a teenager, it was unthinkable that a first-class letter wouldn’t get there the next day. Now they crow if they get the average above 90%. Nobody relies on next-day or even three-day delivery any more, because they can’t afford to take the risk. And second class? Forget it.
The mismanagement of the UK postal service has been one of the great examples of how it is possible to fuck up an apparently invincible brand. It’s an absolute crime.
