DailyDirt: The U.S. Postal Service
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The U.S. Postal Service hasn't been doing well for a while now. Even though it achieved its first revenue increase in five years, it still lost $5 billion in fiscal year 2013. This marks the seventh consecutive year of losses for the USPS, which lost a record $15.9 billion last year. Part of the reason is that people just aren't sending as much mail these days. Why send a physical letter when you can send a message online? The Postal Service's most profitable product, first-class mail delivery, has been going down -- mail volume peaked in 2000 and has decreased by almost a third since then. On the brighter side, it seems that people are buying more things online now, and the USPS's package volume has been on the rise. As the Postal Service struggles to survive, it will be interesting to see how it adapts to the changing economy in the coming years. Here are a few links to some things about the USPS that you may not know.- The USPS has the nation's largest distribution network, with 461 distribution centers that are linked to 21 major network hubs, 32,000 local post offices, and 213,000 delivery vehicles. In comparison, FedEx has only six network hubs in the U.S., and its global network has only a quarter as many vehicles and a third as many offices. [url]
- The official USPS website actually has a comprehensive page of interesting postal facts. For example, ZIP codes were introduced in 1963 to make handling increasing volumes of mail easier. A related fun fact: The easiest ZIP code to remember -- 12345 -- is assigned to General Electric in Schenectady, NY. And each year, GE receives thousands of letters from kids who think that the ZIP code for Santa's address in the North Pole is 12345. [url]
- Sunday mail delivery used to be the norm. In 1810, Congress passed a law that required post offices to be open for at least one hour on Sundays (and when everything else was closed on Sundays, post offices became the local "taverns" where people would go get their mail and then stay on to drink and play cards). Then in 1912, Congress passed another law that forced post offices to close on Sundays. [url]
- Sunday mail delivery is back! As part of a deal with Amazon, the USPS will begin delivering packages on Sundays again. Sunday delivery has already started in New York and Los Angeles, and the service should be extended to many more cities next year. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: 12345, physical distribution network, post office, santa, snail mail, sunday mail, us postal service, usps, zip codes
Companies: amazon, fedex, ge
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
USPS has a handicap
See
http://business.time.com/2013/02/07/how-healthcare-expenses-cost-us-saturday-postal-deli very/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: USPS has a handicap
This fact is often not mentioned in articles and posts which bemoan the trials and tribulations of the USPS - even though it is by far the most significant contributor to the present financial condition of the USPS.
Why is this?
Typically, I assume it is due to bias on the part of the writer and is intentional. This can be attributed to either ignorance or outright malevolence, there really is no in between.
So - I gotta ask ... why did the OP omit this tidbit from their post?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: USPS has a handicap
Ok ....I assume that this bias on your part to undermine reality is a part of some intentional attack on a system that is being heavily restricted from having any profits to grow itself and improve it's deliver infrastructure .
This could be attributed to your ignorance or out right malevolence , there really is no in between.
The fact that Politicians are just trying to create an environment where people would accept that the USPS needs to be privatized so they can get cheap shares and eventually just take the millions in funds that has been put into the pension system.
If you cannot see this you are either part of the problem and should be shot or you are just being wilfully ignorant of the fact becasue you believe you will benefit from the fact that they are going to destroy the usps for no other reason than greed.
See how easy that was to turn around and makes more sense actually.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: USPS has a handicap
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: USPS has a handicap
In other words, it has to expect to pay out benefits to an employee it may gain 5 years down the road that retires in 30 years and have enough funding on-hand to pay for 40 years of his retirement.
It's a good idea for companies to have retirement obligations paid for, but 75 years is WAY too far forward looking, 10 years is too short a time to gather it all up, and people should not forget why this is happening.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: USPS has a handicap
2. CHEAPER then UPS.. you can send 6lbs for around $8.
3. USPS was NOT designed as a FOR PROFIT, business..
If they would charge MORE for the bills and SPAM I get in my mail box, they could earn GOOD money. BUT, that is Presorted BULK mail, and deserves a cut rate..
TRY sending BULK mail with UPS..
I THINK that the USPS should start its only ONLINE mail service.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: USPS has a handicap
USPS's tracking system, though improved, is still a joke. Unless you pay for the tracking number, good luck with tracking a package. With packages from the other two systems, I can go online and request a hold on the package, and for a couple bucks a year I can ask them to hold all my packages for that year. With USPS, the package ends up on my doorstep, and then soon after in the trunk of the local thief's car. If I didn't have cameras to catch the delivery and the theft, I'd never know it had been delivered. Fortunately, the police have the pictures, but unfortunately, they can't seem to nab the guy. I called USPS and asked if they could hold packages, and was told that I had to ask the sender to work with USPS to hold the package.
2. CHEAPER then UPS.. you can send 6lbs for around $8.
And here, you certainly get what you pay for. When UPS loses a package in the mail, they make every effort to find it, usually without your involvement. When USPS loses a package, if you purchased insurance, you make a claim with the insurance company. If no insurance, good luck. You have to go to the post office and file paperwork so they can place a trace on the package, and if you are lucky, they may find it. Having lost (and had packages stolen,) it is usually cheaper to pay more for UPS/FedEx and know that the package will get to its destination.
I am not against the USPS, as they try hard, but some times trying hard just isn't enough.
3. USPS was NOT designed as a FOR PROFIT, business..
I kinda wish they were. Might make them better at dealing with the competitive pressures of doing business. Of course, doing so would result in loss of some of the less successful programs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: USPS has a handicap
The next updates were this morning, sometime between 11:30p when I went to bed, and 6:00 am when I got up. Sometime in that time frame, the package had shipped from Lexington, KY, to Wyoming, MI, where it was scanned for departure at 1:10 am, then arrived in Flint, MI at 3:10am.
That's a 30+ hour block of time where there were no updates, yet apparently it placed on a truck, shipped to Michigan, unloaded then put on another truck.
FedEX isn't any better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: USPS has a handicap
Would have been more funny if my customer hadn't been so anxious for his product.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: USPS has a handicap
Unless you're sending it out of the country.
I just mailed a 5lb package to Canada and it cost me $37.65. According UPS's web site, it would have cost me around $26 to ship it via UPS.
I know where I'm going next time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sunday Mail?!
Why?
Because I'm always checking my mail box to see if I got mail.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sunday Mail?!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Postal Service has a financial handicap though no other business has; by law they have to pre-pay 75 years of pension health benefits.
See
http://business.time.com/2013/02/07/how-healthcare-expenses-cost-us-saturday-postal-deli very/
Re: USPS has a handicap
Prior to this unnecessary and egregious legislation (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr6407) the USPS was in the black, by a significant margin.
This fact is often not mentioned in articles and posts which bemoan the trials and tribulations of the USPS - even though it is by far the most significant contributor to the present financial condition of the USPS.
Why is this?
Typically, I assume it is due to bias on the part of the writer and is intentional. This can be attributed to either ignorance or outright malevolence, there really is no in between.
So - I gotta ask ... why did the OP omit this tidbit from their post?
The reason the Post Office was required to put money into the retirement account is that it had not been funding the account at a sufficient level to cover it's obligations.
Another area of diminished income can be attributed to discounts of services to favored patrons.
Why has no one mentioned the postal union as part of the problem.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I call bullshit. Where are your facts to substantiate your claims?
The USPS pension fund is over funded, in accordance with the standards set forth in all other private and public enterprise in the US. Just look around at the various pieces written about this debacle, the evidence is quite clear if you want to find it.
"Why has no one mentioned the postal union as part of the problem."
Unions are a perceived problem to the GOP, this is why they are attempting to destroy unions. It's an ill conceived endeavor to say the least. There has been plenty mentioned about this misguided GOP attack, perhaps you missed it because it was not shouted loud enough for you to hear it underneath your bridge.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
you know, facts?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The reason Post Offices were closed on Sundays was a result of the Anti Alcohol fight of the time.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
USPS is a PRIVATE CORPORATION, so BOO-HOO!
In my day, every little town had a post office that provided a link to rest of the country, and typically subsidized a grocery so one didn't have to drive tens of miles to get highly processed "food" from the one giant corporation. Them days was BETTER, kids. -- Civilization isn't just to have a few highly "efficient" corporations concentrating wealth: it's to provide FAIRNESS for all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: USPS is a PRIVATE CORPORATION, so BOO-HOO!
But to say only one has this huge burden and "why aren't they profitable with a FUCKING MONOPOLEEEZE!?!?!?!" is dumb beyond all belief. They don't get to decide their charges, otherwise they certainly would be profitable. They don't get to implement new ideas in case they "compete".
It's a farce.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: USPS is a PRIVATE CORPORATION, so BOO-HOO!
you want to PAY for your mail..goto UPS. $25 to get your package in 5-7 business days...
USPS can deliver a 6lb package for $8 in 3.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: USPS is a PRIVATE CORPORATION, so BOO-HOO!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
4 years after postal service was on WW1
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 4 years after postal service was on WW1
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
We see the reduction in traditional mail.
We see the increase in 'eBay/ TVSN' parcels.
We ride 110cc motorcycles, using a LOT less fuel than your vans.
We deliver to any letterbox, as long as it's
-on the edge of your property
-your mail will fit
-the damn thing isn't likely to slice our fingers off.
We don't pick up mail, we just make sure there are more post boxes around.
We do out best to make all our deliveries Mon to Fri, before 5pm
We have two government granted monopolys:
-charging 60c a standard letter while any rival must charge 3x that much.
-our vehicles are allowed on footpaths.
AND
We turned a profit.
Yes, we are maniacs on motorcycles.
Yes, we are allowed to ride on the footpath while pushbikes are not.
Yes, if your letterbox is 15cm across, we will fold a 16 cm item to fit it.
Yes, if you're not answering your door, you will have to go pick up your 'essential' parcel at 4pm after we've finished with everyone else.
and if you didn't want tyre marks on your lawn, you shouldn't leave your letterbox in the middle of it.
US, why yo no turn profit?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
USPS handicap
If the USPS were allowed to make money and govern its own business accordingly, even with the requirement to provide universal service, it could become a powerhouse that would dominate the private carriers. It has the biggest, most expansive logistics infrastructure in the country. The logistics business is on its way up, not down. If the USPS could freely leverage that infrastructure to introduce new products and eliminate unprofitable ones it would quickly crush its competition.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Realistic Pricing of First Class Postage
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Realistic Pricing of First Class Postage
I also wish the USPS would drop Saturday service. This is left over from the days when phone calls were expensive and there was no email, etc.
However, I think they should have a 7 day a week parcel delivery service. That makes more sense.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Postal advertisement
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
3rd class issue
The type sold at very low cost to advertisers to mail to 95% of people on the mail carriers route. It is unsolicited mail. May be The only class of mail that doesn't require knowledge of the recipient name. And does require that the content be generic and not have personal correspondence.
I believe if they got rid of this, and just ratcheted down the infrastructure and people as needed to deal with less first class mail incoming; and also using new tech and automation where it would help, they could tackle these monetary problems somewhat caused by lack of revenue.
Creating a high volume unsolicited class of mail (3rd class aka Standard Mail) at a throwaway cost cheap enough for expectation of low single digit rate of reply is just shooting themselves in the foot while sticking their heads in the sand.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/new-hampshire/2011/09/27/how-junk-mail-is-helping-to-prop-up-the-pos tal-service/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Moving
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
U.S. Postal Service
[ link to this | view in chronology ]