Cut in Days to Receive Mail

[bobbbiez]

Guess the Post Master General wants to save 8 billion dollars by making it a 5 day delivery service.

It'll probably be on a slow day they have deliveries which they state is on Tuesdays.
Just another cut we'll probably have to swallow.

Don't know how businesses will feel about this, but it's fine by me as long as I don't have to wait for any checks I might be receiving. ;D

[Swimmy]

I was listening to this on the news. My initial reaction is why don't they just raise the stamp price AGAIN! You mean to tell me that with all the recent increases to the stamp prices, they STILL have to cut services? Anyone else see the hypocrisy and irony?!

[dgriffin]

What's next to go? Doorway Delivery. In Kingston, NY, the post office went through a normal neighborhood of middle class housing... say like south Utica ... and mounted rural mail boxes on posts near the curb in the city's right of way. Delivery to the boxes from a vehicle would save personnel and eliminate them having to walk up on your front porch ... and maybe meet your pit bull. A photo taken from one end of the street made it look like a cemetery, with orderly rows of white boxes running down a row. Quite a hue and cry ensued, with the city's mayor threatening to take the Post office to court because of the use of the right of way. The Post Office at first countered that this was by choice of the residents, but when they couldn't produce a resident who requested it, they backed down and removed the curb-side mail boxes.

Has this happened in the Utica area?

[Clipper]

I don't see the hypocrisy. I stop and think about the costs of taking your 42 cent letter, and flying it to another area of the country, paying a contracted truck to deliver it to the correct local post office, and then the costs of maintaining the post offices, mail distribution centers, and delivery men.

To cut out a "slow day" would simply increase the volume the next day, load the trucks and planes a little heavier, and save one whole day's worth of expenses of moving the mail.

I imagine it will all trickle down to being caused by the cost of fuel for all the aircraft and trucks involved in the logistics of handling the mail.

[Clipper]

The only areas here in the Bristol area that receive "to the door" delivery are the inner city and older neighborhoods. Most of the newer subdivisions have rural service, delivered by a postman that doesn't have to get out of the truck to deliver. Hell, they don't even come to the door or porch with a package or to get a signature. If you get a package or a letter that needs to be signed for, they leave a card in the box and you have to go pick it up.

I personally don't find that to be overly troublesome, and I am sure that businesses still get parcel delivery to their door.

[bobbbiez]

Swimmy, if you buy the" Forever" stamps which the cost is no different then the other stamps, you won't have to worry about the price of stamps going up. I always keep a good supply of them and haven't paid a raise in quite a while.

[dgriffin]

Maybe Swimmy's concern is that his private mail is subsidizing business mail, so I hear.

Most of the newer subdivisions have rural service, delivered by a postman that doesn't have to get out of the truck to deliver.

Yeah, but can you imagine a string of rural mailboxes on posts straight across Amy Ave in South Utica?


www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2006/03/26/top%20stories/16376941.txt


Couldn't find a photo of the scene I had described, so for entertainment, here's this, your
new Jedi mailman, R2D2, USPS:

[Swimmy]

I guess I was misunderstood. I was trying to point out that for years, to cover the costs of operation, the post office simply increased the cost of its postage. I find it ironic and totally bullshit that now, to cover costs, they are cutting services. Does that mean we can see a reduction in the cost of postage too to reflect the decrease in cost of operations?

[Clipper]

I would imagine that one thing that impacts the mail service and the costs is the fact that more and more people are emailing instead of sending letters, and a lot of my friends pay their bills and do their banking on-line. Heck, I don't do it, but if I did, it would be eight or ten stamps a month that I would not have to buy.

[clarencebunsen]

I don't remember if this "threat" was used when the cost of 1st class postage went from $.03 to $.04 (which meant a 33% increase in funding my stamp collecting hobby.

I do remember it from the $.10 to $.11 in 1971, none of the military Post Offices had $.11 stamps or 1, 2, or 3 centers, so I had to put two $.10's on my letters for a month or so.

Each time the threat to drop one daily delivery (usually Saturday) comes up, I try to evaluate how it would impact my life. The answer always is "not much."

I wouldn't expect any decrease in costs if this goes through. It might push off the next increase for a few months.

Just think, the people who bring you this could soon be providing you health care. "I'm sorry ma'am but the labor & delivery room is closed until 8:00 AM Monday."

[concerned]

My bread arrives on Tuesday's. I'll probably will have to switch to UPS.

[Clipper]

I agree with you Clarence, in believing that cancelling Saturday delivery would have little impact on my life. they are limited in their ability to raise parcel prices, as UPS and FEDEX would simply capitalize on the raise and put a dent in their parcel post business.

Kathy often complains about the mailbox full of bulk junk mail, and flyers. I tell her not to bitch, because if it were not for 2nd and 3rd class mail, the first class stamp would probably cost a buck. EVERY business is having to tighten belts, and/or raise prices. The post office may be a government "entity" but they still fall into the same problems with rising healthcare costs, fuel costs, power bills, etc.

I believe that even if we lose one day's delivery, we will still see another increase in the price of postage soon. It is not just government. Price increases are seen all across the spectrum of services and goods.

[lucy]

No I need my Saturday mail! I have netflix and they always almost come on a Saturday.

[Clipper]

Oh dear Lucy, what a boring weekend it would be without netflix, haha. How about Fridays?

[lucy]

hahahahaha.... Fridays no good! they always seem to arrive on Saturday.