Delayed First Class Mail Delivery

[geist1223]

For some unknown reason for the past 4 months we no do not receive any mail on Wednesday.

 

[b2bailey]

I fully support cutting out Saturday delivery. My dad worked for the post office -- and they've been doing the rotating day off for 50+ years that I can remember. It creates a staffing nightmare to have coverage for those rolling days off.

 

[Snazzylass]

After ~50 years, our nearby P.O. is gonna close. Their jobs are terminated.
They seem be trying to save $$ thru consolidating and reductions in force.

Sorry, but I'm all for closing lots and lots of PO's. It's crazy the little itty bitty burgs that do not have a gas station, grocery store, or bank, but there sits a PO.
Interestingly, one of the reasons is that there is no local delivery. People have to go to these bldgs to pick up their mail - so, lots of details to be worked out.

If you saw the long-term leases, you'd really shake your head. Bankruptcy is how private businesses break these leases in order to stay in business and trim their costs. I was offered a PO in a tiny town once to buy and passed on it. I couldn't see it as viable and I think it was closed a few years later.

Overall, I think the PO does a good job. The workers retire with wonderful pensions. I see them working long hours like my guy in brown. Like George, I love the email notifications and tracking. The USPS has added lots of technology. I love that I stop by all hours to ship a package - no more waiting for the counter to be open.

Still, I'd miss them being open on Saturday, though would not miss Saturday delivery. Keep in mind Saturday is considered a day of business in the banking world, while Sunday is not.

I allow 10 days when mailing a check which I do to pay property taxes back in the Midwest as well as my HOA. Seems if you mail from a major city to a major city, it will get there quicker, versus adding a small town to the journey. Close to 30 years ago I was told they often move the trailers to different docks overnight when they don't have time to unload them. It does happen. Mail does sit sometimes.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Sorry, but I'm all for closing lots and lots of PO's. It's crazy the little itty bitty burgs that do not have a gas station, grocery store, or bank, but there sits a PO.
Interestingly, one of the reasons is that there is no local delivery. People have to go to these bldgs to pick up their mail - so, lots of details to be worked out.

If you saw the long-term leases, you'd really shake your head. Bankruptcy is how private businesses break these leases in order to stay in business and trim their costs. I was offered a PO in a tiny town once to buy and passed on it. I couldn't see it as viable and I think it was closed a few years later.

Overall, I think the PO does a good job. The workers retire with wonderful pensions. I see them working long hours like my guy in brown. Like George, I love the email notifications and tracking. The USPS has added lots of technology. I love that I stop by all hours to ship a package - no more waiting for the counter to be open.

Still, I'd miss them being open on Saturday, though would not miss Saturday delivery. Keep in mind Saturday is considered a day of business in the banking world, while Sunday is not.

I allow 10 days when mailing a check which I do to pay property taxes back in the Midwest as well as my HOA. Seems if you mail from a major city to a major city, it will get there quicker, versus adding a small town to the journey. Close to 30 years ago I was told they often move the trailers to different docks overnight when they don't have time to unload them. It does happen. Mail does sit sometimes.

I very much doubt the retail windows (clerks) will be closed on Saturdays. Saturday retail business will continue just like during the week. The USPS needs the revenue, but what I think you won't see are carriers out making deliveries on Saturdays.

That cost savings will be huge for one less day of delivery per week! Maybe enough to make the USPS to survive.



.

 

[Quiet Pine]

The fact is mail delivery has been suffering for years ...The USPS has been slow to change

Years ago, when AOL was mailing free disks to everyone, I thought USPS should consider itself in the communication business and jump into email. I don't know what stopped them, regulations or stodgy bureaucratic thinking, but they were left behind.
"From 1994 to 1996 AOL added five million new customers, more than the New York Times and Washington Post had added during the previous 50 years. "

 

[nerodog]

The US Postal Service website says that mail delivery has been affected by COVID-19, and that some mail is taking longer than the normal time frames. It goes on to say that there may be delays in package delivery, but that First Class mail and Express Mail (overnight) has not been affected.

On Monday, July 27, I mailed a couple of checks for deposit. The envelope was mailed from a rural area in southwest Michigan. The destination was Dublin, Ohio, which is a suburb of Columbus. Columbus is a major metropolitan area.

The bank did not receive the mail until today.

That's more than a week. And it's utterly ridiculous. The Postal Service is experiencing serious problems and delays, and they are not acknowledging that First Class Mail is affected.

Kat

Very bad. Usually takes a week from Europe..its been taking 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[PeterS]

I believe the only legally binding delivery system is USPS registered mail... for any important documents, notifications, legal papers, etc...
A UPS, Fedex, or DHL or even USPS confirmation of delivery is not the same as registered...
As the posts for people to cancel TS sales state.... send it registered.... the USPS is very necessary....

 

[Icc5]

My son decided to stop selling worms for composting thru many sites because he couldn't guarantee that would make it alive. Now he only does local that can be picked up. About 2-3 months ago lots of the deliveries were being charged back to him because they sat for so long. This was costing him from $25-50 per shipment.
Bart

 

[Talent312]

I believe the only legally binding delivery system is USPS registered mail...

I think you mean, "certified mail, return receipt requested."
But it's antiquated, Many delivery services can require signatures, and
even Amazon can provide a photo of the item at someone's front door.
.

 

[pedro47]

IMHO, the USPS, should stop delivering mail on Saturday's. This would saved money on electricity, heating & ac costs of operating thousands of buildings, upkeep of vehicles, gasoline costs, janitorial costs and overtime costs. The biggest savings would come in retirement costs because this will reduce manpower worked in overtime hours.

 

[Country Roads]

From 2017 however, still holds true. IMO I hope they keep Saturday service. The service provided all week has diminished enough. Like others in the neighborhood, I've had packages left sticking out of the mailbox. It took a call to the post office itself and a complaint filed in order to correct this issue.

Impact of Ending Saturday Mail

Ending Saturday mail would have some positive and plenty of negative impacts, according to the Postal Regulatory Commission and GAO reports. Ending Saturday mail and implementing a five-day delivery schedule, the agencies said, would:

Save the Postal Service an estimated $1.7 billion a year, nearly half as much as the $3.1 billion projected by the agency itself;

Reduce mail volume and result in net revenue losses of $600 million a year, far more than the $200 million in lost revenue projected by the Postal Service;

Cause a quarter of all First-Class and Priority mail to be delayed by two days;

Negatively impact business mailers, local newspapers that rely on Saturday delivery, residential mailers who would be affected by longer mail transit times, and other population groups, such as rural residents, the homebound, or the elderly;

Reduce the advantage that USPS has over competitors that do not offer Saturday delivery, particularly delivering postal parcels on Saturdays at no additional charge;

And diminish USPS's image, in part by reducing public contact with carriers.

Should the USPS Really End Saturday Mail Delivery?

Find out why the U.S. Postal Service wants to stop delivering Saturday mail in order to save money it does not have. Is it really such a great idea?

www.thoughtco.com

 

[Ken555]

No matter how you look at it, the elephant in the room is still the requirement for the USPS to prepay retirement. This is going to be a huge problem it the future since the government is borrowing from that fund and using it elsewhere. Unless this requirement changes, the USPS will be forced to make changes, as it has already done, to lower quality and service. We should not even be having the conversation of stopping Saturday delivery, and the USPS should not be leaving mail to be delivered in future if they run out of time (which indicates they are understaffed or have a budget shortfall, but we know that).

I've had numerous packages in the last month take >2 weeks to arrive, in various cities, when a few months ago those same size/weight packages took just a few days.

 

[Rjbeach2003]

USPS has been hampered for years by the requirement, passed in 2006, requiring the Post Office to prepay 75 years of pension costs over 10 years. That money was to be used for pension purposes, but has been used to pay down the National Debt.
Add to that now, the newly appointed temporary Postmaster General, has directed that the PO slow down deliveries, and cut over time.
Also the complaint that the PO has offices and deliveries in little towns, is something mandated in the Constitution. USPS and FedEx use the PO, at a profit, to deliver to those places. The PO needs more support not less.

 

[AnnaS]

My daughter (out of state) has mailed Mother's Day and Father's Day cards and in May also my birthday card and my husband's. She mailed each card about a week before the "event date". We did not receive any of them on time. About a week after the event.

I have mailed her double letters - to be safe. One would get there 2-3 days later and the other one a week later.

My son and dil also mailed cards for the same events - they live in the same area we do - two of them also came days/a week after the "event" date.

Just can't count on it.

 

[Country Roads]

USPS has been hampered for years by the requirement, passed in 2006, requiring the Post Office to prepay 75 years of pension costs over 10 years. That money was to be used for pension purposes, but has been used to pay down the National Debt.
Add to that now, the newly appointed temporary Postmaster General, has directed that the PO slow down deliveries, and cut over time.
Also the complaint that the PO has offices and deliveries in little towns, is something mandated in the Constitution. USPS and FedEx use the PO, at a profit, to deliver to those places. The PO needs more support not less.

Managing overtime can be addressed, to a point, with better management.

USPS warns staff of temporary mail delays as it cuts ‘soaring’ delivery costs

To cut costs, the memo outlines several actions that went into effect last Friday. Late or extra trips to deliver mail, the memo states “are no longer authorized or accepted.” It also directs mail carriers to begin and complete their routes on time.

“Any mail left behind must be properly reported, and employees should ensure this action is taken with integrity and accuracy,” the memo states. Should this happen, the memo says USPS will “address root causes” of temporary mail delays and “adjust the very next day.

“The big story here is that the postal unions and some of their supporters want to wage war against the new postmaster general, rather than work to find constructive, holistic postal reforms,”

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers also applauded the memo as a “much overdue” effort to reign in postal inefficiencies and unnecessary costs.

USPS warns staff of temporary mail delays as it cuts ‘soaring’ delivery costs | Federal News Network

The Postal Service has warned for years that tough decisions lie ahead when it comes to balancing its delivery service with costs.

federalnewsnetwork.com

 

[Bucky]

I can deal with ending Saturday deliveries provided they could get back to regular daily deliveries. Right now our mail isn’t getting here until about 8pm at night! That’s overnight delivery to us since we wait until morning to go out to the street and get it!

 

[Brett]

USPS has been hampered for years by the requirement, passed in 2006, requiring the Post Office to prepay 75 years of pension costs over 10 years. That money was to be used for pension purposes, but has been used to pay down the National Debt.
Add to that now, the newly appointed temporary Postmaster General, has directed that the PO slow down deliveries, and cut over time.
Also the complaint that the PO has offices and deliveries in little towns, is something mandated in the Constitution. USPS and FedEx use the PO, at a profit, to deliver to those places. The PO needs more support not less.

if the Post Office was a private corporation with shareholders there would be no pensions

 

[rapmarks]

The state of Illinois had borrowed from the teachers pension fund for years which has resulted in severe underfunding. Very disturbing to hear federal government is doing it with the post office.

the post office frequently delivers mail addressed to 886 to my mail box which is 866. This weekend I contacted my neighbor and told her I had some mail and would drop it off. I walked up the street at exactly the same time as Mail Person arrived. She was quite adamant that I was to put that mail in my mailbox with the flag up.

 

[bbodb1]

if the Post Office was a private corporation with shareholders there would be no pensions

However, they would likely have a 401(K) program....which cannot be raided...

 

[hjtug]

House Oversight Committee Invites New U.S. Postal Chief to Testify on Nationwide Mail Delays

A Republican fundraiser took over the Postal Service's top job in June and eliminated overtime for hundreds of thousands of workers

time.com

Our President is in favor of eliminating the Postal Service - perhaps replacing it with an existing or new profit-making business. It is now under the leadership of someone who agrees.

 

[rickandcindy23]

My nephew mailed his grandpa, my stepdad, a model of a Coca Cola truck. He used Priority Mail. It took over 30 days and the mail person said she couldn't find him home. He is home every single day due to Covid-19. He comes to our house for dinner most nights, but that is ridiculous. My nephew was worried about it, it's a collectible item. He kept asking me if Grandpa got the Coca Cola truck.

 

[bogey21]

I've had numerous packages in the last month take >2 weeks to arrive, in various cities, when a few months ago those same size/weight packages took just a few days.

I recently bought some per meds from Canada. They arrived in 12 days which I don't consider all that bad...

George

 

[Bucky]

Just about all of the P.O. Shortcomings could be cleared up if they could actually raise prices to the public. I always find it hilarious how people, including myself, freely complain about their service but when confronted with higher taxes or price increases to support it, balk! Cost have went up. Fact of life. I’m not talking about salaries and pensions alone, but everything. I just find it suspect that any changes made immediately before an election where mail in voting is the talk of the town is quite questionable.

 

[Talent312]

As little as I use the mail nowadays, I'd be willing to pay double what I do now.
For someone to come to my house, pick up an envelope and deliver it anywhere in the country. it should cost more.



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[Brett]

Just about all of the P.O. Shortcomings could be cleared up if they could actually raise prices to the public. I always find it hilarious how people, including myself, freely complain about their service but when confronted with higher taxes or price increases to support it, balk! Cost have went up. Fact of life. I’m not talking about salaries and pensions alone, but everything. I just find it suspect that any changes made immediately before an election where mail in voting is the talk of the town is quite questionable.

I think it would take more than raising prices for the USPS to be profitable. There are many restrictions unique to the USPS that private companies don't have to follow