Is the US Postal Service committing suicide?

Question

While USPS service is getting steadily worse, email is getting better all the time.

They shut down Saturday services at most post offices. Now at the mailbox near me their last clearance is at 3 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m.

Deliveries during the week are down to once per day. I don't know how it is today in France and England, but it used to be two or three times a day. Some countries had Sunday deliveries of mail too.

The price of stamps will soon go up. Again.

Meanwhile, how is UPS doing? And Federal Express? Will the USPS drive itself out of business? Or does its constitutional status mean that it is immune to failure and insulated against competition?

If US telephone services were operated by the post office, as it is in many countries, would it be as bad and as expensive as theirs usually are?

Answer 1

Funny you should ask that: A co-worker of mine was complaining today: His parents sent him a legal document via USPS. They had delivery confirmation on it, it was delivered to the wrong address and signed for.
When he called to have it tracked, they told him that he would have to come down to the central office; fill out some forms and pay money; wait two weeks and then they could "tell him who signed for it and then he could hunt it down".

Another problem: we had a massive mailing go out and a lot of mail was returned "not at this address, no forwarding address"....we were charged for the returned mail, and guess what? I called several of them, just to confirm and guess what: they were addressed correctly!! So we got screwed twice; the correctly addressed mail we paid to have delivered, wasn't; then we had to pay additionally when it was returned!!

Here's another gripe: many of the government agencies, when you are applying for a job for the FBI, Secret Service, so on; tell you to not use the USPS to send in documents! They instruct you to use FedEx or UPS!! Even the Government won't trust the USPS!

When I was in the Corps and was getting repair parts for aircraft that were down we only used FedEx...particularly if it was overseas! We were allowed to spend extra to avoid getting the part lost in the USPS.

SHOULD WE BE SO LUCKY THAT THE USPS WOULD COMMITT SUICIDE...HEY, THEY ARE LIFE SUPPORT WITH NO BRAIN ACTIVITY ANYWAYS...

PAGING DOCTOR KEVORKIAN...

Answer 2

They are reducing some services and increasing others.

In today's digital society more things are now being done over the computer that were once reserved for the postal service. Where the letter carrying business is down, the shipping is up. Way up actually.

Like any other business they have to constantly adapt to what the market wants and that may mean changing things around and even discontinuing services that may be traditional but no longer viable in the current market place.

I am not sure how UPS or FedEx is doing against the post office but all three seem to do very well with each other in the market place.

In my area there is still a 5pm cutoff for mail dropoff at the post office and I think 2pm on weekends. Still not bad, considering it's only 39cents to mail a 1oz letter. With fewer Americans using the postal service I think that its reasonable that they'd reduce some of the hours they make available to send mail out.

Answer 3

OK, mail service has always been once a day, in the U.S. and in France and England. The Postal Service also doesn't make that much money off of stamps. It's money is made through 3rd class advertising mail. It's also not losing profits but gaining everyday and is the only self sustaining Government business in the United States. So the Constitution has nothing to do with it.....and Fed-Ex works with the Postal Service in serving customers on some things. Also the U.S. Postal Service delivers more mail than any other agency in the world which can be hard to do....

Answer 4

I'm pretty sure nobody found a way to send packages via e-mail. As matter of fact, I believe the Postal Service sends a lot more packages these days due to on-line shopping. Personally, I have bought several books and Cd's on-line that were shipped through the Postal Service and Fed Ex. The U.S. Postal Service is also eBay's number one shipping service. They ship so much from eBay they found it feasible to print the eBay logo directly on their packages as opposed to printing the labels. The US. Postal Service is a growing entity

Answer 5

Do not really need mail for most things other than some bills and packages.

Answer 6

chicken and egg...prices are going up and hours down due to fewer letters being sent....but not really. They get plenty of business.