Originally posted by: Gibson486
All the shipping companies have burned me at one point or another. I must admit though, USPS has the worst customer service of all them.
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
...nonsense...snip...
Originally posted by: Triumph
I completely disagree. The ONLY thing bad about USPS is poor online tracking. But when the packages get their quickly, who cares? It is cheap, it is fast, they have free Saturday delivery, and there's a post office in every single town in America (probably). I have never ever lost a package or had one damaged through USPS. Can't say the same for UPS. I ask for USPS every time I can when doing online transactions.
Sent a 12 pound box to my sister in Colombia (the country) on Friday. $24. It was there yesterday. Fedex/UPS would have cost 3 times that.
USPS :thumbsup:
UPS :thumbsdown:
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
I hate the USPS. It's the worst business I've ever seen. The lack of competition just makes the whole sector stagnant- the USPS has no motivation to offer a decent service because they have a government-mandated corner on the market. It's the same way with Amtrak- did you know that Amtrak is run by the government? I thought one day- "Hmm, Amtrak really sucks. I wonder if the government runs it" I looked it up, and sure enough- government run. This seems to be a common theme- government = suck.
Up yours, big government bureaucracy!
Yep.Originally posted by: Slick5150
I'm a big fan of the USPS as well. Cheap, fast, reliable. Granted, going to the actual post office sucks usually, but with carrier pickup now available you can pretty much avoid that completely.
Originally posted by: ISAslot
Greyhound buses also suck but they're not government run. Besides, if the government didn't do Amtrak, then there would be no people train service. It's just not a profitable business model imo.
Originally posted by: sierrita
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
I hate the USPS. It's the worst business I've ever seen. The lack of competition just makes the whole sector stagnant- the USPS has no motivation to offer a decent service because they have a government-mandated corner on the market. It's the same way with Amtrak- did you know that Amtrak is run by the government? I thought one day- "Hmm, Amtrak really sucks. I wonder if the government runs it" I looked it up, and sure enough- government run. This seems to be a common theme- government = suck.
Up yours, big government bureaucracy!
Did you check out how consistently underfunded Amtrak is?
Trying to run a national passenger rail service in the U.S. with anemic cashflow explains a lot.
The trouble with "big government bureaucracy" is that those same bureaucrats short-change the program every year. Then they bitch that it's a 3rd rate railroad and try to kill it.
To establish post offices and post roads
Originally posted by: compman25
Originally posted by: sierrita
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
I hate the USPS. It's the worst business I've ever seen. The lack of competition just makes the whole sector stagnant- the USPS has no motivation to offer a decent service because they have a government-mandated corner on the market. It's the same way with Amtrak- did you know that Amtrak is run by the government? I thought one day- "Hmm, Amtrak really sucks. I wonder if the government runs it" I looked it up, and sure enough- government run. This seems to be a common theme- government = suck.
Up yours, big government bureaucracy!
Did you check out how consistently underfunded Amtrak is?
Trying to run a national passenger rail service in the U.S. with anemic cashflow explains a lot.
The trouble with "big government bureaucracy" is that those same bureaucrats short-change the program every year. Then they bitch that it's a 3rd rate railroad and try to kill it.
Why should it be funded at all? If it can't support itself, get rid of it.
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
Ironically, managerial postal employees have been increasing in numbers. There are currently approximately 8 managerial employees for every craft employee in the USPS- in comparable organizations: UPS- 1 managerial employee for every 50 employees- Fedex- 1 managerial employee for every 150 employees. This is a facet of postal operations that is seldom mentioned, and is the premiere reason for the undue level of postal "stress" that is so endemic in the postal workplace: too many bosses, with too little to do, and so much incentive to harrass. (See "Letter Carriers" above...)
Originally posted by: compman25
Originally posted by: sierrita
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
I hate the USPS. It's the worst business I've ever seen. The lack of competition just makes the whole sector stagnant- the USPS has no motivation to offer a decent service because they have a government-mandated corner on the market. It's the same way with Amtrak- did you know that Amtrak is run by the government? I thought one day- "Hmm, Amtrak really sucks. I wonder if the government runs it" I looked it up, and sure enough- government run. This seems to be a common theme- government = suck.
Up yours, big government bureaucracy!
Did you check out how consistently underfunded Amtrak is?
Trying to run a national passenger rail service in the U.S. with anemic cashflow explains a lot.
The trouble with "big government bureaucracy" is that those same bureaucrats short-change the program every year. Then they bitch that it's a 3rd rate railroad and try to kill it.
Why should it be funded at all? If it can't support itself, get rid of it.
Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: compman25
Originally posted by: sierrita
Did you check out how consistently underfunded Amtrak is?
Trying to run a national passenger rail service in the U.S. with anemic cashflow explains a lot.
The trouble with "big government bureaucracy" is that those same bureaucrats short-change the program every year. Then they bitch that it's a 3rd rate railroad and try to kill it.
Why should it be funded at all? If it can't support itself, get rid of it.
Why fund highway construction and maintenance to benefit bus and truck services, why fund the ATC and airports to support air travel? While railroads were given support in the form of right of way and land access in the 19th century they alone are currently responsible for maintaining their infrastructure and right of ways and Amtrak is in the unenviable position of not even having control over that other than their northeast corridor right of way.
Originally posted by: waggy
USPS has been one of the best shippers for me. though i hate the tracking system.
Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
I hate the USPS. It's the worst business I've ever seen. The lack of competition just makes the whole sector stagnant- the USPS has no motivation to offer a decent service because they have a government-mandated corner on the market. It's the same way with Amtrak- did you know that Amtrak is run by the government? I thought one day- "Hmm, Amtrak really sucks. I wonder if the government runs it" I looked it up, and sure enough- government run. This seems to be a common theme- government = suck.
Up yours, big government bureaucracy!
Not to mention it's intended as a reliable means of sending important documents, with the protection of the law. Stealing a UPS box off of someone's porch is petty theft. Steal mail, and it's (supposedly) a federal offense. The postal service is supposed to be extremely reliable, and indeed, for the volume of items it processes, it is just that. If UPS screws up, then it most likely pisses off one person, one customer, who ultimately, the company doesn't really care about. They love their big corporate accounts. There's not much motivation then to keep individual customers happy.Originally posted by: Reel
The reason that the government keeps them with a monopoly is that the country is so spread out with lots of rural areas. If you were to start a postal company, you would only take the high revenue areas. You'd start with cities and there would end up a cutoff point where it is no longer profitable to deliver mail to a certain level of city or rural area. By keeping the postal service in monopoly of the deliveries, they are obligated to service those areas as well.
To pay bills with companies or local organizations which haven't yet found their way onto the mighty tubes of the Intarwebs.Originally posted by: Zolty
The only market they aren't competing with other companies for is letter deliver, who sends letters now a days?