Can we please just privatize the USPS?

[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.

 

[Triumph]

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.

USPS has customer service? I wouldn't know, having never had cause to use it. No lost or damaged packages.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: TitanDiddly
...nonsense...snip...

You have *no* clue what youre talking about. At all. Not one thing you said has a shred of truth to it.

 

[imported_Baloo]

There's nothing stopping people putting non USPS mailboxes at their homes and businesses, and nothing stopping anyone from starting there own mail service to pick up and deliver mail to those non USPS mail boxes. That no one does, suggests it is not economically feasible to do so. That said, the USPS is privately operated- it is a separate entity from the U.S. Government, not that they makes much difference.

My own experience for parcel service is the USPS is usually faster than other ground services, and they deliver Saturday for no extra charge.

 

[nakedfrog]

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:

I've had one package damaged from the USPS, and it was an ebay item. I figured I was only entitled to the actual amount of the auction, so that's what I filled out on the form. When I got my check, it was for the full amount plus shipping.

 

[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.

 

[daveshel]

Still 1000 times better than UPS. I will never again send any packages into the Brown Hole.

 

[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.

 

[iRONic]

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.

Yep.

 

[compman25]

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.

Then scrap it. If people really want the service they'll pay the price to make it self sufficient.

 

[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.

 

[Linflas]

I like the USPS and unlike a lot of crap the Federal government has its nose in there is an actual Constitutional basis for the Post Office. See Article 1, Section 8:

To establish post offices and post roads

 

[Linflas]

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.

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.

 

[lokiju]

I think they'd be a lot better if they had up to date tracking.

But besides that, they're not that bad, as long as you don't have to go into the post office to pick up something, then thats another story.

 

[sciencewhiz]

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...)

Please provide a source for this statement. I might beleive 1 manager to 8 employees, but not 8 managers to 1 employee.

 

[dainthomas]

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.

Why do airlines constantly receive gov't bailouts? Why is one airline or another declaring bankruptcy every other year? Why can't airlines pay for their own airports? I haven't flown for years and I say if they can't support themselves, get rid of them!

Ditto for auto manufacturers.

 

[kranky]

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.

Excellent point. No one minds that trucking companies don't have to build and maintain their own roads, or that airlines don't have to build and maintain airports, pay for the TSA or air traffic control, but they single out Amtrak for not being able to exist without government money.

 

[ballmode]

I <3 USPS

FLyyyy Like an Eagle....

 

[waggy]

USPS has been one of the best shippers for me. though i hate the tracking system.

 

[tboo]

Originally posted by: waggy
USPS has been one of the best shippers for me. though i hate the tracking system.

I agree

 

[PingSpike]

I like the post office, by far my favorite government service. Wish more of them had saturday hours, and their tracking system does leave something to be desired though.

 

[Ns1]

Do you realize how inefficient it would be to have more than 1 postal service?

 

[Zolty]

The only market they aren't competing with other companies for is letter deliver, who sends letters now a days?

 

[PELarson]

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!

The USPS is a private corporation.

And Amtrak sucks because unlike the highways or airlines it doesn't recieve mega-billions in financial support from the government per year.

 

[Jeff7]

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.

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.
The postal service has a bit more of an obligation to individuals.

Originally posted by: Zolty
The only market they aren't competing with other companies for is letter deliver, who sends letters now a days?

To pay bills with companies or local organizations which haven't yet found their way onto the mighty tubes of the Intarwebs.