USPS - No more Saturday mail?

[Claire]

I'm among those who believe the Saturday no mail thing is just fine. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't mind it if they went to Mon-Weds-Fri deliveries, and those who need more than that can contract with USPS and pay for it.

The exceptions are when patrons pay for overnight delivery. It should be just that.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Doesn't bother me in the least bit. I pay all my bills online and have opted for electronic communications with most of the companies I do business with (all of which have a vested interest in saving a stamp, as well), so about the only thing I still get via USPS is junk.

Oh, and birthday/Christmas cards. I do like those.

As we become more and more a tech driven society, I see could eventually see government-run mail delivery fade away and become a thing of the past, much like the pony express. The few physical deliveries that are needed could easily be handled by private companies like UPS or FedEx.

I guess it would also mean that in the future there will also be fewer cases of "going postal"?

 

[Addie]

The price of postage (stamps) went up again, as well. I wouldn't mind if the delivery days were cut down to five - less dumping of junk mail & a crammed mailbox. As I understand it, the cut was made, in part, due to a suffering retirement plan. Perhaps, they could change to another plan, rather than pass the cost along to the consumer & cut their service.

Even though the USPS is not a Federal department, they employees are under the Federal Retirement plan. Very lucrative. They will never give that up. That is the main reason so many stay on the job. That and the pay is very substantial.

 

[jennyema]

The price of postage (stamps) went up again, as well. I wouldn't mind if the delivery days were cut down to five - less dumping of junk mail & a crammed mailbox. As I understand it, the cut was made, in part, due to a suffering retirement plan. Perhaps, they could change to another plan, rather than pass the cost along to the consumer & cut their service.

Since 2006 the USPS has been required to pre-fund their retiree health plan obligations. It's a noose around their neck.

 

[Zhizara]

So long as they don't wait until Saturday to deliver my packages, I'm all for it.

 

[CWS4322]

I suspect this is a continuation of the 2012 decision to reduce hours of operation at rural post offices (some 3700 across the US). The decision was to reduce the hours of operation (and cut a number of full-timers to part-timers, which meant they lost their benefits). I know the little PO where my parents live in Northern Minnesota is only open a couple of hours a day now.

 

[pacanis]

My Saturday person is a part-timer. At least as far as I know. Maybe she fills in at other PO's during the week. Maybe for people taking vacations or something.
I'm not sure if this will mean the regular weekday guy will deliver the packages on Saturday, increasing his hours which will surely be overtime, or the part-time person will have their Saturday hours reduced.

 

[bakechef]

I had a co-worker who's wife was a mail carrier. That job is grueling, the delivery is the easy part, sorting all that mail into hundreds of bundles every day was the hard part (the bundles that end up in your box are still done by hand). Someone else did it on Saturdays, so that might be why saturday delivery is erratic for a lot of folks, a one day a week "fill in" just doesn't have the speed or the practice to do this job well.

With that said, I won't miss Saturday delivery, it's 95 percent junk mail anyway, I've gone paperless, and pay everything online. We only check the box once a week anyway.

 

[buckytom]

i hope the cutback doesn't affect our mail man, carlos. he's a great guy, almost like a distant cousin to our family. but he does our saturday delivery and has monday off. my son used to go for "ride alongs" down our block to help carlos deliver mail when he was 3 or 4 years old.


and just to continue to be a wise guy this morning, there'll be ripple effects in the economy that i don't think are being considered. the market for winter sales of shorts and knee high socks will dry up...

 

[Claire]

I buy a lot of my purchases from catalogs (small town, limited shopping) and most come UPS. But nothing that can't wait a day or two. Oh, yes, my husbands Rx. They send them out so early that we could set up a black market drug store, so that isn't affected. When I was in the service, I had to take the postal service exam. If all the delivery people (we call ours the letter lady, and being a small town know her pretty well) still have to take the exam I took, it isn't for dummies.

 

[pacanis]

I wish my Saturday person would replace my weekday person. The weekday guy is constantly mixing up peoples' mail, delivering to the wrong address and such. And at least once every two months I have a bill come up missing, along with other necessary mail. Without fail.
I mentioned this to a friend who used to have his mail delivered by the same guy. He told me that one of his old neighbors used to go out of town all the time and not have his mail stopped. When the neighbor's mailbox became full the mailman would start putting the neighbor's mail in my friend's box. He confronted him about it, but he kept right on doing it. Now that doesn't seem right.

I think there comes a time when experience does not outweigh a younger set of eyes or way of thinking.

 

[Addie]

The mail trucks have GPS in them and the main office knows where the mailman is all the time and how many times he moves his truck. We have more than forty mailboxes here for this building. The first thing the mailman does when he opens the three doors is take a bar code reading that goes right back to the office. He is then timed for how long it takes him to deliver all the mail here. He is allotted just so much time. When he has packages, he is supposed to deliver them right to their door. No matter what floor they are on. He doesn't though. And there are a lot of prescriptions that are left on the shelf. When I see them I will deliver them myself. I am so tempted to call his office and report him. But I hate to get someone in trouble or cause him to lose his job. Everyone in the building will deliver the packages if they see them on the shelf. Maybe that is what the problem is. He knows we will take care of the packages. I usually get to do it because I have my scooter and it is easier for me to do it. No walking the long corridors.

I too have gone paperless and I love it. Only junk mail for me and once in a great while, something from Winthrop. Like a notice for a meeting or the results of my recent blood work.

 

[msmofet]

I guess it would also mean that in the future there will also be fewer cases of "going postal"?

They will be "Fed-Ups"?

 

[Steve Kroll]

They will be "Fed-Ups"?

 

[kleenex]

The USPS is in some major problems....

They are projected to continue loosing mail volume through 2020.

In March they are expected to only have 4 days worth of cash on hand to pay expenses.

They have borrowed 15 billion bucks which is the federal government limit.

This is only one of many measures they have to take or the USPS fully goes under. Congress has to pass a bill that will allow them to have more control over the finances of the company.

Gutting Saturday delivery of mail is not going to be that bad of problem, but companies like Netflix could see some pain from this move.

Gutting Saturday mail service should have been done years ago.

If they had to gut something like Thursday mail delivery major problems could occur.

 

[pacanis]

Good point! Netflix isn't going to like this, nor will their customers.

 

[pacanis]

But on second thought, Netflix will probably change their envelope to some sort of package, barely raising the price of their DVD subscriptions. If that's possible...

 

[kleenex]

But on second thought, Netflix will probably change their envelope to some sort of package, barely raising the price of their DVD subscriptions. If that's possible...

Not possible. A package, even the cheapest package would be too expensive for Netflix even in bulk for them.

 

[pacanis]

Not possible. A package, even the cheapest package would be too expensive for Netflix even in bulk for them.

I get DVD spam/junkmail in the mail every so often. The box is DVD or CD ROM size. Isn't that a package? It can't be that expensive to mail in bulk, because like I said, it's junk mail offering something if you keep the DVD or something like that.

 

[MostlyWater]

My health insurance only covers the maintenance medications if I get them via the mail. As it is, they are kind of slow. I do not want to run out like I did with Hurricane Sandy.