Question for the day!

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I need a distraction today. Here is a question I would like to discuss:

 

Do you agree that the United Staets Post Office should discontinue Saturday delivery? If the USPS does discontinue Sat. delivery, will your life change that much?

[MariannNOVA]

I need a distraction today.

 

Clearly!:D

 

Here is a question I would like to discuss:

 

Do you agree that the United Staets Post Office should discontinue Saturday delivery? It's fine with me if it will help them.

 

If the USPS does discontinue Sat. delivery, will your life change that much?

No.

 

PM-ing you.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I would prefer Sat. delivery. There have been important checks that have come in at the last minute on Saturday and that's been a life-saver. Of course, that kind of thing doesn't happen all the time.

[ConnieB]

No problem here, but if they do close one day a week, then I'd like to NOT see a price increase next year, lol. Dreaming.

 

:grouphug: Hope the distraction works.

[TXMary2]

I think Saturday delivery should continue since they just raised their rates again. Raising rates and lowering service isn't a smart business move.

 

Will it change my life? No, but it will annoy me when I am eagerly awaiting for something to arrive.

[Dandelion]

I need a distraction today. Here is a question I would like to discuss:

 

Do you agree that the United Staets Post Office should discontinue Saturday delivery? If the USPS does discontinue Sat. delivery, will your life change that much?

 

Personally, I've gone mostly paperless (get most of my statements and pay my bills online, etc.) so it would not make a difference to me if Saturday delivery were discontinued. My package deliveries come mostly through UPS/FedEx so no impact there either.

 

However, I think they should find other ways to optimize their costs before choosing cost-saving measures that directly impact residential customers (one possibility that comes to mind is substantially increasing the cost to advertisers for unsolicited mail - it's currently quite cheap from what I understand, and a cost increase would have the added environmental benefit of cutting down on junk mail).

[fairfarmhand]

.

 

substantially increasing the cost to advertisers for unsolicited mail - it's currently quite cheap from what I understand, and a cost increase would have the added environmental benefit of cutting down on junk mail).

 

 

:iagree:

[Chris in VA]

What! No mail on Saturday? I live for the mail.

Perish the thought.

[lisamarie]

I would rather they discontinue Saturday service rather than continue destroying everything they deliver to my house. I could live without Saturday mail. I think my local PO holds back anything but junk mail on Saturdays. Some Saturdays we don't even get any mail at all.

[Perry]

 

(one possibility that comes to mind is substantially increasing the cost to advertisers for unsolicited mail - it's currently quite cheap from what I understand, and a cost increase would have the added environmental benefit of cutting down on junk mail).

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Pretty in Pink]

I couldn't care less, save the fact that it will no doubt put a crimp in my Netflix turnover. Oh well.

[RoughCollie]

My life will not change. Their postal rates will not decrease. Seems to me diminished service should spawn lower rates.

 

My DH remembers when the post office used to deliver mail 2x a day.

[fivetails]

You guys get mail on Saturday?? That seems so weird to me. Mail is just Mon-Fri here.

[ciyates]

It doesn't matter to me but the one cost cutting measure that I saw that I really liked was setting up kioski (sp?) in the local grocery stores. The idea was to increase use and be more competitive with UPS or Fedex. I would really like to be able to mail packages from Krogers! :D Of course I am for anything that allows me to do one stop shopping.

[Liz CA]

Increasing postage for junk mail instead of impacting customers would indicate sound business sense and efficiency on the side of the post office. This seems highly unlikely to me since they are determined to do anything to disgruntle their clientele from the way they treat people at the counter to the way they deliver or not deliver mail (stop SAT deliveries). The post office has been in a monopoly position way too long and it's time someone else steps up and provides competition.

If that ever happened, I would speculate they will be out of business within a year.

BTW, I love our post office - can you tell??

[Lolly]

Wouldn't mind one bit. I do wonder if it might be better to cut out, possibly, Monday service instead. Cut out a day when most people are working and not home instead of one where people are more likely to be home to accept deliveries that need to be accepted.

[Rosie_0801]

I wish they'd bring back surface mail. I don't like having to pay airmail to have something show up here in a fortnight that I don't even need until Christmas.

 

Rosie

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm fine with them cutting out Saturday service, if it keeps costs own.

 

Increasing postage for junk mail instead of impacting customers would indicate sound business sense and efficiency on the side of the post office. This seems highly unlikely to me since they are determined to do anything to disgruntle their clientele from the way they treat people at the counter to the way they deliver or not deliver mail (stop SAT deliveries).

 

I love the people at my post office, they are *great*.

 

The post office has been in a monopoly position way too long and it's time someone else steps up and provides competition.

If that ever happened, I would speculate they will be out of business within a year.

 

Monopoly? Because UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc don't exist? There's no way in hell any of those companies would deliver a letter for 44 cents.

 

To have a *letter* taken from my house to my parents' house would cost:

 

$16 through UPS (no Saturday delivery, BTW, that's extra)

$20 through Fed Ex (ditto)

 

Without the USPS delivery companies would have no reason to keep their rates down.

[elegantlion]

I personally would rather see them discontinue service on a weekday, like Monday. There is usually one day a week I can tell my mail doesn't get sorted anyway, it's usually not Saturday.

 

The biggest kink for me would be my carefully planned Netflix delivery. :D

[Paisley Hedgehog]

..

[secular_mom]

I think that if closing one day a week will prevent people from losing their jobs, then it is a good thing. Inconvenient at times, sure, but I'd rather be a bit inconvenienced than have people jobless.

[Cera]

I don't have a problem with 5 day a week service but I would prefer it if they chose not to deliver on nonconsecutive days.

 

Saturday is the only day I can send dh to the post office so maybe they can discontinue Wednesday service. Plus, it wouldn't screw up my netflix planning as much.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Thanks for the responses.

 

My life wouldn't change that much without Sat. service, except for receiving the occassional Sat. Netflix movie there usually isn't anything good in Sat. mail.

 

Most government offices aren't open on Saturday anyway, so why should the post office be any different?

[Melinda in VT]

I wouldn't bother me. Since we switched to a PO Box (tired of the snowplow destroying the mail box every winter), I don't usually get mail on Sat anyway.

[Liz CA]

Yes, I am well aware that UPS/FEDEX is more, however their service is way better IMHO.

No ,they won't go into the letter business at a competitive rate compared to the current post office rate, I am waiting for someone, anyone who has a little customer service experience to step into that gap.

When we approach the counter at one of the local PO's, the guy chews gum, leans on the counter and glares at you while he squeezes out: "Whatcha want?" between moving the gum from one side to the other. He should wear a sign on his forehead: "I cannot be fired."

During peak times - between 12-2p.m., they put their little "Out for lunch" sign on the desk. This was particularly obvious during the holiday rush when the line from the counter extended to the outdoor steps!

When I have a rush of people coming in at lunch time, I take care of the people before I eat. I won't starve to death in the couple of hours of delay.

 

I suppose this was my first rant on the board! :001_smile:

[Mrs Mungo]

Yes, I am well aware that UPS/FEDEX is more, however their service is way better IMHO.

 

I've had good service and bad from all the major carriers.

 

No ,they won't go into the letter business at a competitive rate compared to the current post office rate, I am waiting for someone, anyone who has a little customer service experience to step into that gap.

 

I just don't see it happening. It's not worth it.

 

When we approach the counter at one of the local PO's, the guy chews gum, leans on the counter and glares at you while he squeezes out: "Whatcha want?" between moving the gum from one side to the other. He should wear a sign on his forehead: "I cannot be fired."

During peak times - between 12-2p.m., they put their little "Out for lunch" sign on the desk. This was particularly obvious during the holiday rush when the line from the counter extended to the outdoor steps!

When I have a rush of people coming in at lunch time, I take care of the people before I eat. I won't starve to death in the couple of hours of delay.

 

I suppose this was my first rant on the board! :001_smile:

 

I'm sorry you have such a poorly run post office. My current local post office is *incredibly* friendly and helpful. The only truly indifferent post office I've ever experienced was on one of the military posts when we lived in Germany.

[kokotg]

I think it is ridiculous that they can cut service AND raise rates. Only a government agency could get away with that sort of lunacy ....

 

Or airlines. Or Disneyworld. Or my cable company.

 

I agree with the "it's fine except it messes up my Netflix viewing" crowd ;)

[Tap]

I don't care if the dc mail on Saturday. I would LOVE to see more businesses closing on the weekend. I wish the weekends were the weekends again like when I was little. It was time for family and relaxing. I would prefer to see businesses (like the PO) to run longer hours during the week if necessary, and to get two solid days off.

[nukeswife]

The discontinuing of Sat. service will not be a problem for me. It will be nice for my Mom who's been a Postal carrier for 30 years.

 

As for the price increase, the reason it has to be done almost yearly is because by law the PO may not ask for more than they need to get out of the red. They could never go to congress and say "We'd like to raise the rate of stamps to $75 each and then will freeze that price for X years" it's actually against the law for them to do it. This is also why they have to ask congress to change delivery because a long time ago it was written into law that they had to deliver 6 days a week.

 

The PO isn't actually a government run agency like many think. They do not get tax dollars to operate, but have to ask govt. permission to change things. It's a kind of weird.

 

One other thing my mom mentioned about this to me. Just because delivery goes away on Sat. they are still planning to keep the office open for buying stamps etc. So you could still go or send your dh to the PO on Saturday with packages and the like.

Edited April 13, 2010 by nukeswife

[nukeswife]

I personally would rather see them discontinue service on a weekday, like Monday. There is usually one day a week I can tell my mail doesn't get sorted anyway, it's usually not Saturday.

 

The biggest kink for me would be my carefully planned Netflix delivery. :D

 

Wouldn't mind one bit. I do wonder if it might be better to cut out, possibly, Monday service instead. Cut out a day when most people are working and not home instead of one where people are more likely to be home to accept deliveries that need to be accepted.

 

The only issue with this is that it would impact many businesses/companies/govt. buildings (both city and federal) that do use the PO. A lot of them aren't open on Sat so don't receive mail that day anyway.

[TravelingChris]

I believe that the reason the so called junk mail rate is low is because they are the main users and they help keep our rates lower. How much mail do you send? We send maybe 3-4 letters a month and that has been a slight increase since dd has a job and needs to deposit checks. NOw a business may send out thousands of pieces of mail a day. It would take more than ten years of my mailings to make up just one day of theirs. Of course they get volume discounts. I would expect to get volume discounts if I was mailing a lot too.

[LizzyBee]

Discontinuing Sat service won't affect me that much. As someone else said, it might occasionally mess up my Netflix rotation. :D

 

But I think it's poor timing considering that unemployment is at record high levels.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

But I think it's poor timing considering that unemployment is at record high levels.

 

Will there ever be a good time?

[Liz CA]

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I'm sorry you have such a poorly run post office. My current local post office is *incredibly* friendly and helpful. The only truly indifferent post office I've ever experienced was on one of the military posts when we lived in Germany.

 

:D Interesting that you mention a post office on post. I would not be surprised if you had mentioned a German post office. Having lived there, I remember that the word "customer service" was not a phrase most of the sales personnel was familiar with. But it seemed to make a difference if you were in an "upper class" store versus a "run of the mill" place. However, there has been recent evidence that the trend in Germany is now going in the other direction, at least in some areas.

 

...of course I messed up the quotes. One day, I may figure it out.

Edited April 14, 2010 by Liz CA

[Suzanne in ABQ]

It wouldn't affect me much. We don't get many interesting things on Saturday.

 

Most (if not all) Saturday carriers are not regular mail carriers. They're part-time workers (often trainees) who only work on Saturday. Letting these people go would be an obvious solution, and a good business decision. Businesses do that kind of thing all the time. They hire people when they need the help, then let them go.

 

We've become accustomed to Saturday delivery because it has always been that way. We may even believe we're entitled to it. But, with all the cuts in the amount of mail these days (mostly due to electronic media), I believe it's a service who's time has passed. I think it's a good idea to drop.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

We've become accustomed to Saturday delivery because it has always been that way. We may even believe we're entitled to it.

 

:iagree: