Postal Hike Coming "Up", Biggest Yet

Looks like we'll be paying more for shipping packages next year if the PO has it's way.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...increase-since-1991-priority-mail/1598301002/

 

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And they’ll still be operating on the edge.

 

YIKES!

 

They request increases every year or so and typically the Postal Regulatory Commission rolls back their request to a lower level. On first class they typically ask for 2 cents and get 1 cent. They have probably finally figured out that to get the two cents they need to ask for 5 cents.

 

Just privatize it already

 

If it was private, it would have gone out of business long ago. Private companies cannot operate this way for long.

 

It's another government entitlement, so privatizing will never happen.

 

If you privatize the Post Office then they will have to look at each route's Profit/Loss and probably shut down all unprofitable post offices and routes. That would probably remove most rural areas from having a post office and mail routes. People would thus then have to drive to a central PO to get their mail.

 

Your right. Private companies don't get subsidised by the government... oh wait they do actually.

My point is, if I have to pay more then the quality of postal service should be better. But it won't be. Let more than one private company run the mail. Competitive pricing, competitive service that sort of thing.

They wouldn't have to raise prices every year but when you are losing millions because of Amazon, I mean free 2 day shipping is great and all, but is it really free for the consumer? The costs are just getting passed on to us through other means. Higher taxes, higher priced stamps, etc.

 

They already do that. There are parts out here in rural Colorado where they don't deliver mail. People have to have PO boxes.

Funny how FedEx and UPS have no problem running those routes.

 

USPS' service level is amazing compared to most other countries. It's very inexpensive for what you get, and the delivery is fast.

I have a friend in Canada who drives two hours to get his important mail from a friend with a US address because if it was shipped to his it would easily take two+ weeks longer.

There are plenty of countries (Europe included) where service is extremely dodgy and your mail may be excessively searched and/or hit with VATs. We are lucky in the US.

Also UPS is just awful. Unless you are a commercial customer, they don't care about your business at all.

 

I never mail packages anymore. It's a huge rip off and I blame Amazon.
The post office does all their work, and they charge more for shipping than
what they are paying. That is a gouge.
Anything I really need to mail, I try to get it in a small manila envelope.

 

Boalsburg PA in the 1950s did not have door-to-door mail delivery. My dad would go to our P.O. in town to check our box once a week, usually on Saturdays. My grandparents had rural delivery about 60 miles away in an even smaller town, though.

There was some recent talk of reducing delivery to five days per week to reduce postal expenditure, but the government wouldn't hear of this. The only mail I receive is junk mail since ALL of my bills and financial statements are sent via email. Well, all but one, the city government insists on mailing my property taxes to me every December. I am happy that the government insists on maintaining this entitlement; AT LEAST we keep a number of people employed who might otherwise be collecting unemployment.

 

I'm wondering on the strategy of the Postal Service now that Amazon has/is developing their own distribution model from warehouse to end consumer. They have their own jets now, trucks, warehouses all over the place, and have ppl delivering door to door.

I know the PO/Fedex/UPS strategized the additional delivery but I wondered if they added the risk of Amazon creating their own delivery system.

They've already been delivering right to the door in my area for at least a year. I've seen their trucks on the road and contracted planes in the air. A revenue hit to Fedex, UPS and the Postal Service.

Walmart has started delivering to our door too with their own people.

 

Does FedEx and UPS got to every single house every day?

The Post Office has problems because back in 1968 they were made quasi private and told to run themselves like a private business, but all major decisions about their operations are made by government agencies out of their hands. It would be like you starting up a business but what you are going to sell, what your hours will be and what prices you can charge will all be decided by some committee down at city hall.

 

Amazon tried operating their own fleet of delivery vans in the SF Bay Area and found it didn't pay. What has worked is getting folks to use their own vehicles (ala Uber) or to invest in a Amazon van. Whether these folks really make much is debatable. Many get into it without realizing the total cost, especially maintenance and depreciation of the vehicle.

I remember when my son fell for the "use your own car" pizza delivery scam. Thought he was making good money until the car wore out and he was faced with replacing it. A lot of Uber and Amazon drivers will face the same problem.

USPS is required to do a lot of inefficient things that cost real money. In most areas, they have to go house to house or mail box to mail box six days per week to see if there is any outgoing mail. That's a lot of labor, vehicle expense, etc. Costs could be cut dramatically if all outgoing mail had to be placed in centralized mailboxes, and carriers had to go to houses or individual mailboxes only to deliver mail. Exceptions could be made for the elderly and disabled.

By law, post office has to accept and deliver live chicks. Try showing up at FedEx with a box of live chicks and see how far they get. Folks expect a lot of services from USPS, including ones that commercial services don't provide, and some of these services are pretty costly. Yes, USPS could be run more efficiently, but a lot of high-cost services are forced on it ... ultimately by voters.

Cal

 

Another postal hike of a different kind.
The US is pulling out of an agreement that allows small packages in China shipped to US customers discounted shipping rates. So expect Chinese-US Bound small packages shipping costs to rise.

 

Now all those folks selling 1909-S VDB cents and 1916-D dimes on eBay will have to pay several dollars for shipping, in addition to the $1-2 actual cost per "coin", to get their new "estate finds".

 

Hmm. How large a letter will FedEx or UPS deliver for fifty-five cents?

The US Postal Service is infrastructure. It's just not as centrally important to daily life as it was decades ago.

 

First Class seems to be getting the highest hike in price, and 55 cents for a stamp is just the beginning. Based on what I've read the Post Office wants to use zone rates for 1st Class for packages, meaning even higher rates if you mail to more distant parts of the country.