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Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

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Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#21

Post by angst_ridden »

gray_-_wolf wrote: post #4

Are there some actual studies stating that privatized mail office would be cheaper/more efficient/better service? Or is this just attempt at money grab?

I don't know of any study showing they are more efficient, but if they were, they would achive that efficiency by refusing to serve difficult markets. As part of their charter, USPS provides coverage to remote and rural areas that can't be easily served and that private services neglect.

Also, the USPS has had potentially businesss-killing policies legislated into their finances by a hostile Congress, like requring pensions to be pre-funded seventy-five years in advance over a ten-year period.

That's not to say the Post Office is as efficient as it could be. But the services it offers (e.g., bank substitute in impoverished neighborhoods for check cashing/money orders, not to mention significant employer) are vital to American small businesses and communities.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#22

Post by orev »

wwright wrote: post #14
cenal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can it not be less expensive? The private companies don’t have to offer/fund the insane pension benefits that public sector employees get. The public sector pension scandal is insane.

Not giving employees benefits does not necessarily lead to a better service

The USPS is uniquely shackled by a ridiculous requirement to prefund 75 years worth of pension and medical benefits, and is also barred from raising rates the help pay for it. There is no way any organization can operate that way.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#23

Post by jeffbee »

cenal wrote: post #11
gray_-_wolf wrote: post #4

Are there some actual studies stating that privatized mail office would be cheaper/more efficient/better service? Or is this just attempt at money grab?

How can it not be less expensive? The private companies don’t have to offer/fund the insane pension benefits that public sector employees get. The public sector pension scandal is insane.

Why does this thinking only apply to the post office? Obviously we could cut nominal costs of the far larger US military if we threw out its universal health care, housing, and retirement benefits. The only way this kind of thinking makes sense is if you simply don't believe that the mission if the postal service (or the army) is worth accomplishing. After you decide that, you can obviously just throw all their benefits under a bus because now you're just trying to drown the agency. You can achieve the same kinds of (short-sighted, naive) cost savings by disbanding the fire department.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#24

Post by vvanders »

cenal wrote: post #11
gray_-_wolf wrote: post #4

Are there some actual studies stating that privatized mail office would be cheaper/more efficient/better service? Or is this just attempt at money grab?

How can it not be less expensive? The private companies don’t have to offer/fund the insane pension benefits that public sector employees get. The public sector pension scandal is insane.

UPS has a very strong union and benefits so not really following your point here.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#25

Post by xzlzx »

Among other reasons, this is in big part happening due to a large push toward mail-in voting come the next Presidential election. It seems that certain political entities think they will suffer at the poles due to the fact that it’ll be easier to vote.

easier voting -> more votes -> undesirable outcomes

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#26

Post by alextheparrot »

This is problematic to voting in the same way closing polling sites is, framed as cost cutting or inefficiency reduction with the intention of reducing access to a subset of the population.

This is just frustration, but the fact that we could pass a massive defense bill (again, I know), but are unable to fund basic services shows the integrity of our government. Moreover, it shows the culpability of most of the elected officials, from both parties.

We don’t need a labor movement, we need a people’s movement.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#27

Post by bluedino »

It’s terrible. It’s due to Coronavirus. People are calling in and not going to work at the processing centers, which are mainly in urban areas. Trucks aren’t taking the mail to or from post offices. Carriers are understaffed.

There definitely is overtime going on, I’m not sure where the article gets that confused. You can have all the hours you want if you work for the post office right now.

We went party invitations to my mom brother who lives downstate four weeks ago. We just got it back the other day, he never received it. My mother still pays her bills with a check and she got an overdue notice from the power company. When she called a few days later they finally got the payment and applied it to her bill.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#28

Post by bredren »

newbie789 wrote: post #5

I've had significant delays up here in the Pacific Northwest. A friend of mine mailed me a box of comic books over two weeks ago and it's still in limbo. I just want to read Green Lantern Corps. :(

My pal is a mail carrier in Portland. A few weeks ago the postmaster general ordered a normalized practice of overtime use to clear large amounts of mail from some bins to cease.

Regularly, employees would catch up on mail processing this way. Mail has been piling up ever since.

From what my pal told us, didn’t make sense given how mail is handled but it is also not unusual for unexplained top down orders in USPS to be given.

Questioning USPS management does not make you a valued team member—-most people are focused on making sure their vacation time gets granted or trying to get successful bids for new routes or workflows.

From many stories about the workings of USPS, it sounds to me like there are widespread inefficiencies in the post office.

(And as an aside, there are definitely USPS employees that would not have jobs without the powerful union that keeps them there. Stuff that never would be forgiven in private enterprise happens all of the time.)

However, this sudden action from the PM general is not the way to bring about change, it is just causing an organization with a lot of operational debt to redline.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#29

Post by maxerickson »

floatingatoll wrote: post #8
jayd16 wrote: post #3

Just as we start to receive vote by mail forms (at least here in California).

You can return your mail-in ballot to a drop slot / drop box at your local election office, which saves them postage fees and gives you more certainty it arrived. If you can’t spare the time then the mail still works, but for those that are worried, it’s allowed.

The location of the drop box for my precinct wasn't included in the state's list, but it ended up being a slot at one of the service windows at the city clerks office. Quick and easy.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#30

Post by angst_ridden »

cenal wrote: post #11
gray_-_wolf wrote: post #4

Are there some actual studies stating that privatized mail office would be cheaper/more efficient/better service? Or is this just attempt at money grab?

How can it not be less expensive? The private companies don’t have to offer/fund the insane pension benefits that public sector employees get. The public sector pension scandal is insane.

Nor do the private companies provide complete nation-wide service. The charter and purposes of the USPS cover far larger ends than that of a profit-making company.
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