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Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

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Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DMV loses money. The FDA loses money. The FCC loses money. These are public institutions, not for profit enterprises. They're funded partially by fees and usually largely by congressional appropriations. You beg the question by beginning by comparing the USPS to other carriers. It's one of the few public institutions required by the constitution! Even the Defense Department doesn't get that privilege, and it lose…

But should the USPS be a public institution? Many countries have opted to privatize their postal services, admittedly with varying results, but with quite a few successes as well: you may have heard the package division of what was once Deutsche Bundespost, now known worldwide as DHL. I do agree that right now is not a great time for radical changes though!

The problem with comparing to a lot of other countries, is that the US really has remote locations.

In those situations, their "competitors" largely just drop off their packages to USPS and let them handle the costly trip.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The DMV loses money. The FDA loses money. The FCC loses money. These are public institutions, not for profit enterprises. They're funded partially by fees and usually largely by congressional appropriations. You beg the question by beginning by comparing the USPS to other carriers. It's one of the few public institutions required by the constitution! Even the Defense Department doesn't get that privilege, and it lose…

But should the USPS be a public institution? Many countries have opted to privatize their postal services, admittedly with varying results, but with quite a few successes as well: you may have heard the package division of what was once Deutsche Bundespost, now known worldwide as DHL. I do agree that right now is not a great time for radical changes though!

https://www.ups.com/media/en/terms_service_gnd_pr.pdf https://www.uspis.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/USPIS-FAQs....

TLDR is, USPS needs a warrant to open first class mail. Private carriers may be able to open with impunity. Who do you want handling your mail-in ballot?

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#33
post #9

This analysis only covers USPS package delivery, which is different from flats. Ballots are flats. Magazines are flats. Letters are flats. Anything non-bendable isn't. This is what has been happening to USPS, folks: 1. Because of COVID19, flats volume has collapsed, while package volume has skyrocketed. Flats sorting machines can do absolutely nothing for packages for reasons that are left up to the reader, so USPS h…

The DMV loses money. The FDA loses money. The FCC loses money. These are public institutions, not for profit enterprises. They're funded partially by fees and usually largely by congressional appropriations. You beg the question by beginning by comparing the USPS to other carriers. It's one of the few public institutions required by the constitution! Even the Defense Department doesn't get that privilege, and it lose…

Minor correction that does not detract from your point:

DMV actually nets out a surplus in most states given the fees it collects.

When states cut its operating budget, it's because they're looking across the budget for ways to cut costs. This is only irrational from a budgetary, as opposed to service delivery, POV if the cuts somehow undermine revenue collection, like reducing the number of IRS auditors.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#34

Thank you for putting this together. Independent data sources are vital, since we know this administration does everything they can to hide reality.

The real fact is you are being played in an election year game by the Postal Union whose declared who they are backing unequivocally. Go chat up a CCA, I have two I know and one lives in my neighborhood but it close to quitting now. They are basically the equivalent of those food delivery service drivers but without the freedom to choose when they work.

As in, they get shat upon by a small but not insignificant number of regular carriers who know how to game the system let alone see CCAs are beneath them in every way. You want the truth about how this service has been running for years, well before recent issues, just google CCA horror stories.

This whole debacle is an engineered slow down by the union using the typical quiet encouragement that never has official backing but crawls along emails and word of mouth.

The worst Post Office examples you see in the press have always been this bad. There is no consistent management across the system. One place is well run and the next can be nightmare fuel.

tl;dr this is all an election year con job designed to make you come to one conclusion relying on the disposition of many to automatically assume any negative story concerning the current administration is true; while the current administration sucks on many levels much of what is claimed isn't always exactly true.

ps: HN is being bombarded by thinly veiled election year propaganda and sadly eats it up. the number of stories deserving to be flagged reaches ridiculous levels at these times.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#35

One thing this doesn't account for is fraudulent delivery reports. In my area a large percentage of my USPS deliveries are reported as delivered around 6pm on the scheduled delivery day, but I can't find the package anywhere. Then it suddenly turns up the next day. People on NextDoor also report seeing this regularly.

USPS said they delivered my package on Sunday, but it magically showed up Wednesday.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#36
post #9

This analysis only covers USPS package delivery, which is different from flats. Ballots are flats. Magazines are flats. Letters are flats. Anything non-bendable isn't. This is what has been happening to USPS, folks: 1. Because of COVID19, flats volume has collapsed, while package volume has skyrocketed. Flats sorting machines can do absolutely nothing for packages for reasons that are left up to the reader, so USPS h…

Letters and ballots are not flats. Flats are magazines, catalogues and larger mail pieces.

USPS has three categories of mail: letters, flats (flat items too large to be considered letters), and packages.

https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/101.htm

If you can't even get beyond two sentences without a factual inaccuracy, it does cast some doubt on whether anything else you wrote was accurate.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#37

One thing this doesn't account for is fraudulent delivery reports. In my area a large percentage of my USPS deliveries are reported as delivered around 6pm on the scheduled delivery day, but I can't find the package anywhere. Then it suddenly turns up the next day. People on NextDoor also report seeing this regularly.

Hmm interesting. I had a package I mailed to a relative stolen off their porch and subsequently did a moderately deep dive with USPS staff to try to identify the thief. Those folks told me that there is GPS on the delivery vehicle/handheld scanner such that they have the time and location of the delivery event, and the location of the vehicle at the time. That story seems inconsistent with yours.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#38

One thing this doesn't account for is fraudulent delivery reports. In my area a large percentage of my USPS deliveries are reported as delivered around 6pm on the scheduled delivery day, but I can't find the package anywhere. Then it suddenly turns up the next day. People on NextDoor also report seeing this regularly.

USPS said they delivered my package on Sunday, but it magically showed up Wednesday.

Fwiw on several occasions I've had packages delivered to the wrong address (e.g. 200 East Main not 200 West Main) that were obviously "redelivered" by whoever lives at that address. This could explain your findings perhaps?

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#39

One thing this doesn't account for is fraudulent delivery reports. In my area a large percentage of my USPS deliveries are reported as delivered around 6pm on the scheduled delivery day, but I can't find the package anywhere. Then it suddenly turns up the next day. People on NextDoor also report seeing this regularly.

I’ve consistently seems this exact behavior on every package delivered by usps lately. It shows up typically the next day but twice it took multiple days to find its way to my mailbox.

Re: Shippos USPS Time in Transit Data

#40

One thing this doesn't account for is fraudulent delivery reports. In my area a large percentage of my USPS deliveries are reported as delivered around 6pm on the scheduled delivery day, but I can't find the package anywhere. Then it suddenly turns up the next day. People on NextDoor also report seeing this regularly.

USPS said they delivered my package on Sunday, but it magically showed up Wednesday.

Personally I experience this way more with Fedex - literally its nearly every time. I haven't had this happen except for a couple of times with USPS over the last 2-3 years (been in the same apartment for about that long).
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