Our engineer just got a call from a state official. The state official just received a sewer plan that was sent to him in June, via Priority Mail.
Uh, that's June, 2002, as in TWO THOUSAND TWO!
Duh, it's called Snail Mail for a reason! hehe
There's "priority" and then there's "PRIORITY"........
In all seriousness, "priority mail" is usually a rip-off anyway.
I can send a first class letter and "priority package" (the $4.95 kind) from the same post office and about 75% of the time they get to the destination at the same time, on the same day, from the same truck or same mailbag.
"Overnight" ("Express") usually get's there by noon the next day, for $15 to $19, depending how far it's going.
Funny though.....my mother in LV, NV gets overnight from here by 3 PM.
My brother, in Henderson, NV (next town over) can't get guaranteed overnight....usually it's two days (at the same price, of course.....).
Tommy
If you compare FedEx rates or UPS rates to US Postal Service rates, The USPS is a bargain.
FedEx rates
http://www.fedex.com/ratetools/RateToolsMain.do
UPS rates
http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/cost/zones/daily_rates.html
US Postal Service rates
https://www.usps.com/ship/service-chart.htm
When the Post Office was created it delivered only what most would could call first class mail. There were no bulk mailings nor was it intended as a means to deliver bills, brides or packages. The last two payed their own fare or were moved as freight, the others did not exist. Could cut way back and only handle first class mail and do well, of course there would need to be a huge retraining of the then X government workers, along with an attitude change in preparation of working in the private sector.
jud
> If you compare FedEx rates or UPS rates to US Postal Service rates, The USPS is a bargain.
Except the actual $$$$ is not the only consideration. Many endure long lines at post offices, which are only going to get worse if present trends continue, i.e closing branches.
If you live in an apartment building (as I do), whenever your regular carrier is out, which is usually twice a week, the mail service is nearly non-existent. The substitute carriers don't know the mail box (ours has about 65 names), so they can't figure out where each letter goes. Plus, in recent months, they have been getting very fussy about having your apartment number included in the address, otherwise the carrier will not search, and send it back.
Just last week, we had two letters sent back, one of which was from the same source and has been delivered without problems for YEARS, and the other was returned "insufficient address", even though it had all elements of our address clearly and legibly marked on the front. The postal manager said it was probably the computerized address-reading machine's fault.
I can tell you that the example presented at the top of this thread, while not common, is also not so unusual either.
My local post office has a one hour lunch break! From 11 AM till Noon every day!
Can you imagine any other business that closes for an hour in the middle of the day?
> There's "priority" and then there's "PRIORITY"........
>
>
> In all seriousness, "priority mail" is usually a rip-off anyway.
>
>
> I can send a first class letter and "priority package" (the $4.95 kind) from the same post office and about 75% of the time they get to the destination at the same time, on the same day, from the same truck or same mailbag.
>
>
I've known this for years. I've also had several postal employees tell me/confirm the same thing. I never send PRIORITY, only First Class.
At least they're open while most people are on what could be called a normal lunch break, when they tend to take care of personal business. The property management business that I once rented from would close from 12 - 1, so I couldn't do any face to face unless I took time off from work.
The real reason why the post office is going broke is..
A friend of mine has accumulated 6 months of sick time while working at the post office...been there 15 years or so...
The Civil Engineering firm my Dad worked for in the 1970s closed from 12 to 1pm every work day for lunch.
People now are to used to having everything open all the time.
If you live in an apartment building (as I do)
You know I attended my nephew's wedding in Brooklyn a couple of years back annnnd if I lived in New York, NY, I decided I would live in Conn (Bridgeport? somewhere cheap along the Beach). And than the Post office would know where and who to deliver the mail to.
> My local post office has a one hour lunch break! From 11 AM till Noon every day!
>
> Can you imagine any other business that closes for an hour in the middle of the day?
Perry, you're being unfair. That's rural America, not only does the PO close for lunch but the Courthouse too! How quaint.
> somewhere cheap along the Beach
Is that an oxy-moron--:-D
The real reason why the post office is going broke is..
> A friend of mine has accumulated 6 months of sick time while working at the post office...been there 15 years or so...
You know why? If you don't take sick leave in the Gov. you can attach to your retirement. So people don't use sick leave unless they're really sick. Now isn't that a good idea?
The real reason why the post office is going broke is..
and that is bad?
I don't think I (we?) need the PO anymore.
I believe we could scrap it and privatize.
:mail:
The real reason why the post office is going broke is..
Does the public sector allow this?
"You are going to take mail off the table of our senior citizens" In my best Al Gore voice remembering back when the Repubs tried to fix Soc. Sec.
The engineering/surveying company I worked for up until April of this year still closes from 12 to 1 every day for lunch. Many people stay in the office but the front door is locked. At the courthouse, the recorder of deeds just recently started staffing during lunch time. They will not record any documents however, copies can still be made. They also just recently made recent deeds (all the way back to 1988) available on-line. This was within the last few months.
