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Thread: Usps

  1. #16
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    Jun 2017
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    Landenberg, Pa
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    About 3 seconds after the November election, the USPS will once more become essential and sacrosanct. They survive because of amazon, not despite them (claims to the contrary are unequivocally wrong). And overall, it is one of most robust and efficient operations on the planet to guarantee access to every location in this country. UPS and FedEx don’t do that. It is part of the USPS’s charge to do so.

  2. #17
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    Feb 2003
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    Commerce Township, MI
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    Order from NJ to SC shipped May 12 received May 27. I think it came by bicycle. It was an padded envelope.

  3. #18
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    Mar 2020
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    Marietta, GA
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    I want to say go USPS! If you live in a rural area, USPS is your life line. Imaging getting mail service once per week or driving to a larger town to get your mail.
    Imagine the wave of outgoing workers (drivers, mail sorting, facilities management, government contractors) looking for job.
    USPS pays a decent wage with good benefits. Their pension plan is fully funded by law?!?!
    Pension plan? What pension plan from other companies? Even if those plans are here today, it only takes a vote of the current union to remove them. Ask the old Bell workers about their retirement plans, it changed drastically during the Baby Bell mergers.

  4. #19
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    Feb 2003
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    Doylestown, PA
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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    An Amazon order for 3 dozen small plastic bottles I needed for filling with hand sanitizer was late. After a few weeks Amazon suggested I request a refund since the package was probably lost. Tracking showed it had made it through several transfers, then nothing.

    I called the post office with the tracking number and after some sleuthing the guy said my package was one of 150 packages on an entire PALLET that went missing in Nashville TN. No clue to why, stolen, accidentally routed to Pittsburgh, abducted by space aliens, fell into a time warp...

    I did get a prompt refund but I would have preferred to get the bottles. Currently listed on Amazon as unavailable.

    JKJ
    Check Ebay, they might be there.

  5. #20
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    Sep 2007
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    Pension plan? What pension plan from other companies? Even if those plans are here today, it only takes a vote of the current union to remove them. Ask the old Bell workers about their retirement plans, it changed drastically during the Baby Bell mergers.
    Speaking of retirement benefits:

    In 2006, Congress passed a law to require the USPS to prefund 75 years worth of retiree health benefits in the span of ten years—a cost of approximately $110 billion. Although the money is intended to be set aside for future Post Office retirees, the funds are instead being diverted to help pay down the national debt.

    No other private enterprise or federal agency is required to prefund retiree health benefits on a comparable timetable. The mandate is responsible for all of USPS’s financial losses since 2013.
    My last job was in a public agency. It was a contributor to the California Public Employee's Retirement System (aka PERS or CalPERS). Though some politicians tried to get their hands on the money, thankfully they only had limited success. The money is invested by professionals, instead of being used for gain by politicians.

    During my life some of my wages were paid into Social Security. My understanding is my pension and 401k equivalents disqualify me from ever collecting Social Security. Every quarter we have to write a couple of checks to pay for my Medicare benefits.

    This does not move me to wail and moan about how our government is ruining my life and how it would be so much better if we dissolved all of our federal government institutions. No, it makes me glad for someone else who is able to collect a benefit helping to keep them from being destitute.

    It sure keeps me happier than those who feel the government is only here to ruin our lives.

    Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  6. #21
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    Mar 2020
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    Speaking of retirement benefits:



    My last job was in a public agency. It was a contributor to the California Public Employee's Retirement System (aka PERS or CalPERS). Though some politicians tried to get their hands on the money, thankfully they only had limited success. The money is invested by professionals, instead of being used for gain by politicians.

    During my life some of my wages were paid into Social Security. My understanding is my pension and 401k equivalents disqualify me from ever collecting Social Security. Every quarter we have to write a couple of checks to pay for my Medicare benefits.

    This does not move me to wail and moan about how our government is ruining my life and how it would be so much better if we dissolved all of our federal government institutions. No, it makes me glad for someone else who is able to collect a benefit helping to keep them from being destitute.

    It sure keeps me happier than those who feel the government is only here to ruin our lives.

    Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

    jtk

    Cheers Jim!! That is a wonderful attitude and maybe one day I will have the maturity for the same. I do agree, public institutes have a tough time leaving money alone. Seems the USPS is getting shafted with the pension requirement and the government taking the money.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    DFW, TX
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    175
    A frustration that I have had recently in tracking is that I've placed an order, the company gives me a USPS tracking number and it shows still waiting for pickup for the last 6 days.
    I had this happen a couple of weeks ago and it was delivered while still showing as "pre-shipment".
    It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

  8. #23
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    May 2007
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    Fort Smith, Arkansas
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    My understanding is my pension and 401k equivalents disqualify me from ever collecting Social Security.”
    Really? Can someone explain?
    My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities

    The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson

  9. #24
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    Oct 2008
    Location
    Columbus, OH
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    3,062
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Schoenthal View Post
    A frustration that I have had recently in tracking is that I've placed an order, the company gives me a USPS tracking number and it shows still waiting for pickup for the last 6 days.
    I had this happen a couple of weeks ago and it was delivered while still showing as "pre-shipment".
    I currently have an order from Rockler that is shipping via UPS Innovations, which is some partnership with the USPS. UPS initiates the ship, then hands to USPS to finish the delivery. I got a UPS tracking number which tells me that the shipment is "In Transit" and handed to USPS for delivery. That was 4 days ago. No further tracking info available. Just a target delivery date that has come and gone. So, this "Innovation" service has definitely been done at the expense of the customer experience.
    Brian

    "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger or more complicated...it takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." - E.F. Schumacher

  10. #25
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    Oct 2006
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    Minneapolis, MN
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    What Congress required the USPS to pre-fund for 75 years is employee retirement health benefits. The USPS has to set money aside to pay workers who haven't even been born yet! Their pension fund is $120 billion underfunded at this point according to what I found online.

    First Class service from the USPS seems to be really fast right now. My stimulus check shows it was printed on May 22nd and arrived on May 26th. Pretty good with a holiday in there.

  11. #26
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    Oct 2006
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    Minneapolis, MN
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    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Weber View Post
    My understanding is my pension and 401k equivalents disqualify me from ever collecting Social Security.”
    Really? Can someone explain?
    Some government pensions replace Social Security. The employer and the employee don't pay into Social Security and instead there is a pension that replaces Social Security. I would think that if someone held another job and paid into Social Security for at least ten years that one would get Social Security based on the other employment.

  12. #27
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    Oct 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
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    5,406
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Tymchak View Post
    I currently have an order from Rockler that is shipping via UPS Innovations, which is some partnership with the USPS. UPS initiates the ship, then hands to USPS to finish the delivery. I got a UPS tracking number which tells me that the shipment is "In Transit" and handed to USPS for delivery. That was 4 days ago. No further tracking info available. Just a target delivery date that has come and gone. So, this "Innovation" service has definitely been done at the expense of the customer experience.
    Rockler used UPS Surepost instead of UPS Mail Innovations for my last order about a month ago. I live maybe 40 miles from the Rockler warehouse. Rockler shipped it on Friday and the Post Office delivered it on Sunday. I was shocked it was delivered on Sunday, but i checked and UPS signed a contract with USPS for Sunday delivery of Surepost.

    I got a free part from Moen a few weeks ago that used UPS Mail Innovations and the part arrived reasonably quickly. The hand off from Smartpost or Surepost used to take several days, but over the past year or two the hand off seems to take a day at most. Fedex has gotten smart with Smartpost and now has Fedex Ground deliver the package if a Fedex Ground driver is going down that street already. It probably saves a day if Fedex delivers it instead of USPS.

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Henderson View Post
    I can't imagine anyone making the decision to shut down the USPS.

    Mike
    +1. That's not going to happen.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Location
    Los Angeles, California
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    958
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    The USPS has all kinds of rules it has to deal with that private carriers are not subject to. Just about anything they want to do to cut expenses or raise revenue needs special approval. Many small post offices are expensive to run and the USPS would like to consolidate a lot of them. I believe that requires Congressional approval and most small towns don't want to lose their post office.
    Brian is absolutely correct here, so comparing the financial operating costs of the USPS to Federal Express is apples and oranges. By way of example, the USPS has to have, in cash, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 years of pension benefits sitting in a bank account. Federal Express is not required to do this. Nor is any other Federal agency. The USPS may not set its own prices--it has to seek Congressional approval to raise the cost of postage, something Congress is unwilling to do. So to expect the USPS to operate like a normal business is ridiculous--we tie their hands with pension requirements and price controls, then complain about the service.

    If Federal Express took over the first class mail, the price would jump to $8 an envelope. That's the minimum charge now. Also look to have small town post offices closed.
    Regards,

    Tom

  15. #30
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    May 2005
    Location
    SE South Dakota
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    Angry

    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    What Congress required the USPS to pre-fund for 75 years is employee retirement health benefits. The USPS has to set money aside to pay workers who haven't even been born yet! Their pension fund is $120 billion underfunded at this point according to what I found online.

    First Class service from the USPS seems to be really fast right now. My stimulus check shows it was printed on May 22nd and arrived on May 26th. Pretty good with a holiday in there.
    AND congress then used a good portion of the funds to "pay down" the national debt!!??

    I'm a USPS retiree, I worked at a processing center where all mail enters and exits.
    The PO is extremely top heavy!! They have bean counters counting the bean counters.
    Supervisors under managers under Dept. Heads......ad nauseum.
    If the weather is a factor (here mainly winter blizzards) the powers to be shut down the interstates, state and local hwys. airports and all travel is suspended!
    But, "we" still had to come to work (mandatory) or face disciplinary action---so, go to work and do nothing get paid. Again the roads/airports are closed
    so there is NO mail to process--makes sense??
    The USPS seriously needs to thin it herd.

    Bruce
    Epilog TT 35W, 2 LMI SE225CV's
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