The US Postal Service

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored cycling. Well they
sure have been on my bad list as of late. Seems things are much slower
than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in Traverse City
Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from here. Priority mailed out
02/05/25. I got the package today and yes the weather was bad they said
it would be delay. It sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days.
It showed up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only one set of the
4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I wonder if
they file a claim with the post office. Frankly probably not worth the
effort. To top that off it took 21 days in December for a letter of mine
to get to Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something done. Frankly
quite allowing junk mail and get the act together.

If it’s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.

Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!

Roger Merriman

Zen Cycle

2025-02-13 22:23:51 UTC

Classic cautionary tale: "those who do not learn from history are
condemned to repeat it"– George Santayana

Post by Roger Merriman
Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!

The only thing trump ever learned is how to cheat people, and a good
+50% fell for the scam (let's have another Guilded age! fuck the working
class! (ibid Santayana))

--
Add xx to reply

AMuzi

2025-02-13 22:41:29 UTC

If it’s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.

Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Roger Merriman

2025-02-14 01:36:59 UTC

If it’s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn’t make money like number of things it’s service and within
reason should be treated as such.

Ie watch this space!

Roger Merriman

John B.

2025-02-14 03:41:22 UTC

If its not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Cant see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

The "The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970" states that:

The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and
fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the
United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of
Congress, and supported by the people."

It is likely that at least some of the lousy service is due to the Act
allowing "the four major postal unions (National Association of Letter
Carriers, American Postal Workers Union, National Postal Mail Handlers
Union, and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association) won full
collective bargaining rights: the right to negotiate on wages,
benefits and working conditions"

--
Cheers,

John B.

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-14 10:26:06 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and
fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the
United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of
Congress, and supported by the people."
It is likely that at least some of the lousy service is due to the Act
allowing "the four major postal unions (National Association of Letter
Carriers, American Postal Workers Union, National Postal Mail Handlers
Union, and the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association) won full
collective bargaining rights: the right to negotiate on wages,
benefits and working conditions"

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?

--
C'est bon
Soloman

Roger Merriman

2025-02-14 11:05:04 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

You’re not it’s self funded hence the junk mail, as they need the revenue
from it as they don’t get federal taxes.

<https://facts.usps.com/top-facts/>

As with John and others if you want junk mail free post you need to pay up,
ie it would need to be government funded as universal deliveries of mail
since Email and so on has just crashed and is no market in that, the money
is in parcels.

Roger Merriman

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-14 11:19:05 UTC

If it?s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Can?t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Youre not its self funded hence the junk mail, as they need the revenue
from it as they dont get federal taxes.
<https://facts.usps.com/top-facts/>
As with John and others if you want junk mail free post you need to pay up,
ie it would need to be government funded as universal deliveries of mail
since Email and so on has just crashed and is no market in that, the money
is in parcels.
Roger Merriman

The USPS only "needs" the revenue frrom the junk mail because the
processing and delivery of it has costs.

--
C'est bon
Soloman

AMuzi

2025-02-14 14:13:41 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

You’re not it’s self funded hence the junk mail, as they need the revenue
from it as they don’t get federal taxes.
<https://facts.usps.com/top-facts/>
As with John and others if you want junk mail free post you need to pay up,
ie it would need to be government funded as universal deliveries of mail
since Email and so on has just crashed and is no market in that, the money
is in parcels.
Roger Merriman

The USPS only "needs" the revenue frrom the junk mail because the
processing and delivery of it has costs.
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Well, yes.
But in any system the machinery staffing vehicles buildings
etc are designed around some level of volume so large policy
changes have multiple facets and after effects.

Imagine if you will a modern beer can filling/packaging
plant running at 3~4 units per second. Now do a cost
analysis of producing thousands of custom label runs of 24
cans each.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-14 14:44:35 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

The USPS only "needs" the revenue frrom the junk mail because the
processing and delivery of it has costs.
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Well, yes.
But in any system the machinery staffing vehicles buildings
etc are designed around some level of volume so large policy
changes have multiple facets and after effects.
Imagine if you will a modern beer can filling/packaging
plant running at 3~4 units per second. Now do a cost
analysis of producing thousands of custom label runs of 24
cans each.

We haven't mailed anything for years. If the few people who mail us
important stuff would just go digital, we could forget about checking
the mailbox. As it is, I only go out to empty it about twice a week.

--
C'est bon
Soloman

AMuzi

2025-02-14 14:52:37 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

You’re not it’s self funded hence the junk mail, as they need the revenue
from it as they don’t get federal taxes.
<https://facts.usps.com/top-facts/>
As with John and others if you want junk mail free post you need to pay up,
ie it would need to be government funded as universal deliveries of mail
since Email and so on has just crashed and is no market in that, the money
is in parcels.
Roger Merriman

The USPS only "needs" the revenue frrom the junk mail because the
processing and delivery of it has costs.
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Well, yes.
But in any system the machinery staffing vehicles buildings
etc are designed around some level of volume so large policy
changes have multiple facets and after effects.
Imagine if you will a modern beer can filling/packaging
plant running at 3~4 units per second. Now do a cost
analysis of producing thousands of custom label runs of 24
cans each.

Yes, and if more people had PO boxes rather than letter
carrier service the system would be more efficient to a huge
degree. And there are a thousand other similar policy
points, each contested, with sometimes unclear effect.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-14 15:29:55 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

The USPS only "needs" the revenue frrom the junk mail because the
processing and delivery of it has costs.
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Well, yes.
But in any system the machinery staffing vehicles buildings
etc are designed around some level of volume so large policy
changes have multiple facets and after effects.
Imagine if you will a modern beer can filling/packaging
plant running at 3~4 units per second. Now do a cost
analysis of producing thousands of custom label runs of 24
cans each.

I did have several PO boxes when I was living on the boat and moving
around. By the way, I quite often rode my bicycle to get my mail.

It's also when I first carried a gun. I got threatened by a couple of
boat and trailer pulling guys because I was riding on Shell Point Road
between my boat dock and Ruskin, Florida. It was a very narrow road
back then and not nearly as well built up.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/i6xAwPC4gD89aFtB6

--
C'est bon
Soloman

AMuzi

2025-02-14 14:09:41 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

You’re not it’s self funded hence the junk mail, as they need the revenue
from it as they don’t get federal taxes.
<https://facts.usps.com/top-facts/>
As with John and others if you want junk mail free post you need to pay up,
ie it would need to be government funded as universal deliveries of mail
since Email and so on has just crashed and is no market in that, the money
is in parcels.
Roger Merriman

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

John B.

2025-02-14 11:14:29 UTC

On Fri, 14 Feb 2025 05:26:06 -0500, Catrike Ryder

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?

My father worked for the post office all his working life and before
the "Act" things were different. Companies used to deliver great
bundles of divertimenti all addressed and packaged and the Postal
workers had to handle it. In those days the Postal Office was a bit
like the army... You got more hours work? Just work more hours. :-)

--
Cheers,

John B.

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-14 12:44:46 UTC

Post by John B.
On Fri, 14 Feb 2025 05:26:06 -0500, Catrike Ryder

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?

Back in my more reckless life, I had a relationship with a pretty
young woman whose husband worked evenings and nights at the Post
Office. He was a very nasty guy, and among other things about him, she
told me how he stole mail and wrangled extra pay. This was sometime in
the late seventies when I was not only a lot more reckless, but better
looking and much more fit. Back then I worked out with weights. I met
her at the health club where she worked as a trainer.

For what it's worth, she divorced him and moved back to California
when he was convicted of armed robbery. She remarried, went back to
school and became a physical therapist. We still exchange Christmas
cards.

--
C'est bon
Soloman

AMuzi

2025-02-14 14:20:51 UTC

Post by John B.
On Fri, 14 Feb 2025 05:26:06 -0500, Catrike Ryder

If it’s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?

Back in my more reckless life, I had a relationship with a pretty
young woman whose husband worked evenings and nights at the Post
Office. He was a very nasty guy, and among other things about him, she
told me how he stole mail and wrangled extra pay. This was sometime in
the late seventies when I was not only a lot more reckless, but better
looking and much more fit. Back then I worked out with weights. I met
her at the health club where she worked as a trainer.
For what it's worth, she divorced him and moved back to California
when he was convicted of armed robbery. She remarried, went back to
school and became a physical therapist. We still exchange Christmas
cards.
--
C'est bon
Soloman

Well, yes and those Postal employees are quite 'newsy'.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/postal-service-worker-pleads-guilty-stealing-300000-money-collectibles-rcna191372

But like the US Army, who have some number of perverts and
felons, some such incidence is inherent to large numbers of
humans.

With over half a million employees, systems of this scale
are just utterly different from small business:

https://facts.usps.com/size-and-scope/

p.s. US Army is around 450,000.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

AMuzi

2025-02-14 13:59:06 UTC

If it’s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

90+% of the USPS mail deliveries I get go straight into the trash
before it gets opened or into the house. Why are taxpayers funding the
delivery of trash?
--
C'est bon
Soloman

As I noted above, that's a structural decision made by
successive Congresses and as we are all to well aware
Congress doesn't like voting on specific issues. The smart
money would bet on no changes in the foreseeable future.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Roger Merriman

2025-02-14 10:59:50 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

Not convinced that taking workers rights away will boost productivity, it
appears to be government run but not funded, see the railways for similar
situation, so has to do universal deliveries, ie delivery where is
practical, but 1st class mail has declined massively so its revenue has,
much like other mail carriers.

Plus pensions and health care, taking that away is unlikely to boost morale
and productivity quite the reverse they would find jobs elsewhere, and get
folks who really don’t care.

Hence junk mail, if it has to be run as business which it is, then you need
junk mail.

Remove that constraint and you could cut some of the staff as folks retire
as junk mail is high in volume low in financial reward, and with out it
mail rounds could be larger like they where few decades back, but would
need to be funded by the government as mail delivery is a declining market.

Roger Merriman

John B.

2025-02-14 11:16:52 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

Not convinced that taking workers rights away will boost productivity, it
appears to be government run but not funded, see the railways for similar
situation, so has to do universal deliveries, ie delivery where is
practical, but 1st class mail has declined massively so its revenue has,
much like other mail carriers.
Plus pensions and health care, taking that away is unlikely to boost morale
and productivity quite the reverse they would find jobs elsewhere, and get
folks who really dont care.
Hence junk mail, if it has to be run as business which it is, then you need
junk mail.
Remove that constraint and you could cut some of the staff as folks retire
as junk mail is high in volume low in financial reward, and with out it
mail rounds could be larger like they where few decades back, but would
need to be funded by the government as mail delivery is a declining market.
Roger Merriman

Worker's Rights??? Try telling that to the Army :-)

--
Cheers,

John B.

Zen Cycle

2025-02-14 13:08:45 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesn?t make money like number of things it?s service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

Not convinced that taking workers rights away will boost productivity, it
appears to be government run but not funded, see the railways for similar
situation, so has to do universal deliveries, ie delivery where is
practical, but 1st class mail has declined massively so its revenue has,
much like other mail carriers.
Plus pensions and health care, taking that away is unlikely to boost morale
and productivity quite the reverse they would find jobs elsewhere, and get
folks who really don’t care.
Hence junk mail, if it has to be run as business which it is, then you need
junk mail.
Remove that constraint and you could cut some of the staff as folks retire
as junk mail is high in volume low in financial reward, and with out it
mail rounds could be larger like they where few decades back, but would
need to be funded by the government as mail delivery is a declining market.
Roger Merriman

Worker's Rights??? Try telling that to the Army :-)

You have very few of the rights afforded to civilians when you join the
military. You acknowledge that when you sign your life away to them.
USPS workers are civilian government employees and at least at this
time, they still have rights as afforded by the constitution. But, to
reiterate Rogers point, "watch this space"

--
Add xx to reply

AMuzi

2025-02-14 14:09:05 UTC

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

A quick search suggests that Japans post is still controlled by its
Government at least for the time being with the majority of the shares, and
indeed looks like a short term gain rather long term as ever the postal
service doesnt make money like number of things its service and within
reason should be treated as such.
Ie watch this space!
Roger Merriman

Not convinced that taking workers rights away will boost productivity, it
appears to be government run but not funded, see the railways for similar
situation, so has to do universal deliveries, ie delivery where is
practical, but 1st class mail has declined massively so its revenue has,
much like other mail carriers.
Plus pensions and health care, taking that away is unlikely to boost morale
and productivity quite the reverse they would find jobs elsewhere, and get
folks who really don’t care.
Hence junk mail, if it has to be run as business which it is, then you need
junk mail.
Remove that constraint and you could cut some of the staff as folks retire
as junk mail is high in volume low in financial reward, and with out it
mail rounds could be larger like they where few decades back, but would
need to be funded by the government as mail delivery is a declining market.
Roger Merriman

Right. All are policy decisions with gargantuan effect
across such a massive system. For example UPS:

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/7-words-explain-why-ups-is-cutting-amazon-loose/91145555

Canceled an underwater Amazon contract even though Amazon
was its largest customer. USPS loses even more delivering
Amazon parcels and ought to wake up on that but as yet nothing.

And structurally, china post charges a minuscule rate for
small packet export to USA, deeply subsidized to dump
millions of packets into the USPS system. Under
International Postal Treaty, USPS undertakes the expensive
final delivery, with huge losses. I pay $45.10 for a
standard flat rate air packet (under 2kg) to china and SE
Asia, but our competitor in china pays a subsidized $1.20.
This is well reflected in the mountains of crap delivered
daily here from Temu, Shein, Alibaba, Tencent etc etc.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

AMuzi

2025-02-14 13:57:08 UTC

If it’s not funded by government ie has to fund its self, then services
will always come 2nd to profitability, ie if one wants no or low junk mail,
and for it to be run as service then will need some government funding. EX
postie in UK which has been privatised and now a commercial company with
totally expected results ie worsening service.
Can’t see Trump wanting to fund it somehow!
Roger Merriman

There's devil in the details. Each government in turn made
different decisions on structure with widely variable
performance.
Japan's Post is exemplary, Deutsche Post has had a series of
troubles not at all ending. USPS was excellent, really,
until around 2013~14 or so. (I'm less familiar with UK Royal
Mail so no comment)

Yes and more. On the Postal employees' side of the argument,
Japanese letter carriers are not beaten, stabbed and shot
dead at work.

https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/chicago-postal-workers-demand-action/

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

cyclintom

2025-02-18 16:10:28 UTC

Roger, I know that you look through the lens of socialism being taught that in school but EVERYTHING is moving by mail. If Amazon Prime can give you cut rate prices and deliver the next day, the US Postal System can make a profit on 10,000 times the movement of mail.

AMuzi

2025-02-18 16:25:47 UTC

Not 'can'; 'could'. But they do not.

Logistics contract negotiators at Amazon are really first
rate and richly informed. It took UPS years of losses to
cancel their largest customer but they really had to do that
to stem the losses on Amazon delivery.

USPS employees are quite vocal about their current Amazon
arrangements and mystified that the rate/volume continue.

It's really true that one cannot sell at a loss and 'make it
up in volume'. Not in logistics, not in bicycles, not in
banking...

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Roger Merriman

2025-02-18 17:46:10 UTC

Roger, I know that you look through the lens of socialism being taught
that in school but EVERYTHING is moving by mail. If Amazon Prime can
give you cut rate prices and deliver the next day, the US Postal System
can make a profit on 10,000 times the movement of mail.

Not 'can'; 'could'. But they do not.
Logistics contract negotiators at Amazon are really first
rate and richly informed. It took UPS years of losses to
cancel their largest customer but they really had to do that
to stem the losses on Amazon delivery.
USPS employees are quite vocal about their current Amazon
arrangements and mystified that the rate/volume continue.
It's really true that one cannot sell at a loss and 'make it
up in volume'. Not in logistics, not in bicycles, not in
banking...

Also a van plus man is a much more attractive option financially even low
cost items + delivery are going to be quite a bit more than the postage
cost for letters.

parcels are another option all together, and with the rise of internet
shopping has been on the rise all of this century and been clearly what
mail delivery organisations should be focused on in terms of profitability,
and has been obvious for two three decades!

Ie state carriers should be using the parcel side to fund at least
partially the universal mail delivery, which if they cut out junk mail etc
could be reduced in terms of staffing, essentially more like post worked in
the 60/70’s with fairly low volumes of mail and each postie covering larger
areas.

Roger Merriman

AMuzi

2025-02-18 18:29:49 UTC

Roger, I know that you look through the lens of socialism being taught
that in school but EVERYTHING is moving by mail. If Amazon Prime can
give you cut rate prices and deliver the next day, the US Postal System
can make a profit on 10,000 times the movement of mail.

Not 'can'; 'could'. But they do not.
Logistics contract negotiators at Amazon are really first
rate and richly informed. It took UPS years of losses to
cancel their largest customer but they really had to do that
to stem the losses on Amazon delivery.
USPS employees are quite vocal about their current Amazon
arrangements and mystified that the rate/volume continue.
It's really true that one cannot sell at a loss and 'make it
up in volume'. Not in logistics, not in bicycles, not in
banking...

Also a van plus man is a much more attractive option financially even low
cost items + delivery are going to be quite a bit more than the postage
cost for letters.
parcels are another option all together, and with the rise of internet
shopping has been on the rise all of this century and been clearly what
mail delivery organisations should be focused on in terms of profitability,
and has been obvious for two three decades!
Ie state carriers should be using the parcel side to fund at least
partially the universal mail delivery, which if they cut out junk mail etc
could be reduced in terms of staffing, essentially more like post worked in
the 60/70’s with fairly low volumes of mail and each postie covering larger
areas.
Roger Merriman

Yes you're right overall.

Logistics is on the cusp of engineering and economics and
postal systems are a very difficult area. Move up the
parcel rates and unit volume drops, while you still have the
vehicle expenses, labor contracts and facilities to support
the former larger volume. Tricky decisions all around. All
postal systems wrangle with this as noted by the 25 year old
paper I referenced regarding Brasil Post. The principles and
issues have not changed.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-18 18:40:36 UTC

Not 'can'; 'could'. But they do not.
Logistics contract negotiators at Amazon are really first
rate and richly informed. It took UPS years of losses to
cancel their largest customer but they really had to do that
to stem the losses on Amazon delivery.
USPS employees are quite vocal about their current Amazon
arrangements and mystified that the rate/volume continue.
It's really true that one cannot sell at a loss and 'make it
up in volume'. Not in logistics, not in bicycles, not in
banking...

I just bought some new stainless mixing bowls. They reportedly shipped
(UPS) yesterday (2/17/25) late afternoon from a restaurant supply
store in Connecticut and is scheduled to arrive 2/20/25. Assuming that
happens, I'm quite satisfied with that.

--
C'est bon
Soloman

AMuzi

2025-02-19 19:44:55 UTC

Not 'can'; 'could'. But they do not.
Logistics contract negotiators at Amazon are really first
rate and richly informed. It took UPS years of losses to
cancel their largest customer but they really had to do that
to stem the losses on Amazon delivery.
USPS employees are quite vocal about their current Amazon
arrangements and mystified that the rate/volume continue.
It's really true that one cannot sell at a loss and 'make it
up in volume'. Not in logistics, not in bicycles, not in
banking...

Today's USPS update:

https://apnews.com/article/united-states-postal-service-usps-postmaster-dejoy-steps-down-9692807bf87a0283385d30c1b46e22c4

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Catrike Ryder

2025-02-19 20:05:02 UTC

Not 'can'; 'could'. But they do not.
Logistics contract negotiators at Amazon are really first
rate and richly informed. It took UPS years of losses to
cancel their largest customer but they really had to do that
to stem the losses on Amazon delivery.
USPS employees are quite vocal about their current Amazon
arrangements and mystified that the rate/volume continue.
It's really true that one cannot sell at a loss and 'make it
up in volume'. Not in logistics, not in bicycles, not in
banking...

https://apnews.com/article/united-states-postal-service-usps-postmaster-dejoy-steps-down-9692807bf87a0283385d30c1b46e22c4

Reminds me that I'm due to go out and empty my mailbox.

--
C'est bon
Soloman

Shadow

2025-02-20 15:21:45 UTC

Post by AMuzi
https://apnews.com/article/united-states-postal-service-usps-postmaster-dejoy-steps-down-9692807bf87a0283385d30c1b46e22c4

LOL. Make it as inefficient possible, make it costly and when
enough people complain, privatize it. Someone like musk or zukerberg
can have it for next to nothing, with the right to open any letters
that look "suspicious".
Suddenly it starts working well again and generating massive
profits.
Now where have I seen that before?
I remember: Our telecom, our electricity, our water, our
railways .....
[]'s

--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
Google Fuchsia - 2021

AMuzi

2025-02-13 22:34:16 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

Yes that's right:
http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-france-squads-1999-2006/

USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
from grace:
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-million-to-settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit

Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.

Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.

But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.

A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.

Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Zen Cycle

2025-02-13 23:08:47 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored cycling. Well
they sure have been on my bad list as of late. Seems things are much
slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in Traverse
City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from here. Priority mailed
out 02/05/25. I got the package today and yes the weather was bad they
said it would be delay. It sat in at the post office in my town for 5
days. It showed up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and
note of package damage. There was nothing in the package and only one
set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag sealing it all
with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I wonder if
they file a claim with the post office. Frankly probably not worth the
effort. To top that off it took 21 days in December for a letter of
mine to get to Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something done. Frankly
quite allowing junk mail and get the act together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-france-
squads-1999-2006/
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-million-to-
settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight. There are a lot
of reasons and a lot of players- plenty enough blame to go around. This
is not solely on Mr DeJOy who has deep logistics experience but is
stymied by the nature of a not private not public structure. All that
on top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not good
times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and more than
double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship a LOT of
packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay when they are
at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do.

Seems like the presidents been doing an awfully lot of things a
president is prohibited by law from doing - rescinding guaranteed
constitutional rights by executive order, firing employees without due
cause, appointing a political donor to shut down departments with no
oversight, freezing congressionally approved funds...

Post by AMuzi
It's on Congress to act,
which they have not and will not.

If trump wants the USPS dissolved, it will be dissolved by the spineless
republican majority.

Remember, it's now considered treason to disagree with this
"president's" policies. Not just any president, just _this_ president.

fuck the working class.

--
Add xx to reply

cyclintom

2025-02-16 21:50:20 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-france-squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-million-to-settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service. I ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th. The last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive it on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it. This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!

Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip in one day.

AMuzi

2025-02-16 21:58:49 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service. I ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th. The last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive it on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it. This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.

Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak Creek
Center near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong direction.
Export packets go to Oak Creek first and then to ORD Ohare
where the nearest USPS export terminal is located, even
though MKE is an international port.

But hey, if you want the job of Postmaster General, apply!
The job's much like playing 3D chess for high stakes, while
herding 550,000 cats who are high on meth, while being shot at.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Frank Krygowski

2025-02-17 03:37:29 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-france-
squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-million-to-
settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service. I
ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th. The
last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive it
on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it. This
stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las Vegas
(how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is
so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak Creek Center near
Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another suburb of the
adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland, then back down.

It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city center, and be
delivered days faster. But they spent big money to remove all the
sorting machines down there. Why? Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Roger Merriman

2025-02-17 10:05:02 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-france-
squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-million-to-
settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service. I
ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th. The
last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive it
on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it. This
stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las Vegas
(how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is
so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak Creek Center near
Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another suburb of the
adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland, then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city center, and be
delivered days faster. But they spent big money to remove all the
sorting machines down there. Why? Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

Machine sorted would be most likely cause, they are large expensive
machines but they don’t need wages and are faster particularly as they can
just keep on going.

Royal Mail as well has done similar.

Roger Merriman

AMuzi

2025-02-17 14:37:19 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of
late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and
shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package
today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be
delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and
note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-
france- squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-
million-to- settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are
not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days
and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I
ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or
UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor
service. I ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics
together on the 9th. The last it was heard from was the
10th. They claim that I will receive it on the 20th but
the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it. This
stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN
from Las Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I ordered
from Sparks near Reno.) is so far running at 10 days when
I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak
Creek Center near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong
direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another
suburb of the adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland,
then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city
center, and be delivered days faster. But they spent big
money to remove all the sorting machines down there. Why?
Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

The newer optical scan/sort machines are huge, efficient and
extremely fast. They're also expensive so it makes more
sense to run those at capacity in a few places than hand
sort everywhere. See also FedEx hub:

https://www.cnet.com/science/at-fedex-sorting-packages-1-5-million-at-a-time/

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Frank Krygowski

2025-02-17 15:58:59 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de- france-
squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5- million-
to- settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service. I
ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th. The
last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive
it on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it.
This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las Vegas
(how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is
so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak Creek Center
near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another suburb of the
adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland, then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city center, and
be delivered days faster. But they spent big money to remove all the
sorting machines down there. Why? Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

The newer optical scan/sort machines are huge, efficient and extremely
fast. They're also expensive so it makes more sense to run those at
https://www.cnet.com/science/at-fedex-sorting-packages-1-5-million-at-a-
time/

I don't know the technology used in the local sorting machines they
removed. I'd have thought that if some technological leap were
responsible for their removal, it would have come out in the press
releases, etc. But I don't know that.

--
- Frank Krygowski

AMuzi

2025-02-17 16:13:39 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as
of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and
shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a
place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package
today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be
delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It
showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and
note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and
only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic
bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings
but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office.
Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it
took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-
france- squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his
fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-
pays-5- million- to- settle-100-million-us-government-
law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All
that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These
are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten
days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady
(I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx
or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they
do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss
poor service. I ordered a parts kit to put the
hydraulics together on the 9th. The last it was heard
from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive it on
the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever
got it. This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN
from Las Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I
ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is so far running at 10
days when I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak
Creek Center near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong
direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another
suburb of the adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland,
then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city
center, and be delivered days faster. But they spent big
money to remove all the sorting machines down there. Why?
Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

The newer optical scan/sort machines are huge, efficient
and extremely fast. They're also expensive so it makes
more sense to run those at capacity in a few places than
https://www.cnet.com/science/at-fedex-sorting-
packages-1-5-million-at-a- time/

I don't know the technology used in the local sorting
machines they removed. I'd have thought that if some
technological leap were responsible for their removal, it
would have come out in the press releases, etc. But I don't
know that.

As with myriad other technologies, progress has been regular
and incremental, at increasing frequency of innovation:

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/machines-or-bust/mail-processing-machines

Major change in 2020:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mail-sorting-machines-are-crucial-for-the-u-s-postal-service/

In the same way, nearly all FedEx packages go to Memphis
before being sorted and dispatched. On first impression,
that seems screwy for a package from, say, Las Vegas to
Oakland. In fact, it ends up being less expensive and more
efficient.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Frank Krygowski

2025-02-17 16:19:24 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de- france-
squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong- pays-5-
million- to- settle-100-million-us-government- law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service.
I ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th.
The last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will
receive it on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS
ever got it. This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las
Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near
Reno.) is so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip
in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak Creek Center
near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another suburb of the
adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland, then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city center, and
be delivered days faster. But they spent big money to remove all the
sorting machines down there. Why? Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

The newer optical scan/sort machines are huge, efficient and
extremely fast. They're also expensive so it makes more sense to run
those at capacity in a few places than hand sort everywhere. See also
https://www.cnet.com/science/at-fedex-sorting- packages-1-5-million-
at-a- time/

As with myriad other technologies, progress has been regular and
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/machines-or-bust/mail-
processing-machines
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mail-sorting-machines-are-
crucial-for-the-u-s-postal-service/
In the same way, nearly all FedEx packages go to Memphis before being
sorted and dispatched. On first impression, that seems screwy for a
package from, say, Las Vegas to Oakland. In fact, it ends up being less
expensive and more efficient.

Understood. However, in my case - mail delivery from one local suburb to
another - the result has clearly been less efficient. At least one day
has been added on to the previous delivery time.

--
- Frank Krygowski

AMuzi

2025-02-17 16:59:46 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as
of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were
and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a
place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive
from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the
package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be
delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It
showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop
and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package
and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the
plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining
strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office.
Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it
took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need
something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-
france- squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following
his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-
pays-5- million- to- settle-100-million-us-
government- law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr
DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All
that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These
are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten
days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady
(I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx
or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they
do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss
poor service. I ordered a parts kit to put the
hydraulics together on the 9th. The last it was heard
from was the 10th. They claim that I will receive it
on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS
ever got it. This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN
from Las Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I
ordered from Sparks near Reno.) is so far running at
10 days when I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak
Creek Center near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the
wrong direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another
suburb of the adjacent city gets shipped up to
Cleveland, then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the
city center, and be delivered days faster. But they
spent big money to remove all the sorting machines down
there. Why? Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

I don't know the technology used in the local sorting
machines they removed. I'd have thought that if some
technological leap were responsible for their removal, it
would have come out in the press releases, etc. But I
don't know that.

As with myriad other technologies, progress has been
regular and incremental, at increasing frequency of
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/research-articles/machines-or-
bust/mail- processing-machines
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mail-sorting-
machines-are- crucial-for-the-u-s-postal-service/
In the same way, nearly all FedEx packages go to Memphis
before being sorted and dispatched. On first impression,
that seems screwy for a package from, say, Las Vegas to
Oakland. In fact, it ends up being less expensive and more
efficient.

Understood. However, in my case - mail delivery from one
local suburb to another - the result has clearly been less
efficient. At least one day has been added on to the
previous delivery time.

Understood, and my first impression as well.

But in theory the extra day added to locally addressed
pieces brings an overall system efficiency (both lower cost
and faster aggregate delivery) as in FedEx's system
engineers' creation at Memphis. Much derided when first
proposed, it's proven itself for many years and can't as yet
be surpassed by any other system on Earth. Would that USPS
can match them!

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Roger Merriman

2025-02-17 17:35:03 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de- france-
squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong- pays-5-
million- to- settle-100-million-us-government- law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor service.
I ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics together on the 9th.
The last it was heard from was the 10th. They claim that I will
receive it on the 20th but the tracking doesn't show that USPS
ever got it. This stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN from Las
Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I ordered from Sparks near
Reno.) is so far running at 10 days when I could drive round trip
in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak Creek Center
near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another suburb of the
adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland, then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city center, and
be delivered days faster. But they spent big money to remove all the
sorting machines down there. Why? Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

The newer optical scan/sort machines are huge, efficient and
extremely fast. They're also expensive so it makes more sense to run
those at capacity in a few places than hand sort everywhere. See also
https://www.cnet.com/science/at-fedex-sorting- packages-1-5-million-
at-a- time/

Understood. However, in my case - mail delivery from one local suburb to
another - the result has clearly been less efficient. At least one day
has been added on to the previous delivery time.

Considering the size of Youngstown or even if mail went to another mail
center should be one day turnaround, ie post on Monday get it Tuesday,
assuming it’s in time for last collection, the mail being ferried back and
fore while wasteful, is more efficient/cheaper.

Roger Merriman

John B.

2025-02-18 00:22:34 UTC

Post by Mark J cleary
I believe at one time the US Postal Service sponsored
cycling. Well they sure have been on my bad list as of
late.
Seems things are much slower than they ever were and
shoddy.
I order a set of different guitar strings from a place in
Traverse City Michigan. That is about 8 hour drive from
here. Priority mailed out 02/05/25. I got the package
today
and yes the weather was bad they said it would be
delay. It
sat in at the post office in my town for 5 days. It showed
up with a plastic bag around the mailing envelop and
note of
package damage. There was nothing in the package and only
one set of the 4 string sets I ordered in the plastic bag
sealing it all with apology.
The place is going to send out the remaining strings but I
wonder if they file a claim with the post office. Frankly
probably not worth the effort. To top that off it took 21
days in December for a letter of mine to get to
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania.
Maybe Trump will look into that too they need something
done. Frankly quite allowing junk mail and get the act
together.

http://www.cyclismas.com/biscuits/us-postal-tour-de-
france- squads-1999-2006/
USPS won a lawsuit against Mr Armstrong following his fall
https://natlawreview.com/article/lance-armstrong-pays-5-
million-to- settle-100-million-us-government-law-suit
Yes prices are up, way up, and no end of that in sight.
There are a lot of reasons and a lot of players- plenty
enough blame to go around. This is not solely on Mr DeJOy
who has deep logistics experience but is stymied by the
nature of a not private not public structure. All that on
top of freight being fuel+labor plus a markup. These are
not
good times for the Post Office.
Yes, the vaunted "2 Day" service is now four to ten days
and
more than double rates ten years ago.
But no, in fairness, loss/damage rates remain steady (I
ship
a LOT of packages) although always higher than FedEx or
UPS.
A loss/damage claim takes 30 to 90 days, and they do pay
when they are at fault, but the process is tedious.
Oh, and there is little a President can do. It's on
Congress to act, which they have not and will not.

Like Mark, the cost isn't nearly as bad as the piss poor
service. I ordered a parts kit to put the hydraulics
together on the 9th. The last it was heard from was the
10th. They claim that I will receive it on the 20th but
the tracking doesn't show that USPS ever got it. This
stuff fits in a 6 x 6 envelope!
Shipments from Texas or Colorado take 8 days and EVEN
from Las Vegas (how the hell did it get there? I ordered
from Sparks near Reno.) is so far running at 10 days when
I could drive round trip in one day.

You ask why? Because Regional Sort Centers.
Anything I ship USPS (to you, for example) goes to Oak
Creek Center near Milwaukee first. Yes that's the wrong
direction.

Agreed. Mail going from my suburban village to another
suburb of the adjacent city gets shipped up to Cleveland,
then back down.
It used to be sorted in the main post office at the city
center, and be delivered days faster. But they spent big
money to remove all the sorting machines down there. Why?
Got me. Ask Mr. DeJoy.

The newer optical scan/sort machines are huge, efficient and
extremely fast. They're also expensive so it makes more
sense to run those at capacity in a few places than hand
https://www.cnet.com/science/at-fedex-sorting-packages-1-5-million-at-a-time/

As I said, my father worked in the Post Office all his working life so
I heard all the bitches when I was a kid. Some sort of centralized
sorting was used even way back then, whether by machine or machine. A
local sporting clothing company sold, and advertised, all over the
U.S. and their advertisement going to addressees other then local was
bundled and sent somewhere else for further sorting.

It wouldn't make much sense for mail addressed to 9 East Overshoe
Avenue, Nowhereville, Cal, to be sorted in a little town in N.H. Just
bundle it up and send it all to California or some other central
point.

--
Cheers,

John B.

Shadow

2025-02-18 11:49:52 UTC

Post by John B.
As I said, my father worked in the Post Office all his working life so
I heard all the bitches when I was a kid. Some sort of centralized
sorting was used even way back then, whether by machine or machine. A
local sporting clothing company sold, and advertised, all over the
U.S. and their advertisement going to addressees other then local was
bundled and sent somewhere else for further sorting.
It wouldn't make much sense for mail addressed to 9 East Overshoe
Avenue, Nowhereville, Cal, to be sorted in a little town in N.H. Just
bundle it up and send it all to California or some other central
point.

Here in Brazil the postal service was run by the State. Cheap
and fast. Quite amazing, considering most Brazilians are practically
illiterate and it's very hard to read the addresses on the envelopes.
Plus the size of Brazil. Routing is done by postal code. When you post
it, the computer program determined the route(it was so efficient it
was probably another TK invention). For example a parcel posted here
to Rio de Janeiro would go from my town to an intermediate point, then
to Sao Paulo, then to Rio de Janeiro. Since postal vans run the routes
at least once a day, it would take 2-3 days to Rio.
"Express" mail same thing, hitching a ride on airlines or even
military planes that happened to be going near that remote Amazon
village.
I remember in Lula's first term some 20 years ago a "simple
letter" was around 1 U$ cent to anywhere in Brazil (called a "social
letter" because it produced no profit for the postal service, but
allowed poor people to write to relatives).
Then came Temer and Bolsonaro, bribed to privatize the
services. They imposed "voluntary" retirement for the employees that
had stable jobs, outsourced practically all the postmen at 1/4 of the
salary, and actually mandated that letters and parcels be retained in
warehouses and only delivered at the legal limit (2 weeks for cheap
post). Did I say cheap post? LOL, taxes (tariffs) doubled, in some
cases tripled, and there is no longer a "simple letter". Cheapest is
around 3 dollars.
All this to "prove" that State-run is "bad" and should be
destroyed.
They didn't manage to privatize due to public outcry, but
numerous private firms entered the market attracted by the high
tariffs.
Some things which are manufactured here are not worth buying
because of the postal tariffs. Like tennis shoes, cost around US$ 6
but you'll pay U$ 5 for the post.
Bike-related, I put off buying things for my bike until
there's enough to justify paying the post.

Thefts, which were practically unheard of are now quite
common. You would have to be crazy to risk a stable well-paying job by
stealing. Now that postmen are outsourced, have no workers rights and
really miserable pay theft has become a problem. They don't really
care if they are fired.

Some things are better left to the State. Like postal
services, medicine, education, police services, jails, water,
electricity and roads/trains. LOL.
[]'s

--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
Google Fuchsia - 2021

AMuzi

2025-02-18 13:56:23 UTC

Post by Shadow

Here in Brazil the postal service was run by the State. Cheap
and fast. Quite amazing, considering most Brazilians are practically
illiterate and it's very hard to read the addresses on the envelopes.
Plus the size of Brazil. Routing is done by postal code. When you post
it, the computer program determined the route(it was so efficient it
was probably another TK invention). For example a parcel posted here
to Rio de Janeiro would go from my town to an intermediate point, then
to Sao Paulo, then to Rio de Janeiro. Since postal vans run the routes
at least once a day, it would take 2-3 days to Rio.
"Express" mail same thing, hitching a ride on airlines or even
military planes that happened to be going near that remote Amazon
village.
I remember in Lula's first term some 20 years ago a "simple
letter" was around 1 U$ cent to anywhere in Brazil (called a "social
letter" because it produced no profit for the postal service, but
allowed poor people to write to relatives).
Then came Temer and Bolsonaro, bribed to privatize the
services. They imposed "voluntary" retirement for the employees that
had stable jobs, outsourced practically all the postmen at 1/4 of the
salary, and actually mandated that letters and parcels be retained in
warehouses and only delivered at the legal limit (2 weeks for cheap
post). Did I say cheap post? LOL, taxes (tariffs) doubled, in some
cases tripled, and there is no longer a "simple letter". Cheapest is
around 3 dollars.
All this to "prove" that State-run is "bad" and should be
destroyed.
They didn't manage to privatize due to public outcry, but
numerous private firms entered the market attracted by the high
tariffs.
Some things which are manufactured here are not worth buying
because of the postal tariffs. Like tennis shoes, cost around US$ 6
but you'll pay U$ 5 for the post.
Bike-related, I put off buying things for my bike until
there's enough to justify paying the post.
Thefts, which were practically unheard of are now quite
common. You would have to be crazy to risk a stable well-paying job by
stealing. Now that postmen are outsourced, have no workers rights and
really miserable pay theft has become a problem. They don't really
care if they are fired.
Some things are better left to the State. Like postal
services, medicine, education, police services, jails, water,
electricity and roads/trains. LOL.
[]'s

Brasil Post has to operate in the same world of
technological change, labor interests and costs (direct and
administrative) as every other postal system:

https://www2.gwu.edu/~ibi/minerva/Fall2000/Edson.Oliveira.Sr.pdf

Every country's Post has experienced dramatic change with a
wide range of new systems and policies from inspired to
shambolic and all that will continue, everywhere, not just
in Brasil.

--
Andrew Muzi
***@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Shadow

2025-02-18 16:37:43 UTC

....

Post by Shadow
Here in Brazil the postal service was run by the State. Cheap
and fast. Quite amazing, considering most Brazilians are practically
illiterate and it's very hard to read the addresses on the envelopes.
Plus the size of Brazil. Routing is done by postal code. When you post
it, the computer program determined the route(it was so efficient it
was probably another TK invention). For example a parcel posted here
to Rio de Janeiro would go from my town to an intermediate point, then
to Sao Paulo, then to Rio de Janeiro. Since postal vans run the routes
at least once a day, it would take 2-3 days to Rio.
"Express" mail same thing, hitching a ride on airlines or even
military planes that happened to be going near that remote Amazon
village.
I remember in Lula's first term some 20 years ago a "simple
letter" was around 1 U$ cent to anywhere in Brazil (called a "social
letter" because it produced no profit for the postal service, but
allowed poor people to write to relatives).
Then came Temer and Bolsonaro, bribed to privatize the
services. They imposed "voluntary" retirement for the employees that
had stable jobs, outsourced practically all the postmen at 1/4 of the
salary, and actually mandated that letters and parcels be retained in
warehouses and only delivered at the legal limit (2 weeks for cheap
post). Did I say cheap post? LOL, taxes (tariffs) doubled, in some
cases tripled, and there is no longer a "simple letter". Cheapest is
around 3 dollars.
All this to "prove" that State-run is "bad" and should be
destroyed.
They didn't manage to privatize due to public outcry, but
numerous private firms entered the market attracted by the high
tariffs.
Some things which are manufactured here are not worth buying
because of the postal tariffs. Like tennis shoes, cost around US$ 6
but you'll pay U$ 5 for the post.
Bike-related, I put off buying things for my bike until
there's enough to justify paying the post.
Thefts, which were practically unheard of are now quite
common. You would have to be crazy to risk a stable well-paying job by
stealing. Now that postmen are outsourced, have no workers rights and
really miserable pay theft has become a problem. They don't really
care if they are fired.
Some things are better left to the State. Like postal
services, medicine, education, police services, jails, water,
electricity and roads/trains. LOL.
[]'s

Brasil Post has to operate in the same world of
technological change, labor interests and costs (direct and
https://www2.gwu.edu/~ibi/minerva/Fall2000/Edson.Oliveira.Sr.pdf
Every country's Post has experienced dramatic change with a
wide range of new systems and policies from inspired to
shambolic and all that will continue, everywhere, not just
in Brasil.

From your article(the author WAS a lobbyist for US
multinationals, he now posts that if the postal service is privatized
prices will increase, and "non-profitable addresses" will no longer
receive letters and parcels:

//
The quality pattern of the Brazilian Post is very high, one of the
greatest in the world in terms of speed in sending letters and
parcels. The basic standard is 1 day from the postage to delivery
between capitals of states, 1 day between capitals to
countryside cities in the same state (or vice versa), 2 days between
the capitals from a state to the countryside cities in other states
(or vice versa) and 3 days between countryside cities from a state to
countryside cities in other states. This is amazing! And this with
performance indexes upper than 94% for all mail in this stated period,
and the other 6% are delivered until 1 day more for almost the
totality. The standard of quality is very challenging because
of the continental size of the country. Brazil is bigger than
the United States less Alaska. And all this with one of the
cheapest rates in the world, in average less than US$ 0.20!
Brazilian Enterprise of Post and Telegraphs is today one of
the institutions in Brazil that the population trusts more, with
bigger indexes than even family and firefighters. Certainly, this
result was just possible with much effort and professionalism
of all involved in the process.

//

And it generated a PROFIT!!!!!

That was in 1999, when FHC (the ultra-right wing coupist
president) decided to privatize the post and fire the workers.
However, he didn't convince the population, elections were in
2002 and so was NOT privatized. It continued to be owned by the State
2003-2010 (Lula's Presidency).
[]'s

PS FHC managed to privatize telecoms. We now have two
providers, one from Mexico and one from Italy, and not "dozens to
choose from" like he promised. Tariffs increased over 600% OVER
INFLATION in just one year, and they are a cartel. Prices usually go
up on the same day.
The CIA listed Brazil's State telecom as one of the best in
the world before privatization. It is now the most expensive, and
around 1/3 of our territory no longer have phones (either cell or
fixed). A mess .....
Another PS Telemarketing woke me up 3x last night between 2am
and 3:30. Aparently it's profitable for the telecom companies .... but
very annoying.

--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
Google Fuchsia - 2021

cyclintom

2025-02-14 21:33:19 UTC

It has been 8 days since I ordered some parts from LA and even the tracking isn't working. I ordered a bleeding kit for the hydraulic brakes fom Reno. It shows that I should be receiving it on the 20th from outside of Las Vegas! It is takiing six days to get a letter sized package from Golden, Co.

AMuzi

2025-02-14 22:36:46 UTC