Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Is our Postal System Failing

The postal service in my area has averaged 18-25 days to service a common letter. I have had several cancellation notices for for checks that have been issued 10-15 days early. It is common to log onto the bank to issue checks and have the calendar blanked out 15 days in advance. I wonder if this is a push from the businesses to go online or a failure of the postal service. I have seen evidence of both.

We are seeing the same thing here. My folks are about 350 miles away and it's taking 2 to 3 weeks to receive letters from them.

My sister-in-law sent boxes of Christmas baking to a number of people. The arrived after extremely long periods of time, in a rather stale condition. She was wondering if the $50 insurance would be applicable in these cases and was going to go and check. It should be pointed out that she lives in the D.C. area, which is well-known for its hiring policies.

My experience is very positive about our PO and mail service.

I have mailed flat rate packages all over the US and some even arrive before the expected delivery date.

Mail to our roadside box is very dependable.

Aww, don’t worry Demorats will give em 50-100 billion for all the great work with mail in ballots and all will be good again. But the union is going to demand half of that for raises and benefits. Then another 25% to make up for the shortfall in retiree health care and pensions. Then they will be broke again in 2 years.

Most companies have automatic credit reporting for billing. If the postal service causes a late payment it is your responsibility to get the reporting company to request a credit report change.

Sure glad I don't live in your area. I'm a dinosaur who still writes a check and mails it for all my bills. Never, ever, had any kind of experience like 3 to 4 weeks for a letter to get delivered.

Blame Amazon. I have a client who delivers mail on rural routes. She says it is 12 hours a day 7 days a week delivering packages. With Covid, everyone is just sitting at home and ordering stuff all day.

This!

I guess you guys didn't get the memo's regarding COVID.

LOL

Amazon delivered 67% of all their own packages in Amazon trucks. Could be real bad for the USPS if they haven't...

Socialized services always end up "failing", at least according to the standards that capitalism creates. There is no incentive to work faster, or more efficiently, or more effectively, or more cheaply, so the service will continue to go up in cost as its real value decreases. Eventually, people will collect ridiculously high incomes to do no work at all. Yes, we are nearly there on the curve.

Sad but, true. The pubic sector is in the cross hairs of the far left. They get religion when it comes to payments. It is only a matter of time before new law is created to avoid payment of public sector retirements.

I don't think it is failing, just overwhelmed for a time.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas I had a priority mail "2 day express" window envelope take 11 days to get across the country. Since then some things have taken a bit longer than normal but not excessively so.

Tracking seems to be screwed up, twice this year I've had packages listed as delayed but then they show up on time or a day earlier than originally expected. Tracking for a package from Midway that was delivered on 1/14 still shows expected delivery of 1/15. I keep checking periodically to see if they will ever figure that out.

Another package sent from CT on 1/14 via "small flat rate box" showed an expected delivery of 1/19 from the day it was mailed and the status today, 1/19, is "out for delivery". Five days ain't quick but it's right on time according to their original estimate.

It pays to check rates when mailing something. I recently sent payment for a gunbroker purchase in a padded envelope due to my previous experience with "2 day express", calculating the price showed the expected delivery for first class package service to be the same day as for flat rate priority mail, except the priority mail cost twice as much.

Certainly seems like it.

LMAO that’s the only damn thing that made em any money. They only lost 4.5 billion in 3 mos.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/nat...s-second-quarter-fiscal-2020-results.htm

Compared to the same quarter last year, First-Class Mail revenue increased by $89 million, or 1.4 percent, despite a volume decline of 29 million pieces, or 0.2 percent. This growth was due to one-time mailings associated with the 2020 U.S. Census, otherwise First-Class Mail revenue and volume would have each declined. Marketing Mail revenue declined by $94 million, or 2.5 percent, on a volume decline of 604 million pieces, or 3.4 percent. Secular declines in mail have continued to negatively affect mail revenue and volume, and the Postal Service believes those declines will be exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Shipping and Packages revenue increased by $386 million, or 7.1 percent, on a volume increase of 12 million pieces, or 0.8 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. In the near term the Postal Service anticipates that these trends will accelerate as the nation experiences a surge in e-commerce as a result of quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and travel and logistics restrictions in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Postal Service has and will continue to serve its customers during this crises through the delivery of medicine, essential consumer staples, benefits checks, and important information, but does not expect its package revenue growth over the medium to long term to offset its losses in mail service revenue caused by COVID-19.

Brennan added, "We are grateful for the heroism and commitment of our 630,000 postal employees who continue to serve the American public during this pandemic, and we look forward to working with policymakers on ensuring the solvency of the Postal Service.”

Total operating expenses were $22.3 billion for the quarter, an increase of $2.8 billion, or 14.2 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Workers' compensation increased by $2.2 billion due to a significant decline in interest rates as the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on the U.S. economy. Excluding costs associated with discount rate changes, actuarial revaluation, and amortization of unfunded liabilities, which are outside of management's control, expenses increased by $328 million, or 1.8 percent, compared to the same quarter last year.

The net loss for the quarter was $4.5 billion compared to a net loss of $2.1 billion for the same quarter last year. Controllable loss for the quarter was $792 million, a slight decrease compared to the controllable loss of $806 million reported for the same quarter last year.

The post office is an example of how socialism fails.

Midway usually gets their mail to me in 10 days or slightly less.

They spend like 6 million a year on leased trailers that don't ever move all that often.

Its why they started moving trailers even empty or 1/3 full - which while they're being utilized for miles, they're not being utilized for efficiency.

USPS is unreliable here and has been since we got a new postmaster. The previous postmaster demanded professionalism. Now not so much. They are careless and sloppy with our mail.