The US Postal Service
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
Mainly ebay & amazon 3rd party buyers (many of these are stores though), though some of them use this DHL/USPS combination that ends up taking twice as long and can only be tracked half the way.
Sure you would... it'd just be at 2am in a panic session...
USPS isn't getting around it. Best I know.
Customs will force the reciever to pay up (depending on their country) a fee (which can vary from the size and contents), or they won't give it to you.
Customs will force the reciever to pay up (depending on their country) a fee (which can vary from the size and contents), or they won't give it to you.
It's run by the same dumbasses that are running the country into the ground.
The problem is they need to cut services and won't. There is no need for some cities to have three dozen post offices!
Also my plan for saving the post office... make a deal with Walmart. Have post offices in Walmarts just like Subway does.
The problem is they need to cut services and won't. There is no need for some cities to have three dozen post offices!
Also my plan for saving the post office... make a deal with Walmart. Have post offices in Walmarts just like Subway does.
Actually, the store in some Wal-Marts varies. Some carry other chains, like McDonald's, and I think I was in one that had a Quiznos.
But that's actually a good idea. Or at least build Post Offices close to major shopping areas, like such stores. Of the three main Post Offices here (there are a couple or so smaller ones), two are located practically adjacent to Wal-Marts. Both five to ten minutes walk. One about ive, but only because the Wally world parking lot os so damn big.
But that's actually a good idea. Or at least build Post Offices close to major shopping areas, like such stores. Of the three main Post Offices here (there are a couple or so smaller ones), two are located practically adjacent to Wal-Marts. Both five to ten minutes walk. One about ive, but only because the Wally world parking lot os so damn big.
A USPS, or "a Post Office", as in some competitor no-name company?
Just curious -- never seen one inside any store before.
Just curious -- never seen one inside any store before.
If Wal-Mart is seen as an improvement, then our postal service must be in a sorry state indeed...
It's an efficiently run business whether we like them or not.
I have seen small items for sale in newer post offices I've been in, like stuffed animals or gift wrappings or calendars with some stamp theme (who would want that?), but mostly they just sell shipping supplies. All of the post offices I have seen were free-standing, not a part of any other store or entity. That sounds like it would be a good idea though, sort of how you can find many ATMs or mini banking centers inside grocery stores. Why not postal services?
Nope, just a regular old post office. They're everywhere around here.
The US Post office SUCKS! I worked there a year and hated ever minute of it. It paid extremely well, but they worked us like slaves.
Here is their caste system:
Temps - You get less money, work long hours and no benefits.
PTFs-Part Time Flexible employees who are eligible for benefits, start off with good pay but have to work 6 days a week, work every Federal holiday, work the worst hours, have to work overtime if it is called and they can move you and cut your hours without you having a say so in the matter. Most postal employees start off as this and it can literally take DECADES to advance to the next higher level which is:
Regular Employees: These employees work 40 hours a week, can volunteer to work overtime if they want, but don't have to, get all the benefits, get two days off a week, get all Federal holidays off and can transfer to another post office if they want.
Once you start working as a PTF you go on a list and they only make so many regulars every year. There is a guy who has worked at the post office on Ft Knox who has been a PTF for 17 years and FINALLY made regular. When I worked there, my partner on the machines we worked on to process the mail had been a PTF for 5 years and made it. Her number was #39 on the list and my number was #117 so I really didn't expect to make regular in this lifetime.
You think writing "handle with care" on your packages means something? You are living in la la land if you think so. All packages are dumped in huge metal bins, wheeled out onto the floor of the main postal processing centers and then the workers literally grab it and throws it into a series of boxes labeled with the appropriate zip code on it. If you were mailing a glass vase to grandma, well that glass vase might be crushed under box of books as they land on top of it in the box.
I have also found priority mail packages that had fell under the conveyor belts that were mailed over a month ago.
My year at the post office taught me that it is a truly evil place and I'll be a homeless bum on the street before I work in that hellhole again.
Here is their caste system:
Temps - You get less money, work long hours and no benefits.
PTFs-Part Time Flexible employees who are eligible for benefits, start off with good pay but have to work 6 days a week, work every Federal holiday, work the worst hours, have to work overtime if it is called and they can move you and cut your hours without you having a say so in the matter. Most postal employees start off as this and it can literally take DECADES to advance to the next higher level which is:
Regular Employees: These employees work 40 hours a week, can volunteer to work overtime if they want, but don't have to, get all the benefits, get two days off a week, get all Federal holidays off and can transfer to another post office if they want.
Once you start working as a PTF you go on a list and they only make so many regulars every year. There is a guy who has worked at the post office on Ft Knox who has been a PTF for 17 years and FINALLY made regular. When I worked there, my partner on the machines we worked on to process the mail had been a PTF for 5 years and made it. Her number was #39 on the list and my number was #117 so I really didn't expect to make regular in this lifetime.
You think writing "handle with care" on your packages means something? You are living in la la land if you think so. All packages are dumped in huge metal bins, wheeled out onto the floor of the main postal processing centers and then the workers literally grab it and throws it into a series of boxes labeled with the appropriate zip code on it. If you were mailing a glass vase to grandma, well that glass vase might be crushed under box of books as they land on top of it in the box.
I have also found priority mail packages that had fell under the conveyor belts that were mailed over a month ago.
My year at the post office taught me that it is a truly evil place and I'll be a homeless bum on the street before I work in that hellhole again.
Let's not forget that both UPS and Fedex move mail through the post office when it is profitable for them to do so. Neither has anything approaching the infrastructure to take voer for the USPS.
That also said, the USPS hasn't cost the taxpayer a dime in nearly thirty years. The last infusion of taxpayer dollars they got was in the early 80s.
Truthfully, the USPS shouldn't operate in the black. Education doesn't. Our roads don't, and nor does the power grid. The USPS is an essential service in part because we're well behind in other infrastructure services. Not everyone can afford basic internet services, and there's resistance to expanding our broadband access via government money. Plus, let's face facts, they have to service every bastard in the country and every little dirt hole town across the US. That can't be cheap.
I don't know much about USPS or Australia Post (beyond occasionally using their tracking services!) but Royal Mail struggles constantly with its finances.
The trouble with Royal Mail (apart from a militant union) is that it is lumbered with the need to service an unsustainable pension pot. Overall as a business, it actually turns a small operating profit, but the pension deficit is enormous (running into many billions).
The letters side of the business in general loses a fortune every day, something around a million a day, mainly due to falling volumes (much as it sounds like USPS is suffering with). Its monopoly over the "final mile" of delivery is also a double-edged sword, losing it as much (or more) money as it makes on it.
It's planned to sell off Royal Mail, and the taxpayer will pick up the current pension liabilities. I don't much like the taxpayer becoming directly responsible for billions of pension liabilities, but frankly, no-one would buy the business if it didn't!
Exactly, and that is something the USPS can't say.
Works for Subway, Walmart probably saved Subway.
Off duty USPS City letter carrier onboard, don't mind me if I do multiple post rather then read the entire thread first.
That is correct. If you have no mail we are instructed not to turn and walk up to your door. The predictive software has taken that time from us on that day and we are expected to help on a vacant route with the "time savings". Mounted and rural carriers have different rules. Those flags on the mail boxes are to signal them to make a pick up. City Carriers as a rule ignore the flag if a supervisor is around or we are running late.
It is the ultimate dysfunctional system, the faster one works the more work he is assigned.
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