The US Postal Service

[Miss Chicken]

I have just read this article which in part says

The US Postal Service has seen mail volumes drop more than 20 per cent in the past four years, thanks partly to emails and internet bill payments.
Now there are rumblings that as many as 2,000 post offices in far-flung parts of the country could be nearing the end of their days.
But as the customers amble in to the Star Tannery Post Office to buy stamps and mail letters, none of them wants to lose their local office.
"I live right across the street. I can walk over here if I have to and [it's] an important thing to the community I think. Been here as long as I can remember," one local resident said.
In its heyday in 1901, the US Postal Service had more than 70,000 post offices across the country but that number has already dwindled to about 32,000.
Last year the postal service lost $US8.5 billion - that is $US23 million a day.

Does anyone know why the US Postal Service runs at such a loss? Australian Post faces the same challenges that the US has (email, internet billing, remote communities etc) and yet Australian Post manages a small profit ($103 million before tax in 2009-2010)


So I want to ask some questions about the US Postal Services


In rural communities is the post office a stand alone business or are some of them run by an agent (i.e a local newsagent or local store owner)?

How much does it cost to post a regular size letter?


Do US post offices sell non-post items (toys, games, printers etc)?


Can you do your banking or pay bills at post offices?

 

[Candlelight]

New Zealand Post made $1.3 million NPAT profit last year. And we apparently were struggling.

 

[Amaris]

So I want to ask some questions about the US Postal Services

In rural communities is the post office a stand alone business or are some of them run by an agent (i.e a local newsagent or local store owner)?

We have a small town post office (by small, I mean we have one counter with two registers), so I can give you that perspective.

How much does it cost to post a regular size letter?

44 cents, the cost of one stamp. That's for one ounce.
Two ounces is 61 cents, 3 ounces is 78 cents.

Do US post offices sell non-post items (toys, games, printers etc)?

Not ours, and not in any post office I have seen.

Can you do your banking or pay bills at post offices?

The USPS does eBillPay. Banking isn't done in any of our post offices.

 

[Finn]

In a few years, my kid will hear about the joke abut the boy predicting the deaths of relatives where it turns out the Mail carrier is the father. The kid will ask "What's a mail carrier? People used to carry emails from house to house?"

 

[Miss Chicken]

A couple of photos of what a post office in Australia looks like

I did some checking and found out the following

Australian Post processed 194 million agency-based bill payment transactions, 30 million banking transactions and over 1 million passport applications in 2009-2010.

 

[Amaris]

This is the post office in Star Tannery, VA:

Our post office looks almost exactly like this one, give or take a few details (we have more p.o. boxes and a counter instead of a window).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

what a post office in Australia looks like

Pink bear: Next window, please.
Brown bear: Not now, I'm eating lunch!
White bear: Can I help you?

 

[eastman23]

A couple of photos of what a post office in Australia looks like

Ha, almost looks like a Canada Post outlet. Of course, a lot of them are in drug/corner stores...

Canada Post reported a net income of $281 million for 2009 apparently, so they're not doing too badly.

 

[Small White Car]

The US Post Office's biggest problem is that they're built on the legacy plan of having someone walk from door-to-door delivering mail every day.

Post Men have routes and it doesn't matter how much or how little mail you're getting...they have to walk the route to see if you have outgoing mail.

The other delivery services come to your house only if someone has paid them to do so. If you want to ship with them you have to go to their building. They don't waste effort visiting people who don't need their service.

Basically, the USPS will come to your house every day even if you only get a single half-dollar letter once a month. Fed-Ex will only drop by after somebody paid them 10 dollars. Easy to see why they're falling behind, huh?

The Post Office has tried to combat this. I believe all new neighborhoods can only build centralized post-box areas. They'll only walk door-to-door in older neighborhoods where it's always been that way.

So, that's a start, but it won't be enough. I say they should switch to twice-per-week home delivery. You'd be free to come to the post office if you want to pick up your mail sooner than that, but otherwise you can wait a few days. I can't think of much that I get mailed these days that wouldn't be fine on that schedule.

It'll probably come to that eventually, they might as well start now, I say.

 

[SchwEnt]

I'm not taking shots at USPS, I've always been pleased and happy.

But my understanding is that a lot of their losses (aside from the dwindling business) are in the pensions and retirements of the employees.

Kinda like how Social Security can't keep pace with the payouts, USPS retirement and pension monies are sucking a lot of money out of what little they're generating.

 

[Miss Chicken]

A couple of photos of what a post office in Australia looks like

Ha, almost looks like a Canada Post outlet. Of course, a lot of them are in drug/corner stores...

Canada Post reported a net income of $281 million for 2009 apparently, so they're not doing too badly.

Actually the above photo is in a university.

As I said above - in Australia it is very common for the 'post office' to be in a local newsagency. You can buy a magazine, purchase a Tattslotto ticket and post a letter all under one roof.

Post Men have routes and it doesn't matter how much or how little mail you're getting...they have to walk the route to see if you have outgoing mail.

Post men in Australia do not pick up outgoing mail from people mailboxes. To post a letter I have to either go into a post office or, if I have a stamp I can post a letter at a post box. There is a post box located at the end of my street.

Most mail deliveries in Australia are made by post men on motor bikes.

According to Wikipedia

Nationwide there are 7,950 postal routes serviced by 10,000 "posties". Motorcycles are used for delivery for around 6,600 routes, bicycles for 350 routes and walking for 1,000 routes. Cars are only used for the very longest routes. Until the 1960s the longest, and the world's longest, overland mail route was Meekatharra to Marble Bar. As there were few roads a round trip took seven days. The current longest overland route is Norseman in Western Australia to Border Village in South Australia: 1,460 km (907 mi). The longest air service delivers to remote communities in the outback covering 1,790 km (1,112 mi) over two days.

My small parcels are delivered by post man on a bike but larger parcels are delivered by a post woman in a van.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

At least some U.S. post offices do sell a few small items -- mailing supplies, a few items w/ pictures of stamps on them (key rings, stuffed animals, etc.) -- but nothing on the scale of the posted photos.

The US Post Office's biggest problem is that they're built on the legacy plan of having someone walk from door-to-door delivering mail every day.

Post Men have routes and it doesn't matter how much or how little mail you're getting...they have to walk the route to see if you have outgoing mail.

I would say they walk the whole route because they have to to get to the next house that has a delivery, but at least around here, they certainly don't check every mailbox to see if there's outgoing mail. In fact, even in the 1950's and 60's in another part of the country, if we put out mail on a rare day that we happened not to have any delivered, it sat there until the next day.

Some rural areas already get mail delivery, even to the nearest p.o., only two or three days a week.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I'm not taking shots at USPS, I've always been pleased and happy.

But my understanding is that a lot of their losses (aside from the dwindling business) are in the pensions and retirements of the employees.

Kinda like how Social Security can't keep pace with the payouts, USPS retirement and pension monies are sucking a lot of money out of what little they're generating.

Not to mention, that, as government employees, they're getting paid way more than they're worth while they are still working.

 

[Small White Car]

Not to mention, that, as government employees, they're getting paid way more than they're worth while they are still working.

Most of them make less money than I do and I can assure you my job is far sillier than theirs.

So I'll try and pretend that this means you still respect me but I'm guessing that's not accurate.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

$45,000 is a pretty good average. If the yahoo that delivers mail to my apartment complex and can't even be bothered to ring the doorbell for larger packages makes that much, it's sickening.

I have the same opinion of government workers in general, one trip to the DMV always reinforces it too.

 

[scotpens]

A couple of photos of what a post office in Australia looks like

Ours are way more boring.

 

[Aragorn]

The post offices I've been (in large cities) in also tend to be very understaffed, and no matter how short the line in front of you is, you're gonna be there a while because no one in front of you has any clue what they want and the employee will have to hand-hold him or her through every option and step.

That Australian post office looks more like a Hallmark store.

 

[scotpens]

It seems that every U.S. post office now has one of those touch-screen kiosks for weighing packages, figuring postage, and dispensing stamps and postage labels. Even if I just need a book of stamps, there are always at least four or five people ahead of me in line. What happened to old-style stamp vending machines — the kind that do nothing but dispense stamps?

 

[Canadave]

Just for comparison's sake, here's what a Canadian post office looks like:

Typically, though, they're in the corner of a pharmacy or convenience store, without quite so many products for sale. You can generally be assured they'll be a supply of envelops, postcards, various kinds of paper, things along those lines.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It seems that every U.S. post office now has one of those touch-screen kiosks for weighing packages, figuring postage, and dispensing stamps and postage labels. Even if I just need a book of stamps, there are always at least four or five people ahead of me in line. What happened to old-style stamp vending machines — the kind that do nothing but dispense stamps?

Those kiosks are the first really good idea they've ever had. I go by the PO a good hour before they open, so it's convenient that way too.

As far as stamps, you can but them just about anywhere, I get them at Walgreens. And there's no extra "fees" for getting them somewhere other than the PO.