United States Post Office taking suggestions...

[Locutus of Bored]

a) Introduce low production run collector's stamps into circulation to make money.

b) Offer rebates, discounts, and other incentives (on mail services) to residents of neighborhoods that use a single bank of mailboxes at the front of the neighborhood to save time/money making house to house deliveries.

c) Discontinue Saturday and Sunday deliveries.

d) Drastically reduce overtime for employees.

 

[tharpdevenport]

They have done limited collector's run stamps. They don't seem to do them too often now -- guess they didn't work out.

As far back as I recall, the USPS never did Sunday mail delivery, and the offices were closed. Don't know about hub processing centers.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

If you're going to do anything that affects the employees' working conditions, a little union-busting will be in order first!

 

[clint g]

why?

The running and maintenance of a postal service is written in the constitution, along with the running and maintenance of a military

didn't the USPS become a non-government entity back in the early 80's?

Nope, the fact that the USPS is paid for and run by the government. What has happened is the Postmaster General has been downgraded from a Cabinet level position to whatever it is they call the positions that arent Cabinet level

 

[Locutus of Bored]

They have done limited collector's run stamps. They don't seem to do them too often now -- guess they didn't work out.

As far back as I recall, the USPS never did Sunday mail delivery, and the offices were closed. Don't know about hub processing centers.

They do Express Mail on Sunday, but with the extra fee maybe that's cost effective enough to maintain. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing they pay the postal workers extra for working on weekends.

 

[tharpdevenport]

They have part time carrier that substitues for a postal employee on Saturdays, and any other day the regular weekday carrier doesn't want to do it. This substitor, however, doesn't work Sunday's. At least in rural areas they have that. Rural Carrier Associate is the name.

 

[bigdaddy]

Cut Wednesday.

Cut pay.

Cut locations (Some cities have 2-3 dozen!)

Change the hours. No one can mail anything on weekdays because they are at school or work.

 

[Cornholio]

Nope, the fact that the USPS is paid for and run by the government.

from USPS.com:

The Postal Service is a self-sufficient agency deriving its revenues almost entirely from postage and fees paid by mailers. Postal operations are not supported by tax dollars.

link

and:

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars.

link

they might be a "government agency", but they are not supposed to be paid for by the government.

and more "Fun Facts" from USPS.com:

If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 28th in the 2009 Fortune 500.

In the 2009 Global Fortune 500 list, the U.S. Postal Service ranked 84th.

68 billion — revenue in 2009, in dollars

1.1 billion — dollar amount spent on fuel in 2009

2.1 billion — dollar amount paid every 2 weeks in salaries and benefits

link

do the math: 68.1 billion in and 56.7 billion out. wtf is happening with the other 11.4 billion?

I'll say the same thing about the USPS that I said about GM, Chrysler, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the airline industry - if you can't manage your money, then you should be allowed to go under.

I can live without all of 'em.

 

[Crash]

I can live without all of 'em.

Except that the US refuses to make even a token investment into the expansion of broadband services for remote parts of the country. Of course, this lines up with our decision to allow our infrastructure to crumble over the last thirty years in the name of tax cuts and corporate kleptocracy, but, hey, it also means that the USPS is still a necessary organ in connecting rural areas.

 

[Cicero]

Four ideas that occur off the top of my head:

• Incur a one-time expense by outright purchasing, rather than leasing, their station buildings.
• Eliminate door service in rural areas.
• Eliminate bulk mail discounts.
• Restore Sunday desk service (thus improving the convenience of shipping through the Post Office and reducing inefficiencies caused by heavy traffic on Mondays).

5. The USPS buildings should similarly be covered with movable solar panels. I say "movable", as opposed to "fixed", that way they can be taken in at night, thus avoiding unecessary potential damage over night and limit weather damage. Some postal employees get in before light anyway -- they can be charged with putting them back out.
A strange idea: build future buildings next to lakes, that way there is a light breeze coming of the lake and can cool the building off, reducing colling costs, and put a wind tourbine in the lake, so it can blow a slightly higher breeze that way. Prevailing winds, of course.


6. You know those self check out lines at Wal-Mart? Self usable line at USPS's where you can make your own money orders and put in an order to get a package being held; someone in the back gets a pop up on their computer, they get the package based on the info you entered, and brings it to you, thus eliminating a manned register, and eliminating a postal employees leaving their register to go get a package -- slowing the line down. Maybe a small "convinience fee" change be charged, like 0.10 each person. Not enough to complain about fully, but enough to ad up over every location and bring a profit after paying for the units.

I favor these suggestions, too. Allowing more to be done through self-checkout could help, and investment in solar power could help reduce costs long-term at many stations.

 

[propita]

The solution is easy. The U.S. post office should cease to exist. Let private companies such as UPS or FedEx deliver the mail.

That would up costs on what I buy on ebay.

As it is, I'm doing more e-paying than I thought I'd do. I still want the paper bills sent to me though.

I'm not so sure you're right. Competition would likely keep prices down.

I meant the sellers. They sometimes charge (or seek to charge) quite a sum of money for a simple, small, and lightweight package.

 

[RoJoHen]

The USPS should team up with Netflix. Let's face it, that's the only worthwhile mail anybody gets these days anyway.

 

[SeerSGB]

Unpopular opinion, and I do live in a rural area: Ditch rural route delivery outside the metro area, convert those addresses over to PO Boxes.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think it would make sense to cut Saturday delivery. In this age of the web, electronic billpay, and e-mail, there's a lot less need for snail mail, IMHO.

Of course, I rarely get enough mail for ONE day a week delivery, let alone five.

 

[Squiggy]

Another government financial blunder is taking a step in an interesting direction

It isn't a "government financial blunder". It's a constitutionally mandated system that's been antiquated within the past decade thanks to the internet.

 

[darthraidr]

i'd say cut most residential delivery to 3 or 4 days a week.

raise the base stamp price to an even $.50.

i'm not sure how the residential mail trucks are powered, but i'd look at going hybrid for those if they arent already (battery powered for drives under 20 mph).

how are the retirement plans set up? money could possibly be saved there.

 

[scottydog]

I wouldn't miss getting snail mail at all. Bills can be paid online. Most everything else can go UPS. If someone really needed to get me a paper copy of something, they could either fax it to me at work, hand deliver it, or send it as an email attachment.

 

[JiNX-01]

The solution is easy. The U.S. post office should cease to exist. Let private companies such as UPS or FedEx deliver the mail.

Good idea? Because both of those companies only hope to break even.

 

[Shikarnov]

The solution is simple: raise prices to levels that cover costs. It's not rocket science.

 

[Crash]

The solution is simple: raise prices to levels that cover costs. It's not rocket science.

This is so novel that it might work. I mean, really, logic in a thread populated by partisan wankery for privatization? Are you ducking nuts?

Actually, the USPS is looking to cut numerous distribution centers as well, which makes sense given the decline in volume they're dealing with also.