Author Topic: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS  (Read 6274 times)

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Offline trapeze

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The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« on: August 11, 2011, 11:51:27 PM »
The USPS is going the way of other old world technology. It would already be gone were it not for the moronic support that is receives from congress. If ever there was a government agency that should be cut, is destined to be cut, it is the USPS.

Only problem: It is, unlike the EPA, the DOE and most other useless government entities, specifically mandated in the Constitution. In other words, it will take a Constitutional amendment to get rid of it. So basically, fat chance. But they are, inexplicably, able to somehow cut staff. Read about it in this article:

Quote
The US Postal Service plans to slash its workforce by 20 percent, eliminating 120,000 jobs by 2015 as it struggles to stay solvent, The Washington Post reported late Thursday.

The newspaper, citing internal documents, said the Postal Service's plan is in addition to the 100,000 other jobs it expects to shed through attrition as employees leave the company or retire.

The workforce reduction would come mainly through layoffs, with the remainder through buyouts and early retirements.

.......

The service already has slashed 110,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its workforce, in the past four years.

In July it unveiled a plan to close more than 10 percent of its post offices throughout the United States, and on August 5 it warned that it risked being unable to meet its financial obligations in September.

I don't know what happens in about ten years when nobody uses the USPS anymore but that's the way it's headed.

Know what else is on the way to extinction? Phone books in general but especially the Yellow Pages. I predict that in another five years (ten at the absolute longest) the Yellow Pages will be extinct. Yellow Pages advertising is a total rip off for starters. It costs a fortune and most of the ads that are in them are next to useless in their primary mission: getting someone to call. More and more people (especially the young) don't use phone books. They either do a web search or they use social media to pick places to go, services to use, etc.

The Better Business Bureau is another dinosaur that will soon be killed off by a much better service: Angie's List.

Just my two cents on progress and technology as they relate to business/marketing (the USPS is most definitely in that mix) and the ever changing landscape.

In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline radioman

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2011, 12:10:58 AM »
I will say this about the USPS:

Even tho' it is ineptly run like any government service that you would expect,
at least it is not a malignent cancer on our society like all the other departments and services.  Yes it is mismanaged, but it is a benign tumor that won't overtake and kill its host, unlike all the other parasite acronym agencies, departments, and services of the US government.

It does provide a service that can be measured (metrics) and held accountable, unlike other departments like say.... the department of education. What the heck do they do anyway? Other than suck up a lot of our money? Our independant school districts do the work and heavy lifting. All the DOE does is get in the way of the train and destroys edcuation. I dare say, that our education system would improve dramatically tomorrow if we could shut down the DOE tomorrow. Hurry before school starts.......




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Offline trapeze

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2011, 01:35:19 AM »
Since you mentioned "train" I will add Amtrak to the list.

And I will differ with your opinion that the USPS is not a malignant cancer on our society. Yes, they do (currently) offer a valuable service but the value is decreasing at an accelerating rate.

The USPS does have many of the same problems that exist in all government agencies and those mainly revolve around the government union workers: terrible work rules that rule out most if not all disciplinary actions for poor performance, no incentives for good performance, job for life type of guarantee, ridiculous benefits and pensions.

The employees at my local USPS are a surly bunch who rarely make eye contact with the public, proudly display a prominent attitude of indifference plus they shuffle. Not run, not walk but shuffle. It's like watching uniformed zombies.

And, yes, some of their performance can be measured. They are going to run yet another deficit and are probably going to default on payments they are supposed to make to the federal government. As to their primary function it can be hard to measure since their biggest item, the first class envelope, has no guaranteed arrival time and no way to track it if it did. We feel relief when the damn letter just shows up where it is supposed to...never mind when.
In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline Libertas

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2011, 06:34:24 AM »
I'll bet online banking and the internet in general has chewed into their action big time, and the commercial carriers like UPS and FedEx do a much better job on packages for a fraction of the cost.

As far as phone books go, I still get crap left on my step or stuffed in my mailbox 4-5 x's a year!  :P
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Online ToddF

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2011, 07:38:01 AM »
Angies List is a subscription service, isn't it?

Online ToddF

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2011, 07:39:48 AM »
Like radio says, it's easy to rag on the USPS, but compared to other countries, it really does work.  I think I've only dealt with a couple of lost mails, in my entire life.  I can appreciate what we have, dealing with other postal services unreliable, slow, and corrupt.

Offline radioman

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2011, 08:06:47 AM »
On most of my online shopping, I always choose the cheapest option 5-7 day ground delivery by USPS, and they always deliver quicker than I expect. I just upgraded my wife's and my Blackberry online, did the purchase on Sunday, and received them on Wednesday. Not bad for the cheapest option. IMHO of course.

I live between two post offices, each about equidistant from me. The one that is located in a small town does an excellent job of service while the other closer to downtown Houston is everyone's nightmare.

I'm not really saying that the post office is not inept, I'm just saying that they are not a malignant cancer about to suck the life out of us, like obamacare will eventually do.
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Offline radioman

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2011, 08:42:56 AM »
i know that the USPS was talking about scaling back their delivery days to five or four days a week.

I just had a thought:

If the USPS would start a new business to pick up trash two days a week, and then incorporate delivering the mail at the same time,
they would get additional revenue from the trash business, plus help offset the costs of mail delivery. In fact, they could put all my junk mail in my trash while they pick it up and provide me with an additional service.
TGIF - "Thank God I'm Forgiven"

Offline trapeze

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #8 on: August 12, 2011, 09:25:35 AM »
Angie's List is a subscription service for consumers, unlike the BBB which is a fee based system for businesses. The reviews are written by consumers and so carry more weight.

In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline trapeze

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2011, 09:47:59 AM »
More uplifting USPS stuff to be found here.
In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Online Pandora

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2011, 01:10:46 PM »
USPS is tangled up in the private IT sector (like all the rest of the Feds).  I believe we can do without USPS, via amendment, but the screaming from Verizon, ATT and a host of smaller ITs will be deafening.  Another ill generated via Leviathan.
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Offline Alphabet Soup

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2011, 02:53:10 PM »
On most of my online shopping, I always choose the cheapest option 5-7 day ground delivery by USPS, and they always deliver quicker than I expect. I just upgraded my wife's and my Blackberry online, did the purchase on Sunday, and received them on Wednesday. Not bad for the cheapest option. IMHO of course.

I live between two post offices, each about equidistant from me. The one that is located in a small town does an excellent job of service while the other closer to downtown Houston is everyone's nightmare.

I'm not really saying that the post office is not inept, I'm just saying that they are not a malignant cancer about to suck the life out of us, like obamacare will eventually do.

Me too. Have you noticed how many outfits won't ship USPS?

Offline John Florida

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2011, 07:52:14 PM »
My EX BIL is retired postal employee. What's hurt them more than anything else is the union benefit costs. No lay off clauses for years they pile up sick and vacation days so that some retire as much as 5 years early and keep health insurance for life for them and the wife/husband. And raises come hell or high water.They can't compete and haven't been able to for years.
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Offline Libertas

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2011, 06:57:13 AM »
My EX BIL is retired postal employee. What's hurt them more than anything else is the union benefit costs. No lay off clauses for years they pile up sick and vacation days so that some retire as much as 5 years early and keep health insurance for life for them and the wife/husband. And raises come hell or high water.They can't compete and haven't been able to for years.

Yup.  Perfect example of the abject failure of the marriage of government employees and unions.  Time for a permanent divorce!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline trapeze

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #14 on: September 05, 2011, 11:57:59 PM »
This is getting to be a rather popular story in the media. Look for it to become the next crisis.

Quote
The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

The only big question here is what will the House Republicans do about this? I would say that the smart thing to do is to spin it as giving in to the postmaster general...changing the postal union contracts by legislation. It's not like they will vote for the Republicans anyway so it's really a win-win: Help solve the problem and diminish yet another source of Democrat campaign cash.
In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

charlesoakwood

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #15 on: September 06, 2011, 12:05:01 AM »

If they could make internet transactions secure and private the USPS can KMA,  until then I'm licking stamps. ::ptewt::


Offline trapeze

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #16 on: September 06, 2011, 12:30:45 AM »
It may come to that whether we like it or not.

1) I don't see the Republicans going along with any kind of a bailout without significant concessions (union busting).
2) I don't see the WH or the Senate going along with anything coming out of the House.
3) I don't see the USPS workers' union going along with any layoffs or cuts to benefits (WI redux)

In other words, this will be a mini version of the debt ceiling debate.

In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Offline AmericanPatriot

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #17 on: September 06, 2011, 06:29:25 AM »

If they could make internet transactions secure and private the USPS can KMA,  until then I'm licking stamps. ::ptewt::

Charles, I have been using internet transactions for years.
I'd say they're pretty safe, in most cases.






Offline IronDioPriest

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Re: The Buggy Whip Syndrome Playing Out At The USPS
« Reply #18 on: September 06, 2011, 06:46:38 AM »
In my opinion, Internet transactions are safe - until they're not. There are some pretty high-profile instances of security breaches and data theft. If you don't happen to be unlucky or a target of such instances, then I think your information is safe with whichever secured transaction institution you happen to be doing business.
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