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The USPS Cost-Saving Plan: The Postman Always Rings Never

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Having lost billions of dollars for quarter after quarter, The US Postal Service has a cunning plan to cut costs - end door-to-door postal delivery. More than 30 million American homes get door-to-door delivery and another 50 million get their mail dropped at their curbside mailboxes, but as Reuters reports, with the 'entity' buckling under massive financial losses, it sees savings in centralized mail delivery. This is good news for the customer though - apparently - as Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan explains "converting delivery away from door delivery to either curb line or centralized delivery would enable the Postal Service to provide service to more customers in less time."

The Postal Service last year lost $16 billion, mostly due to dwindling mail volumes and massive payments into a mandatory fund for its future retirees' healthcare.

The agency, which does not receive taxpayer funds, is under pressure to modify its business model and raise revenues or risk requiring a bailout of nearly $50 billion by 2017.

So, as Reuters reports, under a cost-saving plan by the U.S. Postal Service, millions of Americans accustomed to getting their mail delivered to their doors will have to trek to the curb and residents of new homes will use neighborhood mailbox clusters, the agency said.

The Postal Service has been quietly phasing in the change with some aspects starting in April, and it has given no timeline for the shift. It's unclear if delivery to the door will be eliminated entirely.

 

"Converting delivery away from door delivery to either curb line or centralized delivery would enable the Postal Service to provide service to more customers in less time," Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan said.

 

More than 30 million American homes get door-to-door delivery and another 50 million get their mail dropped at their curbside mailboxes.

 

But the Post Service, which is buckling under massive financial losses, sees savings in centralized mail delivery. Door-to-door delivery costs the Postal Service about $353 per address each year.

 

Curbside delivery costs $224, and cluster boxes cost $160 per address. With cluster boxes, mailboxes for individual addresses are grouped together at a central neighborhood location.

 

The move is one of many controversial cost-cutting steps the Postal Service is trying as it continues to plead with Congress for permission to overhaul its business and avert a bailout.

Not everyone is sure this is good idea...

Some in the mailing community such as the Greeting Card Association support a switch to a cluster box system.

 

But others such as the National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union oppose it.

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Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:54 | 5294762 slaughterer
slaughterer's picture

US, once a great nation, now ...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:57 | 5294783 glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

This minor modification to delivery will only forestall the inevitable.

As a side note though mail thieves will be able to collect mail from single clustered boxes rather than having to go door to door pilfering out of individual mail boxes.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:06 | 5294822 N2OJoe
N2OJoe's picture

I have a better idea: Ban public sector unions.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:20 | 5294905 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

Based on my experience a big part of the problem is that the public is no longer willing to even RECEIVE mail delivery.   At the condo where I live many young people never bother to check their mail.  They get paid by direct deposit, they have all their bills on autopay and they communicate by twitter and email.   Many young people have never written or received a paper letter.

Once their boxes fill up with junk mail the postman can no longer cram anymore in.   He almost cries sometimes since he has to return all the undelivered junk with a written explaination and the USPS  has to rebate the delivery fee.   The entire system is about to collapse.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:31 | 5294942 12ToothAssassin
12ToothAssassin's picture

The USPS makes a ton of money. The only reason they run a defecit is the congress mandated funding of 80 years worth of retirement accounts!! Learn the facts people. Why only the post office and no other govt agencies? Whats the agenda here? The PO is constitutionally mandated, serves a practical purpose and is quite efficient. http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/annual-reports/fy2010/ar2010...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:35 | 5294974 cgbspender
cgbspender's picture

serves a practical purpose and is quite efficient

 

You're an idiot.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:36 | 5294982 12ToothAssassin
12ToothAssassin's picture

You obviously only know what you are programmed to know by the PR effort and cant formulate your own well informed analysis. Thats all youve got?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:41 | 5295007 Publicus
Publicus's picture

Pension, meet Ebola.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:55 | 5295118 SafelyGraze
SafelyGraze's picture

the solution is as obvious as it is simple:

1. print out an electronically-signed postage stamp

2. affix stamp to envelope

3. insert envelope into mailbox at curb

4. raise little red flag, indicating mailbox contains posted envelope

5. send email to the recipient designated on the envelope

6. recipient arrives at mailbox, retrieves envelope, cancels stamp

done.

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:11 | 5295197 666
666's picture

How can the USPS change its business model when the assholes known as Congress won't let them?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:11 | 5295522 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

Benjamin Franklin is spinning in his grave:

Diane Feinstein's husband has been dealing in USPS real estate for a fucking fortune - when will Californians EVER vote that bitch out of office?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/12/firm-chaired-by-sen-fein...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:29 | 5295631 ajax
Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:20 | 5295236 BuddyEffed
BuddyEffed's picture

The post office business model worked better under a surplus energy economy and starts suffering under a steady state or contracting economy.

Tue, 10/07/2014 - 13:22 | 5299467 fallout11
fallout11's picture

Like most business models (organizations, or even entire civilizations) premised on endless, eternal growth.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:35 | 5295312 cgbspender
cgbspender's picture

You obviously only know what you are programmed to know by the PR effort and cant formulate your own well informed analysis. Thats all youve got?

 

Actually, I just understand that an institution which derives it's funding from the use of force is neither practical or efficient.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:34 | 5295667 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

@cgbspender  Use of force???

The USPS is the least expensive postal service in the Western world - perhaps you ought to check your fucking facts wanker.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:41 | 5295718 12ToothAssassin
12ToothAssassin's picture

@cgbspender - next time bring your 'A' game

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:15 | 5295849 cgbspender
cgbspender's picture

Man you guys are dim.

 

How is taxation not a use of force? There are also statutes on competing against the postal service. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Letter_Mail_Company

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 19:05 | 5296657 r0mulus
r0mulus's picture

it's quite possible for tax money to become an investment that produces value- hence the panama canal.

it's also possible for tax money to become an investment that produces no value, or even destroys value- hence, the department of defense.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:21 | 5295242 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

And you must be a relative..

FedEx Corp: Summary | OpenSecrets

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:43 | 5295021 CrazyCatLady
CrazyCatLady's picture

And especially interesting with reguards to the employment freeze they enacted last month.  They wont let anybody quit and now they wont be doing door delivery anymore.  Whats up usps?  Whatcha gonna do with the employees that now have more time on their hands?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:24 | 5295248 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

Fred Smith bribed most of Washington to get that done. Why do you think the local stadium is called FedEx Field. Eventually, we will all pay good ol' Fred to have his slaves deliver the mail. Private sector thievery to the rescue!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:43 | 5295727 12ToothAssassin
12ToothAssassin's picture

+1 for user name

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:53 | 5295104 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

That's because the idiots don't charge enough for all that junk they deliver. What a waste of trees and man power.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:23 | 5295250 swmnguy
swmnguy's picture

They're not allowed to charge reasonable rates for the junk mail.  The junk-mailers have very effective lobbyists and they own Congress.  It's ironic, because once the union-busters get rid of USPS altogether, UPS and FedEx aren't going to be overnighting junk mail for far less than the cost of doing the work.  So the junk-mailers are cutting their own throats.  Maybe they're just going to convert to spam e-mails, like everyone else.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:35 | 5294975 Gromit
Gromit's picture

Yes the legacy pension issue fries the bottom line.

And there's a mentality that you cut services before you touch pensions.

Surely better to maintain current service with a realistic price for the fine convenience of home delivery - somewhere between current price and a buck.

Disclosure: - Long 10,000 Forever stamps @41c LOL.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:31 | 5295293 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

It's not a legacy program. It's a mandate from right-wingers in Congress out to create a bad image and give hate radio blowhards something to squeal about.

 

Congress has them piling up more cash than could ever be needed for legacy pensions. An interesting stupid vs evil debate, but has nothing to do with the workers and their deferred compensation.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:29 | 5295626 fiftybagger
fiftybagger's picture

Huffpo slow today?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:39 | 5295005 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Food for thought. The Paperboy has been obsolete for years, yet the Post Orifice continues to use over-paid paperboys to do the same exact job paperboys once did, just to earn a portion of the subscription price. No min wage. no healthcare. no retirement plan....just a couple canvas bags on your handlebars.

Shit...paperboys did more!!! Because of the pay model (at my local paper), it was in their interests to go out sell more subscriptions. Post Orifice paperboys merely pickup and deliver from the comfort of their custom vans.

The post Orifice has already been using Mailbox clusters in new housing developments for decades. My parents house, built in 1987, has a mailbox cluster....which is falling apart. What is so new about this plan?

Since I only receive junk mail, and government communications via the Post Orifice, can I opt out of delivery altogether?

/rant -off

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:54 | 5295113 griffey247
griffey247's picture

You couldnt have said that any better. Plus 1

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:55 | 5295123 griffey247
griffey247's picture

You couldnt have said that any better. Plus 1

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:06 | 5294829 pods
pods's picture

Should have done this years ago. Fuck home delivery.  Have a box at the office if you want mail.

The Con allows for post offices. Not fucking door to door junk mail delivery.

Junk mail and Affirmative Action hires, that is all the post office benefits today.

pods

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:12 | 5294864 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Get rid of "junk" mail and the post office delivery is not needed.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:13 | 5294868 duo
duo's picture

Let Uber and Lyft drivers do it. 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:39 | 5295006 PTR
PTR's picture

I can't argue on the labor force matter.  There certainly are some LCD people running around there.

 

If (what's left of) the private sector can't hire 'em...go postal.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:51 | 5295071 Steaming_Wookie_Doo
Steaming_Wookie_Doo's picture

So does this mean they would go to something like a POBox for everyone? Just imagine the space requirements for that. I live in a town of 70,000. The main post office lobby has about 25 feet length of the area devoted to the POBoxes. I'd estimate some 500 there (not all the same size). Of course you can only reach so high for your mail. Imagine how big that space would need to be to accomodate even 10,000. The logistics of that would be huge in terms of having the physical space for boxes there, not to mention quibbling about folks w/disabilities having to reach too high or low (or for even having to go the postal pickup area). Oh yeah, plus the traffic would be huge and horrendous every day of the week. Or would it be a reason to "outsource" to places like Mailboxes Etc or UPS stores? I know it's a govt service, but I feel better about them than I do the DMV, DHS, etc.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:07 | 5295179 pods
pods's picture

It doesn't have to be solved right now. Only the momentum to stop door to door delivery.

Hell, you could have a big ass warehouse that holds mail.  That would be cheaper to have and staff than having a fleet of trucks and mailmen delivering mail daily. I mean, they already sort the shit, why not?

Then have people pay for it. Most all bills today can be done electronically, and junk mail is probably 90% of the load anyways.  There goes the need for half the workforce.

All the USPS has to do is maintain post offices per the constitution.  

And I absolutely agree that it is a need.  You do not want to have a private company in charge of the post office.

But, you also don't want it to be a make a modern day TVA.

People bitch about the pension funding, which is a valid point.
But the USPS should scream from the rafters that this illustrates the point that almost all pension funds are fucking bankrupt. Nope, USPS toes the line and plows on.

They should deliver junk mail that tells how the Teacher's Pension funds are all a big Ponzi, or even SS and medicare and would collapse if they had to do what the USPS is doing.

But nope, the USPS is just another bureaucracy. 

pods

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:58 | 5295139 griffey247
griffey247's picture

Who down voted you pods?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:24 | 5294927 jerry_theking_lawler
jerry_theking_lawler's picture

But I like the thinking 'outside the box'....let's see if it gets any traction or gets mired in bureaucracy. I suspect the latter. Ergo, the problem with this organization....if it was a business (like FedEx, UPS) the leader would make the decision...and it would be fast and they would be held accountable with results.

Just saying.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:37 | 5294986 Payne
Payne's picture

How long before they go to Google robot delivery vans ? that will cut the Labor cost.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:50 | 5295384 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

When Google figures out a pretext for government subsidy. The per piece cost of labor's so small they'll need some cash flow of taxpayer money to keep it going.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:56 | 5295126 Devils Advocate
Devils Advocate's picture

I don't get why they can't just print money and fund it all?!?!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:03 | 5295466 OpTwoMistic
OpTwoMistic's picture

Keep the mail. Enough advertisement elsewhere.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:55 | 5294764 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

Just charge for home delivery

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:52 | 5295101 Steaming_Wookie_Doo
Steaming_Wookie_Doo's picture

I'm surprised you got downvoted as much as you did. Really, that comes to what-- $20/mo. What would a Mailboxes Etc box cost you each month? And that already assumes the mailman dumps the stuff there to begin with.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:06 | 5295178 Hal n back
Hal n back's picture

just charge more for junk mail. including campaign crap.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:48 | 5295372 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

You mean, charge more? Or is the stamp just a decoration?

Privatization works by charging more and giving less. Improve the optics for those scams, certainly.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:49 | 5295377 plane jain
plane jain's picture

I'm on board if I can choose a low cost option for delivery less often.  Can I get my mail once a week for maybe $5 a month?  Just put it in a box at my front door.

Yeah, I can walk to a cluster of mail boxes, but we have a lot of old/disabled people that would have trouble with that.

Really I think if you asked customers most would rather deal with reduced frequency than reduced convenience. Deliver 3 days a week instead of 6 days a week, problem solved.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:54 | 5294768 Syrin
Syrin's picture

Mail is little more than 3D spam.  Ahyone get anything useful or needed in the mail these days?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:56 | 5294772 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

Guns

Gun parts

Moar guns & gun parts

 

But USPS forbids ammo

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:06 | 5294826 N2OJoe
N2OJoe's picture

PM's

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:58 | 5295138 83_vf_1100_c
83_vf_1100_c's picture

appx 200 oz of silver due in this week via USPS. No matter to me if it came UPS or FedEx.

My very rural Grandparents used to drive down the road to the post office once a week to get their mail. Being out in the boonies  can I foresee that happening to me in the not distant future. Back to the future. Foreward! off the cliff.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:10 | 5294849 Dr. Richard Head
Dr. Richard Head's picture

A fraction of a percent of the mail that gets delivered to my home is something I actually want.  The rest is garbage.  I was actually thinking about making my mail box look exactly like a trash can since that is where most of it ends up anyway.

I had a friend, who is a postal carrier, call to ask me some financial advice.  He is still putting money in the post office "retirement plan".  $20K in credit card debt, working a second job, girlfriend (ex-stripper) has some unexplained disease that requires her to take massive amounts of perkocet.  She just moved into his house with him and her 9 month old baby (not his) and promptly quit her job when she settled in. 

My advice to him was -

1. Stop donating money to retirement plan.

2. Default on the credit card debt and push for a settlement some 90 days after he stops paying.

3. RUN THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE STRIPPER HEROIN ADDICT GIRLFRIEND AS FAST AS HE CAN.

Looking back on that conversation I would say cutting off retirement plan would still be priorirty number one, based on this article at least.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:24 | 5294923 Postal
Postal's picture

Rather difficult for a guy to stay away from strung-out strippers. She knows her next fix is dependent on her ability to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:26 | 5294934 Dr. Richard Head
Dr. Richard Head's picture

Dan, is that you? 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:37 | 5294993 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

So...uh...help me understand. He has kidney stones?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:02 | 5295157 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Sounds like he has found his soulmate....  

There is an order to the universe...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:48 | 5295753 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

Everyone here is complaining about junk mail to their post box - have a look at your e-mail box lately? That isn't free either - someone somewhere is paying someone somewhere for all that fucking junk but I reckon the junk e-mail costs a lot more money than the junk mail in your post box.

I do not use electonic banking or any electronic payment system whatsoever. I go to my local post office window to pay my bills in cash or avail myself of the direct payment system offered by the postal account system as millions here do. NEVER EVER A PROBLEM - NEVER EVER A RIPOFF. The USPS should adopt the same system as Switzerland, France, Germany. 

http://www.swisspost.ch/

 

 

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 12:58 | 5294786 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

standing in line at the post office sucks ass bitchez. they are the only ones who make you go pick up your package at their place if you miss a single delivery attempt that needs to be signed for. worst. service. ever.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:00 | 5294790 starman
starman's picture

Drone deliveries! 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:00 | 5294796 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

How about charging real prices for junk mail? 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:01 | 5294797 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Eliminate the postal service. It will all reshuffle and discover itself.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:08 | 5294835 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

It was already discovered until the feds ran off the competition. Lysander Spooner FTW.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:01 | 5294798 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

of course raising the bulk postage rate is out of the question. peoplez needz their junk mailz bitchez.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:59 | 5295814 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

Aren't you aware that all the "junk mail" you find in your post box is protected by "freedom of speech"? Oh yes!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:01 | 5294799 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

If you like your mail delivery, you can keep your mail delivery.

An American, not US subject.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:02 | 5294801 tawdzilla
tawdzilla's picture

I don't care how the Post Office runs itself, so long as taxpayers don't have to subsidize it or bail it out.  

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:02 | 5294802 CoastalCowboy
CoastalCowboy's picture

So, some folks are going to have to walk all the way to the curb and back so Banksters don't have to walk all the way down to their wine cellars.  Is this what they're saying?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:04 | 5294813 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

No.  They are saying you will have to drive all the way to the post office and back so Obamacare can be funded.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:07 | 5295167 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

No what they are saying is that the Banksters now will have two wine cellars:  one in the basement of their million dollar house right next to the four Lamborghinis and one on the yacht, regardless of anything decided about the Post office.

Keep your eye on the ball or the wine cellar...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:02 | 5294805 himaroid
himaroid's picture

Pay me 50% of what my local post office brings in, and I will make a nice profit AND keep postal customers happy.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:04 | 5294811 Bell's 2 hearted
Bell's 2 hearted's picture

Have they considered slingshots?

 

i'll leave a window open ...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:12 | 5294859 Postal
Postal's picture

No, you're suppose to leave your window closed so when they break it you can stimulate the economy by buying a new one.

/sarc

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:05 | 5294815 kw2012
kw2012's picture

Just wait until the aclu files an ADA lawsuit. My mother has no way of obtaining packages not left at the front door

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:06 | 5294819 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

The reality is that delivering mail to your door at a cost that is below what you would tip your pizza delivery guy, is ridiculous.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:12 | 5294853 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

I want MOAR blood from that turnip, dammit.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:06 | 5294825 Notsobadwlad
Notsobadwlad's picture

In an average year I will get about 2500 mail pieces (give or take). Given a home delivery cost of $353 dollars (and a lot of customers currently have cluster delivery in the metropolitan areas) ... that puts the cost per item at $0.14... not including pickups, sorting and bulk transportation.

I am not sure what the USPS's bulk rates are, but to deliver to the burbs and break even, my guess is that they need to average somewhere between $0.20 and $0.22 per item... a lot more for delivering to rural Montana and less for big city apartment complexes.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:07 | 5294830 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

I feel sorry for anyone who gets a cluster in their front yard.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:15 | 5294876 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

Are you saying the home owner would have to put up with Cluster Fucks in the front yard?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:06 | 5294831 marathonman
marathonman's picture

Why did the USPS have to prefund retiree medical care?  I thought they all got Obamacare now? 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:08 | 5294841 Quinvarius
Quinvarius's picture

The fact is, the Post Office is not supposed to make a profit any more than the Marine Corps.  This entire thing is a red herring to cause outsourcing.  Mail is something the government should be doing.  It is one of the few things they should be doing.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:10 | 5294851 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

No good or service should be mandated by the barrel of a gun. The idea that people cannot solve their own problems without violent coercion is infantile.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:57 | 5295420 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

The idea there's no such thing as the public good is infantile. Expecting armed gangs or uninvolved individuals to step into every breech has never happened and has no chance of happening, outisde the books of Robert Heinlein, Ayn Rand, the Cato Foundation, etc.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:38 | 5295698 fiftybagger
fiftybagger's picture

Huffpo slow today?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:10 | 5294843 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Funny thing is, UPS and Fedex have outsourced home delivery to the PO in many cases. So much for those contracts.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:14 | 5294850 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

How about putting those unused drones and helfire missles to good use?  No long will your mail be curbside/clusterfucked boxed/mailboxed, but right in your mother fucking living room...through a window, door, or new hole in your roof.  Free open air styling courtesy of the USPS and Lockheed Martin.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:11 | 5294852 insanelysane
insanelysane's picture

"Door-to-door delivery costs the Postal Service about $353 per address each year. Curbside delivery costs $224, and cluster boxes cost $160 per address."

I'm no math wizard but they deliver 6 days per week and there are 52 weeks in a year so that is 312 deliveries.  Stamps are close to $.50.  If I get 3 letters per day that is $1.50.  Multiply by 312 delivery days and it is $468 per year.  That doesn't include packages.  No wonder they are losing money.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:11 | 5294855 NoCrazies
NoCrazies's picture

How can I short the USPS???

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 18:35 | 5296517 TalkToLind
TalkToLind's picture

Glitchez, bitchez.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 18:32 | 5296521 TalkToLind
TalkToLind's picture

Easy, buy 100 oz silver bars online and have them delivered via USPS.  That way you can short the US dollar and piss off your mail carrier at the same time!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:11 | 5294860 loregnum
loregnum's picture

Where I live in Canada the mailbox clusters have been the standard for about 20 years. I fail to see the big deal in people switching over to that. Then again it IS the U.S where most people are obese and lazy so that could be a problem for the masses if they actually have to walk outside for a few hundred feet...

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:15 | 5294870 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

Long mobility scooter sales!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:16 | 5294880 Edge.case
Edge.case's picture

The big deal is that I'm paying for something I don't want or need. How would you feel about this: "Today, Amazon announced a new cost cutting measure whereby customers would simply drive to the nearest Amazon warehouse to pick up their orders. Amazon states that this will allow them to serve more customers at one time"

 

Signed,

American, 6' 2", 175 lbs

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:49 | 5295064 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

I would say "cheap shot", if it were not all true! Ha! Ha!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:19 | 5294891 ThisIsBob
ThisIsBob's picture

A Walmart or two for each zip code might do most of it. Parking already in place.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:19 | 5294894 Platinum
Platinum's picture

Neighborhood mailboxes are a disaster. If the mail carrier accidentally delivers something to the wrong box, it's on your neighbor to fix the error.

 

Signature required for delivery? LOL - If you're lucky, the mail carrier will not put that you signed for it even though you didn't, and drop it into the (hopefully right) package bin. Insured for $1k? LOL - Like they care!

I make it a point to choose either UPS/Fed Ex for my deliveries, even at extra cost over the sometimes "free shipping" via USPS from some shops.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:52 | 5295100 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

I have not had a problem with USPS for package delivery, except one time over the last 20 years. I think one minor delay over 2 decades was not such a bad record. I refuse to feed a huge fee into the Fed Ex or UPS systems. They just demand too much money for the same job USPS does. If I add up wrong deliveries, the UPS man has dropped my packages wrong or others at my door more times than the USPS has. Which to my knowledge was never. But everyone has different experiences, but I know many people and none of them seems to have a USPS bitch.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:27 | 5295267 Platinum
Platinum's picture

It seems to depend on where you live - some USPS workers still do care.

 

I've had 2 or 3 problems with UPS and FedEx in the last 10 years. Each time, they fixed the error rather quickly and I found myself with an overnight delivery to help make up for the inconvenience. I've had at least a half dozen problems with USPS in the past 2 years. To get things remedied is a chore at best.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:22 | 5295932 Equality 7-25-1
Equality 7-25-1's picture

USPS bills you Walmart style.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:19 | 5294900 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

Kind of funny that the USPS doesn't recieve taxpayer funds but Congress holds them over a barrel about restructure.  Either let them restructure and go on their own...or fund them and quit funding wars and other countries.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:42 | 5295359 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

The USPS is building a nice sweet pile of cash under the ultimate control of the DINOs and RINOs infesting Congress. Easier to finance their friends pork barrel projects if they don't have to tax.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:27 | 5294916 ClowardPiven2016
ClowardPiven2016's picture

I live in a small town of around 10,000 and we got the "install a box at the curb mandate" years ago. USPS hasn't delivered to my door for at least a decade.

What is really stupid is Elizabeth Warren's idea to offer limited banking services at the post office.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:14 | 5295206 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Not sure I know enough about the post office bank idea, but anything that reduces my bank funds commingling with Banksters gambling sounds like a good idea to me....

Or Glass-steagal

But mixing Banks and IBanks together and giving them FDIC Guarantees is the definition of corruption.

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:20 | 5295926 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

@RaceToTheBottom:  Here it is again

http://www.swisspost.ch/

Same in France, Germany etc etc  and NO subprime bankruptcies either and check out the rates

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:27 | 5294941 yogibear
yogibear's picture

The politicans vetoed stopping Saturday deliveries.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:35 | 5294967 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

No politician has the courage to spell the math out to the public. Saturday is the first place to start with cuts, so obvious.

We want all our circuses, all our dogs, and all our ponies. We want free phones because, you know, they are a necessity.

We assume we are entitled to this mail service, looking at the response on this thread. If it does not work financially, then it can't happen. End of it. What part of NO don't we understand (I know the answer, NO MONEY, that's what we don't understand).

Let it fail.

Let folks compete with each other to provide the service.

I do not get the response to this issue on this thread at all. 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:32 | 5294954 moonman
moonman's picture

Mailbox Baseball!!!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:33 | 5294959 surf0766
surf0766's picture

Why does the  federal. Financibg bank keep writing checks to it

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:34 | 5294971 Emergency Ward
Emergency Ward's picture

The companies that make curbside mailboxes have stepped up their political payoffs.

All curbside mailboxes must have the "Government Approved" seal.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:36 | 5294977 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

I have a question...  Would it be possible to start a small letter carrying business within either a town or county?  Depending on where you live the USPS ships things out of town and then back.  You could basically offer same day deliver without a ton of expense.  You could also do some sort of club so people got things like birthday, anniversary cards or whatever else without having to worry too much about it.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:57 | 5295425 Clycntct
Clycntct's picture

Ya that would work. and we could get funding for the side program of teaching the banaladeshes english so when they deliver to the wrong house they have no excuse.

H1b visa program cause no ussers would work for the trainie pay of .12c per hour.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:45 | 5295034 Jameson18
Jameson18's picture

You all can thank congress for this mess. In 2006 the USPS had a 4 billion dollar profit and their pension was fully funded. The thieving assholes in congress decide to take the profit away and make them pay 75 years ahead to fund a pension that was already funded. You don't think FEDEX or UPS lobbyist had anything do with that.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:48 | 5295052 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

Cluster box is all over in Canada. The world has not ended up there. Mail is hardly important anymore, nothing vital is in it on a daily basis. Cluster box for each block would be nice. The oldsters can get off their asses and walk out to the boxes, good exercise for them. Save that money, in 2014 it is nothing short of insane to walk up to people's front doors and deliver there. This should have been done 10 years ago and already have saved billions upon billions. And mailmen will now just drive to the cluster box and load it up, he can do a block in 5 minutes that used to take 10minutes. I see that as a massive labor savings, and so does anyone in the USPS with a brain. Jobs? sure, another 100K will go, but America can get these people into health care and financial services, real estate and retail sales. That is the trend.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 18:58 | 5296638 Bazza McKenzie
Bazza McKenzie's picture

Actually it doesn't save labor it increases it but just unpaid.  Massive duplication of effort, including trips to check empty boxes or, if you have to go to the post office, lots of extra petrol consumed.

So far as your comment "the world has not ended up there", the same can be said about the US with Obama, doesn't mean it has been a beneficial change.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:49 | 5295057 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

You didn't mail that. 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 13:56 | 5295125 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

Oh, I know a couple mailmen here in my small town. I can't wait to get their take on it. This would end their humping mail in all weathers to each house. I bet they are happy as a dog rolling in shit over this idea. Make their jobs 100% easier. And this may even allow the firings of supervisors who follow them around measuring and counting their steps. Our guy used to have to scan bar codes every few minutes so the boss could track him each day. The USPS asked to put a bar code inside my box to aid this program, I told him to go fuck him self and get a real job. He didn't say much back! Cunt!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:05 | 5295174 Bubenthauser
Bubenthauser's picture

Wha'??? What will happen to Newman now?? Oh... MAN!

Oh, the humanity!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:12 | 5295198 Dr.Evil
Dr.Evil's picture

Cluster Boxes from the cluster fucks!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:15 | 5295211 thamnosma
thamnosma's picture

I just don't think community post offices are a bad idea.  There just has to be many of them to take care of neighborhoods.  I've become used to mine -- I live in a mountain community and there is NO residential delivery except by UPS/FedEx for packages.  We all use the local PO, almost a meeting place. For many urban neighborhoods, the mail would be safer than put in a box to be stolen.  Just doesn't seem that awful especially if it makes the USPS more fiscally sustainable. 

 

On the other hand, we could end all warfare and welfare and subsidize the hell out of postal service....

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:19 | 5295233 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

Will the USPS be paying for the cluster boxes?  Last time they wanted them they wanted individuals to pay for them.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:26 | 5295256 indmotor
indmotor's picture

FAct is)

Carriers make 28.00 an hour

5 weeks paid vacation

All paid fed. holidays off

Free run on over time can wright their own paychecks. Most make well in excess of 80K yr.

Retire after 30 with if 56 or older

401k 5% match for 5% contribution. You can do 15% if so choose.

2hrs a week or 104hrs sick leave per year. unused accrues and added to years of service if not used.

Not bad for an unskilled job that takes 3 days or less to learn.

This is what Government thinks laborers are worth in their fantacy land.

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:20 | 5295563 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

So, instead of tearing them down from envy, how about building the rest of us up? Or is learning what's possible too dangerous?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 18:29 | 5296499 RKDS
RKDS's picture

Why, you be careful now, if folks started thinking they might ask questions instead of just obeying their exalted lords like good little serfs...

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:54 | 5303951 RKDS
RKDS's picture

Alot easier to click a down arrow than qualify for a state job, isn't it?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:28 | 5295620 The9thDoctor
The9thDoctor's picture

So what is stopping you from applying for that job?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 18:25 | 5296486 RKDS
RKDS's picture

Crippling incompetence would be my guess.

Wed, 10/08/2014 - 12:54 | 5303957 RKDS
RKDS's picture

Alot easier to click a down arrow than qualify for a state job, isn't it?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:29 | 5295282 QQQBall
QQQBall's picture

Shock Doctrine 101... sell off the govt assets and privatize services..... with people screamiing about the losses and 80 years of legacy benefits funded, uncle Omaha will get a monopoly biz with high barrier to entry and a big pool of money/pension funds to invest. 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:31 | 5295287 BouncingCat
BouncingCat's picture

No matter what USPS does, they'll still lose money. It has to do with the nature of protected bureaucracy. They should start contracting out each local post office.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:30 | 5295290 BouncingCat
BouncingCat's picture

No matter what USPS does, they'll still lose money. It has to do with the nature of protected bureaucracy. They should start contracting out each local post office.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:32 | 5295297 Conax
Conax's picture

Affirmative action hiring practices+government employee perks and bennies+can't fire any of them+junkmail mountain=Failure.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:34 | 5295307 besnook
besnook's picture

i think ups, fedex and the other premium delivery services should be forced to take on the crap the usps has to deliver by law and see how much profit they can make out of it. this is such a bullshit story.

 

there are thousands of rural hamlets that have had pick up service for mail as far as three miles away for more than 100 years.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:50 | 5295387 Edge.case
Edge.case's picture

So, because there are bad laws that make it "difficult" for USPS, your answer isn't to get rid of either those laws or the USPS, but to make prive delivery services abide by the same crap laws. Is that about right?

Why do you think forcing them to do this would make it difficult for UPS, Fedex? Most of my junk mail would go away (yea!), or those merchants would need to pay for the delivery, just like anything else. Guess what? The result is.... wait for it.... I know it's freightening ... consumers get exactly what they want based on what they are willing to pay.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:56 | 5295418 besnook
besnook's picture

psssst. the usps is a constitutional mandate. the private services have exploited this weakness to the benefit of everyone. regardless of this fact, criticizing the usps without discussing the huge built in overhead is bullshit.

 

your reading comprehension needs help in the putting words in other peoples' mouth department. the fn board is filled with dumbasses now.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 20:31 | 5296995 Edge.case
Edge.case's picture

Article I, Section 8, Clause 7:

 

"To establish Post Offices and post Roads"

 

But as Lysander Spooner noted in 1844, this does not expressly prevent private entities from delivering mail. However the Private Express Statutes do. So I'm assuming you have some basic knowledge of economics and understand that monopolies are bad. Even a statist like Paul Krugman will agree that monopolies result in poor service and high prices. 

 

The article in question, and this discussion, regards the economics of the USPS. Trying to dismiss the economics by Appeal To Authority ™ won't do.  

 

So, in regards to the economics, if the USPS has some sort of unbearable overhead, it is because it is a monopoly. I could care less about the details of this because the solution has been known for centuries. Break up the monopoly. 

 

 

As to my reading comprehension, if you read the words from both our posts carefully, I think you'll notice something. My writing is actually comprehensible. If I misread you're original post, I apologize, but, yea, your writing sucks.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:26 | 5295951 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

Your junk mail will never go away because it is "protected" under "free speech" - that's one of the perversities I know but there you are.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 14:34 | 5295316 indmotor
indmotor's picture

All managers at PO are Black, They were usually really bad carriers and faked a bad back or something so there is no use for them and they make them boss. They are phchopathic racist haters. Hate white people and drive them like slaves! You can't say anything because they are black. All their fellow blacks can do no wrong and whitie has to pull the slack or You will be fired. It is beyond belief what a racist cesspool the PO is. I pitty the poor white folks that work there.

This is not racist. It is fact!!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:27 | 5295959 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

I pity you

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 17:06 | 5296115 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

You idiot Libtard. He described USPS exactly as it is.  I implemented systems there and it's actually even worse than he says.  All managers are black and they're utterly useless and carry a major chip on their shoulders.  It deserves to  crash and burn.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:17 | 5295547 orez65
orez65's picture

260,000 fuck.ng mail trucks spewing pollutants into our breathing air. And not a word of complain from our liberal retards.

For a job that can be done over the Internet!!

I, nor does any one, need any fuck.ng paper mail!

Another example of the exceptionalism of our form of Government.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:28 | 5295961 ajax
ajax's picture

 

 

I suppose you don't drive a vehicle?

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:19 | 5295569 F.A. Hayek
F.A. Hayek's picture

My local po needed a new roof. A regular one wasn't good enough for covering the heads of letter sorters, so they went for the architectural shingles. Nothing but champagne and caviar for my local hacks!

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:43 | 5295731 limacon
limacon's picture

"What ! Nevermore will the postman knock twice ?"

"Nevermore ."

He has reskilled as the Postman of the Apocalypse 

See how in 

http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2012/11/optimizing-professional.html

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:45 | 5295741 Equality 7-25-1
Equality 7-25-1's picture

No service, same price. How is it the private carriers, who do not enjoy the post office monopoly on letters, turn a profit? The USPS is rayciss. Burn it down.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 15:49 | 5295772 Comte d'herblay
Comte d'herblay's picture

They might be able to make a go of it if they could charge Junk Mailers the right fare to distribute their advertising.

This turd class rate is total bullshit.

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:16 | 5295895 Equality 7-25-1
Equality 7-25-1's picture

It costs money to read all your email bichz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Inspection_Service

You want us to deliver your junk mail too? Thats not in the budget.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 16:31 | 5295967 theyjustcantstop
theyjustcantstop's picture

there are tons of ideas to change usps, and most all govt. agencies, but thats just it it's govt..

60% of the american, or illegal voters vote for politicitians that guarantee them they won't have to pay, or they won't disturb you're finacial benifits buy changing things.

here we sit.

did i read that right, the usps doen't get tax-payer funds?

 

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 17:02 | 5296098 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

The USPS is as it is because it's stuffed to the gills, at every level, by useless indolent and incompetent 'minorities' emplyed at the expense of White Americans.  I'm looking forward to seeing this particular train-wreck hit the buffers.

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 17:58 | 5296348 welostyourgold
welostyourgold's picture

I would have no problem 'de-listing' my address and telling business partners "I dont uses USPS."  "If you want me to have something 'Brown-it'."

Mon, 10/06/2014 - 23:40 | 5297557 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

Congress traditionally has included a provision in legislation to fund the federal government each year that has prevented the Postal Service from reducing delivery service. The Postal Service had asked Congress not to include the provision but despite the request current legislation maintains the provision.

So again, as America sits mired in debt with a growing deficit, our government has failed to take a simple commonsense step to correct the problem. This also The President has also failed to step up to the plate and provide leadership. More on this subject in the article below.

http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/04/post-office-fails-again-how-pathe...

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!