NintendoAge

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-30T15:03:49 -05.00

Originally posted by: NationalGameDepot

UPS drops ships to almost every PO everyday, so does Fedex, and a few other smaller companies. Customers pay UPS the premium for the package, and it is then cheaper for UPS to pay us to deliver it and they pocket the profit.

I also don't think that most people understand how the PO actually works. The PO is the only self funded government agency. We do not (and haven't ever) received one dime in tax dollars. The entire budget is from shipping and stamp sells, the PO is totally self funded. The PO has always been designed to only break even, they have never wanted it to make a profit, just keep sustaining itself. That has always worked in the past, but with everything being online it has cut the amount of First Class mail to shreds, and that is the mail class that has the highest profit margin.
~~NGD

Interesting information there NGD, thank you for sharing that.

As for improving it - I'm not sure there really is any true way to improve it. It's not horrible by any standard, and while some things could be improved upon, it may not be practical. I've also never had an issue with mail in my area, and my mailman is always very friendly and makes sure he says hi if you're home.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-30T14:38:44 -05.00

I'd improve the post by having them send all the video games to me.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-30T12:22:19 -05.00

UPS drops ships to almost every PO everyday, so does Fedex, and a few other smaller companies. Customers pay UPS the premium for the package, and it is then cheaper for UPS to pay us to deliver it and they pocket the profit.

I also don't think that most people understand how the PO actually works. The PO is the only self funded government agency. We do not (and haven't ever) received one dime in tax dollars. The entire budget is from shipping and stamp sells, the PO is totally self funded. The PO has always been designed to only break even, they have never wanted it to make a profit, just keep sustaining itself. That has always worked in the past, but with everything being online it has cut the amount of First Class mail to shreds, and that is the mail class that has the highest profit margin.
~~NGD

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T14:18:51 -05.00

Ya i get the convenient thing but its totally different from a grocery store because theirs sooooo many of them (you don't really need a gas station unless its 24hr one). If you go to one post office the others have the same price. All I'm saying it's not really convenient because you have to go to the post office (majority of the time) and you are paying up the b' prices. If they are smart they could buy off those 3M mailers that 99cent stores get, make a deal with them so that they can have cheaper supplies.

The supplies they sell is like - Soda at fastfood joints - they probably don't pay much for them but they charge you 100%+ on it.

The thing is that they have been losing money and instead of fixing the problem so that you get more customers, they rather charge more to the existing customers and probably lose some on the way. It's the small things that at the end add up and make a difference.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T13:43:09 -05.00

Originally posted by: punkr13

that's another thing that bugs me about the PO, all the envelope tape boxes they have for sale... The prices of all that stuff is so expensive. I dread the days when I sell something and haven't had time to buy supplies. So i go to the post office and get owned with 2 dollar small envelope and 3 dollar tape..

If they want some business, they should actually sell that stuff cheap, so I don't have to buy elsewhere for my supplies.

(other 2cents on this)

But that stuff is like having to buy a sandwich at the airport. You're going to buy it, no matter the price, because you need it and it's convenient.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T13:42:23 -05.00

Well yeah, no kidding you are paying more at the Post Office. You often sacrifice price for convenience. It's just like buying milk or medicine from a gas station without having to shop at the grocery store. You're going to pay 10-25% more at the gas station due to the convenience of a quick in and out instead of walking through a large store and waiting in lines.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T13:38:18 -05.00

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

Originally posted by: punkr13

If they had some real competition the PO would probably lose a lot of customers.

Well, technically, their competition for a good chunk of what they used to do is called "email".

That's true email is killing sending letters/paperwork.

But say a company pop's up and dedicates their effort in just packages dvdset size - bigger items. They can could just focus on that and let the PO have letters, because its small/med/lrg size packages is how the PO is banking off ppl.

If i could use a service that saves me a buck or 2 that would be great because then I would buy better supplies to ship stuff and more of it.

*
that's another thing that bugs me about the PO, all the envelope tape boxes they have for sale... The prices of all that stuff is so expensive. I dread the days when I sell something and haven't had time to buy supplies. So i go to the post office and get owned with 2 dollar small envelope and 3 dollar tape..

If they want some business, they should actually sell that stuff cheap, so I don't have to buy elsewhere for my supplies.

(other 2cents on this)

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T10:38:47 -05.00

Originally posted by: arch_8ngel

In parts of the country where there is 1 person, or less, per square mile I don't think you could come up with a profitable price point that people would still be willing to use.

Also, keep in mind, that the most rural parts of the country are also some of the most impoverished, and can least afford to pay a higher postal rate to take care of necessities.

If there is only one person then yeah they would probably have to use a slightly more centralized location, (I'm surprised they don't already, when I lived in the country we had to go into the nearest town for the mail). I would be surprised if they couldn't find a compromise between centralizing the locations for the mail pickup somewhat, raising the price and delivering less often that would turn a profit. The gov't is going to pay to send certain things to people no matter what you charge (as long as no one else is cheaper) and they would probably pay for people to send things to them too if neccessary for things that you are required to send to them.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T10:25:57 -05.00

Originally posted by: MrMark0673

Am I the only one who doesn't think the PO does too bad of a job? Mail always gets to me on time, rarely is a box dinged up at all, and I've never had a package to or from me lost in the mail. Sure, they can improve, but I'm relatively happy with what they bring to the table.

x2 agreed Mark. I love the post office, I have no problems with their service.

How would you improve the postal system?

ZOMG! — 2011-06-28T10:06:43 -05.00

I was just going to say the same thing. I think the PO is pretty much good as it is right now. I've had exactly one issue with them in probably well over 2000 packages sent. Can't complain about that percentage at all.