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- Shwaavay, on 10/05/2009, -2/+46The last line is the only one worth reading:
"In other words, run it like a real business." - IphtashuFitz, on 10/05/2009, -8/+451) Get into the e-business. More people are e-mailing? So meet their needs. "Give every American an e-mail address when they're born," suggests futurist Watts Wacker.
Sorry, but that's a pretty stupid idea. First off, why do they need one when they can't even read/write until they're a few years old. Second off, whose going to pay for storing all the spam that address collects for the years upon years before they actually reach an age where they could actually make use of the address? And how many parents do you know that actually give their kids e-mail addresses at such a young age?
2) Increase service. Don't drop from six- to five-day delivery; go the other way, says Kellogg School business prof Richard D'Aveni—to all seven.
And who is going to pay the overtime required for employees to work on Sunday?
3) Advertise with coupons.
That will likely turn away even more of your customer base who are already fed up with all the direct mail, etc. they already get.
4) Make a play for control of government broadband.
Great, more government regulation. And how do you propose doing this, simply declaring "eminent domain" over all the networking gear that belongs to Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, etc?
5) Rebrand.
Oh yeah, that'll really help them out a lot. The same old delivery service with a new logo. They've already attempted that a few times. They changed their eagle logo to a more streamlined one back in 1994. That helped a hell of a lot... They'll just end up wasting a ton of money on consultants and end up with another new logo and not much else to show for it.
6) Close branches if you must, but do it strategically.
OK, so finally one suggestion that makes some sense.
7) Reorganize and motivate staff. Paying high wages with inflated job security isn't a competitive strategy.
Two suggestions that make sense, out of 7 suggested. - NyteStarNyne, on 10/05/2009, -1/+318) Figure out a way to prevent employees from stealing my god damn Netflix movies.
- KnightMareInc, on 10/05/2009, -3/+31the USPS is pretty awesome actually. Everybody including the sector has been hurt badly by the recession
- dinki, on 10/05/2009, -0/+26I'd be happy if they just put the stamp machines back in the lobby so I don't have to wait in line or can go after hours.
- inactive, on 10/05/2009, -4/+29In regards to option #2 (Increase service), theres an easier way to acomplish this.
Jack up the rates for Return to Sender (RTS) mail. A company mails out an envelope, it costs them 40 cents or something. Well it costs .80 cents to a dollar to have it mailed back to the sender. I used to work for a health insurance company, that every day had a full tray of RTS mail, which I had to sort through to find payment checks (to forward internally to another dept) as well as sort Federal Claims and other types of coorespondence mail. A single tray would end up costing the company
One could kill two birds with one stone. Pass a law that bans the use Bulk Assortment Mail (Mail To: Current Resident, IE; Junk Mail) using the US Post Office. If you want to mail it, it needs to have a name and physical adddress. This will cause the price on mailing lists to skyrocket and should you get junk mail, in your name, simply write "Return to Sender, person doesnt live here". The USPO mails it back, charges a fee to the sender. If the USPO jacks up the price on RTS mail (which has no affect on citizens), they'll re-coup the loss of less bulk mail. So they continue to make money, it cuts down on the MASSIVE flood of junk mail we get in our tiny mail slots and the postal carriers time ends up being better spend delivering ACTUAL mail.
If were going to cut hours for postal carriers, or eliminate saturday deliveries, which do you think will carry a higher priority? The junk mail (which they get paid alot to deliver) or your actual mail? Seriously, lets cut down the volume of mail being delivered, instead of cutting the service. - trdrstv, on 10/05/2009, -2/+24# 7 - sums it up at the end. "Run it like a real business".
Sorry, but there's no reason the USPS (or Amtrak for that matter), can't be profitable. All you need to do is put the right people in charge, and give them the authority to get rid of the 'deliberate waste', and run it like a real business.
Hell, 6 months After Huricane Katrina the USPS still had a ban on 'non-essential mail' (IE, catalogs and such) going into New Orleans. FedEx was back to 'full service' in 2 weeks. - jonwise80, on 10/05/2009, -5/+26Sorry, but when I moved to the States I was blown away by how efficient and quick the U.S. Postal Service is.
Fix your health care, tho... - BlackJackJester, on 10/05/2009, -3/+221) Get rid of the union.
couple months ago, I was thrown back when I went to mail a box through USPS. One guy was actually working hard and efficiently (not sure why, no incentive to do so) - but he was. He cleared the entire lobby in minutes. I've also spent 30 minutes waiting behind 2 people for no reason. A post office needs maybe 3 employees to work well (one front room, one back room, one on the truck).
Fixed. - Import98, on 10/05/2009, -0/+17One major thing missing is downsizing management. It is a huge top heavy organization for no real reason.
- dave122, on 10/05/2009, -1/+16The USPS is one of the biggest lobbyists for the direct mail industry. Junk mail is their bread and butter, there is absolutely no way they will ever attempt to get rid of bulk mailings. Why do you think we don't have a Do Not Mail list similar to the Do Not Call list?
- Jareth86, on 10/05/2009, -2/+155) Rebreand
Yeah, a hip new name for a hip new generation, right guys?! Lets call it "The Post.0". That's how the kids send the texts, right? - trdrstv, on 10/05/2009, -0/+13"Pass a law that bans the use Bulk Assortment Mail (Mail To: Current Resident, IE; Junk Mail) using the US Post Office."
Never happen. They generate a TON of money on those. Don't have a source handy, but I read somewhere that is their 'highest margin' offering. - kspanks04, on 10/05/2009, -1/+14Give every american an email address at birth? I can't imagine the spam.
- DOCNM, on 10/05/2009, -2/+14I stop at "perennially in the red". It has been profitable until 2005. I don't know if it's in the article, but moving to an electric fleet but help them avoid sudden losses (given that 1 cent increase in fuel is equivalent to $8 million over the entire fleet).
- superkendall, on 10/05/2009, -1/+12There's a very good reason. Unions.
- Raider007, on 10/05/2009, -3/+148) get a real tracking system up and running...
I want to know where my letter is and when I should expect it, not "your package has been scheduled for pickup" and then "delivered" - kspanks04, on 10/05/2009, -0/+11no, those little boxes in front of nearly every house are just for decoration.
what are you? - xdrone, on 10/05/2009, -2/+13@AbsurdParadox, USPS is not government subsidized.
http://www.nalc.org/postal/perform/selfsufficient. ... - skyjis6, on 10/05/2009, -5/+15At least they aren't shooting people anymore...
- duncan202, on 10/05/2009, -2/+12Actually it IS illegal for a company to compete with the USPS for delivery of first class mail.
- AgmLauncher, on 10/05/2009, -0/+9"4) Make a play for control of government broadband. With Congress considering an expansion of broadband access, why not put it under the USPS, asks futurist David Houle. "That would define the Postal Service as a communications-delivery service, rather than just a team of letter carriers. Don't let the service's tie to Congress make it fizzle. If used right, why not use it as an advantage?"
Wow good idea, so they can then have the control they need to charge for every email we send? No thanks. - IphtashuFitz, on 10/05/2009, -0/+9Agreed. The USPS office in Woburn, MA now has a 24-hour self-service kiosk where you can weigh a package, print out postage, delivery confirmation labels, etc. but they took out the stamp vending machine. Makes no sense at all as far as I'm concerned. Add one thing to a lobby that's open 24x7 but take out something else that's just as useful? What gives?
- fedak, on 10/05/2009, -0/+9"R" is the traditional abbreviation for Thursday for when only a single letter/day is used.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200808 ... - woj1s, on 10/05/2009, -2/+11Why would you hope that? Youre an idiot.
- DOCNM, on 10/05/2009, -1/+10like the constitution?
- Shwaavay, on 10/05/2009, -3/+12It is against the law for them to use your mailbox that YOU paid for to deposit that letter. That's why the competitive field is not level.
- Kansas, on 10/05/2009, -4/+13"Make a play for control of government broadband."
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Give a dysfunctional organization whose minimal expertise is in delivering pieces of paper control over a large segment of electronic communications on which our economy depends? - Cputerace, on 10/05/2009, -3/+11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_ ...
"Article I, section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution grants U.S. Congress the power to establish post offices and post roads. The Federal Government has interpreted this clause as granting a de facto Congressional monopoly over the delivery of mail. According to the government, no other system for delivering mail - public or private - can be established absent Congress's consent. Congress has delegated to the Postal Service the power to decide whether others may compete with it, and the Postal Service has carved out an exception to its monopoly for extremely urgent letters."
Basically ups/fedex are allowed to do what they are doing because they are delivering "Packages", not "Letters", and the extremely urgent letters exemption allows for couriers to send letters.
So it looks like we actually just need some Supreme Court Judges who know what they are talking about to overthrow this bad idea and open up competition. - Smokeydabear, on 10/05/2009, -2/+10How about they change the "arrived at unit" status when you look at shipping updates. It makes people think that the item has arrived at your house.
- brandozilla, on 10/05/2009, -3/+11Those are awful ideas, save number 7. Why would anyone want the federal government administering their personal email address? Mail 7 days a week? What the ***** is the point of that? I don't want mail on sundays. I don't even want it on Saturdays. Once a week and I'm good.
- Entroper, on 10/05/2009, -0/+8You forgot 3.d) Mail Insurance will save money by dropping clients that begin sending large packages, citing their failure to disclose a letter they once wrote to their penpal in the second grade.
- Druc3, on 10/05/2009, -11/+19My Prescription
1) Privatize it.
2) Make it prohibitively expensive to buy stamps
3) Create "Mail Insurance" companies to sell you insurance to cover any mail requirements which would
a) have a five stamp monthly deductable
b) any mail you wanted to intended to send before obtaining the insurance (bills, Christmas cards, etc) would be a pre-existing condition
c) make users get first-class mail pre-authorized
4) make sure that no government bureaucrat gets between you and your postman. - ScottMitchell, on 10/05/2009, -0/+7I was once waiting in a long line when there were only two workers manning the five counters. There was another employee sifting through some stuff at the counter, but not helping other customers. One guy who was tired of waiting shouted from the line, "Hey, why aren't you serving any customers, this line hasn't moved in 5 minutes." And the guy said something along the lines of, "I'd like to help, but I'd be violating union rules," or some such blather. (I think he was a manager because he was dressed differently than the counter workers.)
- erkokite, on 10/05/2009, -0/+7It's cheap. So for anything that doesn't require superfast delivery, it works great.
- dave122, on 10/05/2009, -1/+8Yes they do, but they aren't required to abide by it, and there are many other direct mailers not involved with the DMA. https://www.optoutprescreen.com is another service to get rid of pre-approved credit card offers, I get a fraction of what I used to get, but still get a couple a month.
The DMA obviously doesn't want to mail to people to don't read it, that's a waste of their money. If they can make that distinction they will stop mailing. The USPS however makes a ton of money off of those bulk mailings. And it matters not to them how high of a success rate the mailings have.
The big difference is that with the do not call list, violators can be fined fairly substantial amounts of money if they call someone on the list. - sporkman, on 10/05/2009, -4/+10Yes, because privatized health care works SO well. There are certain things that need to be run by the government. Can you imagine if all the letter carrying companies got together and formed an alliance, like OPEC? $2 to mail a letter, woo!
- danbrunell, on 10/05/2009, -5/+11The Postal Service is an awesome band
- QuimbyDogg, on 10/05/2009, -5/+11You can already send letters via DHL, FedEx, or UPS so I am confused by your post about competition for daily mail service.
I regularly mail packages at the UPS store in a neighboring town instead of going to the USPS that is a block from my house because I don't like one of the employees. There very clearly already is competition in this industry.
As far as daily mail if a private company wants to start a program to drive to nearly every house in America on a daily basis and put a box at the end of my driveway I would just as quickly use that instead of USPS -- that is of course only if I liked the overall service more. - Rhendal, on 10/05/2009, -2/+8Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.
- DOCNM, on 10/05/2009, -0/+6it really seems that blaming the USPS is become a favorite sport of lately. Especially by the uninformed.
The USPS has an excellent track record and the price of a stamp has tracked inflation pretty closely ( http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/10868557 ) and until 2005 they run a profit.
And is not a problem of management or efficiency, it simply a problem of shrinking market and fluctuating costs. It would be actually sufficient to raise the cost of a stamp to 80 cents (which is still less than what one would pay in most of Europe, btw), and the USPS would run a profit for the next 10 years or so (which, incidentally, is normally used to cover losses once inflation catches up) - sexyloser, on 10/05/2009, -0/+6Ban Junk Mail. It just waste gas to transport them and everybody just throws them away. But leave me my coupons. I like those.
- HCProgramr, on 10/05/2009, -0/+6Amtrak's pretty close, actually...a lot more so than the highway system; I had the numbers in a thread a few months ago, too busy at work to get them again now...their big money sink right now is upgrading to high-speed lines. Without that, they very well might be profitable.
I'm ok with the USPS being non-profit (not everything has to be "squeeze every f*cking penny out of the customer!!1!", especially when it comes to infrastructure), but them running at a loss (without good reason...a massive investment now to provide better service/better profits later is OK) is inexcusable.
But being on the outside, we can only speculate what's actually wrong with it. Would an extra $1/month on PO boxes make up the shortfall? What about lowering the prices on packages and making up the difference on volume? Would accepting packages they currently refuse to touch (like car engines) make a difference?
Regardless...there is something that can be done, and 'zOMG TEH EVAL UNIONS ACCIDENALLY TEH POST OFFIS!' (as suggested by other diggers) may be part of the problem...but it won't be a silver bullet, either. - s73v3r, on 10/05/2009, -0/+6In the UK, they privatized the postal system a while back. It has since gone to *****.
- forcedfx, on 10/05/2009, -0/+6Yeah, it's cheaper for me to drop off my water/sewer bill at the town hall than it is to just mail it. Found out I can pay by credit card over the phone so that's even better.
- RodgerE1, on 10/05/2009, -0/+6They make most of their money on Junk Mail.
- bacon_skoda, on 10/05/2009, -2/+7and if you live in a the middle of nowhere. who bids that one?
NOT UPS and NOT FedEx.
It's not profitable.
USPS is a service for all paid for by all. equal access. equal pricing. socialism. - sm8385a, on 10/05/2009, -0/+5The difference is that under private competition, poor companies are forced to either contract or go out of business with new managers buying up those assets. This is creative destruction and the virtue of capitalism. Public utilities remain on the taxpayer rolls even after they have been shown to fail. If the government is going to allow the USPS to exist even after it runs up huge deficits for years - what incentive is there for management to change?
- asubigsaxy, on 10/05/2009, -5/+10If it aint broke dont fix it
but really WTF, why does everyone have to be so negative all the time.
Our postal system is great! Go USA! - minoss, on 10/05/2009, -1/+6Fedex and UPS aren't losing billions every quarter. In fact, they're both still profitable.
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