I wouldn’t normally have written a blog post about something as mundane as going to the post office to mail an overnight letter (something that it turned out can no longer be done), but no sooner did I return from my mini-adventure than I saw that the GAO is warning that the Postal Service is no longer viable:
Happy Monday! The U.S. Postal Service’s current business model “is not viable” and the mail agency should make deeper job and wage cuts, hire more part-time staff and consider outsourcing operations, according to a draft of a government audit acquired by The Federal Eye.
Auditors also urge Congress to remove restrictions on the Postal Service’s ability to cut Saturday mail delivery and close post offices, according to the report, which offers recommendations similar to the USPS’s own proposed 10-year business plan.
Lawmakers requested the Government Accountability Office report, set for a Monday release, as they prepare to consider the USPS plan, which was introduced last month. The proposals call for an end to six-day delivery and ask Congress to give the mail agency the ability to raise prices beyond the rate of inflation and close post offices if necessary.
Well, I had to solve this morning’s problem by going from the post office to a Federal Express office. There was no line, a courteous employee simply took my letter, filled out everything for me, and in no time at all I was out of there with a guaranteed delivery receipt in my hand. Granted, FEDEX costs more, but there’s also UPS, which costs less, and either one can manage to get a letter from Michigan to California overnight. So, why is it that the federal government, with all its resources, cannot do the same thing?
Sure, I had to pay more, but if the USPS had an “overnight mail” service (yes, that is the Newspeak phrase they use to describe their 2 day delivery), and it actually worked, they could charge the same as FEDEX or UPS, and maybe be competitive.
Can you imagine what would happen if they ran medical care the way they run the Postal Service?
Yeah, I know. Questions like that used to be rhetorical.
MORE: From Byron York a real question, “Will Obama create the Post Office of health care?”
If only that were a joke.
Comments
4 responses to “When overnight no longer means overnight….”
UPS isn’t any better.
They might claim to deliver it overnight, but they rarely accomplish that. I used to own a Dunkin Donuts, I wasn’t very good at ordering at first so I would run out of stuff and have to have it sent UPS. They would promise overnight and then tell me the next day I was SOL. I had to find someone closer who could sell me jelly for doughnuts and go pick it up myself.
I’ve had stuff sent to my present address a bunch of times via UPS, the only times it’s actually shown up at my door I’ve had to call up and harangue a bunch of people.
My favorite was my last place, I had something from Amazon delivered and they delivered it to the same address in another, nearby, city. When I called the girl asked if I knew where I lived.
Nope, I’ll often not buy from someone if they only ship via UPS, I don’t really like having to be an icehole to get a delivery company to deliver a package.
I read an article last month on how USPS wants to close about 600 post offices, since people don’t go to the post office anymore, and they don’t need so many, but no House Representative will let them close anything in their district.
They are doing the same thing to GM now, “not interfering in business” they say.
If you take money from the government it’s like taking money from the mob: you’ll never get rid of them interfering in your business.
I gave up years ago trying to overnight dog show entries from the Post Office. They can’t even get entries overnight to Los Angeles when I live less than a 3 hour drive away. FedEx can do it. Of course, the package goes through Tennessee…
This is not such an easy comparison. FedEx and UPS are not subsidized by the government in the way your tax dollars pay for the Postal Service. They have shareholder who expect a profit on top of all that.
On the other hand, FedEx and UPS are not mandated to provide service. There’s a reason I don’t have a FedEx or UPS office in my little rural town. But every day the local Postal Service drives every little gravel road in my township delivering mail at a net loss for their office.