Post office wanting to stop Saturday mail delivery

If the post office gets it's way, soon there will be no mail delivery on Saturday. The only problem I have with that is when they have a Monday Holiday, we won't get mail for 3 days.

Here that makes our mail delivery way way late in the evening. People who are waiting on checks and stuff or need a bill to arrive on a certain date, could have a big problem.

I think it would be better if they took Mondays off. That would get rid of the paid Holiday and save tons of money. (just kidding) Maybe taking Wednesday off would be better. That way mail would only be missed being delivered one day a week unless there was a holiday.

Any thoughts? (please be nice I don't want this to end up in the dog house) :love:

It's a scare tactic by postal management to get the PEHA laws changed.

They can WANT to eliminate saturday delivery, however it would take an act of congress to change the delivery requirements.

We Canucks haven't had Saturday delivery for at least 20 years.

Somehow, we survived....:eek::)

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Originally Posted by Catty1

We Canucks haven't had Saturday delivery for at least 20 years.

Somehow, we survived....:eek::)

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Not only survivied but put on a heck of a good Olympics !!! :D

There are businesses which rely on Saturday delivery.

There are people who recieve their prescriptions by mail who rely on timely delivery.

The USPS needs to save money, but there are measures they can take to save money WITHOUT impacting delivery.

I could go on for pages about the USPS wasting money, but that's fine, it's all the fault of the Unions.

Well if I counted on the USPS for anything let alone medications, I'd be dead!! :eek: I heard a news report that the main issue is that there are so many more addresses to deliver to that there just isnt' the funding or manpower to cover the additional expenses every year. I for one would be happy to volunteer home delivery for a PO box at a more central location I can pick up at my convenience. I wouldn't "count' on the USPS for anything. I pay my bills automatically online so the only thing I occasionally get other than junk mail, is a card or letter from family or friends.

I can't remember what Germany had 30 some years ago, might it have been two mail delivers on Sat?

None here on Saturdays....never has been.

Hmm, interesting topic. I would be so sad to stop getting mail on Saturdays. :( But, I can understand how in the last 15 years, so many people have stopped sending snail mail due to email, and stopped sending bills due to automatic online payments. I know that we personally go through one book of stamps in about 4 months -- yes, I bought one book right before Christmas, and its only half gone. That's not very much income to the USPS! :eek: But also, I would much more likely SEND more mail if it wasn't so darn expensive.

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Originally Posted by Catty1

We Canucks haven't had Saturday delivery for at least 20 years.

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Neither haven't we Belgians ;)

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Originally Posted by Cookiebaker

Hmm, interesting topic. I would be so sad to stop getting mail on Saturdays. :( But, I can understand how in the last 15 years, so many people have stopped sending snail mail due to email, and stopped sending bills due to automatic online payments. I know that we personally go through one book of stamps in about 4 months -- yes, I bought one book right before Christmas, and its only half gone. That's not very much income to the USPS! :eek: But also, I would much more likely SEND more mail if it wasn't so darn expensive.

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I know US mail to overseas is very expensive.

I, for one, wouldn't miss Saturday delivery. That's one less day to sort thru all the junk mail.

I too, use the mail less all the time. With on line bill pay, a book of stamps lasts me a LONG time. I have gone paperless with most everything, I never write or receive letters (isn't that what email is for?), and about the only thing I use stamps for, is to send out greeting cards.

I could live with mail delivery twice a week. If someone relies on Saturday mail for the delivery of medication, for example, they would start ordering it a day or two earlier, having it shipped a day or two earlier, etc.

I can't remember the last time I put a bill in the mail, though I still receive all but my cell phone bill that way. In 10 years, we will look back on this issue and laugh. Change is so hard for us, LOL.

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

There are businesses which rely on Saturday delivery.

There are people who recieve their prescriptions by mail who rely on timely delivery.

The USPS needs to save money, but there are measures they can take to save money WITHOUT impacting delivery.

I could go on for pages about the USPS wasting money, but that's fine, it's all the fault of the Unions.

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Am I correct that the unions are not willing to make any concessions?

Do the unions ever do without? Have they cut their payroll and pensions and lifetime health coverage?

These are sincere questions for which I have no answers. This isn't intended to start any arguments!

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Originally Posted by gini

Am I correct that the unions are not willing to make any concessions?

Do the unions ever do without? Have they cut their payroll and pensions and lifetime health coverage?

These are sincere questions for which I have no answers. This isn't intended to start any arguments!

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If you have health insurance, thank a union.
If you have overtime, thank a union.
If you have vacation time, thank a union.
If you have suffered discrimination, and prevailed, thank a union.
If you are female, and work for 'equal pay', thank a union.
If you work in an environment with 'safety regs', thank a union.

And, btw, I am not union, have never been union, but, recognize the union's purpose and presence in today's current employment (or, should I say, Labor) environment.

OK, when I was a child, we had the postman deliver mail at 8-9 in the morning and then again at 1-2pm - and he was nice too. These days it's once a day (including sat. though) and we don't even get it in our letterbox we all have in the door - oh no, now we have to go down the staircase to open a box with a key to get our mail. They recently put that up. What if people are sick or old and live on the top floor! What a service! :rolleyes:

We've never had a Saturday postal delivery. Can't say that we miss it, we're used to it I guess. Nothing seems that important that it can't wait a few days. Here pension cheques or others are sent to make sure they come before a weekend so no one is out anything. For holidays the cheques come in earlier than their usual date. I also use the post for greeting cards only.

Well, when you are as isolated as I am, getting mail every day gives me something to look foreward too. :love:

Canada doesn't have Sat/Sun deliveries, but the plants are still open. The postmen collect the mail, people sort it, & prep it for monday madness :)

With the internet n such, it is wise the USPS stop delivery on sat. It's such a waste of money. I get about 3 pieces of mail/month & I send out NO bills/yr. I only send out about 10 xmas cards. Thats pretty much no $ for the CPC from me. & how many others are in the same boat as myself? Hundreds? thousands?! The only thing I get int he mail on a bi-daily bases is junk mail that I don't even open. I toss it into recycling. Why open it when I can look at the one store I shop at online? It's so wasteful :(

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Originally Posted by gini

Am I correct that the unions are not willing to make any concessions?

Do the unions ever do without? Have they cut their payroll and pensions and lifetime health coverage?

These are sincere questions for which I have no answers. This isn't intended to start any arguments!

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Concessions?

In the last contracts the Unions agreed to an expanded temp workforce, doubling the allowance as a percentage of the workforce (from 5% to 10%) and changed their terms of employment from 90 day contracts to 365 day contracts.

In the last APWU contract the union agreed to a 1% raise with quarterly COLAs, which is the lowest pay increases by any federal workforce.

Over the last 10 years the USPS has cut the workforce by almost 200,000 craft employees.....while the ranks of management have actually risen. Fewer employees=more management? They forecast shedding another 30,000 employees this year, with no cuts to management ranks. As a glaring example, right now I'm fighting a staffing cut in the department I represent from 41 employees to 29 employees.......yet the FOUR supervisors stay in place.


In the last contract the APWU changed the formula for the health cost allocation.

Lifetime health care? It's part of the federal pension system, which, being government employees, we have the same right to access as any other federal employee.

So yes, the postal unions have made concessions, but they still sounds the drumbeat of labor costs when they go in front of congress.

The USPS continues to give major mailers an over 50% discount on first class bulk mail......they pay between 7 and 20 cents per piece for mail. I don't have the precise figures in front of me, but the cost to the postal service to barcode and do the primary sortation on mail is far, far less than the 50-75% discount they give the mailers. To add to that, a fair percentage of their barcodes are out of spec, so we wind up barcoding the mail for them anyway.

Follow the executive trail....look up where retiring postal service executives go, and in one glaring case, where they come from. One of the current Postal Veeps still serves as a corporate officer for a bulk mailer.....but there's no conflict of interest there at all.

In 2005 the Postal service stated crying poverty because of the cost of fuel, yet continues to make "network adjustments" which do nothing more than increase their fuel costs.......in the case of consolidating some mail from the plant I work in to another plant, they assumed a static fuel cost, and still calculated that the move would cost them $140,000 more in fuel annually.

We're required to buy supplies from single vendors where possible, theoretically to control costs, yet when I notified management that they were getting raked over the coals on the cost of one item, nothing was done. $700 hammers for the military? Try $700 rolls of network cable.......that I can buy for 1/5 the cost.


I could go on, as I said, for pages, but I'll end this here for now.

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Originally Posted by king2005

Canada doesn't have Sat/Sun deliveries, but the plants are still open. The postmen collect the mail, people sort it, & prep it for monday madness :)

With the internet n such, it is wise the USPS stop delivery on sat.

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The postal service likes to claim the Internet is causing the decrease in mail volume..........but the high water mark for number of mailpieces was in 2006. Did they JUST invent the internet?

One more item:

When you get your magazines dogeared and torn up? (It happens now, but it's going to get worse)

No, your carrier isn't reading the magazine..........it's the new equipment they have handling flats in some areas, which actually increase the cost per piece for handling, increases damaged mail by 50%, the internal auditing arm of the USPS has told them to halt deployment and further purchase of these machines, yet the Board of Governors has directed the USPS to actually accelerate the purchase of the machines.

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

When you get your magazines dogeared and torn up?
(It happens now, but it's going to get worse)

... it's the new equipment they have handling flats in some areas,
which actually increase the cost per piece for handling,
increases damaged mail by 50%, ...

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Izzat Why some magazines and even some catalogs are now wrapped in
"protective" plastic baggies? :mad:

MORE plastic to dispose of! :(

That's precisely why more and more are being wrapped in plastic.

They used to be hand fed into the sorting machines, one at a time. Inefficient, but the mail didn't get damaged much.

Now they are fed into the machines automatically, and if the piece isn't lined up perfectly with the feed mechanism, well................stuff happens.

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

The postal service likes to claim the Internet is causing the decrease in mail volume..........but the high water mark for number of mailpieces was in 2006. Did they JUST invent the internet?

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No, but I do believe the hold-outs on using the computer for banking, bill pay, etc, has decreased dramatically. I was one of those hold-outs for a long time before I trusted the internet enough to use it for these purposes.

Also, as to their claims about decreasing mail volume........

Mail volume for December was 9% OVER last year.................Tell me again that mail volume is decreasing.

:) Ok I would not miss Saturday deliveries.. Buttttt here is my Soap Box Issue = they also want to go up on Stamps Again!! They have gone up how many times now in the last 2-4 yrs?? Now then they print all kinds of diff people, cartoons & ect of the stamps.. Hello that cost money.. They also pay the Postal Workers Very Very Good Saleries.. :confused: So Again Hello just think of the cut backs that could be done.. But all they can say is we are Broke.. Well you know So Are the Rest Of US in the World.. Now that was my soap box gripe.. I am done now.. Thanks

Postal salaries?

Let's see.........

TO get my job, Electronic Technician. I have to be able to pass a test which is roughly the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in electronics........but I also have to be able to repair everything from scales to heavy machinery, troubleshoot anything they toss at me, and maintain and troubleshoot networking equipment. (We have 2 separate LAN structures in every plant)

We're also cleared, every employee working for the USPS has been through a background check, so if you've got anything over a misdemeanor or traffic violation on your record, look somewhere else for a job.

I think just maybe I earn my salary.

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Originally Posted by Lady's Human

Also, as to their claims about decreasing mail volume........

Mail volume for December was 9% OVER last year.................Tell me again that mail volume is decreasing.

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I believe that!! Junk mail is constantly on the rise.........:mad:

That's First class volume, Pom, not BBM.

so will the post offices themselves still be open on Saturdays? That's the only day I can actually go when I have to mail a package.

I guess I'm just old fashioned. I pay all of my bills with a check... placed in the mailbox. I'm glad magazines come in plastic bags now, that way my name and address don't have to be on the magazine itself.

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Originally Posted by lvpets2002

:) Ok I would not miss Saturday deliveries.. Buttttt here is my Soap Box Issue = they also want to go up on Stamps Again!! They have gone up how many times now in the last 2-4 yrs?? Now then they print all kinds of diff people, cartoons & ect of the stamps.. Hello that cost money.. They also pay the Postal Workers Very Very Good Saleries.. :confused: So Again Hello just think of the cut backs that could be done.. But all they can say is we are Broke.. Well you know So Are the Rest Of US in the World.. Now that was my soap box gripe.. I am done now.. Thanks

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Amen to that.:) USPS jobs are right up there in salary with Eli Lilly & Co., the other big employer in Indy.
I wouldn't mind only 5 days of mail service. I use direct deposit and debit card so don't have to keep cash around.


Maybe the USPS should be privatized. According to LH, Managers
who work there are mostly making their own problems. Time to bring
on a little competition.:)

And somehow I just lost half of a post.

TO add to the salary issue......

The temps working for the postal service earn $10 an hour. I wish they were paid more, but that's their contract. They can also be terminated without cause or notice, per their terms of employment.

However, the plant manager in Binghamton has been a temporary detail assignment for the last two years......which means the person filling the detail gets the salary of the plant manager (100K/yr) plus per diem at roughly $60/day, a GSA vehicle for their local driving and mileage for their commute to the area.

Also, the position which the acting plant manager was actually in needs to be filled.........under similar terms. But it's labor's fault.

As mentioned above, we have 4 supervisors for a maintenance staff of 29.......but losing money is labor's fault.

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Originally Posted by lizbud

Maybe the USPS should be privatized. According to LH, Managers
who work there are mostly making their own problems. Time to bring
on a little competition.:)

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No, time to do what any other corporation in similar financial conditions would do........eliminate middle management.

I've looked at the USPS org chart. It is absolutely redundant, you could easily eliminate district management (needed 40 years ago, not needed now, all their functions have gone to either GSA, national HR, or area offices, which get all the data through the net) and no one would ever notice.

To illustrate how inane postal management is:

A few years ago they started pushing customers out of the local post offices. They started selling stamps at CVS,wal mart, etc. (who, by the way, is under NO obligation to sell them to you for .44, they can make a profit if they want to)

Then they reduced the number of window clerks, because they weren't getting as many customers in the offices.

After doing that, they started the mystery shopper programs, and started penalizing clerks for not asking all the right questions........

then they started penalizing clerks for the lines not moving quickly enough.....

Then they expanded the product line to include priority mail......

and added to the number of questions you're supposed to be asked.....

and reduced the allowable wait time in line......

Then they removed vending machines from the post offices, so you have to either go to the window to get stamps, or go to CVS.

All of which lead to a spiral of ever more irritated clerks, and longer wait times in lines, which, by extension, reduces foot traffic in the offices dramatically.

Their solution to their revenue issue? Start selling more crap in the offices, which relies on foot traffic, which you've largely elmiinated through your own actions.

Tell me again why we're losing money?

Postal management is BRILLIANT!

Sound to me like you all oughta be giving the decision makers and other management fat cats the sack.

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Originally Posted by wombat2u2004

Sound to me like you all oughta be giving the decision makers and other management fat cats the sack.

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I'd love to..........but to illustrate how they deal with bad managers....

The USPS has a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment. I've seen several craft employees get fired for it.

Okay, similar offense, ,similar punishment, right?

We had a local supervisor nailed for sexual harassment........he's no longer a supervisor, he was booted out of the plant. He's postmaster of a town, which is actually more pay than he was getting before.

USPS management NEVER gets fired.

Well that's a shame that the "powers who be" protect their own.
The Public Service here is similar, even some of our pollies have been done for sexual harrassment, but just end up getting a better paid job out of the country as Embassy officials.
Yep....the system needs a big overhall.

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Originally Posted by pomtzu

No, but I do believe the hold-outs on using the computer for banking, bill pay, etc, has decreased dramatically. I was one of those hold-outs for a long time before I trusted the internet enough to use it for these purposes.

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Lol......too funny. I'm still one of those hold-outs, I pay all bills at my bank. Don't know if I'll ever use the computer for this. I like my receipt back stamped by the bank, gives me a chance to get out and see the tellers anyway. And I do my banking at the same time, never do that on line either.