Post Office Ending Saturday Delivery

[Lady's Human]

And to pose another question:

What other Constitutionally mandated government entity is expected to turn a profit?

[Cataholic]

I have worked for many companies in my lifespan. We never had Saturday delivery. We didn't mail things out, and things didn't come in. We survived, we made a profit.

If my meds run out during a snowstorm, or I lose them on vacation, or they get disposed of by accident- somehow I manage. I can't call a doctor's office on a Saturday afternoon, and expect to get seen and medicated by Sunday morning. The system will re-work to make it work out. Meds will be mailed out earlier, to accommodate the schedules.

No mail on Saturdays is such a non-issue. People will deal. All this talk about who mismanaged what, when and for what reason has nothing to do with non-Saturday delivery. The post office needs to be like every other place, and cut costs- no matter what the reason for the cost cutting measures.

[Lady's Human]

No mail on Saturdays is such a non-issue. People will deal. All this talk about who mismanaged what, when and for what reason has nothing to do with non-Saturday delivery. The post office needs to be like every other place, and cut costs- no matter what the reason for the cost cutting measures.

It has EVERYTHING to do with it.

No mismanagement and there are no fiscal issues. Income isn't the issue, waste, negligence and abuse are the issues. I've worked for private companies. When times were tough, management didn't get 6 figure bonuses.

Congress has punted on the issue and left it in the hands of an absolutely incompetent management team. They spent billions of dollars to automate a dying mail class (magazines). The USPS OIG states clearly that it now costs more to deliver a magazine than ever because of their shiny new toy purchases.

We pay 6 times the going rate for some supplies, and double industry cost for others.

Fire management, get rid of the inept and corrupt, and 5 day delivery wouldn't be required.

Furthermore, several studies done for the OIG and others have concluded that 5- day delivery will cost the postal service far more in revenue lost to other delivery means than it will save in man hours.
The ultimate solution would be to get Congress to do their job pass a reform bill that makes sense, but I don't see that happening with the absolute infantile fools running the show.

[Lady's Human]

Now for another question that will go unanswered:

Just for a moment imagine that you're a regional manager for the Postal Service. You have 5 plants reporting to you. You are on the books officially as working at plant A.

Of those 5 plants, plants C,D,and E are the best performing plants, despite senior management being domiciled at plants A and B.

You need to cut, and district performance is starting to lag on the radar screen.

What do you do?

[cassiesmom]

Now for another question that will go unanswered:

Just for a moment imagine that you're a regional manager for the Postal Service. You have 5 plants reporting to you. You are on the books officially as working at plant A.

Of those 5 plants, plants C,D,and E are the best performing plants, despite senior management being domiciled at plants A and B.

You need to cut, and district performance is starting to lag on the radar screen.

What do you do?

Move the best senior managers from A and B to C, D, and E. Leave the weakest managers at A and B. Establish a plan to eliminate A and B.

I worked in a high-performing regional office for over a year. Rumors of lay-offs and downsizing the whole time I worked there. The corporation wanted all the regional offices eliminated and all the business handled in the two home office sites only. It was our pleasure to make it very difficult for them to shut us down. We were the last to be laid off and the most difficult decision of all the regional offices. Take that, home office.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think Medco, Express Scripts and all the other robo-pharms could establish a plan to mail meds in such a way that they would be delivered Monday through Friday. They certainly make enough to do more express shipping. And robo-pharm users would need to think before they refill -- if you're going to run out on a Friday and you know your refill won't arrive until Monday, order earlier.

[lizbud]

It took 10 days for a first class mailing to reach Florida from Indianapolis & I thing that stinks. I am converting most
of my bill paying to payment from my bank acct electronically. They have next day or same day payment service & that
works just fine for me. I suppose this post office problem all comes down to who's ox is being gored. It ain't me.

[pomtzu]

I'm with you, Liz - I pay everything electronically, and might rarely mail a check for some miscellaneous reason.. I have also gone green (paperless) on all statements, be it bank, credit card, utility bill, insurance - anything that would have info that could be used by someone if it got in the wrong hands. Since I have received other people's mail from time to time, then I'm sure others have received mine too. So not am I only protecting myself, but I'm doing my part to lighten the load of the USPS.

[Lady's Human]

It took 10 days for a first class mailing to reach Florida from Indianapolis & I thing that stinks.

In which case raise hell with your local congressional staffers and get something done about it.
It shouldn't take more than 2-3 days. ANy longer and someone needs to hear about it, and Postal (mis) management isn't listening.

It used to be a firing offense to delay the mail.

Now it's another check block on a promotion packet.

[Lady's Human]

Move the best senior managers from A and B to C, D, and E. Leave the weakest managers at A and B. Establish a plan to eliminate A and B.

I worked in a high-performing regional office for over a year. Rumors of lay-offs and downsizing the whole time I worked there. The corporation wanted all the regional offices eliminated and all the business handled in the two home office sites only. It was our pleasure to make it very difficult for them to shut us down. We were the last to be laid off and the most difficult decision of all the regional offices. Take that, home office.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think Medco, Express Scripts and all the other robo-pharms could establish a plan to mail meds in such a way that they would be delivered Monday through Friday. They certainly make enough to do more express shipping. And robo-pharm users would need to think before they refill -- if you're going to run out on a Friday and you know your refill won't arrive until Monday, order earlier.

Postal logic? Shutter plants C,D, and E, and move management positions at A and B (on paper) into phantom jobs (Postmasters of towns that don't have offices open more than a couple hours a day) so the top heavy management structure doesn't show up on the books. Just for one example, I know of one office that is no longer a plant, however, still has a position for the postmaster's secretary. She's not on the books as the postmaster's secretary, she's officially the postmaster of a small town out in east overshoe, however, she has never set foot in the office. That situation is common throughout the postal service, and is a major driver of "cost savings" when they BS people and tell them they're cutting management positions. They have positions nationwide that are on the books as existing but have never been filled. Need to say you reduced your headcount? Easily done.

[Lady's Human]

if you're going to run out on a Friday and you know your refill won't arrive until Monday, order earlier.

Not always an option, depending on how strict the plan(s) are about order frequency.

[cassiesmom]

Not always an option, depending on how strict the plan(s) are about order frequency.

I'm not a fan of mail-order pharmacy at all (too many bad experiences), but that's a topic for another thread. I'm thinking that the robo-pharms are going to have to work with the USPS and with their clients to accommodate the loss of Saturday deliveries.

[smokey the elder]

I only ever get junk mail on Saturday anyway.

[pomtzu]

I really don't see any problem with no Saturday delivery - it's usually all junk anyway. And as far as meds - then those that get them by mail simply need to reorder a few days earlier than they normally do. I currently get one of my meds from Canada (my choice), and they specifically say to place orders for refills 4 weeks before the current supply runs out so that they will be received in plenty of time. What's so difficult about that???

[Lady's Human]

I really don't see any problem with no Saturday delivery - it's usually all junk anyway. And as far as meds - then those that get them by mail simply need to reorder a few days earlier than they normally do. I currently get one of my meds from Canada (my choice), and they specifically say to place orders for refills 4 weeks before the current supply runs out so that they will be received in plenty of time. What's so difficult about that???

You do it by choice. Vets do it by order.

As to how difficult it is, easy as pie.....unless something makes you use more than the usual dose of a med and you have to get more quickly (i.e. asthma meds). you order a 90 day supply, and aren't allowed to order more than the allocated dose. You know you're going to run out on day 85, can't order it until you're "supposed " to run out, and then you have to wait to order, then wait longer for delivery. And no, the VA doesn't do emergency refills short of an act of god.

[Lady's Human]

This, however, is all dancing around the real issue, which is incompetent management and an incompetent, partisan, infantile Congress which would rather see things go over the so-called fiscal cliff than actually work out a compromise and fix something.