nefish
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posted on April 3, 2001 12:55:49 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010403/aponline134200_001.htm
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VeryModern
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posted on April 3, 2001 12:58:29 PM
This is inevitable.
VeryModern Space Junk
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mballai
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posted on April 3, 2001 12:59:04 PM
Cutting service is the kiss of death. They need to cut their stranglehold of personnel and start doing business more effectively.
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redskinfan
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posted on April 3, 2001 12:59:46 PM
It'll put the sellers who can only ship Saturdays out of business. Afterall, a boss isn't going to let someone take off on a M-F 9-5 job to send out a package.
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RainyBear
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posted on April 3, 2001 01:00:01 PM
Well, isn't that special.
I guess I don't care much if mail is delivered on Saturdays, but my local post office just extended their hours to include Saturday mornings! All I really care about is that they stay open then.
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 01:06:54 PM
Canada ended Saturday delivery way back in the 1960's
The country is still ticking along---the world didn't end
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 01:08:12 PM
The Post Offices are open though----some of them are even open on Sundays
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stamper3
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posted on April 3, 2001 01:09:23 PM
I don't know where any of you live, but I never go to the PO. I discovered "contract" stations. They contract with the USPS and have all of the same services, with the possible exception of international packages. I have one a block away and never have to wait in line more than 5 minutes. They are open on Saturdays and since they are individually owned, they will most probably still keep Saturday hours even if the PO doesn't. If you can find one near you, you will save a lot of time and there aren't any surcharges. Same rates as the PO.
Anne
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MAH645
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posted on April 3, 2001 01:22:51 PM
What they didn't need was all these new buildings they built.I was told they needed that so they could have a store to sell packing supplies. It now takes forever to get waited on once you get by all their security cameras and metal detectors.I thought I was at the airport!
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reddeer
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posted on April 3, 2001 01:44:44 PM
Zazzie ....... I must of been too young to remember when Canada Post ended Sat deliveries? 
ubb boo-boo
[ edited by reddeer on Apr 3, 2001 01:45 PM ]
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:24:09 PM
I was too young too
but my mother always bemoaned its demise
edited cause it sounded stupid
[ edited by Zazzie on Apr 3, 2001 03:30 PM ]
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brianbrain
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:33:23 PM
EXCUSE ME?
Let's not start pointing to Canada for an example of efficiency in ANYTHING.
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:35:18 PM
ah---shut ya pie hole!!
Diva of the Freaking Circus
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brianbrain
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:50:04 PM
Mail in Canada is slower than you-know-what. No Saturday delivery is certainly a sign of their work ethic and competitiveness.
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:52:34 PM
--at least we don't have workers going 'postal'
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:54:31 PM
--and if you are commenting on the time a package takes to get to the USA from Canada---it is the USA Customs that does the snail walk.
Within in Canada I've been getting great time on deliveries
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capotasto
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posted on April 3, 2001 03:58:40 PM
Incredible as it sounds, I remember when the PO delivered mail twice a day... this was in the early 1950s
Vinnie
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lattefor2
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posted on April 3, 2001 04:34:58 PM
Gosh Vinnie, you are right! I forgot about the twice a day delivery until you brought it up. Thanks for the little memory trip.
Latte
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amy
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posted on April 3, 2001 04:39:46 PM
I remember that after twice daily deliveries stopped, it was still done at Christmas time (into the mid 60s)
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Zazzie
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posted on April 3, 2001 04:57:13 PM
I bet there was HUGE complaints (similar to what this will bring) when that happened..
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envy
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posted on April 3, 2001 05:12:24 PM
"As people begin to communicate with each other by means of the Internet, as people begin to pay their bills by means of the Internet and businesses communicate with each other by means of the Internet ..., we're seeing declines in volume of first class mail," Fineman said.
I think this is bs...as far as I can tell the PO makes its money from the bulk mail not the first class anyway. If you have never worked at the PO, you would be amazed at how much junk mail never even leaves the building except to go to the trash because its undeliverable. I think if the PO wants to save money they need to start cutting at the top instead of the bottom. Its the people at the bottom who are doing all the work and those are the wages they are trying to cut.
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Microbes
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posted on April 3, 2001 05:38:02 PM
Ya'll want to know why they are going broke?
I sent a large package to Austria a few weks ago, via Global Express Guaranteed (2 days or your money back). Cost $309 to mail the package, It was sent on a Thursday, so it was due to arrive on Monday (two "freebe days" because of the weekend). They where STILL late, and had to refund the $309...
(The clerks in the local post office couldn't believe I would make the postal service refund $309 over a package being 11 hours late, but I did!!)
For not much more than that, I could have bought a ticket, and took the man his package my self.
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fraidykat
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posted on April 3, 2001 06:00:11 PM
Our local p.o. was sure they could get the city (pretty big city)to pass curbside delivery and contracted with Home Depot for tons of mailboxes/posts. They couldn't and are now paying to warehouse them. They got new trucks with distributor caps 1 ft off the ground (poor drainage in lots of areas) = stalled trucks; and a brand new addition to one station that the semis don't fit under; etc., etc. Waste, inefficiency and mismanagement - and they spend a lot of money advertising.
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shrty411
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posted on April 3, 2001 06:08:46 PM
OK, first of all the PO is in "negotiations" with all (I believe) its unions.If not the other contracts are due to expire shortly.
This isn't the first time this has come up (strangely all at negotiation time).
this quote is from KnoxNews:
"WASHINGTON - The financially troubled U.S. Postal Service awarded $280 million in bonuses to managers for their units' meeting performance goals last year even though that move and others resulted in $199 million in net losses."...."Thompson said: "The Postal Service management needs a reality check. Paying large bonuses at a time when they're planning on seeking new rate increases and projecting $2 billion to $3 billion in losses for the (2001) fiscal year defies logic."
As an emploee I can't understan how these managers are performing if the PO is looosing money and ready to cut service.
the entire article is at http://www.knoxnews.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=POSTALLOSS-03-09-01&cat=WW
I think public opinion stopped it in the past and hopefully will this time
Maria
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shrty411
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posted on April 3, 2001 06:10:55 PM
by the way, I can spell, but can't type I guess!!
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texaseagle
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posted on April 3, 2001 06:33:17 PM
This is not news for me, for the last month and half the post office simply has not delivered to my house on Saturdays. When asked why, the carrier stated that my house was on the last street on his route and just too far from the post office and anyway, there were not enough carriers to delivery mail on Saturday, so they stopped. Their recommendation? Call the the local postmaster and complain. Why bother, last complaint on another issue went unanswered. Oh Well!!!!
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Malady
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posted on April 3, 2001 06:53:09 PM
shrty411
How very true. Contract negotiations! The (carrier) union is strong and has stopped this talk in the past but if the PO wants to stop Saturday deliveries they can justify it with, "No Money!" and the unions can not do a thing. Alot of carriers will loose their jobs (T-6's).
At our office the Postmaster and Supervisors were evaluated and threatened with dismissal if productivity did not improve. Of course the clerks and carriers had to carry the burden to improve to save the PM's job.
texaseagle
What you said about your Saturday delivery does not make sense. I'd talk again with your regular carrier! If you have a regular carrier it does not matter if there are enough carriers or not. He does your route on most Saturdays. Carriers get rotating days off, not all Saturdays, as alot are misinformed to believe. BUT if you live on an auxillary route, no regular carrier, I can see perhaps on occasion not getting Saturday deliveries. Saturdays are carriers easiest days. Most businesses are closed and not as much mail...usually.
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Microbes
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posted on April 3, 2001 06:53:34 PM
texaseagle:
>complaint on another issue went unanswered
You must not have your postal clerks trained right. The post office will beat you over the head with their rule book, but I've found out that I can play this game too.
I've been in almost every nook and cranny on the USPS website, and the clerks & postmaster in my post office know (after dealing with me for the last 3 years) that if I tell them something can be done a certain way, that I won't back down unless they can show me in their rule book that I'm wrong.
I've only been wrong once(website and rule book didn't match up, Postmaster took the screenshots and filed his own complaint), and they (meaning the poor clerk at the window) have been wrong a whole bunch of times.
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outoftheblue
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posted on April 3, 2001 07:03:29 PM
stamper3
The postal service is cutting back on contract stations. They have done away with every contract station in our area. I used to be in walking distance of 2 contract stations but now the nearest PO is a 15 minute drive. The lines are out of control. The other day I walked in to the post office to be greeted by a long line and there was only 1 postal clerk on duty.
What a mess they are making of things. There is a rumor going around, started by postal employees, that the postal service is selling out to Mailboxes.
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posted on edit
Mail in Canada is slower than you-know-what
Get real.
Anyone that has done a few hundred/thousand cross border transactions knows exactly where the slow down is, and it sure as hell isn't on the Canadian side of the border.
I've shipped numerous parcels from Canada to the US via XpressPost USA, and can tell exactly when that parcel enters the US, and exactly when it's delivered.
Every stinking last time there's been a problem with the item arriving late, it's been due to the USPS.
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