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Tue 15 May, 2007 10:48 am
Just an honest question. Am I the only one that woke up yesterday and decided to learn about the postal rates. I at first thought it had to be a joke, not the rise in rates, but the absolutely ridiculous rules to figure out what you are mailing: is it a "flat?" Or what is it? Measure it, then do the "flexibility" test. Ample instructions are provided if you have the time to do it. How thick is it? Get out your micrometers, people.
The reason I ask is it run by Democrats is, this had to be dreamed up by some bureaucrat that sat around in an office somewhere trying to justify his job. The man at the counter yesterday did not give the company line. He said it was the "death knell of the postal service, give it ten years at best."
The absolute stupidity of the rate schedules is mindboggling. But considering the vast majority of the budget is wages at the Postal Service, then maybe they want their people to have job security, standing at windows all day, explaining and serving the people, measuring the packages, doing the "flexibility" test, making change for oddball rates, the list is endless.
On second thought, maybe it was some union thug that dreamed this up, not some bureaucrat, still probably a Democrat. One thing is for sure, it is not anyone that understands the free market.
oh, piss off and grow up.
This is one of the dumbest posts I've read in a while.
You'd think the Federal Government was being run by Democrats these past 6 years with all that wasteful spending, ESPECIALLY the close to half a trillion already spent on Iraq.
Why don't you privatise your postal service like in most other countries?
To answer your question, yeah, you must have been the only one to wake up and decide to learn about postal rates.
That info has been on their website for ages.
What do you want, for people to wrap up rocks in tissue paper and be able to mail them.
It's not rocket science.
Walter, it does run under its own budget and is sort of responsive to the free market, not completely. It has a monopoly on certain kinds of mail, although not package delivery, so it can charge what it wants provided it is approved by a regulatory commission. I don't know that much about it, but I just know the rates are very screwed up and became much worse yesterday.
I wanted to start this thread under politics, so I included the reference to Democrats as a bit of humor, but partially serious. I am convinced the people running the Postal Service do not have a clue about how to compete, especially now with the new rates.
The way to serve the public and reduce overhead is not to make the mailing rates and rules more complicated, more diverse, more oddball, and more labor intensive. Maybe they think all of this is designed for more mechanization and automated reading and sorting of the mail, but if vastly more people have to take mail to the Post Office counter to find out what the postage is, I fail to see how that increases efficiency. Also, I fail to see how making change for oddball rates of postage reduces labor costs. I fail to see how making the system more unfriendly to customers helps their cause.
Chai wrote:To answer your question, yeah, you must have been the only one to wake up and decide to learn about postal rates.
That info has been on their website for ages.
What do you want, for people to wrap up rocks in tissue paper and be able to mail them.
It's not rocket science.
They are making it rocket science. If an envelope is close to 3/4 inch think, the rate changes depending on whether it is thicker or not. I witnessed an argument in the Post Office yesterday, and nobody measured it. They simply eyeballed it, and the postal employee threw up his hands and said okay, lets try it at less than 3/4 inch and see if it goes through. This is only one example of this idiocy.
Read about their "flexibility" test also. More idiocy in my opinion.
Quote: I am convinced the people running the Postal Service do not have a clue about how to compete, especially now with the new rates.
Perhaps you need to start comparing rates before you make an idiotic statement that they don't know how to compete.
I can ship a small package from my house to your house for a lot cheaper using the post office than I can using any other delivery service. The US Postal service has advantages and disadvantages. I wouldn't use them for business to business package shipping but for any letters to anywhere and small packages to private homes they are competitive if not the cheapest choice outright.
They've a simple plastic thingie here, with equivalent slots ... Takes just a second to prove.
okie wrote:
They are making it rocket science. If an envelope is close to 3/4 inch think, the rate changes depending on whether it is thicker or not. I witnessed an argument in the Post Office yesterday, and nobody measured it. They simply eyeballed it, and the postal employee threw up his hands and said okay, lets try it at less than 3/4 inch and see if it goes through. This is only one example of this idiocy.
Read about their "flexibility" test also. More idiocy in my opinion.
You don't ship much with anyone do you okie?
i think in oklahoma the prefered carrier is still pony express..
This thread is so stupid. Ever-body knows the Postal Service is run by Commies. That's why decent, law-abiding American citizens are obliged from time to time to bring an automatic weapon to work at the Post Office in order to shoot down everyone in sight.
Let's see--i can send a letter to Parados to tell him how goofy Okie's thread is for the price of a first class stamp (41 cents), or i can send it UPS for $15.50. Or i can send it Fed Ex for $16.75.
Hmmm . . .
Hmmm . . .
Somebody wanna help me with the math here?
So, you're saying you get your internet connection for free; or are you saying that you receive e-mail by osmosis across the cosmic ether?
Did someone just give you a computer? Is that why you think e-mail is free?
How do you get your electricity? Do you steal it from Con Edison? Is that why you think e-mail is free?
okie wrote:Chai wrote:To answer your question, yeah, you must have been the only one to wake up and decide to learn about postal rates.
That info has been on their website for ages.
What do you want, for people to wrap up rocks in tissue paper and be able to mail them.
It's not rocket science.
They are making it rocket science. If an envelope is close to 3/4 inch think, the rate changes depending on whether it is thicker or not. I witnessed an argument in the Post Office yesterday, and nobody measured it. They simply eyeballed it, and the postal employee threw up his hands and said okay, lets try it at less than 3/4 inch and see if it goes through. This is only one example of this idiocy.
Read about their "flexibility" test also. More idiocy in my opinion.
Apparantly we have different definitions of Rocket Science....and this ain't it.
Sorry Setanta, I forgot you were an idiot. Carry on.
Idiocy is in the eye of the beholder. I reported your post, although these days, it may not elicit a response.
You allege that e-mail is free. Therefore, one can only assume that you get your electricity for free, that you get your internet connection for free, and that you got your computer for free. Otherwise, your e-mail is not free.
Sorry, i didn't realize that you would need to have things that simple explained to you.
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