I am prohibited by negotiated agreement with the site moderators from making overtly “political” comments, a policy that I support fully, but this impacts our businesses, both FBM and FBA, as even Amazon uses the USPS to fulfill some of their own deliveries, and they will raise fees to cover this. DeJoy is a plague upon us all. Why hasn’t he been fired?
4 Likes
Fantastic question. I think Google’s AI does a great job laying it out below. Certain people were excited by the 10 year plan. That plan is entering it’s 4th year soon and the losses are growing YOY. Terrible execution of that plan which is nothing new by our Govt, regardless of who is running the show.
On an avg day, we get ~10 pieces of mail. For argument sake, let’s call that 73 cents a piece or $7.30 in cost. I know there are varying rates but let’s just call it $7.30 per household. But then let’s just cut that in half for arguments sake. My math tags daily rev at half a billion bucks for the 150 million delivery points per day. Obviously there must be a flaw in my analysis here but it still boggles the mind
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has experienced financial challenges over the years, including net losses and declining mail volume:
- 2006: Mail volume peaked at around 213 billion units.
- 2007: The USPS has had a history of net losses since this year.
- 2023: The USPS reported a net loss of $6.5 billion, with total operating expenses of $85.4 billion, a 7.3% increase from the previous year. First-class mail volume fell 6.1% to 46 billion pieces, down 53% from 2006, but revenue increased by $515 million due to higher stamp prices.
- 2024: In the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, the USPS reported a net loss of $2.5 billion, compared to $1.7 billion in the same quarter in 2023. Operating revenue increased by $191 million to $18.8 billion, and transportation expenses decreased by $236 million.
The USPS is expected to be self-sufficient, covering its expenses through the sale of its products and services, but its revenues haven’t covered its expenses and debt for more than 15 years. Its expenses are growing faster than its revenues, in part due to declining First-Class Mail volume. The USPS has been able to continue operating by increasing its debt and unfunded liabilities.
In March 2021, the USPS published a 10-year strategic plan, Delivering for America (DFA), to address these challenges. The plan calls for over $40 billion in capital investments, with projected savings from revenue improvements, management cost savings, regulatory changes, and legislative and administrative actions.
2 Likes
This is the reason …
2006
Unlike any other public or private entity, under a 2006 law, the U.S. Postal Service must pre-fund retiree health benefits. We must pay today for benefits that will not be paid out until some future date.
Congress created the problem … congress could fix the problem.
7 Likes
Because postmasters can’t be from what I’ve read.
I believe they did, the law was recently (within the last 8 years) modified
2 Likes
There are lots of problems with this being number one…
Number two is the USPS is hamstrung by being forced to operate like a business, without being able to operate like a business. No haz mat, no other services at the post office compared to other mail service locations, no check cashing to go with money orders, forced use of air carrier contractors, leaving out all the political nonsense about legacy equipment, vehicle acquisition.
The post office used to be a staple of American communities, but it has be purposely hamstrung for various reasons, like wanting to drown government agencies in a bathtub, or ensure business (you can invest in and reap dividends from) do not have to compete. Same reason we can let inmates fight fires, but not maintain/build roads.
9 Likes
Only 2 years ago …
Postal Service Reform Act of 2022
8 Likes
I wasn’t sure on the date that’s why I cast a wide net with my post. It was not meant to be political in any way
6 Likes
Understood … thought the link would be helpful in educating others that might read the thread …
6 Likes
Letter Mail is obsolete and declining in usage rapidly.
USPS was always reliant on delivering letters and the revenue it generated. Makes no difference who is in charge, change is essential unless the Congress decides to subsidize service and tax the portion of the population who pays taxes.
Package delivery is a tough and competitive business. USPS, FEDEX and UPS have large and inefficient package delivery businesses and they are more important to the economy than letter mail.
The mandate for USPS is to offer universal service, letter and parcel to all locations in the US and operate without subsidy. If the mandate is changed, the strategy would change.
DeJoy is the first USPS postmaster general with experience in transportation and logistics. His predecessors were all political hacks. He could be a political hack as well but he has a more appropriate resume.
Whether the financials show progress or not, I find the service to be vastly improved, except when a major hub is changed. When changes affect major hubs, the human element makes the transition longer than one would like. In an organization with little worker accountability, it is not surprising for this to happen.
It is clear to me that the plan has entered a new phase with greater routing adaptation based on daily volume, and for additional delays when volume is off and less efficient routes are used to reduce costs.
For many years, USPS workers would sneer at their colleagues at Canada Post for unpredictable delivery times because the Canada Post solution to cost was high postage rates and the truck did not leave unless it was full.
USPS has not reached the point where the truck does not leave until it is full.
Explore the competitive situation.
Amazon is now the largest package delivery company.
FEDEX is in trouble. Volume is off. They have sold many of their planes. The high quality FEDEX Express operation is being combined with the crappy ground operation and there are fewer direct employees. It is forced to sell its service based on price.
UPS is the same stodgy, Teamsters dominated bureaucracy, it is highly predictable,highly reliable, and expensive. It is faced with a need to compete with USPS on small low weight shipments, and is aggressively lowering prices to compete. It is providing USPS with a significant amount of long haul capacity which FEDEX used to provide. The railroads are providing a larger portion of long haul under DeJoy.
2 Likes
This is very correct
1 Like
I haven’t used FedEX in 10 years. They were unreliable and had a much higher package loss rate than UPS and USPS combined.
They have been calling me every week trying to get me back with a 75% off Express and faster, but even that is unrealible.
4 Likes
I was going to explain that, glad @ASV_Vites did.
4 Likes
They still are. I stopped buying from almost all vendors who ship to me via FEDEX Ground. I have one shipment en-route for Ebay Branded packing supplies which I am using my $25 quarterly store credit to pay for, so I put up with the inevitably filthy manhandled box.
The gig economy is not a force for quality or competence.
1 Like
I agree with this too.
Lots of thing affect our businesses. Some we can change, some we cannot.
DeJoy and the naional politics that governs the actions of the USPS is one of the things that we cannot change. We are too small and it is too large.
Even if you got every member here acting in lockstep, with every resource that they can muster, we are not big enough.
We might as well be trying to change the weather.
Let’s stick to things that we can change.
1 Like
Diapers are out … don’t care if they can be changed … not our thing and that we are sticking to.
4 Likes
Our last good mailperson stated the same question when he finally retired and couldn’t be punished for stating such.
Now we can’t even get reliable pick-up every day; seems at least once a week there is no carrier coming to our house.
2 Likes
Our town post office includes a postal training facility.
When our regular carrier with lots of seniority is off, we get earlier delivery/pickup and every outgoing item is scanned at pickup. The trainees are delivering the mail on those days.
When our regular carrier is here we get erratic deliveries and no scans until it hits the first hub.
Sometimes, the items shown on informed delivery take an extra day. Sometimes he does not pickup the scheduled items either.
The quality of the people doing the work matters.
My Dad was a letter carrier and I grew up with the stories of the antics at his PO. Working for the post office was the cushiest job he ever had.
3 Likes
The carrier who is responsible for our route seems really nice; she’s from one of the islands (I think Jamaica, but not positive). Great to talk to; the accent is wonderful.
But she hurt her back, and isn’t able to work a full route; so we get fill-ins. The problem is that they are working over-time to cover, and if there aren’t enough overtime hours available, or it’s a slackard assigned to cover, we get no service. I hate to say this about someone who seems so nice, but she needs to retire; she physically can’t do the job anymore. But regardless, there should be pay available to get someone to cover so that we aren’t left without service.
2 Likes
I am pro immigrant. I have not encountered an immigrant who works for the PO in our area - the likely reason will be attributed to not being able to afford housing here.
Our Amazon delivery drivers are about 3/4 immigrants, from Africa and the Caribbean. The others native born Americans. The immigrants work their tails off. Deliver to the correct places. Follow the Amazon specified delivery order.
The Americans, dance to a different drummer.
4 Likes
Now he’s retired, my husband, now our packager/delivery driver, knows everyone at the P.O. counter (and many in the back area) by name. Been years since we had any issues w/ USPS, locally or nation-wide.
Logically, shouldn’t make a difference that we’ve developed an excellent relationship w/ local USPS workers, unlike those who tell horror stories… We’ve had our own…drive 30 minutes out of our way(each way, 6 days weekly) to counter-scan at the closest hub rather than deal w/ the snots in federal employ 7 minutes away!!
Our average parcel, according to the infamous Fulfillment Insights Dashboard, is 2.9 days(including a goodly amount of GA). When our MEDIA MAIL was forced to go through Bell Garden, was twice that!! Though may be unintended consequences, thanks to whomever had the brilliant idea to use other hubs across the nation to quicken delivery!!!
Can foresee that 2025 may be make-or break time as far as deliveries. But for now, am content.
4 Likes