Dennis in Houston Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Without forewarning the general public the USPS raised rates Sunday at midnight [Jan 26, 2020]. I learned this the hard way when I paid for postage Saturday and tried to mail the package Monday. It appears to be 5% across the board for ALL zones. Dennis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airmechaja Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Why am I not surprised? And we pay them, how much? each year so they can stay afloat?... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dennis in Houston Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 I am not fully understanding how online stores can offer FREE shipping on orders over $25 and still make money. Do they have an arrangement with the USPS or are their products over priced enough to absorb the cost of postage ??? Dennis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Staudt Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 Shippers give huge discounts to corporate customers. That's why the rest of us pay so much. BTW: The rate increase was announced last October. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dennis in Houston Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 I was not aware of the October announcement. I will say that the lady at the PO seemed surprised by the rate increase. She may have been putting on an act, but the lady next to her seemed like she was surprised too. Maybe the USPS should have repeated the announcement two weeks ago. Dennis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Staudt Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 I'm sure they like to keep rate hikes quiet. https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1009-usps-announces-new-prices-for-2020.htm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 (edited) On 1/30/2020 at 7:00 AM, airmechaja said: Why am I not surprised? And we pay them, how much? each year so they can stay afloat?... Not sure what you mean by "pay". They don't get a dime in taxpayer money. I don't know about you but I'm not paying them to stay afloat, I'm paying for their services to deliver letters and packages (which honestly, they do very well). Don't like this massive 5% increase? Send all your packages and letters via FedEx and report back on what it cost you. Edited February 2, 2020 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weirich1 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Rates went up and quality of service continues to decrease! Bravo! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 4 hours ago, 11bee said: Not sure what you mean by "pay". They don't get a dime in taxpayer money. I don't know about you but I'm not paying them to stay afloat, I'm paying for their services to deliver letters and packages (which honestly, they do very well). Don't like this massing 5% increase? Send all your packages and letters via FedEx and report back on what it cost you. I don't remember what comedian said they thought it was remarkable that for 50 cents someone would come to his house, pick up a piece of paper and carry it all the way across the country for him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 (edited) On 2/1/2020 at 12:34 PM, WymanV said: I don't remember what comedian said they thought it was remarkable that for 50 cents someone would come to his house, pick up a piece of paper and carry it all the way across the country for him. This^ For reference, go to Europe and see what the rates are over there. Edited February 2, 2020 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dennis in Houston Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 After losing 4 sales in two days because of the outrageous cost of postage, I complained to the post master here in 77535. I was told that because of email and people just not using the regular stamped first class mail as much as in the past, that package postage had to increase to keep their nose above water. And that the corporate discount rates they give to online businesses is because of VOLUME. Well, Mr. Postmaster, why not charge JUNK mailers the same price you charge those individuals who want to mail 3 pound, 3 ounce model from Texas to California or New England ??? Very few people really want junk mail, but you still insist on cramming our mail boxes full of these useless pieces of paper every Tuesday and Friday. UPS and FedEx are more expensive than the U$P$. I know, I have priced their services. Where is Ben Franklin when we really need him ??? Dennis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Williams Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Junk mail and Amazon is probably the only thing keeping the USPS afloat. With email, text, ecards, and online banking, hardly anyone used first class mail any more, and that’s never coming back. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
midnightprowler Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 22 hours ago, weirich1 said: Rates went up and quality of service continues to decrease! Bravo! Exactly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
midnightprowler Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 15 hours ago, Dave Williams said: Junk mail and Amazon is probably the only thing keeping the USPS afloat. With email, text, ecards, and online banking, hardly anyone used first class mail any more, and that’s never coming back. We use it at least once a week. Very bad generalization. I doubt we are alone. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airmechaja Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 On 2/1/2020 at 6:48 AM, 11bee said: Not sure what you mean by "pay". They don't get a dime in taxpayer money. I don't know about you but I'm not paying them to stay afloat, I'm paying for their services to deliver letters and packages (which honestly, they do very well). Don't like this massing 5% increase? Send all your packages and letters via FedEx and report back on what it cost you. I'm talking about what we pay them for their services per year. I will be very clear on this statement........when your expenses exceed your revenue, your business is in a world of HURT. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dennis in Houston Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 I learned just yesterday that the U$P$ website price calculator does not always get it right. I did try an experiment and found that $11.90 on U$P$ is only $9.70 on PayPal, plus I get a mailing label with the postage. I was not aware of this in the beginning of my stash liquidation sale, but I will use it every time I receive funds via PayPal. Learn sumpin every day. Dennis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dave Williams Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 2 hours ago, midnightprowler said: We use it at least once a week. Very bad generalization. I doubt we are alone. I doubt you’re alone, but I’ll wager. That you are in the minority. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 2 hours ago, midnightprowler said: We use it at least once a week. Very bad generalization. I doubt we are alone. Postal services used to be used much more that today. I used to get all my bills in the mail. I would pay all my bills by writing a check and sending said check in the mail. Today, I don't receive nearly as many paper bills and every recurring bill is paid electronically. I'm down to 10, maybe 20, bills paid by year. Perhaps 100 mailed letters per year. That's on the order of a 75%-80% reduction of outgoing mail. I don't know anybody that wouldn't claim a similar reduction. Per the USPS: Package volumes, on the other hand have increased greatly. But there are many competitors who, in my direct experience, offer a more reliable service. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 2 hours ago, airmechaja said: ...when your expenses exceed your revenue, your business is in a world of HURT. So they raised their prices to cover their operating costs - what did you expect? I’m not saying their business model is perfect, but there is such a thing as inflation. https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/domestic-letter-rates-since-1863.pdf Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 3 hours ago, airmechaja said: I will be very clear on this statement........when your expenses exceed your revenue, your business is in a world of HURT. It's called inflation. I would also guess that the USPS's expenses are exceeding revenue, thus the raised their pricing. I would suggest that if your expenses are exceeding revenue you are going to be out of business pretty soon, unless you do one of the following: A) Pass on increased costs to your customers B) Find cheaper suppliers to lower costs and keep your retail pricing unchanged C) A&B Good luck... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jpk Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 On 2/1/2020 at 7:48 AM, 11bee said: Not sure what you mean by "pay". They don't get a dime in taxpayer money. I don't know about you but I'm not paying them to stay afloat, I'm paying for their services to deliver letters and packages (which honestly, they do very well). Don't like this massing 5% increase? Send all your packages and letters via FedEx and report back on what it cost you. I personally love OUR USPS. Yes, their rates go up but what costs in other business' do not? It's called inflation. Plus, OUR USPS has been saddled by Congress out of it's own revenue, to pay for retirement and health benefits for retirees 75 years out. What company does that? None. Congress when it was controlled by a certain party was doing all it could to try to force OUR USPS to be sold to private ownership. That would be a disaster for rural areas as their rates would skyrocket, not to say others as well. Besides, who says OUR USPS has to make a profit? Does the military? NASA? Any other department of government? It has been a scam attempt to privatize the postal system and give it away to UPS, FedEx or some other entity. That would be a huge mistake. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sheppsea Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) I think the simple fact is postal services worldwide struggle now. I'm from the UK and in my lifetime we used to get four or five letter delivered to our house everyday; every bill, any formal correspondence, , absolutely everything. Now I might get a letter or two a week and most of those adverts. All my bills are online, a lot of products I order are delivered by a company that isn't the Royal Mail and all formal/legal stuff is now done online. Even at work we send emails when we used to send millions of letters (granted, I didn't send anywhere near as many letters as I do send emails now but there has still been a drastic reduction in the number of letters. To be honest, anything where I need to send a letter nowadays is a bit of a hassle. Less business means the cost per letter is bound to go up considerably and will continue to do so 🙂 Edited February 2, 2020 by sheppsea Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jeffryfontaine Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 The USPS will not deliver to my residence because I am more than 400 metres/one-quarter mile from the main road. So, yeah, the USPS SUCKS! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 7 minutes ago, jeffryfontaine said: The USPS will not deliver to my residence because I am more than 400 metres/one-quarter mile from the main road. So, yeah, the USPS SUCKS! Does your driveway connect your house to the main road? Why not put up a mailbox at the end of your driveway? Or do you never ever leave your house? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GW8345 Posted February 3, 2020 Share Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) The problem with the USPS is that they are in-efficient and has poor service, examples: - I ordered an item off of E-Bay from the west coast, monitored the items progress via tracking as it made it's way from the west coast to the east coast. The item took a trip all around the US, including going to Puerto Rico before finally landing in my mail box. If I could draw a line of it's travel on a map of the US, it would look like a 3 y/o scribbled on the map. - My wife regularly ships paperwork to her brother who lives 75 miles away (northern Maryland), watched numerous packages be shipped to states like Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kansas before being send right back to Maryland. - Their "2 day express" shipping is not guaranteed, again, wife sent numerous packages that did not arrive within the 2 day time frame. Went to complain to the PO and was told the USPS does not guarantee their "express" services. - Ordered a book from the mid-west, watch the item via USPS tracking an noticed that it arrived in a post office in town but not my post office so I went down to the PO that had it (the PO that had the item was 3 miles from my PO). Was told that the item was sent back to the regional PO (Washington DC, 45-50 miles away) instead of being taken to my PO (again, 3 miles up the road) for redistribution. Ask the PO worker why they didn't just drive it over to my PO and was told that they weren't allowed to do that, that hey had to send it back to the regional PO, I told her that was one of the dumbest things I've heard of and she just gave the deer in the headlight look. BTW, it took 3 days after that for the book to arrive in my mail box. - I regularly order decals online, can't tell you how many times they have arrived in my mail box bent in half, even though the package is clearly marked "DO NOT BEND". When my youngest son was born, we ordered his first baby pictures (the one's taken by the hospital), package arrived neatly folded in half even though the package was clearly marked (again) "DO NOT BEND". Needless to say the wife was pissed, went down to the PO to complain, they said unless we had the package insured their was nothing they could do. -Had my letter carrier leave packages at my mail box in the pouring rain without putting it in a plastic bag, package was soaked. (Thank the Lord that Spruebrother's wrapped everything inside in plastic). - Youngest son expecting a package that required a signature, letter carrier drives down my drive way, there are no vehicles in my driveway like normal (wife's van was in the shop), letter carrier turns around and leaves. The mail carrier never got out of the her vehicle to see if anyone is home but leaves a notice in our mail box that she tried to deliver a package and that no one was home, except my wife was home and before she could get to the front door our letter carrier was gone. - USPS is suppose to deliver Amazon packages on Sunday, had numerous Amazon packages say it was delivered on Sunday but doesn't showed up on Monday. My father is a retired letter carrier and my brother is a current letter carrier (not where I live though), I raised some of the above issues with them and they said tough, to bad. I wish the USPS would be privatized so that maybe they would be forced to improve their service. They also need to streamline their operation, for example, right now, there is 5 PO within a 10 mile radius of my house, why. Why does the USPS need so many post offices, why do they need to deliver regular mail on a Saturday, why don't they just deliver package on Saturday like they do Amazon packages on Sunday. Think how much money the USPS would save if they cut out deliveries on Saturday, if they got rid of some of the redundant PO's, if they ran a more efficient operation. Now, when I order something on line, if I have a choice of shipping services, I never choose the USPS, I want my package to arrive on time, and not damaged, and I will pay extra for that service. The USPS just doesn't provide consistent reliable service like UPS and FedEx, it's beyond time to do a complete overhaul of the USPS. Edited February 3, 2020 by GW8345 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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