quote:

Ask anyone who has worked in the Post Office why there are always budget problems, and most will answer the USPS is very top heavy with upper management.

^^^^
Appreciate your insights. Why has this top heavy management been allowed to continue? My mail delivery experience has seriously declined over last five decades.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
They are building housing developments around here like crazy. I guess this is over loading the post office. The last plan has community mailboxes at the entrance. Pay 400k for a house and you have to get your mail like a commoner. Ridiculous.

I work part time for a Developer . We are in the middle of a battle with the
postal Service over this very issue . They absolutely refuse to deliver to individual homes in a new development of ours . They want one of those big gang boxes at the entrance . The homeowners are pissed and I don't blame them but the Postal folks have drawn a line in the sand . We have filed a complaint with our State Senator but the girl they sent to attend the meeting was useless . Postal Service says it's a new standard but they never made anybody aware of it .

The green mailboxes where I lived as a boy could only open by the front door being open by the post office workers. Our mailman opened it and sat down and ate his lunch every day in the summer. It had a nice view of a pond. I don't know where he ate in the winter.

quote:

Originally posted by ASKSmith:
They are atill around. Back when the management to employee ratio hit an all time high of 8:1, after hovering around 22:1, it was deemed by the “clipboards and ties” and “bean counters” to eliminate front line employee positions. The mail collection routes of yore were eliminated. That was one of the final stages to retire from the post office. Even after eliminating about 75% of the blue mail collection boxes, the supervisor to employee ratio is still 8:1. Ask anyone who has worked in the Post Office why there are always budget problems, and most will answer the USPS is very top heavy with upper management.

I actually said this to some asshole a while back, he got physically angry.

My opinion is that they cut line staff to increase their bonuses. They certainly do not solve mail delivery issues and do not seem to answer to anyone. I have given up trying to fix my delivery issues. Accept what you cannot change.

I was under the impression that many disappeared after 9/11 due to concerns that terrorists could leave bombs in them?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I was under the impression that many disappeared after 9/11 due to concerns that terrorists could leave bombs in them?

It appears to me, probably for this reason, that the mailboxes in front of the post offices, have been modified so that the doors cannot be opened all the way, allowing letters to be inserted but not packages. At first, I thought the door was jammed and no one had gotten around to fixing it but then I encountered another one that appeared jammed.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Ask anyone who has worked in the Post Office why there are always budget problems, and most will answer the USPS is very top heavy with upper management.

^^^^
Appreciate your insights. Why has this top heavy management been allowed to continue? My mail delivery experience has seriously declined over last five decades.

I wish I had an answer for that. As much as I hate to say it, it probably is because it’s a government agency. Back in the late 80’s, the USPS hired an outside consulting firm, owned by Ross Perot. Yes, that Ross Perot. Perot Systems was to “streamline” the USPS. This was before my time at the Post Office, but I have spoke with carriers who knew first hand about it, but it’s easily googled under “Perot USPS”.

After Perot Systems evaluated the USPS operations, it was quickly swept under the rug. No one is quite sure as what his company suggested, but an agreement was made, that the USPS would not use any of Perot’s suggestions, and Perot would not publicly comment on his analysis of USPS operations. Through the grapevine, I have heard that it was suggested the USPS could cut 80% of management, and would not sacrifice service. Again, this is all second hand info I have heard.

There is a reason people want to privatize the Post Office. It makes money, and they want a piece of the pie. But if it does privatize, you can expect bigger declines in service, as well as increased rates all across the board. UPS, FedEx, Amazon, etc... They are all tied together, through the shipping network. Planes, Tractor Trailers, Delivery fleet, personnel...

It is a trillion dollar industry. I’m not referring to just the courier company’s, but the many other industries involved in the delivery chain.

Around 2007, the acting Post Master General and his board of trustees unanimously voted to increase their salaries. This wasn’t a modest 4 or 5% increase, they maxed it out, which if I recall correctly was a 33% raise. This was during one of the biggest revenue losses in USPS history. But it was also during the $4/gal gas crisis. The USPS has the largest vehicle fleet in the country, so any fluctuations in fuel pricing, can have profoundly negative consequences. On top to that, their solution was to try to push for 5 day delivery, and implement a very flawed network of FSS Systems nationwide. (Think massive mail sorting machines). All with the goal of cutting bottom line employees.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I work part time for a Developer . We are in the middle of a battle with the
postal Service over this very issue . They absolutely refuse to deliver to individual homes in a new development of ours . They want one of those big gang boxes at the entrance . The homeowners are pissed and I don't blame them but the Postal folks have drawn a line in the sand . We have filed a complaint with our State Senator but the girl they sent to attend the meeting was useless . Postal Service says it's a new standard but they never made anybody aware of it .

I think this has been the standard for new developments since like 2004 or earlier. That's over 15 years they've been doing it, I doubt this is a battle your developer is going to win.

quote:

Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:

quote:

Originally posted by ASKSmith:
They are atill around. Back when the management to employee ratio hit an all time high of 8:1, after hovering around 22:1, it was deemed by the “clipboards and ties” and “bean counters” to eliminate front line employee positions. The mail collection routes of yore were eliminated. That was one of the final stages to retire from the post office. Even after eliminating about 75% of the blue mail collection boxes, the supervisor to employee ratio is still 8:1. Ask anyone who has worked in the Post Office why there are always budget problems, and most will answer the USPS is very top heavy with upper management.

I actually said this to some asshole a while back, he got physically angry.

A guy who just retired would routinely challenge the management, even regional personnel, if they were within earshot. During the last route count, he actually asked one why she was there and if she was going to help deliver mail.

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
I work part time for a Developer . We are in the middle of a battle with the
postal Service over this very issue . They absolutely refuse to deliver to individual homes in a new development of ours . They want one of those big gang boxes at the entrance . The homeowners are pissed and I don't blame them but the Postal folks have drawn a line in the sand . We have filed a complaint with our State Senator but the girl they sent to attend the meeting was useless . Postal Service says it's a new standard but they never made anybody aware of it .

I think this has been the standard for new developments since like 2004 or earlier. That's over 15 years they've been doing it, I doubt this is a battle your developer is going to win.

This is the first time they have done this to us . This isn't our first rodeo .

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
There are plenty of green mailboxes but they’re used by the post office to supply a carriers walking route.

Exactly. Across the street at the corner where we lived was just such a box. Remember our mailman going into it with a key. So long ago. You couldnt drop mail in just for cariers route work.

I live in a suburb of Detroit and there is one about a block from my house in the residential neighborhood and another on the main road about 1/2 mile from my house. Certainly not as many as there were in the past but there are still some in my area.