I'd miss our small town post office. It is one of the last places to just randomly run into fellow residents and chat. It is part of the community. The service has been friendly and good.

The larger post offices don't have that feel at all. They're just another retail store. And I have plenty of complaints about various USPS policies and errors. But I also have some major issues with UPS and Fedex.

Don't think for a moment that other carriers don't have their inefficiencies and snafus.

If they disappeared, other services would fill in the gap. If you don't like their services, you can go elsewhere and not still be paying for their poor service.

The USPS lost $9 billion in fiscal 2025. During the same time, Fedex reported a net profit of $4.09 billion and UPS $8.5 billion.
That's without the taxpayer preferential treatment.

That's $26.40 cost for every man, women or child in the US.

I think they should deliver to the address regardless of whose name is on it. Suppose you have someone visiting for a few weeks or something like that?

I hate the junk mail, but with less real mail they need the income to stay alive. If the junk mail didn't work with enough people, businesses wouldn't pay for it.

I do recieve about half of my business invoices paid by checks in the mail. So I do use it, and sometimes I mail a check when I can't do zelle or ACH to save the credit card surcharge fee (large amounts).

The bigger reason the USPS is NEEDED is rural areas. Other services would not fill in that gap. Private companies wouldn't deliver mail to rural areas, it's cost far exceeds it's income. SO if it went private, people in rural areas would need to drive to town to pickup their mail from the closest post office, some people can't.

USPS does definately need a DOGE intervention.

We still do business via US Mail regularly . The junk mail, we put aside along with newspaper and other recycling items and I take it to the recycling center our town has. Not that difficult!

quote:

That's $26.40 cost for every man, women or child in the US.

A little over seven cents a day per person, if I understand your post correctly. Now I understand why some people are so upset about a service that roughly half of the people on this forum would miss if it was eliminated.

If the post offices closed around Durham I would not miss them one bit.

Now, back in Henrico, that is a different story.
I used the one by the house for over 16 years and it was great
Once in a while there was a line and it took a little long to get service but most of the time it was in and out.

It also had a self service kiosk.
(I swear the branches here in durham are so backwards and out of date)

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:

quote:

That's $26.40 cost for every man, women or child in the US.

A little over seven cents a day per person, if I understand your post correctly. Now I understand why some people are so upset about a service that roughly half of the people on this forum would miss if it was eliminated.

Not quite:

I fully agree with what 220-9er pointed out - every man, women or child in the US is paying $26.40 for USPS poor service based on last fiscal year's losses. However, taxpayers are on the hook for future USPS losses because year after year Congress keeps enabling them with empty promises that they're fixing the problems and they'll be better in 20xx.

The $26.40 doesn't include the costs built into goods and services shipped to us via USPS (i.e. not every company gives the customer a choice in shipping method).

The $26.40 doesn't include the previous 15+ years (i.e. they shut this down last year so in previous year's losses) they had the unholy alliances with FEDEX, UPS, and DHL (e.g. FEDEX shipped thousands/hundreds of miles, provided tracking and delivered to USPS. USPS would cease to provide tracking and eventually delivered to home when they felt like it). Prior to shutting down every year USPS lost money with this business arrangement, and as we all know to well when USPS loses money the American taxpayer foots the bill. Using alliance shipping was often not disclosed as shipping method, but instead the website would only partially disclose FEDEX or UPS as shipping method.

Like others, my preference is every man/woman pays their own way and doesn't ask taxpayers to subsidize them. A few easy changes that would get rid of the taxpayer subsidy quickly and make USPS more palatable:

Change postage rates so USPS doesn't lose money

Dump the bulk rate discounts as it's a money losing subsidy. The action the bulk rate shippers are taking (e.g. ink stamp vs sticker stamp) doesn't actually save USPS money, and their other competitors are much more expensive.

Dump the fixed rate shipping as it's a money losing subsidy. First, point to point shipping cost technology is already in place at USPS. Second and more important, it doesn't cost the USPS the same to ship from downtown Houston to suburb of Houston vs Houston to a village in Alaska that isn't connected to roads (i.e. get its USPS flown in 1x or 2x per week). Third, the "if it fits it ships" doesn't cost the USPS the same to ship two 30 lb dumbells (i.e. my buddy did this) as it does to ship a Roomba even though the boxes are the same size.

I posted earlier in the thread about Canada Post's money saving measure of getting rid of nearly all post offices and outsourcing it to businesses. It was actually better as the other businesses (e.g. drug stores) had much customer friendlier hours than USPS. Switching to this business model wouldn't be quick, but it'd get rid of a lot of real estate, building upkeep, and reduce staffing. To be clear, in Canada the post man still delivers mail to your house, and as I enjoy remembering they still deliver mail to the wrong house. I had the dyslexic address of a gorgeous woman who seemingly only wore tight fitting yoga outfits and I dutifully delivered it to her rain, sleet, or snow.

Yes!

Because of our location, we do not have mail nor package delivery to our house. We drive into town to get and to drop off mail and to pick up packages. The local USPS office does a great job for us and the very friendly and helpful staff is a big plus.

Silent

Yes, as the local PO reliably delivers checks and various other documents we still send and receive. Occasionally we get the neighbor’s mail and vice versa, but that’s about it. If the annual PO deficit amounts to $26 per head that doesn’t seem too bad to maintain the ability to send stuff to anyone in the country for less than a buck. Doubt Fedex or UPS could replace that service for anything like that cost.

For comparison, what’s the cost per head for Ukraine support and/or USAID waste?

I'm getting the feeling from this thread that the good vs bad experiences with the USPS seem to be divided down rural vs urban/large suburban lines. Is that a fair assessment?

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Is that a fair assessment?

Nope. It’s a wasteful government subsidy no matter where you live.

It highlights many people want to claim that they are against a large, wasteful government. But, they are only against a large wasteful government that they disagree with. Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook to pay for LaShonda’s food, but should be on the hook for their junk mailers.

Up next, the “drop in the bucket” argument that always gets used to justify pet wasteful spending.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
...Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook to pay for LaShonda’s food, but should be on the hook for their junk mailers.

Up next, the “drop in the bucket” argument that always gets used to justify pet wasteful spending.

Thank you! It's always the same, isn't it?

I would bet Amazon could do it better and for less.

I was friendly with a mailman and it amazes me they have a uniform allowance for $90 uniform pants and $60 shirts. Why the hell does the person delivering junk mail to my house need a $150 uniform?

At 7 cents per day per person deficit, and considering the typical content of our daily mail, all the USPS would have to do is increase the price of junk mail by about 3 cents per piece, and maybe a penny or two on first class mail.

yes,

I do a lot of mail order thru ebay and gunbroker,

I can mail small parts etc much cheaper than UPS or FedEx and 99.9 % of the time, and loss/damage rate is better than that,

similar packages would be $12+ for a few ounce package (vs 5-6$ usps)

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Is that a fair assessment?

Nope. It’s a wasteful government subsidy no matter where you live.

It highlights many people want to claim that they are against a large, wasteful government. But, they are only against a large wasteful government that they disagree with. Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook to pay for LaShonda’s food, but should be on the hook for their junk mailers.

Up next, the “drop in the bucket” argument that always gets used to justify pet wasteful spending.

That wasn't my question. I agree that it's a subsidy and an inefficient one at that. What I'm wondering is if the quality of service/customer satisfaction is higher in rural areas than urban.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
A box at a company such as FEDEX Kinkos, UPS store, and other independent 3rd parties.

When I lived in Alberta, Canada, they had almost entirely done away with their post offices and outsourced to the private business. For example, drug stores that used to have a photoprocessing area have converted it to a Canada post area. Can buy stamps, ship parcels, and they had some PO boxes.

Hate to break it to you, but the Post Office delivers the mail you receive at those third party businesses.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
I think they should deliver to the address regardless of whose name is on it. Suppose you have someone visiting for a few weeks or something like that?

You'd be surprised at how often people who move from a location fail to understand they need to submit a change of address with the Post Office. On the flip side, there are a surprising number of instances where mail begins being incorrectly forwarded to an address. I have no way of knowing this until A) the mailbox gets full and I pull it all out for a 10-day hold pending return to sender or B) I get (usually) a nasty note from the occupants that the mail I'm delivering doesn't belong to them.

Carriers aren't psychic or omniscient. I don't know who's in the house or apartment nor do I really care. Just don't be pissed when mail that's addressed correctly begins showing up in the mailbox.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:


That wasn't my question. I agree that it's a subsidy and an inefficient one at that. What I'm wondering is if the quality of service/customer satisfaction is higher in rural areas than urban.

The answer is still no. I’m rural, and have a small post office with a couple of employees, and part time delivery folks.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
A box at a company such as FEDEX Kinkos, UPS store, and other independent 3rd parties.

When I lived in Alberta, Canada, they had almost entirely done away with their post offices and outsourced to the private business. For example, drug stores that used to have a photoprocessing area have converted it to a Canada post area. Can buy stamps, ship parcels, and they had some PO boxes.

Hate to break it to you, but the Post Office delivers the mail you receive at those third party businesses.

You didn't brreak anything to me. If you read the entire thread you would've seen this

quote:

I posted earlier in the thread about Canada Post's money saving measure of getting rid of nearly all post offices and outsourcing it to businesses. It was actually better as the other businesses (e.g. drug stores) had much customer friendlier hours than USPS. Switching to this business model wouldn't be quick, but it'd get rid of a lot of real estate, building upkeep, and reduce staffing. To be clear, in Canada the post man still delivers mail to your house, and as I enjoy remembering they still deliver mail to the wrong house. I had the dyslexic address of a gorgeous woman who seemingly only wore tight fitting yoga outfits and I dutifully delivered it to her rain, sleet, or snow.