In DailyFinance's new video series, My Three Cents, personal finance columnist Regina Lewis discusses tips and trends affecting today's consumer market. This week's focus: continuing trouble at the U.S. Postal Service. PRIORITY MAIL- one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the American public. Read the GAO Report found on line where they investigated Priority Mail after its inception when it compared itself to Fedex delivery times. The GAO Report found that there is NO mechanism to move Priority Mail any faster than First Class, and they had to stop making claims about speed of delivery. Yes, that's right, you pay TEN TIMES MORE for Priority Mail, and it goes the same way and route that your 44 cent letter goes. Read their delivery time claims, 2-3 day AVERAGE delivery. Grade school math tells you that means 4-6 days 50% of the time to get that average. Hey, isn't that First Class? And THEN... if you read the small print, that 2-3 day average is POST OFFICE TO POST OFFICE, not delivered to your mailbox, so you pay 10 times as much for Priority Mail... and they deliver nothing. In fact, they dumbed down First Class Mail and simply replaced it with something 10 times more expensive. Is this a great country or what? If I did that in my business, I'd be in jail for deceptive business practices.
Priority Mail has no mechanism for moving it any faster around the country than that 44 cent letter stuffed into a mail sack. In the GAO Report presented to Congress, the only thing Priority Mail is "supposed" to do is get sorted first, but that's not guaranteed or mandated, just supposed to happen if you are relying on postal employees to be consciousness. Hahaha. And they can't get rid of the bad employees, they just farm them out to smaller post offices. And Express "Overnight" Mail? Another joke. Only if its going to a metro area will it get there overnight, most places it takes 2 days for "Overnight" mail, but they charge just the same for 2 day service as Overnight. What a great country this is, to provide no service at a premium price, and get away with it. And then they wonder why their customers are going away and Fedex and UPS are taking their business. No problem, we just hike rates!
A little tip on how to help the post office. Send out those business reply envelopes that come in the mail. It has a prepaid envelope in it to mail back to the company. You don't need to put anything in the envelope, just send it out empty. It keeps the mail circulating. A tip from a friend who delivers the mail.
July 25 2011 at 10:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI personally would not like to see the USPS go out of business. It is always a plesure to send a personal "Thank You" card to those who have done something kind for me. Christmas and other Holidays is another time that I enjoy sending those beautiful cards of Holiday Greetings and Joy. It makes my day when I go to my mailbox and someone has taken the time and effort to send me a letter (personally written) or a greeting card. I make it a rule to always send a card to those good people who have thought of me. It would be very sad and a great loss of tridition if the USPS were to go out of business.
July 25 2011 at 10:18 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Replythey are pricing themselves right out of the market nobody even mails christmas cards anymore because between the price of cards and the postage they could buy a gift for less
July 25 2011 at 9:53 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down ReplyFirst of all, the Post Office will NEVER deliver once a week. Secondly, UPS uses the post office to send their packages from one state to another, and third, UPS and FedEx would be put out of business if the USPS were allowed to own their own planes because they would be able to charge a whole lot less than the other two companies. And finally, it would be nice if this woman knew a little about what she is talking about...and please make sure she colors her roots before doing a video blog again.
July 25 2011 at 9:37 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down ReplyOver the years we have found that the Postal Workers at our towns Post Office, acted as though they were doing one a favor by doing their job. We have been using the Post Office in the next town, for many years now, where we have found the workers to be friendly, knowledgeable, helpfull and they go above and beyond, every time. Sure hope the Powers That Be, keep this Post Office OPEN and Keep The Same Folks, Working There!
July 25 2011 at 9:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyinternet is killing thousands of jobs..no doubt, the middle man is in trouble. BUT this could be a good thing if you operate your own business like myself..no shoplifting, no employee theft, world wide customer base, etc.
July 25 2011 at 8:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyUp to 190,000,000 pieces of mail per day delivered by the USPS, not bad for a semi-government agency that delivers in all weather, to nearly all the world, almost always on time, and usually in one piece, for $0.44; which is very different from UPS or FEDX that only deliver packages for many dollars each, usually not on time, and many times damaged.
July 25 2011 at 8:05 AM Report abuse Permalink -2 rate up rate down ReplyPlease do a little homework before giving your three cents. The post office is really a company between a private and government corporation. The post office financial policy is to provide the most secure and dependable mail service in the world at the lowest possible price. What can you get somewhere else for 44 cents? The cost of the stamps is offset my the costs of the post office, maintenance, delivery, retail, and transportation. For 44 cents. No, the government does not fund the post office, as our taxes do not pay anything at the post office. Research will show that Congress mandated the post office to fund their health/retirement funds at a rate that is well above any rate mandated on another government agency. Why? I don't know that answer, but the result is after over-paying the pre-funding of the health/retirement and the costs to run the post office it has caught up with the post office after about the last ten years or so. Congress needs to lift the financial burden of this over-funding and should return the very large overage back to the post office, since it is money that belongs to the post office and is not tax collected money. This would place the post office as being the most sound government agency once again.( I suspect this was a plot to kill the post office so rich people would push for privatization so they can slice and dice and pilage and swallow up dollars for themselves.)
July 25 2011 at 1:14 AM Report abuse Permalink +3 rate up rate down ReplyWhy Whine about raising the stamp 1 penny? I know for sure comcast, at&t, utilities, gas, food and about everything else raise 5% every year. 1 penny is small amout compared to everything else. Internet costs money too.
July 25 2011 at 12:41 AM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply
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