Postal Service Loss

I read an article on the Associated Press this past week that stated that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) lost 1.1 billion dollars this past quarter (http://govexec.com/dailyfed/0808/080608ap2.htm). I thought I'd offer my 2 bits on this. First, summer time is the worst time of the year in regards to mail volume for the Post Office. I've seen considerably less mail these past 3 to 4 months than I do during the rest of the year. This is the norm. Personally, I like the lower volumes as it means I can get my route done quicker and I end up giving the Post Office fewer free hours. Second, the price of gas is really clobbering the Post Office. The Post Office has one of the largest fleets of vehicles per a U.S. company in the country. On some of the routes I deliver on, you have to drive from box to box. It would take far too long to deliver the mail walking. I think I saw a statistic some where that stated the Postal Service loses 8 million dollars for every penny the price of gas goes up. Considering how much gas has gone up, you can see how badly the Postal Service has gotten clobbered. Lastly, the service is trying to keep costs down. I know on the city side at our Post Office that they are having more open routes i.e. routes that don't have a salaried carrier. These routes have to be carried by the other city carriers. Also, our Post Office is cracking down on mis-thrown parcels. If a parcel is shipped Priority or First Class, we must deliver it the day we receive it. Mis-thrown parcels by the clerks can make it necessary for us to send a carrier (at $17.98 an hour) out to deliver a $4 parcel. By cutting down on mis-thrown parcels, we're able to save money and parcel runs.

The Postal Service is facing some incredible challenges. On-line bill paying is really hurting the service. People prefer to email or text message vice writing letters. Also, competition from FedEx and UPS is tough. Ironically, the Post Office offers a great deal in Express Mail but, a lot of people still prefer to use FedEx or UPS. Postal work remains labor intensive though the service has tried and continues to try to automate as much as possible. There has been a serious reduction in the number of clerks because of automation. The service also has a real challenge getting people who can do the job. A lot of people in this country don't realize just how hard it is to deliver the mail. I know, I was one of them. We have a high attrition rate among new hires. One of the things I've had to do is encourage the newbes to stick it out. The job is very hard until you start to figure out where various addresses are on the mail case. Lastly, I think the Postal Service is a great bargain. You can still mail a letter across the country for just 42 cents. With high gas prices, competition and communication advances, the future promises to be very challenging for the U.S. Postal Service and its employees.

Heat

One of the hardest things that a mail carrier has to deal with is the weather. It isn't a cliche when the mail service says that neither rain nor sleet nor cold will stop the mail from getting through. The Postal Service means it. Yesterday, I got to deal with another weather element: Heat. The temperature was in the high 90's and it may have hit 100. You walked out of the Post Office and you could feel the heat at once. You promptly started sweating. You work as quickly as you can so you can get back to the Post Office and out of the heat. Also, you take plenty of fluids with you. It's easy to get dehydrated while you're delivering the mail. You're out in the heat for a long time. Yesterday, I was out in it for over 3 and 1/2 hours. The postal trucks have fans in them but these do little good in the heat. All they end up doing is blowing hot air into your face which may make the situation worse.

The forecast for the neat 5 days predicts temperatures in the 90's. It promises to be a hard week. Luckily, I'm scheduled to do Express Mail for 3 days. I'm hoping the schedule doesn't change. With Express Mails, you're outside a max of 90 minutes. That's one of the nice things about Express Mails. The bad thing about them is you are very pressed for time. The Post Office means it when they promise to deliver your package by Noon the next day. They won't accept any excuses from the carrier. We'll see how it goes.

Transfer

One of the great ironies of working at the U.S. Postal Service is that it is one of the worst organizations to try to transfer from one state to another. It is ironic when you consider that no other organization/company has more branches throughout the U.S. than the U.S. Postal Service. In my case, I'd like to transfer to a post office that is in the York, PA area or to some post office close to I-83 in northeast Maryland. As either of those two areas are outside the Capital District that I'm currently part of, I'll have to take the rural carrier exam AGAIN even though I've been doing the job for almost 2 years now. Worst still, if I get picked up by a post office in the York area or northern Maryland area, I'll go to the bottom of the list of the subs at that Post Office. What does that mean? It means that I'll get the fewest hours and will be the last to get a route when one opens up. In order to transfer to the new post office, I'll forfeit all the seniority I currently have. It's one of the things that really bites working for the Postal Service.

Reminder

I just wanted to remind my readers that postage rates went up today. In the case of a first class letter, it went up 1 cent. If you have the forever stamps, you don't need to worry about the rate increase. Rates for other classes of mail also went up. To find out what they are, please check http://www.usps.com/.

Reminder

I wanted to remind everyone that a 1st class letter now requires 41 cents postage. I've been seeing a lot of letters and bills missing the extra 2 cents in postage. I haven't seen the Post Office kick any of those back YET. Still, I wouldn't take a chance on the generosity of the Postal Service. If you want your letter or bill to get to its destination, please make sure you use the correct postage.

Another item, any letter or bill that you mail that weighs less than an ounce costs 41 cents unless it is more than 1/4 inch thick. All you have to do is stick a tape or something a little bulky and you may have to pay an extra 17 cents postage. I was reminded of this when I mailed a letter to my friend May Jackson. One thing I like to do with letters I write is seal them with sealing wax. It adds a nice touch to the letter and I think it looks classy. The flip side is the seal causes the letter to exceed to width requirements so I have to pay an extra 17 cents postage. If you seal your letters with sealing wax, please take note. The 17 cents surcharge is because the letter has to be hand stamped vice machine stamped.

New Postal Rates

In case you haven't heard, postal rates will be going up on May 14th. The price of a 1 ounce First Class letter will go up 2 cents. You can mail letters using the 39 cent stamps until May 14th. After that, you must have to have the increased postage on your letter otherwise it'll get kicked back to you. Believe me, it will. I've seen it. Your local Post Office should be selling the new 41 cent stamps as well as 2 cent stamps so you can use up your 39 cent stamps. For further information on the rate increase or to order stamps on-line, see http://www.usps.com.

New Scanners

We received new digital scanners at the Post Office this past weekend. I don't know why the Post Office decided to go with the new scanners. The old ones seemed to work fine and they were pretty indestructible as I can testify as having accidentally dropped the things a few times. The new scanners are convenient in some ways and give a back-up to the form 3849's we have people sign when we have a package needing a signature confirmation or if its insured. Convenience wise, we no longer have to punch in the last four of our social security number when we log into the scanners. Instead, we have a bar code tag on our Post Office ID cards which we scan. Once we scan that bar code, the scanners will remember our name, social and route we worked that day in its system. In regards to a back up for the form 3849's, the new scanners scan in the signature of the person signing for the letter or package. This gives a digital image which can serve as an additional record to the form 3849. It's possible this image can be shown to the customer who requested the signature from whomever was receiving the mailed item.