Improvement isn't what it used to be at the USPS

[Willem]

Sure, although I would expect the major cost to be in collection and endpoint distribution. Sending a parcel from the Netherlands to somewhere in Germany does not cost an arm and a leg either, although it will not be next day delivery.

 

[mansr]

Sure, although I would expect the major cost to be in collection and endpoint distribution.

This is where I expect the major difference to be too. In rural Montana, say, a driver might need to travel 100 miles to deliver a single item. With any reasonable fixed pricing, such deliveries will clearly incur a loss. That's much less likely to happen in the Netherlands.

 

[JJB70]

Keep in mind I come from what counts as a rural county by English standards (Cumbria), but I used to get annoyed with the way so many people used to whinge about rural areas being shafted when I lived in Cumbria and claiming they got nothing. Ignoring universal mail service, potable water supplies, rural electrification, roads, telecoms etc, virtually none of which would happen if it had to be funded locally.

 

[blueone]

Current Postmaster De Joy is a CEO of a large mail order business that is in direct competition with the countries national mail that has been around for some time now.
A conflict of interest like most other appointments in the last 48 months.
The previous Postmaster was forced out by political appointees.

I haven't looked at this thread for a while. DeJoy is not the CEO of a major mail order business. After he retired from XPO Logistics he founded a small company that does a myriad of things including private equity and consulting called LDJ Global Strategies. Obviously, LDJ are his initials. He seems to still be president of LDJ, though I would have thought that would be a conflict with being Postmaster General. Silly me. DeJoy got to XPO because they acquired his previous company New Breed Logistics, which was (is?) the target of an accusation of over-pricing to the USPO.

 

[maverickronin]

This is where I expect the major difference to be too. In rural Montana, say, a driver might need to travel 100 miles to deliver a single item. With any reasonable fixed pricing, such deliveries will clearly incur a loss. That's much less likely to happen in the Netherlands.

Wyoming and Alaska are even worse.

List of states and territories of the United States by population density - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mansr]

Wyoming and Alaska are even worse.

List of states and territories of the United States by population density - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I don't think population density is the best metric here. A better one might be median distance from homes to the nearest mail distribution centre. Good luck finding that information, though.

 

[maverickronin]

I don't think population density is the best metric here. A better one might be median distance from homes to the nearest mail distribution centre. Good luck finding that information, though.

Definitely not the best, but probably one of the better ones you can actually find.

 

[Tks]

Bear in mind, thought, that the Netherlands is a small, densely populated country. Running a mail/parcel service profitably there is a lot easier than in the US.

This is what happens when you have a layout for your nation that is riddled with stroads (quick Google if no ones heard of the word). And don’t build cities out while maintaining them. Instead here we build a city, skimp on maintenance due to cost, and utterly cease expansion due to even worse cost, and then start building pockets of communities well away from main centers. All of which require owning cars.

The issues with public infrastructure planning of this sort is far more reaching than the postal service inconvenience. Massive hits to all sorts of societal markers ranging from economic (struggling and failing cities since for some reason these pockets of communities end up with governmental loans they can never pay off to build up public services that only big cities have any right to build in their area), to simply the utter eradication of human scaled living (instead you have just roads and streets that make no sense, while needing a car to pickup groceries).

A complete and utter disaster even Canadian neighbors of ours are also seemingly taking part of.. this decades in the making mistake.

 

[Boris Badinov]

I'm ambivalent about regular mail since probably 80% of what I get is purely junk, and the remainder could just as easily be delivered electronically. I already do most bill payments electronically but there are still holdouts who send invoices, and that seems a waste of resources and time. USPS is by far the worst at package delivery to the extent that I joke with my wife that if a package is sent via USPS, there is a good chance we'll never receive it.

So, the mail could go away entirely and I could honestly care less.

I begin to think the reason the mail is so slow is due to the fact that the postal employees take their time sifting through the packages to see which they want to break or lose. Last year I began only using sellers using UPS or FEDEX (and not entirely happy with them, either). Anything I have ordered from the world that uses USPS once in the states, ends up in Ukraine or gets lost once my local PO gets it.

 

[Willem]

Mail here is, of course, delivered by bicycle, and even a fair proportion of parcels is delivered by (cargo) bicycles.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I've never had a problem with USPS package delivery. Their employees are also more considerate than most UPS and FedEx drivers I run into.

Just last week I had to file a complaint on Ebay for a package which was supposed to be delivered by USPS because - guess what? - the package never arrived. Unless I absolutely have no other choice, I try to avoid any business which ships USPS only.

 

[JP]

Interesting times. A Priority Mail package that was sent from San Jose on Saturday showed up in my mailbox in CT on Monday. That's crazy fast.

On the other hand, a package from Marcellus, NY, just a four hour drive away, has be en-route for eight days now. It's made appearances in Philly, Jersey City, and was last seen in Springfield two days ago. I guess it needs to circle before landing.

 

[Suffolkhifinut]

the main reason is the distance. it depends on how far they have to travel. The last time I received the item was within 2 weeks. However, I won't say that USPS services are not slow. they usually take so much long time and now they have updated their policies. They are charging more for slow delivery.
I don't understand their logic.

When working overseas we used to bring back UK stamps for our American colleagues. When they were sending mail back home it was delivered quicker if it was posted in the UK. None of them had a high opinion of the USPS.