They have the most locations in the US, their ground shipping is the cheapest, the faster shipping prices are within a few dollars of their competitors....I don't know why people keep saying USPS is crap?

Is it because they are in the red? Guess who did that? Our politicans did that. They required USPS to pay retirement benefits up front instead of over time (like every other business in the market). That made them go from WELL into the black, into deep in the red (a 6 billion dollar bill would do that to fedex / ups / etc). Can't stand all this BS info going around....

 

As far as I know, the United States Postal Services does not provide a tracking number; they call it a confirmation number. I often support USPS over the private companies (or publicly traded rather), i.e. UPS and FedEx. USPS needs more help. Only when I'm forced to ship something requiring a tracking apparatus every step of the way would I then use UPS or FedEx.

 

When it arrives in Australia, depending on what level of service has been assigned, tracking information will be provided.

GXG and EMI have tracking updates when the packages arrive in country.
PMI and registered mail are a hit & miss, sometimes they have it, mostly no updates.

That 800 will work when someone overseas add +1 to the international dialing code and speak to someone who can't help you on the other line. I've tried once, never again.

If it's urgent and mission critical, FedEx/UPS/DHL it. Otherwise, USPS EMI it as a minimum. Any less, prepare to run the risk of missing packages. All Government run postal services can never match the freight/courier specialists. You pay for what you get.

 

A) I agree the USPS is actually quite good. The people calling it crap are too dumb to recognize when their buyer is asking them to circumvent import/export laws, then act surprised when they get ripped off. As such, I'm not sure their input is all that valid.

B) For someone so interested in getting your facts straight, you might want to consider that many organizations are now paying into pension plans similar to how you'd pay into a retirement account, instead of the former practice of saying "we'll find the money when they actually retire." It hits municipalities especially hard as they have been promising firemen pensions for decades but haven't been paying a penny into them until the person starts drawing it. Financial issues today or tomorrow, that's the choice. Some people think it's a bit more intelligent to address the issue before it kills the organization.

You can call that stupid and blame the politicians, but it's the accountants who are driving that change.

The USPS expanded greatly in the last ten years, but there has been a drop lately in the volume of mail, so all those extra facilities, equpment, and workers are taking their toll on the bottom line.

 

I was waiting for this delivery.

 

I worked at one of their most advanced facilities for 2 years and my father has worked as a mail handler for 31 years...8 of which he was a union rep.

They aren't only in the red because of politicians, they are in the red because of massive hiring of unqualified individuals in lower level management that constantly make stupid decisions.

My father is 1 of 13 individuals in the Columbus International Airport facility that have over 2,000 hours of paid union grievances in more than 25 years of service...That's $50k-$60k in payouts caused by management making stupid decisions that resulted in breaking union rules.....comes out to well over half a millions bucks and that's just one facility.

There are many more inner workings that I've seen and heard that cost the USPS a ton of money...and I'd rather not get into it.

 

And last I checked, its still the best way to get a physical birthday card from the east coast to the west coast for 44 cents.

 

Crossposting from the back lot:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...post&p=18526320

 

Its obama times.....everyones cutting back