Building Back Better Again: Postal Rates to increase 60 cents
The newest rate increase "to balance the books" is effectively 60 cents a book for retail media rate: that includes the fees charged by eBay including sales tax on the shipping increase.
It's a good thing that inflation is over and that the economy is in great shape, otherwise I might think this excessive price gouging.
32 comments
selsa84
·2 years agoIt's called " delivering for America" and is the plan by Dejoy to better the USPS. He also has about 40 million invested in USPS competitors. So he stands to gain the most by USPS failing. Oh btw, he was installed by trump
lakefor94
·2 years agoUPS shipments are down this year though the union workers only get a nickel raise next year so UPS pricing should stay flat. They got a big raise this year.
With the USPS Ground Advantage move, USPS is landing a LOT of previous UPS customers and/or UPS customers are not using UPS as much.
The pack and ship drop off joints here in my area are seeing the same, a lot more USPS and less UPS.
selsa84
·2 years agoAnd they'll probably be reverting back ups when they realize ground advantage is much much slower that ups. Cheaper but slower.
lakefor94
·2 years ago@selsa84
I always had USPS 1st Class Package and Parcel Select as sub-standard services.
Now that so much is combined into GA, I have not been seeing any delays or issues this year on my GA shipments, with some having estimated times a day sooner than UPS. Seeing the same on AMZ estimated times as well and theirs are highly accurate.
I make no mistake that UPS is the more reliable service and they still get the expensive shipments though my threshold for using USPS GA has risen to about the $250 mark. It is a game time decision every day depending upon the product, destination and price. GA is killing UPS on quite a bit of the pricing for heavier and larger shipments that use to always go to UPS.
The people that know shipping already know the shipping times though I may be at an advantage shipping out of the DFW area as a great proximity.
Price is a big player for me here and now.
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoIf this is true, why are prices going up in July. This is not staying flat. I don't see any logic in assuming that the USPS can absorb a wage increase (along with the IRS and Cafeteria burdens) and keep prices flat without cutting some other costs--more blue boxes gone, more hubs closed, more local post offices closed.
Last I looked the rates for Ground Advantage weren't changing as significantly as Media Rate but it is difficult to analyze because the zone maps may still change.
In any case, I find that I can often same a few pennies with GA. I've even sent books within the State of Ohio for less GA than MM, and I usually check.
anjofak
·2 years agoAnd just when I was thinking a 5ft x 5ft x 8ft box from Idaho to Anchorage for 4k was almost an ok deal
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoYou really can't compare one of the busiest container routes in the world to an overland multi-modal route (if you are lucky).
It does seem like a reasonable charge given two borders have to be crossed (with tariffs?) and all the travel is in the mountains. (I used to have to deal with shipping costs as a part of estimates I built up).
dy60609
·2 years agoLittle to no reason for the MM service to exist.
It costs USPS no less to transport and deliver a book, or DVD than it does for some other item.
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoThere is little to no reason for any postal system to exist these days. But they do. In the case of the United States, the Postal Service is a Constitutional Requirement, as is cheap service to libraries and free service to politicians (who universally abuse the privilege).
Cost v price? Why then, volume discounts for pre-sorted mail? You know that Thriftbooks with its location in every major metropolitan area doesn't qualify for the lowest rate every single day from every single location, so the incentive isn't offered to cut costs: the manual labor part--emptying the bins, stacking the bins, loading the stacks and so on, is carried on regardless of the cost stamp on the box.
And when more than one book goes to one address they, for the most part, bundle together so the final sorting work for each package is the same.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoDeJoy is the first Postmaster General to have experience in transportation and logistics.
He is the first since USPS was created who was not a professional politician.
USPS was created by Larry O'Brien who was the ultimate pol, and that is why it could never break even, even though that was its major goal.
Obviously DeJoy is going to make some workers and some customers unhappy.
You had all better hope that his plan works because there is a good chance your choices will only be USPS and UPS. The loss of USPS' interstate traffic to UPS will hit FEDEX which is already in deep trouble.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@tobaccocardyahoo
Well, DeJoy has been in office since May 2020, and so far he's batting zero.
Huge congestions at USPS Delivery Hubs in Atlanta, and Houston, and Memphis.
Congressional investigations regarding non-delivery of mail, cut-backs in delivery schedules, and eliminating USPS mailing systems.
Multiple postal increases within single years.
Demanding no overtime for delivery drivers, who must bring undelivered mail back to the post office, rather than deliver it.
Eliminating thousands of neighborhood "blue boxes."
Not such a great track record for a guy who's been on the job for nearly four years.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoSeems to me that he is doing the right thing. USPS loses money – they’re only two ways to fix that. Increase revenue or decrease costs. He is doing both – and I haven’t seen a slow down in USPS operations. Absolutely, there have been pockets of issues. But I would expect issues with any change of systems. I see it with SAP on every implementation. Temporary pain, long-term gain.
lakefor94
·2 years agoChances are that if another politician (to remain obvious) made an appointment, huge congestions at USPS Delivery Hubs in Atlanta, and Houston, and Memphis would be the least of the problems incurred over the last 4 years.
The appointee would have no logistic experience and the overall costs to customers would be significantly higher than we have seen so far to go along with the worst service experience in the history of USPS. That's a given.
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoCongestions in these places are NOTHING compared to those in Bell, CA we had to deal with for most of the Bush years.
I'm not near any of them, but I felt Bell--constant emails from customers with stuff stuck in Bell. Haven't had any issues with the other hubs.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoHardly. Service and Efficiency was shown by the effectiveness of the changes before this past holiday season.
The human sabotage of his equipment and sorting center redeployment of the previous holiday season had passed. The equipment which had previously be running two to three hours per day was humming for several shifts and manpower needs were down.
Every DeJoy change has made it necessary for some postal employees to have to work harder each day, or reduced head count. Some postal centers have been more resistant to change than others. This time the resistance is taking place during a low volume season.
There are decades of featherbedding being ended at USPS and it is not surprising that many workers are doing their best to protect their cushy jobs.
My dad was a letter carrier deployed in a major sorting center, and I know how inefficient they have been for at least 50 years.
His changes will work because they make sense.
I am waiting to see what he does to post offices.
I live in a city of 22k people which has one PO. I have another house in a town of 1.2k people which has two P.O.s. In each of the neighboring towns there is one PO. Distance of one of their POs to one of our POs is about 5 miles.
I can tell when there is a USPS trainee on our route. (We have a training center in my city). The trainees actually scan on pickup, and will pick up without a request online.
More changes to come.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@tobaccocardyahoo
DeJoy's changes to the New Brighton, MN post office branch which I regularly use resulted in a 2023 Congressional investigation, which uncovered tens of thousands of pieces of undelivered mail; postal employees who had spent more time AWAY from work than actually working; managers on extended leaves of absence with NO replacement managers; missing keys; parcels stored in unexpected areas; employees on the verge of retirement not permitted to use their sick time; employees not permitted to take breaks; unannounced and unscheduled closings of post office facilities; mail deliveries only 4 days a week; delivery drivers dropping mail accidentally outside their trucks, and refusing to get out of their trucks to retrieve the mail; excess instances of lost or mis-delivered mail and packages; delivery drivers not finishing their daily routes, since overtime was cut; and so on, and so on.
This was only a single Congressional investigation, which was instigated by a high volume of customer complaints regarding 4 postal units.
It will probably not be the last.
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoI think you are making the point that change is necessary. The P.O. has been a sinking ship for many decades. If you had owned a failing business and employees were doing their jobs as you described they are at the Brighton MN location, how long before you end up going out of business? How long can you stand to lose money year after year? Change is needed and how the post office is funded should be examined. Is there a benefit for tax payers to continue funding or would privatizing help cut through some red tape with hiring/firing/restructuring? I hope it continues as originally intended for but it needs to make sense. The way its going i do not think it will be possible to salvage it without cuts/restructuring/privatizing. 😪
Personally i have seen some improvements with my mail being delivered/received over the last few years. Problems will always exist especially during a pandemic. Nothing is perfect. However it does seem like many of the USPS workforce do not like their jobs. Leadership can implement changes but if the retail employees (couriers, retail, sorting facility, drivers, not management) act the way they "allegedly" performed as you stated, nothing will change or be impacted. Some may argue if you implemented a minimum $50 hour for all USPS employees, nothing would change on how mail is delivered. (overall delivery)
IMHO i think the problem is bigger than the USPS. (Work ethic of many Americans) Most of us that post/sell here on Ebay work hard for ourselves, would not put up with any shenanigans. Our time is valuable and we are responsible for our actions. If we decide we hate/dislike what we do, many of us would find something else to do. Change is needed and much more change is coming to the USPS.
Some USPS employees may need to be promoted to customers.
Maybe its time to "Re Imagine" the P.O.
Term limits for all Federal Employees (4-8 years, especially the DMV) 😉
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@chevymontecarlo88
"if the retail employees (couriers, retail, sorting facility, drivers, not management) act the way they "allegedly" performed as you stated, nothing will change or be impacted."
The 2023 Congressional investigation provides substantial proof that the vast majority of problems at the New Brighton post office branch came about as a result of individual decisions made by management and supervisors -- not by the lower-level employees themselves, who were only following the dictates of their superiors.
And the DMV is not a Federal government operation -- it is an individual STATE government function.
chevymontecarlo88
·2 years agoThe 2023 Congressional investigation - no need to further this statement. Congress has been ineffective for decades as well. Changes to the work environment does not excuse bad behavior. Yes it can be difficult but it is a job/work.
And the DMV is not a Federal government operation -- it is an individual STATE government function. - I would expand term limits to State as well.
I can empathize and understand your frustration but everyone (USPS employees from Top to Bottom) needs to be accountable. I think we all can agree on that and it should not be a political argument.
It appears you are a great seller here on Ebay. Great feedback and great listings. There is a reason why you do well. I would assume you work hard (great work ethic) and do your best to give the best customer service to your clients. I commend you for that and you should not be surprised of your results. If everyone took pride in their jobs and made the best of it, most of the problems would go away. IMHO. Not being profitable is something none of us can do long term.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoDeJoy's ability to clean house is highly limited and will remain so due to the political clout of the postal worker's union.
Expect the recent decision to move sorting from Hampton Maine to the Scarborough center to meet with similar resistance from the workers.
https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/usps-consolidate-mail-hampden-processing-facility/97-a70fb0ec-2707-465f-a04f-d1b1b37a2060
Note how the union president feels the requirement for USPS to make a profit should be ignorned in favor of pleasing its workers.
selsa84
·2 years agoThat's is exactly his plan , to get you to ship FedEx and to privatise the USPS. Dejoy is horrible and needs to go.
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoNixon privatized the USPS a long long time ago.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@taylor_memorial
By the way, this is not part of any "Build Back Better" program.
This was hatched up by USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was NOT appointed by Joe Biden, but by Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump.
Blame where blame is actually due.
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoit was actually hatched by Bill Clinton, who decided that in order to balance the US Budget, postal patrons had to pay into benefit programs for people yet to be hired....and THEN email destroyed first class mail.
There was one postal increase a year until we started building back better, and now there have been two a year since inflation spiked after the Inflation Reduction Act.
Now if DeJoy was a Democrat, he could ignore the laws requiring the USPS to maintain itself, with impunity just like they all do. But you are right, he is a Trump appointee and thus has to follow the law.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@taylor_memorial
"It was actually hatched by Bill Clinton, who decided that in order to balance the US Budget, postal patrons had to pay into benefit programs for people yet to be hired....and THEN email destroyed first class mail. "
Not true -- Bill Clinton wasn't President yet -- it was one of the last "lame duck" acts of George W. Bush and his Republican-controlled Congress, passed in December 2006 -- one month BEFORE Bill Clinton became president:
"Namely, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.
Passed by a Republican-led Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, the PAEA gave the Postal Service new accounting and funding rules for its retiree pension and health benefits. Up until 2006, the USPS funded those obligations on a pay-as-you-go-basis, pulling out of its pension fund and adding to it as retirees' costs came in. But the PAEA required the Postal Service to calculate all of its likely pension costs over the next 75 years, and then sock away enough money between 2007 and 2016 to cover most of them."
More blame where blame is due.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoYou folks that like to bring politics into everyday conversations must be fun at parties 🙂
lakefor94
·2 years agoWhat I have noticed is they don't attend parties of mixed political ideals. So, no problem for certain folks 😉
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoAnd Clinton could have fixed all of it had he addressed the realities instead of creating recessions.
Some will rob you with a fountain pen.
I mean: as the dotcom bubble expanded and people moved to email, he could have had the payroll estimates realistically revised downwards. But since when does a Bureaucrat EVER reduce budgets?
BTW: Bill Clinton was President from 1992-2000, the price of a 2 cent stamp rose to 40 cents with 5 raises in his tenure. It didn't begin with Clinton. It didn't begin with Nixon, who privatized the Post Office because it was continually losing money. And it didn't step up to twice a year until the current appointee in the White House.
The fact is postage costs are driven by inflation costs and Building Back Better is bankrupting the Post Office faster than it can keep up with the changes. You'll notice that until 2022, "real cost" wasn't equal to actual cost, and since then the price of a stamp has risen 4 times (including this coming July).
selsa84
·2 years agoYou have absolutely no clue as to what ur talking about.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoAs much as Media Mail is abused, it wouldn't surprise me if they just did away with it.
taylor_memorial
OP2 years agoToday I got a book in that was shipped "Bound Printed Matter" which is a rate nearly impossible to get and does not apply to books.
Megasellers are feeling the pinch, too.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoAmazon offers BPM to its online sellers, as a choice with their buy shipping.
It does apply to books. Check the DMM definitions.
It does not automatically have return service, so unless the seller marks the package that they want return service if undeliverable, the package is destroyed.
It is not always cheaper than media mail. However it also applies to magazines and periodicals.
You do not have to be a megaseller to use BPM.