The Postal Service is required by law to “provide, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities.” Consequently, the Postal Service has the largest retail presence in America with more than 32,000 leased or owned facilities located across the country.
Today, alternate access channels are widely available. Customers can purchase stamps and access services at the Postal Service’s website www.usps.com, self-serve kiosks, grocery stores, retail outlets, and privately-operated shipper locations.
Loading ...Meanwhile, in the past decade, business and household mailers have increasingly turned to electronic media to transmit correspondence that was formerly sent through the postal system. In addition, a weakened economy has resulted in declining mail volume and revenue.
The combination of the availability of alternative access and declining revenue requires the Postal Service to re-evaluate its retail network to eliminate growing excess capacity, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. In May 2009, the Postal Service began a national initiative, known as retail optimization, to consolidate its retail stations and branches in urban and suburban areas. Unlike some other retailers, the Postal Service can’t close their stores without generating public reaction. Closing just a small percentage of postal facilities can affect thousands of people and communities and is often questioned by those communities involved. As a result, there is a need for the Postal Service to work with stakeholders to balance their interests and optimize resources.
This topic is hosted by the OIG’s Network Optimization Team.
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I like the idea of making PO’s “Federal centers”. With the new health care just being passed, the government has a unique opportunity to both save money, and help the PS at the same time. The governmant already has the network of facilities established, so there will be a lot of money saved in building and utility expenses, and the smaller PO’s can be made more productive-which means added money coming in for the PS. The same can be applied to other department, such as the Dept. of the Interior for national park services, and the Department of Commerce for census services. It would be a win-win for everybody.
Consolidating delvery functions is also a good idea, as you can save a lot of money therough the decrease of travel expenses associated with driving misdelivered mail everywhere. All you would have to do is take the missent mail to another part of the building in most cases. In addition, you can more easily close facilities in this case, as customers would not be losing their identities. They can simply drive a little farther for their retail services.
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I think we should stick to Postal products, there is soooo much to know just about our services, i cannot even think about learning other gov’t rules and regs. . Stick with what we know and make it better. Every office should have POS, I am still a manual office, CPU’S (Contract Postal Units -grocery stores, etc…) have beautiful computer systems to work on, I have a calculator and scale?? Is there something wrong with this picture? I do get asked if we fax documents, that would be quick & easy income, without needing vast knowledge of another gov’t agency. Let’s get back to basics of Customer Service, not what new service we can release halfheartedly. Also ashame to cut back on Philatelic, pure profit, stamps get bought and put in books! It used to be easy to navigate stamps services and releases, now too difficult.
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I look to what the function of government is: To do what others cannot do or will not do. Obviously, the USPS does a wonderful service and will continue to do so. The reality is that with the amazing development of modern means of electronic communication, mailing letters has become much less of a need and more of an option. Downsizing service centers into self-serve kiosks and vending machines makes sense, even though I don’t like to hear about anyone losing their job. But, I think if the postal service handles this properly, any displaced workers can be retrained for other careers in government or the private sector.
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Well, I don’t know about that. However, a relatively
new action item appeared in an APC today.
It was a suitcase headed for Naperville, Illinois
under the Priorty Label. Not too bad a price either,
in consideration of lugging the suitcase into the terminal, paying the TSA luggage rate, picking it up again, and lugging it up to the room.
Has anyone thought of this??? Of Course you have, you’ve thought of everything… At the rate energy is cruising back up the fortune scale, this might be the Greenest alternative for a traveler….
Long ago in a different life, my job took me to many
small town locations throughout the Mid Atlantic, and new England Regions. I always got my work crews payroll checks sent the the local Post Office C/O “General Delivery”.
Can the USPS transport travelers luggage in a TSA secure-safe and sustainable way that reduces the
airline exposure????
You know…….. “Right Size” the retail ops….
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We can’t properly staff and run what we have now. There are offices now that regularly run out of stamps and can’t do passports,because there aren’t enough clerks
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Shucks, I didn’t know OIG rigged polls but I guess they do because this one is
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Click-N-Ship service has serious problems. Here’s the short list.
- Label printing system is horrible. When a page does not print correctly the whole transaction has to be redone. Please make this re-printable.
- REFUNDS TAKE 15 DAYS. Even after the refund has been requested over the phone or online. This is not efficient and a big reason to not use the service. Any credit card transaction that is not completed should be refunded in a day or so, right? Any other online business that takes that long to refund would have some serious charges to defend against.
- Debt card transactions only work half the time. It goes through on customers end but not yours. This leads to the 15 day refund process again…I’m sure that there are state and federal laws that say refunds in this situation need to be refunded in a day or 2… I WANT MY $240.00 BACK THIS MONTH, PLEASE!
- Click-N-Ship System database is not linked for editing/conformation/rejection of service with the post office system. Any other large carrier has this. This would help solve the reprinting issue.
- Click-N-Ship service does not work with Macintosh computers.
- I feel really sorry for the Click-N-Ship customer service people. The abuse they must get every day from people in my situation. Help them out, please.
Thanks!
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The USPS could consolidate any offices. Example Winter Haven FL has 2 post offices 2 miles apart.
Every city has their own Post Office in many cases multi-city offices would serve just as well and reduce costs.
Get rid of contract caqrriers they do not serve the USPS well, they deliver second rate service to your customers.
A revamp of commercial customers payment method is in order, create accounts for atleast weekly shipping, or allow advanced purchase of shipping postage so we do not have to buy postage when we are getting packages ready to ship, this slows down our shipping capibility using the USPS.
These would be a good start
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Our post Office in Spencer is crazy. They don’t open on time and the counter hosts the most unfriendly people I know. It’s sad to think our government is paying these people great money to provide a nice customer service atmosphere and they still hate their jobs. I know people who work at Walmart and Menards for half the wages and no benefits and yet they still help you with a smile.
Secondly what is the issue with stamp machines. We use to have stamp machines that you could purchase stamps from if the post office was closed and now you can’t. It was very convenient to be able to purchase stamps anytime especially with the grumps at the counter.
I think we also need to move to a contract based system in smaller towns. The local convenience stores and city halls have become popular destinations in small town Iowa. Why not work with these other outlets to allow them to become the postal center in rural America.
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Allow UPS to run the system
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The first to do is to cut some post offices where i live their are 3 within a mile to cut the useless offices and make one a primary would save thousands. The second look as in pre paid debit cards as well as prepaid stamp cards, these cards can be sent to family and friend to pay for postage or other items at the post office, also I don’t see greeting cards at post offices which would be a great for last minute cards. also for the mobile fleet cut fuel cost by slowly moveing local delivery trucks to solar power.Their are many ways usps can pick- up the losses and keep the history of usps keeping to it’s own words…much more to add but no sence anyway no-one reads these things anyway
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Retail functions should be run by private small businesses. There are a few of these around the country and they provide much better service than the unionized bureaucrats that work for the USPS. All facilities leased by the USPS should be closed. No overtime should be allowed. All personnel working out of the USPS OIG should be fired, especially the OIG! Management should be required to reduce its’ workforce by 5% per year until the USPS quits losing money! The Postal Service Commission should be tarred and feathered! Fire Congress! (Yuk! Yuk!)
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I’m sorry alternative sales channels are only good for selling stamps there are so many different ways of shipping plus rules and regulation that tie into those and I am sorry someone at the grocery store or at Hallmark is not trained to do anything more than that. And for everyone out there that thinks UPS or FEDEX can do our job I don’t think so we are busy delivering their mail. How about the US Government pay back the 75 billion we were overcharged that would be nice. How about getting rid of some management positions we do not need 1 supervisor for every 5 employees. All the different crafts within the post office have lost jobs they are being cut left and right but management never loses there jobs they just move them to another position and give them a new title. And believe me when I tell you management has their own union. The next thing I would do is go back to good old “Customer Service”! How about let’s keep the customers we have by treating them the way we want to be treated! I greet every customer that comes into my post office with a smile and a greeting and I make sure I treat the one behind them the same! The buying of stamps and mailing packages pays our wages not tax money so how about making those customers want to come back. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance which every pay day I have to pay for, my dental and eyecare I pay for myself the post office does not pay for it. I go to work and make sure I give 100% plus and wish management would do the same!
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Definitly go 5 day mail delivery. Saturday is junk mail day. Millions would be saved in fuel which is becoming precious now. And cut back on oil use from the middle east. The post office can remain open on Saturday. The postal service has got to become more creative in thier services. If people want mail service on Saturday then offer special services for those who require it or request it. ( Post box rentals and make it affordable ) I would love to know how much gas is used in a average size mail truck- weekly- . Gallons and dollars and cents.
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stop saturday delivery. instead of delivery to each home, have those collective boxes on each block, though you should make delivery to each home, even apartments to the disabled. consolidate psot offices, but expand into areas like shopping malls, or in grocery store, and do not use union post office workers. next REDUCE MANAGeMeNT….MANAGEMENT DOES NOT do the majority of the work, but I can tell you from exprience management makes the most problems at post offices. the “going postal” was because of managements treatment of workers. USPS management seems to get “GOD LIKE” once they have gotten a promotion. I know one person management ruined in the north central texas area. and the poor soul will never be the same again. Next raise postage, but LOweR shipping by 20% and make the shipping easier by putting the shipping in places where fedex has them kinkos etc. I seldom buy anything that has to be shipped due to the high high costs of shipping. lastly start a pilot program to see how privatizing parts of the post office works…go tinto partnership with either fedex or ups….for the shipping, they would love the revenue. lastly I see trucks shipping stuff al over the place, would it not be easier to ship in larger volumnes? bigger trucks? fly to a hub point and only on a daily or bi=daily rate? shoot the delivery can get no slower, it takes 7-10 days to get a letter from amarillo to dallas (300 miles) it takes 5 days to get a letter 50 miles from pampa to amarillo, in fact faster to get a letter form pampa to dallas than amarillo to dallas….and all mail goes through amarillo from pampa lol
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Try increasing the bulk mail delivery rate, more specifically the junk mail rate.
Junk mail is defined as mail that is thrown away by >99% of people.
Maybe the price increase will reduce the number of credit card applications my household receives on a daily/weekly basis.
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For those of us who work 9-5, we need our local post office to be open on Saturdays to receive our certified mail & packages, in Brooklyn, N.Y. We cannot get them any other time because we work for a living unlike the rest of your writers who would like to close the local post offices. We have high theft of mail in NYC therefore, we must have the mail delivered to our individual boxes at home. We work and every $ counts. I cannot afford the $ for a postal box inside the post office.I cannot get to the post office to pick up mail. I WORK! On Saturday the lines in my local post office are out the door and last 2 or more hours.
Whatever happened to belief in the motto on the Main Post Office in Manhattan: “Neither rain, nor storm, nor sleeet, etc. shall stay the postman from his rounds”? My cousin was a mailman when it was a Federal job, an honorable one!Lower Congress’s pay, fat pensions, 100% social security, expensive health plans, etc. and make the Post Office Federal again. I need my Sat. delivery. Get rid of junk mail or charge them a higher rate. If the Fed. Govt. wasn’t so inefficient, the Post Office could be Federal again.
O.K. if you must raise the first class stamp again, we will have to pay it to keep the post office open.
The Post Office is a symnbol of America. I refuse to pay on-line and get “hacked”. I need to mail my check payments. Keep the Post Offices open and the local retail post offices too, in Brooklyn, NY.
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For those of us who work 9-5, we need our local post office to be open on Saturdays to receive our certified mail & packages, in Brooklyn, N.Y. We cannot get them any other time because we work for a living unlike the rest of your writers who would like to close the local post offices. We have high theft of mail in NYC therefore, we must have the mail delivered to our individual boxes at home. We work and every $ counts. I cannot afford the $ for a postal box inside the post office.I cannot get to the post office to pick up mail. I WORK! On Saturday the lines in my local post office are out the door and last 2 or more hours.
Whatever happened to belief in the motto on the Main Post Office in Manhattan: “Neither rain, nor storm, nor sleeet, etc. shall stay the postman from his rounds”? My cousin was a mailman when it was a Federal job, an honorable one!Lower Congress’s pay, fat pensions, 100% social security, expensive health plans, etc. and make the Post Office Federal again. I need my Sat. delivery. Get rid of junk mail or charge them a higher rate. If the Fed. Govt. wasn’t so inefficient, the Post Office could be Federal again.
O.K. if you must raise the first class stamp again, we will have to pay it to keep the post office open.
The Post Office is a symbol of America. I refuse to pay on-line and get “hacked”. I need to mail my check payments. Keep the Post Offices open and the local retail post offices too, in Brooklyn, NY.
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I live in the Las Vegas Nevada area. It does not matter which one of the Post Offices I try to go to in this area. Customer Service is Classic Typical to any government office which services the public. I am a disabled veteran who does not use any devices (like wheel chair etc.), so even though I have a placard I still have to stand and wait like everyone else. So a trip to the USPS office for me means a lot of pain. Then I have to go home and take pain medication and my day is shot, because I can not drive. There is No and I mean NO customer service. They act like they are the only place for mail or package services. I have never waited longer than 20 minutes at the Fed-ex, or UPS.
Plus give me the service that I pay for. For example:
If I pay for signature confirmation, I want the recipient to sign for delivery. I can not count how many times I have been ripped off by the USPS.
My home delivery is done by the 89031 branch and is first rate. My postman always arrives at the same time everyday. All mail is always picked up. He always waves or smiles.
Bottom Line
Extremely poor customer service and very slow service times is forcing me to use other options for mail and package services.
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The USPS needs to come up with a two-tier postage stamp system. It only makes sense that a letter mailed within your state should be cheaper to process than one mailed outside your state. If you keep the current price of the Forever Stamp, and merely add an Outside-of State stamp for a dime more, revenue would greatly improve.
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