Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
That explains nothing, because my premise (which is likely flawed), is that someone already stopping at every house can add packages to the route for lower cost than sending out special deliveries everywhere. Not only that, but the USPS is non-profit, so there's no high dollar executives to pay.
If adding packages means less of a route can be completed, that simply means the routes have to be shortened and more carriers added.
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Oh most definitely it's faster to do the mail with the packages than sending 2 trucks over the same territory. Just the travel time alone to and from the hub not delivering anything. Say onbthe average day you would spend 4 hours on parcels if you did them separately and 6 hours on mail for 10 hours for 2 trucks, but one guy does it in 9 combined. Also one guy only has 2 breaks where 2 guys have 4 breaks, and the mentioned travel time. Makes 2 more like 12 hours and one about 10. The parcel rates and deals were set when it was more like a 10% parcel to 90% mail split so they pay 10% of the operating and legacy costs while the rest of the mail pays 90%. The problem is rasing that to say 40% of the costs would put the rates at FedEx and UPS or even higher and the volume would drop back down to more like the 10%.
But that is what's not fair to the competition, we are subsidizing package rates which is not a constitutional public service, with the letter mail which is.
Not directed at you but just throwing it out. If the packages are necessary for the public good why charge anything at all. If profits don't matter, just print money with all the other spending and make mail and packages free to send with the PO. UPS and the others would be out of business overnight. Even moving companies would be effected as people just box their stuff up and mail it to their new home. 1/2 the semis on the road would suddenly be carrying mail paid for by the general population rather than freight paid for by the specific customer that wanted it.
Every peice of mail and packages we carry needs to pay it's own way, including new trucks EV or not. Let the chips fall where they may, if the PO gets smaller and more efficient so be it. We are just not set up to be a package operation and it would take more trucks, more processing plants, a fleet of cargo jets, etc. They are just getting abused by the other companies playing the last mile game because that's all we are capable of handling and it's the biggest money loser for those companies and us too.