Courier, Express, and Postal Observer

SmartPost seems to be a combination of the least e...

2012-02-03T17:00:59.555-05:00

SmartPost seems to be a combination of the least efficient methods of both Fedex and the USPS. Example - I ordered products from Chefs Catalog to be shipped to Nome Alaska. Seeing that Fedex was the shipper (Fedex SmartPost) gave me warm fuzzies because Anchorage has one of the largest Fedex distribution hubs in the world. Instead the product started Jan 12th in Denver, showed in Kent,WA on Jan 18th where there was no tracking info until today (2/3/2012) with a transit stamp showing Fairbanks Alaska. Fairbanks? There are 3-5 flights per day from Anchorage to Nome and 0 from Fairbanks. I suspect the not-so-SmartPost will now ship the product to Anchorage and, with any luck, it will make it to Nome with just about one month transit time from Denver. In my opinion, I see nothing "smart" about SmartPost. The packages have consumed unnecessary travel time being routed through Fairbanks and Alaska continues to be subjected to dismal delivery service even though we have an international passenger and freight airport in Anchorage with enough flights/day to handle incoming mail.

Here's yet another provider of EDDM services.

I am a frequent online buyer and I HATE, HATE, HAT...

2011-12-08T10:44:28.021-05:00

I am a frequent online buyer and I HATE, HATE, HATE SmartPost. I don't really care what benefits it gives the corporation when it decreases my benefits...and it does.

*I have to pay courier prices for the items shipped to me.

*Dropping them off at a USPS hub adds at least two days to the delivery time.

Please tell me how paying more for worse delivery is a good thing?

I have complained, and stopped using where possible, to companies that use SmartPost and are not willing to flag my account "FedEx only". I will continue to complain and continue to seek alternative vendors as long as this absolutely stupid shipping method is in practice.

I believe the future of the post office might be o...

2011-11-09T14:55:56.364-05:00

I believe the future of the post office might be over. Bringing PSE who are only making $14.60 an hour is scary. Would anyone care of losing their job making that amount as of making $22 to $25? There will be lots of stolen items and the people will lose their faith in the USPS. It already happened in our office with one PSE.

Great post, I admire the writing style :) A little...

2011-10-20T05:08:02.594-04:00

Great post, I admire the writing style :) A little off topic here but what theme are you using? Looks pretty cool.

I have worked for the postal service for 10+ years...

2011-09-21T21:27:41.233-04:00

I have worked for the postal service for 10+ years. what needs to happen is very simple. all city workers are converted to rural carriers given a salary based on mail. this eliminates most overtime decreases the amount of management needed to operate all post offices. all political mail is paid for bye canidates. congress and senate set up a committee that oversee's all postal business. take away all financial responsibility's from management. they have proven that they cannot run a business with any honesty. absolutely no bonuses!!! that they are still recieving even in these troubled times. I am not writing this without knowledge 10+ years in a job I truely love. my hope is the right person or persons will read this... I have more idea's

interesting information about the postal service, ...

2011-09-20T08:11:30.556-04:00

interesting information about the postal service, and by the sounds of things they could do with improving

This is a great article but I believe the correct ...

2011-09-19T09:57:22.703-04:00

This is a great article but I believe the correct US Code is Title 39, not 29.

But, because of our vast knowledge of bankruptcy, ...

2011-09-19T01:53:30.776-04:00

But, because of our vast knowledge of bankruptcy, we also help you understand when filing for a bankruptcy might be the best answer to your financial problems.
Credit Counseling

Why are there so many USPS District offices; and t...

2011-09-18T15:27:02.716-04:00

Why are there so many USPS District offices; and they report to multiple USPS Area Offices; and they report to the all-knowing powers in the USPS highrise Headquarter Office in Washington DC? How many executives and officers are in all of these offices? What is their annual pay? How much do they average each year in bonuses? THIS MAY BE THE BIGGEST WAY FOR THE USPS TO SAVE MONEY. If the USPS was serious that saving money was their only goal, then they would leave the high cost building in DC, sell it and receive top dollar then move into one of the vacant USPS buldings that they have closed down.

A few months ago the USPS eliminated 16% of it's officers. Many of them were able to find a different position within the postal service. Now the USPS wants to eliminate 60% of the blue collar postal workers. These employees will not have the opportunity to find other postal positions.

Will anyone ever see the obvious?? Why get rid of the people that do the work, instead of getting rid of the dead weight in all the offices. THE USPS IS SERIOUSLY TOP HEAVY!!

“The Postal Service operates multiple generations ...

2011-09-16T12:03:57.872-04:00

“The Postal Service operates multiple generations of automated sortation equipment. Most origination sortation is performed on older automation equipment while destination sortation and carrier route sequencing is performed on newer equipment.”
This statement is incorrect. With the exception of single piece first class cancelations, originating and destinating mail use the same equipment, some a little older some a little newer but all with very similar performance characteristics.
Only some of the equipment is capable of coding non-barcoded letters and it must be used on originating mail that is not barcoded. This equipment however is usually newer, not older, and is equally capable of sequencing letters once they have been barcoded. There is a surplus of this equipment available during origination because mailers have been incentivized to pre-barcode mail. This equipment is usually in use at each originating site as sequencing equipment for barcoded mail far more than it is used as originating equipment to barcode mail at the same site.
Single piece first class cancelations are performed on a different type of equipment. In some small rural originating offices with very low volume that is older equipment. In any remotely urban area, that equipment is newer than almost all equipment performing destinating sortation.

“The new operating plan minimizes the use of older equipment by using newer equipment over more hours in a day.”
Actually the new operating plan minimizes the use of building space by allowing the elimination of significant amounts of equipment (old and new) that won’t fit into the existing smaller mail processing footprint.
P.S. The majority of the USPS’s basic letter processing equipment was originally manufactured between 94 and 98. Some is as old as 1990 and some is as new as 2006. The equipment manufactured between 94 and 01 is the most productive. The equipment manufactured before 94 is a few percent less productive but results in less employee injuries because it is more ergonomically friendly than the newer equipment. The 06 equipment is the least productive. It was designed to sort Readers Digest and while capable of that the compromises made in the design to allow for sorting thick items have made it slightly less capable than the other machines at sorting typical letter mail.

Poeple, does anyone yet realize that when the PO g...

2011-09-15T09:24:19.890-04:00

Poeple, does anyone yet realize that when the PO gets rid of it's 200K plus craft employees, the PO intends to REPLACE them with PSE's, Non Traditional employees...the rolls will only shrink for a SHORT period of time until every one of the 200k plus employees they got off the rolls are replaced. Get rid of the higher paid and replace with the lower paid. But you'll never see them going after the REDUNTANT OVERRPAID LAYERS OF MANAGEMENT.. Easily save close to 1 million per processing facility multiplied by 500.. 9 maintenance managers on a shift that doesn't exist???? Gimme a break.

STOP PRE-FUNDING THE RETIREMENT ACCOUNT. THE USPS...

2011-09-14T16:48:29.753-04:00

STOP PRE-FUNDING THE RETIREMENT ACCOUNT. THE USPS IS MAKING MONEY. STOP LYING USPS!!!

As anonymous is saying. Laying off this many peopl...

2011-09-14T14:27:54.125-04:00

As anonymous is saying. Laying off this many people would shut down the Postal Service. Did I say Service? To the point. I am x management that didnt want to be micro managed. Went back to craft in a level 22 Office. What does the Postmaster do? Watch T.V. in his office and walk around and P off employees 10 Hrs a day. How bout saving money by getting rid of Managent employees that contribute NOTHING!

Once again. In order to get the numbers the USPS w...

2011-09-14T07:28:41.620-04:00

Once again. In order to get the numbers the USPS wants from an early retirement offer they need to make it available to ALL USPS and USPIS employees. This will get a lot more to go. Do NOT limit the VERA to select groups this time. I am ready and willing to go. 33 years of service, 52 years old and CSRS. LET ME GO NOW!!!!!

retire now or eat some excrement! Issa

2011-09-14T05:20:41.518-04:00

retire now or eat some excrement!

Issa

Retirement incentives would be the fastest, easies...

2011-09-14T00:24:54.084-04:00

Retirement incentives would be the fastest, easiest, most compassionate way to downsize. BUT, to get the numbers they need to retire, the Postal Service will have to do better than the lame 15,000 they offered the clerks last year. And, they are going to have to offer some extra years of service, to make the monthly income higher.

Sir, Why hasn't anyone questioned congress ab...

2011-09-13T23:42:29.905-04:00

Sir,
Why hasn't anyone questioned congress about where the money went when the Post Office was making a profit? Did they always come up short?
I've been trying to find out where the 85% of the taxes I pay on my Socical Security money goes. I bet they both have met the same fate,in the frying pan with all the rest of the pork.
Neither left or right,red or blue,just an old soldier watching our country fade away.

Anonymous is right, Alan, you do need a proofreade...

2011-09-13T23:21:52.642-04:00

Anonymous is right, Alan, you do need a proofreader. I can read past a misspelled word or two, but I gave up on trying to make sense of the following sentence:

"These changes reduce service levels for both individual and commercial mailers retail customers is affected depends on the effectiveness of the Village Post Office concept and other efforts to switch retail services to franchisees and contractors."

However, given that you're not making money on this enterprise, I think you're doing pretty damned well. It's hard to copyedit your own material.

In our office, 15 to 20 carriers go into penalty o...

2011-09-13T22:51:22.799-04:00

In our office, 15 to 20 carriers go into penalty overtime regularly.

Now if I could only figure out a way to get this b...

2011-09-13T22:19:45.762-04:00

Now if I could only figure out a way to get this blog to pay, I could continue to do this. So just click on a link whenever your read this blog

Give us 20 years added and $1,000,000 and I'll...

2011-09-13T22:12:23.249-04:00

Give us 20 years added and $1,000,000 and I'll leave today. That's just as stupid as 6 years and $50,000.

Why do you fail to mention that the USPS is requir...

2011-09-13T20:55:49.712-04:00

Why do you fail to mention that the USPS is required to prefund 5 billion dollars yearly and it is owed 75 billion dollars in overpayments ???????

we are short as it is. who is going to deliver the...

2011-09-13T20:42:36.911-04:00

we are short as it is. who is going to deliver the mail. overtime will go thru the roof. mail will be later than ever.

give us 6 years and $50k... you.ll get 200,000 wor...

2011-09-13T20:28:51.337-04:00

give us 6 years and $50k... you.ll get 200,000 workers gone.....