Have you seen what the postal service did to prices yesterday? Oh my!

[dall]

i was going to order a roll of the pull cord rope from dave but i will wait until he gets his prices changed around before i buy i dont want to make it hard on him where does lose money because of the usps

yep in 2005 congress hamstrung the USPS, they now how have to prefund entirely retirement and healthcare for every past present and future employee even those already dead
yesterday our most used package for small parts from one to three ounces went from 2.07 our price to 2.54 our price with online commercial shipping discount, we shipped 132 packages yesterday, do the math
the worst one was a 3 pound roll of pull cord to Oregon went up from 7.31 to 15.65, my margin on that was about $4 so that sale cost me $4 in real dollars
the regional differential is so bad I am thinking of dropping free shipping and going to calculated exact cost shipping
it does appear at least for our shipping company that first class now goes up to 15.99 ounces instead of 13 oz now so several items like double felling spikes and brake hardware kits dropped a little in total shipping cost since all of our packages have to have tracking regardless of 1st class and priority
the only difference between 1st class and priority is the $50 free insurance that they never honor anyway, insurance is for suckers and really huge expensive shipments only
Dave

 

[Guido Salvage]

I would compare the Post Office to Western Union, the reason for their existence is slowly disappearing. Just as people no longer send telegrams, many no longer send letters. Bulk mailing is down sharply as are bills and letters as people move to e-commerce. This will leave the Post Office with its its huge infrastructure and costs to compete in the package market with nimble private companies.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I agree with what has been said thus far. I know of no companies that would survive for long if they had to fund every retirement fully. When I worked in the corporate world they took money out of my check every week to help fund my retirement and my health insurance, not sure how they do it in the Post Office. Thanks to the company investing that money basically when I retired I got my own invested money given back to me. I doubt if the government is that smart with money so they expect taxpayers to make up the shortfall. My solution right now is to not sell any saws for awhile other than locally until I get something else figured out or if something changes..

 

[olyman]

The woman(miss congeniality as we call her) at the post office should be pleased that there will be more packages coming in that she has to print labels for. unbelieveable the attitude she can get when she has to print the postage on 1 out 20 packages.

yep!! they know they almost CANT get fired,,so they just get a rude attitude...

 

[Sagetown]

Same goes for groceries...



I don't know all the details, but I did not think the USPS was a gub'ment agency.

Yes, there is no rhyme or reason -- as for as I can tell. The same thing with meat prices -- gas is below $2.00 a gallon here but not much change at the meat counter.

Groceries , and meat are closely related to diesel prices, not gasoline, because most farm machinery use diesel. Meat prices should fall by this coming spring if the trend continues.

 

[1Alpha1]

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I actually agree with what Guido said.

I'm not feeling so well. I need to go take my meds..................

 

[USMC615]

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I actually agree with what Guido said.

I'm not feeling so well. I need to go take my meds..................

It is not wise ol' Ranger to miss meds...Geritol and Midol are to be taken regularly on a daily basis.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

All the delivery vehicles in my area use gasoline at least in the rural area where I live..Should make delivery cheaper.

 

[mesupra]

I got a notice in my box that I had a certified letter, handed it to the ********** behind the counter he made me sign 2 or 3 different places, then give me a letter addressed to a lady that lives a couple miles down the road on a different street.

I cannot believe Amazon is even considering making the switch to USPS.

 

[USMC615]

I got a notice in my box that I had a certified letter, handed it to the ********** behind the counter he made me sign 2 or 3 different places, then give me a letter addressed to a lady that lives a couple miles down the road on a different street.

I cannot believe Amazon is even considering making the switch to USPS.

Lol...typical ain't it?

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Lol...typical ain't it?

They should be paying us!

 

[mesupra]

Yea they are horrible. I heard it cost the government something like 13 million last year, mean while fed ex and ups are reporting record profits

 

[1Alpha1]

It is not wise ol' Ranger to miss meds...Geritol and Midol are to be taken regularly on a daily basis.

I bet you really had to strain to come up with that.

On a scale of 1-10, I'll give ya a 2.5

 

[Wood Doctor]

I think we better get used to all this. When minimum wage jumps to $15/hour, the roof is going to fall in. This government has soaked the middle class more than any in history and it appears to be getting worse by the day.

 

[Definitive Dave]

post office has never received a single penny of taxpayer money, except as postage purchased, they were the only pseudo-government agency to post a profit every year of their existence until congress grudge-****ed them for doing things efficiently and without government interference despite having thier prices set by law
they now operate at a loss only due to the egregious annual payment that congress requires to the politician slush fund

 

[mesupra]

Looks like we found our first postal worker.

When they operate at a loss who do you think pays for it? Yup you guessed it, taxpayers!

 

[a. palmer jr.]

post office has never received a single penny of taxpayer money, except as postage purchased, they were the only pseudo-government agency to post a profit every year of their existence until congress grudge-****ed them for doing things efficiently and without government interference despite having thier prices set by law
they now operate at a loss only due to the egregious annual payment that congress requires to the politician slush fund

Their "slush fund" is a pre-payment for the employees' retirement and insurance. They never required them fully fund it until recently and I doubt Congress saves it for the appointed purpose, they probably do it like they did our Social Security, they spend it on what they want..yet another way to get more money coming in.

 

[Definitive Dave]

Looks like we found our first postal worker.

When they operate at a loss who do you think pays for it? Yup you guessed it, taxpayers!

not a postal worker but I did ship more than 12,000 packages last year
they arent operating at a loss they just cant make the timely balloon payments to the retirement fund, not a penny of taxpayer money ever, at least so far

by slush fund I meant the billion dollars plus per year that the post office annual profits generated that were dumped into the general fund to be handed out by congress to whatever they do when they aren't actively lying, cheating, deceiving and fornicating

 

[sunfish]

Yea they are horrible. I heard it cost the government something like 13 million last year, mean while fed ex and ups are reporting record profits

If ya missed it earlier in this thread, USPS used to make a good profit until Congress stepped in. It was run more like a private business, now the Gov has f***ed it up big time.

 

[mesupra]

Either way I think we can all agree that USPS is pretty inept at delivering, ANYTHING. I can ship a saw pretty much anywhere in the country for under $25 with UPS, same saw is at minimum $40 using USPS. The UPS package will arrive sooner and in better condition to you door by a professional. The USPS most likely will be waiting for you at a office that is open from 9-11 and 1-3 completely eliminating any option of a working person ever being able to actually get their package.

Did I mention I think the USPS is a joke?