<p>I ship fixed rate priority at least once a month to my son. Actually, if you insure for more than a certain amount, a signature is required also.</p>
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<p>Mistakes happen. The important thing is the envelope arrived on time.</p>
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<p>Yep, it has to be insured for $300 or more.</p>
<p>Yes, it is important that it got there only I spent the weekend having this hang over me. I bought myself a $3 job instead of paying $3 to not worry about it. </p>
<p>I was glad I had made a copy before I mailed it.</p>
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<p>Lol, Lasma! What do you mean with finally? I have written the same thing since my first post. See 38 and a few in the forties. Ideology is one part of it. This company is simply one that gives daily proof of the need to avoid quasi public organizations. The issue is public performance and its related abusive cost.</p>
<p>Regarding wages being lower, here are some numbers for the USPS during fiscal year 2009.</p>
<p>In considering benefits, unions have been able to negotiate lucrative packages from the USPS. Not only are federal (and state) government retiree benefits higher than those of the private sector, but the USPS pays a higher percentage of employee health benefit premiums than other federal agenciesabout 80 percent versus 72 percent. Also, the USPS pays 100 percent of employee life insurance premiums, while other federal agencies pay about 33 percent.</p>
<p>As for total compensation, in 2009 the average USPS worker received about $79,000 in wages and benefits (Office of Management and Budget 2010: Tables 10.2 and 10.3). This compares to $59,900 of wages and benefits received by the average worker in the private sector.</p>
<p>I believe there is a typo above here:
I do not believe Fedex will ship to a PO box, unless they have changed their policy.</p>
<p>With ceritified mail, one can add a return receipt request (anyone picking up the mail or at the delivery location can sign) or Restricted Delivery (only the addressee can sign). With Fedex and UPS you can see the electronic signature (if it is required) on line, or if the item was left at the door, or wherever, if a signature was not required.</p>
<p>Fedex subcontracts a lot of its work. They have franchises and independent contractors so the quality can vary. I had a problem a few years back with a local receiving facility changing the weight of my packages (1 lb became 6 lbs; 5 lbs became 22 lbs). I noticed it on the tracking and managed to get the packages re-SWAK’ed (scan, weigh and key) at the receiving facility before delivery to get the correct price for the package on my account, but it delayed delivery by a day. They can’t pull this with packages that are paid for at the counter, but they can with people who have accounts and are billed by fedex. For this reason I now manually take eack package to Kinkos, have them weigh it and get a receipt when I drop it off. No more upcharging for my packages.</p>
<p>My understanding is that if you send something certified to a PO box, it is the post office the box it is in that acknowledges it was received, not the person or in this case the school who owns the box. But I could be wrong, it is just what I was told.</p>
<p>If there is something that needs to be signed for by someone in our offfice, the PO leaves a card (yellow maybe, I think) that says we have something that needs to be signed for. So someone has to be down in the mailroom when the mail is being delivered to sign and get the item. At least thats how it was when the mailroom was in a different building. Now the postman comes to the office and gets the admin. to sign for it.</p>
<p>When I needed to send something to Austria, the FedEx price was going to be hundreds of dollars; much more than the package was worth. The USPS price was maybe $40, closer by far to what was reasonable. Instead, I used USPS to mail it to someone in Kansas who was soon to fly to Austria; cost was $10. I do not look forward to USPS disappearing.</p>
<p>USPS is the communication channel of the nation and the entire world. I don’t think it can disappear. It will disappear only if other national postal services in the world disappear. However, I think USPS should be more innovative and more effective.</p>
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<p>If “we” did not let GM disappear, what are the chances that the USPS might disappear. Let’s be realistic! The postal service will not go anywhere; but its format and ownership will. While some might cling to yesterday’s economics, it is obvious that we (as a society) cannot afford to play musical chairs with real dollars and real expenses. As someone famous said, a billion left and a billion right, and you may start talking about real money.</p>
<p>It is easy to support the notion that every village should have its PO with smiling and congenial clercks who might serve you a cup of cocoa and ask about the kids. It is easy to support the existence of a private mailbox with exclusive use by our friendly mailcarrier. However, that is also quickly becoming the domain of TV reruns. Happy Days anyone? </p>
<p>The reality is that our country’s wealth and resources do not allow us the many capricious decisions we made to please the unions demands under the duplicitous eye of self-serving politicians. How long do we really believe that we can pay for 80 percent of the costs and borrow the balance for the ROW? </p>
<p>Fwiw, it is easy to throw the “ideological” quip to the critics of the current system. The United States, as a country, cannot always claim that its uniqueness defies common sense. Other countries, as in my example of Germany’s privatization of its Bundespost, have HAD to make business decisions. </p>
<p>They did not cling to a romantic view of public services. It is ever so surprising that the country that claims unabated love for entrepreurship, economic freedom, and capitalism also endorses an inefficient and spendthrift government.</p>
<p>By the way, I did play the rate calculator game at USPS and FedEx</p>
<p>Here are the results. </p>
<p>Package sent from Texas to San Francisco. Dimensions 24x24x24. </p>
<p>USPS
Large Package, weight 12 lbs 0 oz, mailed on June 4 after 8:00 AM
from TX 7XXXX to SAN FRANCISCO CA 94XXX</p>
<p>Delivery on June 11 Cost $68.57</p>
<p>Large Package, weight 26 lbs 0 oz, mailed on June 4 after 8:00 AM
from TX 7XXXX to SAN FRANCISCO CA 94XXX</p>
<p>Delivery on June 11 Cost $68.57</p>
<p>However, I could have used Four boxes for a faster delivery
Priority Mail® Large Flat Rate Box
USPS-Produced Box: 12" x 12" x 5-1/2"
Total Cost 58.60</p>
<p>Two Boxes (but only 12 x 12 x 12)
Total Cost 2 x 14.65 or 29.30 </p>
<p>Fedex
FedEx Ground = 3 business days
12 lbs $10.18
26 lbs $16.25</p>
<p>Fedex Express Saver - Guaranteed Thu June 7 by 430PM
12 lbs 27.46</p>
<p>Draw your own conclusions! Perhaps, a couple of ingenious USPS experts could work the system better than I did, but that is what came up via the online tools.</p>
<p>Whoa. USPS price is the same regardless of weight (12 vs 26 lbs)? That is interesting.</p>
<p>I get double discounts using my Fedex account (through USAA) and again on my AmEx Open cr card. Makes the Fedex pricing for me really hard to beat.</p>
<p>Plus- items would have to fit in the smaller boxes to make that USPS flat rate approach work.</p>
<p>The FedEx prices I quoted included a 10 percent Amex discount. Probably time to scout for a better discount. Another CC thread. </p>
<p>Jym … think cookies to the Bay Area! :)</p>
<p>PS The USPS seems more interested in the dimension of the box. When I dropped the 26 lbs in a 12x12x12, the price went down to 20.07. For 12 lbs, it was about 14 dollars. </p>
<p>This said, how realistic is a 26lbs package in a square foot box for … regular uses? That would even be hard with books. The shipments my family are typically food items, clothing, and books. Usually, a bigger box than the standard USPS boxes.</p>
<p>When I needed to send D a package when she was in Tirunelveli district, in Tamil Nadu, my first attempt was not with USPS. I tried FedEx, as well as UPS, neither one could help me at all, not over the phone, and not when I went to their office. Tirunelveli has a population roughly equivalent to the state of Iowa, but it has no airports. Perhaps that is why the other delivery services couldn’t help me. It was so frustrating! Even when I was speaking face to face with a clerk so I could show them the address, they looked at me as if I was speaking Urdu!</p>
<p>However, when I went to the USPS station, they were so helpful, it was such a relief! They knew the area & she recieved it in a timely fashion.</p>
<p>If that requires baking, xig, you will have a long wait :)</p>
<p>USAA’s discounts are incredible. 38% Fed Express Domestic, 41% Fed Express Intl and only 10% Fed Ex ground. Usually makes it cheaper to use express. Then there is and additional 5% off on the AmEx card! </p>
<p>Time to find a way to connect with the military and get that USAA discount!</p>
<p>The reliability of the post office was rigorously tested some years ago, with the results being published in The Journal of Improbable Research. I promise this is worth your while. [Improbable</a> Research](<a href=“http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html]Improbable”>http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume6/v6i4/postal-6-4.html)</p>
<p>The “experiments” were run pre-9/11, so the good humor that greeted many of these packages might no longer be around in sufficient quantities.</p>
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Amen. I am so tired of hearing about the postal workers who have it sooooo tough.</p>
<p>Office Depot in our state is also a place where you can get flat rate boxes & mail them and other pieces of mail that you have put proper postage on. We do like the local post office that is nearby, to answer questions about postage when we have them. They still do deliver most of the mail our family & small non-profit send or receive.</p>
<p>Their wages according to the post above are likely significantly above other delivery folks, which is why they may be losing $$.</p>