<p>A few years ago our area had a freak blizzard and there were no snow shovels to be found. I ordered one on line. I came via Fedex. Arrived at the front door as the shovel with a fedex sticker affixed to the blade. No wrapping. Just a shovel. Arrived no problem (but by then we’d used a garden shovel to clear the driveway).</p>
<p>Compared how much it cost to send a letter rom my old address to my parent’s rural address:</p>
<p>Fedex
Tue Jun 5, 2012 10:00 AM FedEx First Overnight® 82.50<br>
Tue Jun 5, 2012 4:30 PM FedEx Priority Overnight® 50.72<br>
Wed Jun 6, 2012 7:00 PM FedEx 2Day® 38.53<br>
Thu Jun 7, 2012 7:00 PM FedEx Express Saver® 32.69 </p>
<p>USPS
Express Mail 2 day delivery $18.95
Priority Mail 2-3 days (will be 3) $5.15
Regular mail 5-7 (normally 5) $.45</p>
<p>Unless you just expect rural America to be cut off, it is hard to beat the USPS for now. </p>
<p>Germany has had some success with privatizing their postal service, but the success is the result of a nation embracing digital mail, and with businesses adjusting their advertising. Until everyone has cheap mobile access, or even internet access, it is still not feasible to make this overhaul yet.</p>
<p>Actually, I miscalculated a smidge. I get a 38% discount for domestic (41% for international) plus a 5% additional (not 10%) discount (<strong>see earlier post</strong>) bringing my cost to $22.70 or so for 2 day (which includes tracking).</p>
<p>I think USPS express includes track and confirm but priority mail costs extra for this service, and neither are “real time”. For the small price difference I would definitely choose Fedex.</p>
<p>Thats about the most ridiculous question I’ve heard in a long time. Pointless and irrelevant.
If something had to be somewhere in 2 days, I’d want to track its progress and I’d use Fedex. Do I stick a stamp on stuff that isn’t time sensitive or need to be tracked? Well, duh.</p>
<p>The problem with your calculations is that you are quoting prices with discounts. Not many people have the discounts you have. Therefore, USPS is still a lot cheaper than FedEx to the “average” person.</p>
<p>There is no “problem” with my calculations. The only “problem” is the constant twisting of my and other posters words and posts in an attempt to be argumentative. Please stop it. Its really annoying. I am speaking for myself, not anyone else. Where did you get the notion that I was speaking for anyone other than myself? Not in my posts. Though I guess I could be speaking for the 8.8 million USAA members who have, or whose family has served their country and additionally those who also qualify for an additional credit card discount.</p>
<p>There are many MANY cc members who also are members of USAA. Do a search and see how many times it has come up in discussions re: insurance, banking etc. Again, this constant baiting is really annoying and pointless. Feel free to respond and get the last irritating, irrelevant word in. FWIW, I was responding to MizzBee when I calculated MY costs that would affect MY personal decision.</p>
But who sends letters anymore? Most personal communications are now in the form of email or texts or even in phone calls with so many people having long distance included in their cell phone plans or inexpensive with their land line phones. Bill paying can usually be electronic as well. The vast majority of mail I get is junk mail that goes straight from the mailbox to the recycle bin - a huge waste of paper and energy for very little return to the companies mailing this unsolicited garbage out. A lot of the people complaining are just living in the past and refuse to use new technologies but that shouldn’t be a burden placed on the taxpayers which is what’ll happen if the PO isn’t permitted to change its ways.</p>
<p>This may not set well with some people but - why should the majority of us subsidize the minority who are very rural and refuse to use an electronic means of communication? It’s time for the costs to reflect the true costs and appropriate cuts be made.</p>
<p>USPS would be profitable, if it weren’t for the stupid requirements imposed on it by the… oops, don’t want to turn political. The $5.5 billion quoted in some posts upstream is just the tip of the iceberg of those requirements.</p>
<p>(USPTO is also profitable, but it doesn’t get to keep all of the money earned via their inevitable fees… and that is very irritating, because they can’t hire more examiners, and without more examiners patent applications do not get examined fast enough - duh. And inventors like me get upset with USPTO - that is not the USPTO’s fault!)</p>
I know that some people ‘enjoy’ sending and receiving letters (even though it makes no sense to me why people want to see the media in a mailbox as opposed to email or even a fax) and that it’s not just about what’s necessary - but this is why people who use it should pay the actual non-subsidized rates for, whatever those might be. It clearly can’t cost the PO the amount of money to send a letter from my house to a business a mile away from here vs sending it to the other side of the country and especially to some rural location on the other side of the country. They should adjust their rates to be more realistic. You could still send your snail mail letter but it might cost more which is probably a more reasonable approach. You could even send it Fed Ex possibly. If the real cost gets too high for you then you might change your mind about how much you like sending letters and revert to a more cost efficient means. </p>
<p>And the USPS prices you enjoy are unrealistic and are coming at a great loss to the USPS since they don’t nearly cover the USPS’s costs to send the items. This is my point - the USPS needs to become more efficient, make prices reflect actual costs so they can remain in the black, and let the consumer essentially decide which services should stay and go based on what they’re willing to pay for.</p>
<p>Thumper: I guess we’re still waiting for a transporter a la Star trek. In the meantime we certainly need services that’ll deliver packages. More than half of mine arrive via UPS or FedEx so the USPS isn’t the exclusive deliverer of packages and in fact there’s a reason these private companies popped up in a business area you’d think the USPS owned - it’s because they could do a better, more reliable job of delivering packages.</p>
<p>What part of “no internet access” do some of you not get? I am not trying to call out people for sounding elitist or clueless about how a large part of the rest of the US live, but a lot of people don’t have access. It isn’t about cost, but about dead zones, maxed out DSL availability, etc. At least 20% of Nebraska is unable to get broadband. That great satellite internet starts at $90/month. And the speed is similar to dial up. </p>
<p>Also, that junk mail that you get is still the most cost-effective way that US businesses advertise. Those coupons that go into the recycling in some houses (espcially those of the demographic of many on CC) get opened and used in a great many houses in the US. </p>
<p>I have no reason why we can’t be as advanced as even third world countries where so much commerce happens with a cell phone, but that is not where we live. I am open to all kinds of changes to the postal service, even if it means that the single largest employer of military veterans cuts jobs. I just don’t see any private firm that is interested in delivering mail. UPS tried in the past and gave up since it was at a loss and the losses to our communities will be more than a few taxpayer dollars.</p>