Chicagoist: Do You Want a Ribbon or Something?

guest

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:04:16 -0600

We need more people like #10 to tell us how it's done. If you ever want to know what goes on in the kitchen part of a sushi bar, I can share that knowledge. Signed, Guest

guest

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:01:20 -0600

The money they make off of bulk mail can't equal the amount of man power and screening and sorting that goes into it. You would be wrong. Companies enjoy a bulk and discounted first-class rate because they have to meet strict criteria so that there's *not* a lot of manpower involved. Pieces have to be "machinable", i.e., within maximum and minimum sizes, and already barcoded and sorted. I've been behind the scenes at the main P.O.'s business mail facility and it's a whirlwind of scanners and conveyor belts, human hands barely touch it. (I was in the direct mail industry -- although we mailed bills and invoices, not "junk" -- for a number of years) Look, I'm speaking strictly from an economic standpoint, the ratio of junk to "real" mail I receive is annoying as hell. My only point is that if it goes away a stamp is going to go up a lot more than a few pennies.

BWChicago

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:08:41 -0600

How is the mail supposed to move faster than you driving it? What are they gonna transport it with?

guest

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:01:55 -0600

#6 The money they make off of bulk mail can't equal the amount of man power and screening and sorting that goes into it. Evite, direct pay, and estatements are what is hurting their profits. Because those are what the 41 cent stamps are used on. There are 3 and 4 day stretches that all I receive are adverts and coupons, that I can do without. Aside from thank you cards and your usual mail-only correspondence, everything else is electronic, so the 41 cents is a standard of living increase as far as I'm concerned. Those spelunker lights that these postmen wear on their heads when it gets dark are a sign that there is too much crap mail out there. I don't know if they get paid OT, but if they do, that 29 cent Discovery card promotion isn't covering it. It's their own employee count as well. To handle more bulk, they need more people. When the bulk is in a lull (seldom), they are sitting around doing nothing. Balance out the bulk by reducing and you have efficiency. But who am I fooling? When has efficiency every been in a public service/government's vocabulary?

Kevin Robinson

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:08:11 -0600

These folks make a very good wage, and have great bennies. I do not like the P.O. on principal. They are a monopoly and they suck. While it's true that letter carriers have decent benefits (and why shouldn't they? They walk around all day in shitty weather and get bitten by dogs), the pay could hardly be called "very good". And yes, the US Postal Service is sort of a monopoly - but it's kind of a shit deal, business-wise. It's not like they get to choose the most cost-effective routes. If the USPS were privatized, there would likely be no mail delivery to much of the nation, since it isn't profitable to deliver mail to most of the South, West, or North Sides of Chicago, as well as much of the rural US.

guest

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:53:28 -0600

But I'd be willing to pay a couple dollars a year to rid myself of another ING or AT&T 5x7 advertisement, or an American Express plea for business. A couple dollars? Do you only mail 2 letters a year? Because direct mail brings in a hefty amount of USPS revenue, doing away with it would mean more than just a couple cent first-class postage increase.

Sarah

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:27:40 -0600

Lauren, er, I mean, "thelou137," I'm with ya. When I got home from work on Tuesday, I found our whole building's mail sitting out in the open, on my front stoop, bound together with a rubberband. It's not like I have anything important in that mail, like checks, or anything. Speaking of checks, I am currently missing two that were supposed to be mailed long ago. But you know, I don't need that money or anything.

curmudgeon

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:47:33 -0600

I would be happy if our mailperson didn't leave 40 of the same mailer in my 2 flat mailbox just so he doeasn't have to climb stairs to deliver that catalogue next door. These folks make a very good wage, and have great bennies. I do not like the P.O. on principal. They are a monopoly and they suck.

thelou137

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 15:30:14 -0600

I really like it when my mailman decides to leave all of the mail for my building in a big (and by no means neat) pile on top of the mailboxes instead of sorting it into one of the six appropriate slots. That's really sweet of him.

guest

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:12:28 -0600

I agree with #1. Sometimes my expectations run high, like when I get an email from Netflix that says it has received my watched movie 18 hours after I dropped it in the mail. Other times when it takes 48 hours for something like a bill payment, I don't mind. But when it takes a letter, that has been sent from Elmhurst on a Monday, routed through Roselle (way in the other direction), and arrives on Thursday, I get a little bugged. On a side note, perhaps the post office should do a little more about the junk mail that is making THEIR life miserable. You can't tell me that some postal guy on his route enjoys climbing stairs just to cram only an Eddie Bauer catalog into your mail slot. Knowing that if you hadn't purchased that umbrella five years ago, he could've skipped your stoop all together. And then there is the sorting, fuel and transportation costs. Most, if not all junk mail is 3rd class, but so is important stuff that is sent to you in bulk. So it is hard to just off 3rd class mail. But I'd be willing to pay a couple dollars a year to rid myself of another ING or AT&T 5x7 advertisement, or an American Express plea for business. It's going to end up saving me more than a couple dollars in gas for trips to the recycling bin.

Paul Coady

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:00:43 -0600

Maybe my expectations have been pretty low, but when I drop a letter in the mail box on the corner, I never really thought it would be at the recipient's door the next day. I'm not upset by a 93% success rate on that criteria for 41 cents. However, as the articles point out, everyone else is doing better, so any cheering is premature.