Aww maaaaaaaan.
I just shipped out a handful of items for eBay for which I accounted about 70 bucks for and it actually cost 114. The nice lady at the post office let me know that prices just went up on Monday. As if it needed to get any crappier to sell on eBay.
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And a nearly 100% increase in cost, wtf?
~~NGD
The PO is suffering just like everything else in the country. They are in the process of a 40k person layoff right now, and we are losing millions of dollars right now.
~~NGD
Going up on flat rate again... WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess I'm not selling on Ebay ever again with shipping price restrictions and the PO jacking up rates. Craigslist here I come..
The post office has NEVER had a lay off ever, so that is a sign of how bad it really is. They eliminated an entire tour (the early shift) at the main Knoxville processing center this month, plus the removed 18 full time clerks out as well. I am just lucky I got into a smaller office that isn't in the main district.
~~NGD
My job isn't really "safe" per say, but I still have one for now and I "think" I am in a pretty good position to retain my job but we will see how long the mail volume stays down and what steps they take to correct it.
~~NGD
Flat rate is going up quite a bit actually...they are also introducing a new small flat rate box, but it is pretty small
The PO is suffering just like everything else in the country. They are in the process of a 40k person layoff right now, and we are losing millions of dollars right now.
~~NGD
Well guess what guys!!! eBay sellers aren't going to absorb the costs, so just watch the prices on eBay instantly bump up a dollar or two across the board. I know I sure will be jacking up my prices now...
http://www.ups.com/rates/
All kidding aside, that sucks that you guys are looking at layoffs, and it certainly is a testament to the severity of the times we're living in.
I keep up with a lot of military news and budget stuff, and the Air Force has a similar cost issue with fuel. They consume massively more fuel than any other branch. That huge spike in oil was hitting everybody hard, and was really the nail in the coffin for some otherwise healthy enterprises.
I hope the post office has the foresight to hedge at today's prices...because I can't see it ever getting much cheaper than it is today for any extended period of time. Not that it will go up any time soon because of the current doom-and-gloom...but 10 years from now they might look back and kick themselves in the ass about fuel contracts they should have purchased.
Sooo... now that the price of gas has gone down 50%, what do they blame the price-hike on?
I don't understand it. Whenever shipping prices went up before, they blamed it on the "increasing price of gas"
Sooo... now that the price of gas has gone down 50%, what do they blame the price-hike on?
They're still absorbing the losses from when oil was $140/barrel.
I don't understand it. Whenever shipping prices went up before, they blamed it on the "increasing price of gas"
Sooo... now that the price of gas has gone down 50%, what do they blame the price-hike on?
They're still absorbing the losses from when oil was $140/barrel.
bingo, that is exactly it. You have to look at it as a long term picture and not what the market is doing right now. The problem with that 14% number is that is down 14% from 07, which was down a % from 06. Some of the long time clerks have said mail volume is down over 25% in the last 5 years from what it was.
~~NGD
So here's a perfect fix that would never happen.
Cut back the Post Office work week to 5 days instead of 6!!! That's right, I said it. Everyone else works 5 day weeks so why should the Post Office be any different? Oooh big deal, you'll have to wait a whole extra day to receive or mail a package on Saturdays. Not a big deal. This would save the Government a TON of money, they'd cut out a whole day of labor and a whole day of gas / mileage. Not only would this translate into fuel savings, but the maintenance costs would decrease as well since the vehicles would not log as much mileage.
But no, the Government would rather lay off people and watch them struggle to get by. Then all of us taxpayers continue to pay for them to collect their unemployment, how exciting.
Not to mention the irony that increasing prices is not directly correlated to raising profits. Look at me for example, just because USPS is raising their prices again, I will now always use UPS ground for big packages. UPS provides free insurance up to $100, and their delivery times are much faster than the USPS Parcel Post. I'm sure I'm not the only seller who thinks this way, so the price raises aren't as effective as they think...
NGD, don't take it personally and I hope you survive the wave of lay-offs. I have no problem with the Postal employees (I find most of them very friendly and enjoyable), just with the Government as an entity. The Government would rather use the "cookie-cutter" approach of lay offs and price increases rather than actually brainstorming possible solutions and picking the best one. God forbid that we actually think about the best solution to a problem (especially in this economy) rather than going with the simple brain-dead alternative....