Has The Post Office Left And Gone On Vacation?

We just received a returned 'Undeliverable' Christmas card sent from NC to Great Britain on Dec 15, 2020. It had gotten wet and the ink had run making the address unreadable but return address was a printed label and was fine. It had no backstamps so I am unsure at what point it got wet. But 8 months to return? Yikes. We were wondering why that relative was a bit cool towards us last time we talked...
Don

Just wait until next month.

It is going to get worse.

***No partisan politics please*** plans to completely eliminate first class mail and label everything third class.

I hope people will not mind waiting months to get mail.

If you were planning on mailing christmas gifts to someone I hope you mailed it out months ago since if you mail them in the next few months they will not even arrive this year.

Not an accurate statement.

From Business Insider:

"The US Postal Service (USPS) on Friday finalized a plan effective Oct. 1 to slow down some first-class mail deliveries as part of efforts to cut red ink.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy proposed in March to revise existing one- to three-day service standards to one to five days for first-class mail. USPS said on Friday that 61% of first-class mail will remain at its current standard.

USPS said in a notice published in the Federal Register current standards require it "to rely heavily on air transportation, using air cargo transportation carriers and commercial passenger air carriers."

Delivery standards will be slower for about 7% of periodicals.


Airplanes, USPS added, are less reliable than surface transportation and costs much more because of "weather delays, network congestion, and air traffic control ground stops."

The "addition of one or two days to current service standards for first-class mail and periodicals would enable the Postal Service to convey a greater volume of mail within the contiguous United States by surface transportation," it said.

While acknowledging "some uncomfortable changes," DeJoy defended the plan earlier on Friday at a board of governors meeting, saying it makes a commitment to deliver to "every address in the nation, six days a week, and strives for financial sustainability."

USPS on Friday posted a $3 billion quarterly net loss, with a 1.1% rise in first-class mail deliveries to 12.1 billion pieces. But "volumes remain lower than pre-pandemic levels and we expect continued secular declines," it added.


For the minority of first-class mail affected by the slower delivery window "the standard would only change by one or two days (with most of such volume experiencing a one-day change)," USPS said."

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-...-cuts-2021-8

I wonder if UPS or FedEx will abandon air due to air congestion, ground stops, etc. (rhetorical)

I am actually more interested in how much they think they will save and then how much they really save since usually they are never the same. They could solve the reliability metric by adjusting the rate for distance, The US really does not have a decent rail system as it should be even more reliable and cheaper.

Why do we still have snail mail? In the US, even if they tripled the cost of a stamp it would not come close to cover the cost of the delivering to the 'last mile' and the 1 million+ employees and retirees who receive health benefits and pensions. The USPS estimates the cost of Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) Mail at almost 2 billion dollars per year; there is little doubt that these 9 billion pieces of UAA mail represent a devastating cost to both the environment and the budget.

The decline of US First Class mail is also accelerating. USPS says that First-class mail volume saw a steady decline of 2.9% every year from 2014 to 2019, but jumped to 4.8% in 2020 and this year is on track for another 4.5 – 5% drop. Parcel service has seen an increase for the USPS but private delivery is exploding; not only has UPS and FedEx seen increases but it is now common to see more Amazon vehicles than any other delivery services on the streets.

In my opinion the USPS is surviving only due to nostalgia and politics. As each generation passes the emotional attachment to postal services will fade but I suspect that the politics (which typically elude common sense) will keep it limping along for a few more decades to come. The good news is that this will give old men like myself plenty of time to whine and complain about who the current Postmaster General might be, missing mail, slow mail, and waxing on about the way things used to be.
Don

It just feels sooooo good!

PS: We just left 90 billion dollars of a certain type of equipment in a certain Country, so the hand wringing over the postal losses and attempts to control those losses is a bit laughable.

Not a political statement but a perspective on where the Postal Service sits in the land of rhetoric.

Which brings up interesting questions, does anyone know if new stamps were issued in Afghanistan with the change in government? What is the state of the current postal system there?
Don

No offense Don. But I think that the Afghans have a whole bunch of bigger problems right now than their mail delivery. Rogdcam ... It's a lot worse than a trifling 90 billion dollar "disinvestment ". We all. Have just witnessed a trillion or so dollar investment flushed. "Time will tell, just who has felled and who' been left behind " B Dylan
This is NOT political
Regards

GMC - So true. I would however disagree that it was ever an "investment". Maybe like buying tons of late century commemorative sheets for the kid's inheritance.

Don - When I was in Afghanistan in 2009-11 I was never able to find an Afghani Post Office to visit. I of course utilized APO's. I asked Afghani's for stamps but always came up empty. Perhaps others have different information.

You are right about the "investment ". Bad choice of words.

Afghan Post website, I do not see anything regarding postage stamps or changes in government/service...
https://afghanpost.gov.af/en
Don

We can expect that there will not be a Christmas rush there.

In Chicago where the family home is located mail has been delivered for some time now anywhere from daily six days a week to quite commonly once every five days. The mail arrives at around 5PM-7PM.

I was feeling good about a package that came from Richmond VA to my Ontario address in roughly four days. That was a few weeks ago. I am now waiting for something from Minnesota that should have gone to Chicago, but went to Florida instead. It's been sitting idle for four days now. Not much a guy can do.