By Request: Five Days of Mail
Jack123 asks “Five days of mail delivery – Good or Bad?” The reference being to the idea of eliminating Saturday mail delivery as a cost-cutting measure. To which I say basically: Eh.
When our country was founded, timely delivery of the mail was a critical piece of infrastructure and not something the private sector was ready to do. Modern conditions have led to the emergence of viable private sector parcel delivery firms, and have also led to a sharp decline in dependence on parcel delivery as a critical mode of communications. There’s the phone, fax, e-mail, etc along with UPS, DHL, FedEx, and the US Postal Service. The USPS is a useful entity in that mix, but modern-day conditions mean that postal policies don’t really matter in the way they once did.
One thing I do like about the idea of five-day delivery is that six-day delivery seemed like an odd form of established Christianity. Lots of things are open Monday-Friday, but to be open Monday-Saturday seemed to imply that we couldn’t deliver on Sundays because everyone’s at church.
Something I wonder about that’s perhaps more interesting is whether there isn’t a case for trying to privatize the Postal Service by selling it off to private investors. Presumably you wouldn’t want to do that in the middle of a financial panic, because you’d get low bids. But in general, though I understand why the USPS was established as a public agency in the past, it’s not obvious to me that if it didn’t exist today we’d be clamoring to create it.
84 Responses to “By Request: Five Days of Mail”
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February 10th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I rather like getting Netflix DVDs on Saturdays. In fact, I wouldn’t mind getting them on Sundays, too.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Speculation is that Tuesday would be the day that gets cut, not Saturday, since mail is usually lighter on Tuesdays.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Would be interested in knowing if whatever lobbyist Netflix contracts was working the Hill this week trying to get bailout funds for USPS to prevent this. Not to mention catalog distributors, direct mail companies, anyone who sells things through the mail, etc. I live close to a post office so it doesn’t matter if I have to go pick something up, but I’d opt for UPS over USPS at Amazon.com instantly if there weren’t Saturday delivery.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Back-to-back mail-free days would be bad. And I reckon that walk-up business at local POs is heavy on Saturdays. I lived at a place with no mail delivery — PO Box only*. Good luck getting your mail on a weekday when you work full-time.
*And not in the rural sticks, Long Island for heaven’s sake.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I have a failing you’re about to get in trouble for the privatization supporting comment.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I have a feeling you’re about to get in trouble for the privatization supporting comment.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I suspect that a USPS-like entity is inevitable going to be unprofitable. Given its mission to provide reliable, now-cost delivery of small, lightweight items to every address in the US, costs will be larger than they would be for a firm, like FedEx or UPS, that delivers basically larger, more valuable (or more time-sensitive) items. And remember, as well, that the USPS picks up from a lot of those locations as well…for free…
Making the USPS profitable would be a lot like making local transit profitable. You could do it, but then it’d be a lot less ubiquitous, a lot less convenient, and significantly more expensive.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
One side-effect of privatization and competition is the end of single-price mail delivery regardless of location. Even if you passed a law requiring every competitor to charge only a single price, there will inevitably be local vendors serving just a single metro area who will be able to charge a lower price, so nationwide outfits will have to charge more, and will end up serving only longer-distance delivery. You’ll have to pay more to send farther, just as you do with UPS.
You might not consider this a problem, but be aware of such side effects.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I have a feeling you’re about to get in trouble for the privatization supporting comment.
I hope so. We don’t take kindly to people stepping off the reservation.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
It’s all about Netflix. Since their rentals have a 3 day turnaround time, the value of the service will take a big drop with mail delivery on only 5 days. Not exactly a reason to craft public policy one way or the other, but it’ll hammer demand for their service.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
DHL went out of business.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Canada does just fine with 5-day delivery (not on weekends). I’d actually like to see budget numbers on not doing home delivery on Saturdays, but keeping retail hours, PO Boxes^, and the moving of mail between sorting centers.
^=Heck, it’s a revenue-raiser. “Want mail on Saturdays? How ’bout renting this here PO Box.”
February 10th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
First of all: as another commenter pointed out, Tuesday is actually the day they are considering cutting, which would be very strange for a wide range of businesses (I used to work in a mail room and this would have been kind of hellish – twice as much mail on Wednesday!).
Second: I can’t see Netflix demand getting “hammered” over something like this, especially now that they have “movies on demand” on their website. Besides, I actually think their subscription numbers will grow a lot this year as people replace cable TV with Netflix to save money.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
This is good for Netflix — they will be sending out 83% of their current output and will almost certainly not lose 17% of their current customers over it.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
There are still certain types of packages that can only be sent through a government run agnecy. For instance Secret but not Top Secret material sent through the Postal Service registered mail. Maybe you could have a private business do that, but it would probably be more problematic.
February 10th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Five day mail service is no big deal. Its what we have up here in Canada, and I’ve never been seriously inconvenienced by it. Its a little annoying for lazy procrastinators like me, but if it saves money, why not?
February 10th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I cannot believe that a large government-supported and government-subsidized system of moving parcels from point A to point B over very long distance in a pretty reliable way doesn’t have a big multiplier effect.
Netflix seems like the tip of the iceberg here — there are lots of businesses that currently depend on the mail. I realize this seems kind of frivolous, but what about all the little home-based entrepreneurs on sites like Etsy?
And what happens to FedEx, UPS, etc… prices when their biggest, lowest priced competitor disappears? I am almost certain that total privatization of the mails would result in at least some people losing access to them, with potentially bad consequences for American commerce.
February 10th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
The UK’s Royal Mail had two deliveries a day until 2004, even after privatization. They also collected on Sunday until 2007.
I can’t believe the US can’t manage just one delivery. Not having delivery at least every workday would be hokey exceptionalism — anywhere else, business wouldn’t stand for it. I don’t believe it’s really going to happen.
Privatization has a mixed record. Some of the worst European systems apparently improved after privatization, others muddled along, and some got much worse (Parcelfarce).
Given the current state of the USPS (first class rates among the world’s lowest and stable in real terms, investing heavily in IT, and focused on large innovative customers such as Netflix and Paypal, although reliability could be improved) and the US’s regulatory capture problem, I would expect privatization to at best make letters a little cheaper, and at worst devastate the growing online economy.
I personally don’t think it’s worth the risk, but I’m not a faith-based marketeer.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Side note, the proposed elimination of Sunday delivery produced one of the most contentious debates in US history. The battle began in the early 19th century with 7-day service coming to an end only in the 1920s.
Obviously, there were concerns about rural residents who had to travel some distance to reach their Post Office. In addition, since many Post Offices doubled as taverns, men would use Sunday mail delivery as a way to imbibe when all the regular liquor outlets were closed.
February 10th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Matt Y. Said: …seemed to imply that we couldn’t deliver on Sundays …
They don’t deliver on Sunday because businesses aren’t open. They did and do deliver on Sunday. There’s an extra charge of $12.50 and severe restrictions but you can get mail on Sundays if you try hard enough. Used to be called “Special Delivery”
I worked for one of the USPS’s competitors back in the 90s, Big fanfare when they rolled out Saturday delivery and then Sunday delivery. Then our competitors did the same. As far as I know all of the USPS’s competitors dropped Sunday deliveries soon afterward, No demand.
theo Said: They also collected on Sunday until 2007.
They used to collect here in the States on Sunday too, well into the 90s. They then began to cut back – usually to just the box outside the local post office and then that disappeared. So in the past you could mail something on Sunday and have it arrive on Monday – at least for something reasonably local – you now have to mail it by noon-ish on Saturday.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
What are you smoking?
The USPS is one of the best examples I can think of of a public entity doing things well and cheaply. What do you think UPS would charge to deliver a plain old letter? They don’t even try to provide an affordable version of this service because they know they can’t compete with $.40 per.
And when I compare how much trouble I’ve had with UPS deliveries, things getting lost or broken, with my almost never-fail rate with USPS, I can’t imagine losing them.
I do agree on the de facto Christianity dominance point, though. How about we get two USPS deliveries on Sunday?
February 10th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
What’s unique about the USPS is that it delivers everywhere, including places that would be economically unfeasible for private companies. (It delivers mail to merchant marine sailors en route on the great lakes, and via burro down the Grand Canyon. Sure, you could sell it, but then what will you do when service to uneconomical destinations are discontiued as part of a scheme to make the Post Office ‘profitable’ again? 5 days is fine.
February 10th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Matt: “When our country was founded, timely delivery of the mail was a critical piece of infrastructure and not something the private sector was ready to do.”
Actually, the reason the Postal Service was made a government monopoly was because it was being beat by private sector delivery companies.
More Matt ignorance.
February 10th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
In the article I read, they were talking about closing in Tuesdays because that was their light mail day. However, I seriously doubt that trhe Postal Union would go along with that. I know I wouldn’t work a job with a split week like that.
For those talking about PO Boxes not being available outside office hours, not true. I’ve used PO Boxes off & on over 40 years; the lobbies where the boxes were locatede were open 24/7. For the past 20 years, there were also stamp & change machines available at the locations I have used.
Matt, hush your mouth about privatizing the USPS! It works fine as it is at a cost more reasonable than any other option I’ve seen, & AFAIK, is self supporting – no subsidy from the government.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:11 am
There’s the stuff you get from the post office fellows: netflix, second-hand books from the amazon vendors, warranted parts for your degen 1121, unwaranted parts for your olden Mercedes, unusual kitchen items, strange spices.
And there’s the stuff you don’t get from the post office fellows: arms, chemical precursors to hallucinogenic substances, certain perishables.
On balance you wonder why they can’t deliver while you sleep.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:59 am
As was brought up numerous times on the previous blog on USPS, it has essentially turned into a spam generating machine. Without the credit card companies sending basically 1-5 offers per day to every household, the USPS revenues have been dwindling this year. I expect the cut to 4 days will not be long after the cut to 5.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I love the idea of privatizing theoretically, but I also realize that it’s not possible; there’s no way my parents in their small town of 900 people would have mail service and though towns like that may not make up the majority, they certainly make up enough.
I also think people are really misreading the “5 day delivery” to mean specifically “home delivery” — as if the post office boxes would be open and receiving mail. They won’t — just like the don’t on Sundays.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am
privatizing the USPS would result in an endless game of political football over the regulations governing the new market. Eventually you’d see the profitable business cherry picked and the unprofitable business dropped – all it takes is one round of industry capture of the governing authorities.
Some people never learn.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:07 am
I can’t count the number of times I’ve received crushed or mutilated packages from UPS or FedEx. And I really can’t think of a single time I’ve gotten a banged-up package from the Postal Service. Delivery is a lot more reliable, too. Most delivery companies just leave pacakages on doorsteps; if they get stolen, too bad.
And the Post Office is a lot less expensive. I had to return a defective video card recently, and the company asked that I use UPS — it cost me nine bucks to send a package that the Post Office would have sent for $3-4.
I just don’t understand why people don’t like the Post Office.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
lol, yep, as soon as fed ex starts offering two day delivery for under 50 cents, it makes sense to privatize the usps.
remember, there is a reason every single magazine uses the usps, not a private company. it is cheaper and more reliable then any private alternative. and while maybe everyone you know has a shiny computer with a fax capable printer, there are still lots of people who use the usps for things like important insurance forms or job applications.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I think they’re forbidden by law from doing so, but I can’t find the specific law right now, so take this with a grain of salt. The law, as best I can recall, prohibits anyone from delivering first-class letters as cheaply as the USPS does; the idea is that the virtual flattening of the country, since it costs as much to send a letter crosstown as it does to send one coast-to-coast, is worth the higher cost; urban users of the system subsidize rural ones. If they could opt out, the rural users would be screwed.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
No, in the middle of a financial situation like ours privatizing the Post Office and the consequent elimination of tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs with great benefits and pensions would probably not be a good thing. I mean, they’re sure not going to replicate in companies driven to maximize profit. Now that I think about it I’m surprised the GOP isn’t all over that idea since they’re all about busting the unions these days.
I’m all for efficiency and re-tooling the USPS as needed but shutting it down and selling the assets to private industry seems unnecessary, or any other version of privatization. Once you introduce a drive for maximum profit service will of course go down and prices up. And again, probably not the best thing to do in a recession as deep as this.
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