Postal rates increasing again in July

[Mike Griffin]

Pretty soon we will not be able to afford to ship anything.  Here is a novel idea, how about making the service more efficient instead of raising prices for increasingly lousy service.

Here's what's changing on July 1st
Ground Advantage is increasing by up to $2.11:

Weight-Based Ground Advantage for shipments that weigh more than 1 pound are increasing by up to $2.11, mostly in 1-5 pounds.
Weight-Based Ground Advantage for shipments less than 1 pound are increasing by up to 33 cents for zones 6-8.
Ground Advantage Cubic rates are increasing by up to $1.67.
Priority Mail is increasing by up to $3.10:

Weight-Based Priority Mail rates are increasing by up to $3.10.
Priority Mail Cubic rates are increasing by up to $2.97.
Priority Mail Flat Rate prices are increasing by up to $1.18.
The new rates will lower the maximum discounts available for USPS compared to Retail Pricing from 89% to 88%.

Here's what's changing on July 14th
Media Mail rates will increase by up to 56 cents.
Signature Confirmation is going up by 20 cents to $3.70.

[Ken Culbertson]

Somebody has to pay for the electric charging stations....

Ken

[Paul Smith]

We still have FedEx, UPS, and Railway Express in the private sector.

The next thing I envision is Amazon and Ebay launching their own postal systems, along with Uber.

[Dan McEntee]

  I recently ordered some medical supplies that were shipped from Kansas City on June7th. They never did arrive and it's only a 4 hour drive from there to here. After hassling with the supply people, they said they would ship another order on the 22nd. I got an email from Brian Gardner and the Australian Post Office that my order had shipped on the June 17th, and it arrived on the 24th!! All the way from Australia!! What does THAT say about the USPS??? You CAN NOT depend on them to ship[ anything. If I ever switch over to paying all my bills on line, it will be because the USPS has driven me to it!! I already to my most critical stuff on line, and had deliver checks for insurance and such to the office near me. The USPS is just plain @#$% poor all across the board!! Locally, thieves started to steal mail, looking for check that they could wash and alter and try to cash. The USPS made it pretty easy for them by making the locks on all the mail boxes the same!! Then the letter carriers became a target for the thieves and thugs to steal mail and their mailbox keys!! And all of this because there is NO competition. I think Elon and Jeff should take a look at this and offer up some competition to their terrible service!! Amazon already has most of the network and trucks in place!!  A price increase wouldn't be too bad to take if the service was anywhere near acceptable.
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Dennis Toth]

Mike,
I got the same notice from the company I use to ship stuff at a very reduced rate and so far no issues always delivered. The company is Pirate Ship (https://ship.pirateship.com/). They have deals with all the major services not - Joes delivery guy. I think a few other guys on here have used them and had good results too.

Best,    DennisT

[Rusty]

"Here is a novel idea, how about making the service more efficient instead of raising prices for increasingly lousy service."   You certainly got that right.

This year I sent a piece of tracked mail from the Vero Beach, FL main post office to Tallahassee, FL insurance commissioner's office.  The mail went to Orlando, then Jacksonville FLA and was "unaccounted for" and a lost mail complaint could not find it.  Then later this year I sent another piece of tracked mail from the Vero Beach, FL main post office to the Florida Cancer Center in Fort Myers, FL.  The mail went to Orlando, FL and was "unaccounted for" and a lost mail complaint could not find it. 

I went to the post office where I sent these pieces of mail and demanded to talk to the post master.  He would not come out and talk to me or call me.   I spoke to a supervisor about the mail and he said "it happens all the time.  It is lost.  What do you want us to do about it."   I told him I wanted the post master to tell me that, not a supervisor.  He said he would give my information to the post master.  I never got a call.

As I told the "supervisor"  I firmly believe the post office has a band of thieves that are stealing the mail. It is not lost.  He did not like that at all.  It is in the news frequently that in Florida the postal workers are selling the keys to the boxes for 10,000.00 each.  Also, postal workers are caught dumping mail after going through it for checks and cash.   

I think if a mailman is given a box of mail to take somwhere and when he gets there, all the mail is not in the box, he goes to JAIL. 

[Arlan McKee]

The post office delivers mail and packages to the company I work for in plastic corrugated bins a little bigger than milk crates.  Depending on the time of year between 1 and 4 boxes a day. There is no telling what the Postal Service pays for these boxes but the men and women delivering them just will not take them back to the post office with them. They always have some excuse. We literally have over 1000 of these containers on site at any one time so we put them to use storing old samples and I haul my tools and supplies around between Labs with them. They are poorly run and no one is accountable.

[john e. holliday]

Some of these postal workers need to be looking for other jobs or pt in prison.  But what happens when they are caught, they get their hands slapped and told not to do it again.   I remember a package that was only one state over from me and it was not here after a month of waiting.  Sent message to person who sent pack age talked to local post master.  Seem the originating end had put the package on a shelf and forgot about it.   My local guy looked at my tracking number and called the other office to speak to them.   Once the culprit was found he was terminated as it found out there were a lot of packages sitting on the shelf not being delivered.

But the best one for me was when I got a late notice o  my life insurance payment.   Seems the envelope was partially torn open and who ever had it finally opened it and returned it to me with the check still intact as well as the contents.

[FLOYD CARTER]

The USPS is locked into a very expensive employee pension plan.  Work for the PO for X years, then retire on a very generous pension for life!  That's where the money is going.  It isn't going to stop

Big on-line stores like Amazon pay almost nothing to ship via USPS.  Ordinary folks have to make up the loss.