1991: Basic Bitch

[bithead]

Originally Posted by WonderWoman

...if the post office were not being forced to pre-fund their retirement accounts, as mandated by Congress, we would be making a profit and you would not be hearing all this noise about how awful we are as a business...

Why shouldn't the USPS be pre-funding their retirement accounts? Everyone in the real world has to.

Originally Posted by Sashi

Here's another reason for USPS. They don't fuck you as hard with fees. I'm in Canada and if I buy something from the States and have it shipped by UPS or FedEx, they bill me ridiculous amounts for broker fees. I've ordered stuff that's $40 and had to pay $30 in broker fees. That's not even including shipping fees. Broker fees easily go up to $100 and it's beyond dumb. USPS charges like $5 for the same thing.

I'm shocked they're unprofitable.

[Jmsmittyroad]

Even with all it's faults, the USPS is ours, for the benefit of the public. The day after it goes away, the cost of sending a package via UPS or Fed Ex will go up to a babillion dollars. Don't think for a micro second that the 80 year-old billionaires in charge of both of those companies haven't sat down and and worked out a nice little contingency plan should the morons among us vote to end this agency that has been around since 1775. They have a price in mind and have the solid gold Ben Wa balls they plan on buying to celebrate already picked out.

[Alekseyev]

John F O'Donnell is developing a pattern of doing shows in cities only after I move out of them.

I'm starting to take it a little personal..

[Keith]

Fed Ex is nice. The US Postal Service isn't nice.

I'll pay extra for nice.

[bithead]

Originally Posted by seamus

I think we are over looking the big issue here. Service people in New York City suck. From enough stories on KATG, I think I can draw this conclusion.

In Canada, the majority of Canada Post storefronts are now operated through Shoppers Drug Mart, a publicly traded company. Service is 1,000-fold better vs. store fronts staffed by Canada Post employees. Same price. Best move Canada Post ever made.

I don't know what to tell you... out with the old, in with the new... or become irrelevant and insolvent.

[Keith]

I'm telling you: Fed Ex is very polite.

[Scumhook]

I've found DHL to be very good.

They're German, so they're ruthlessly efficient. Plus their yellow vans are pretty.

[Keith]

DHL is great too!

USPS is worse than UPS, for the record. I guess the more you pay the better service you get? Is it that simple?

And what's the dizzy with one being USPS and one being UPS? That's shady right there. No shit they both suck balls (in the negative way).

[Paraquat]

I haven't listened to this episode yet but USPS is terrible here.

[robotparker]

The problem isn't that the USPS is being required to pre-fund their retirement funds, the problem is that they were asked to pre-fund retirements for the next 75 years. They're having to squirrel away money for employees that aren't even born yet. No other public or private institution has ever been required to do this! It was a blatant attempt by the Bush administration to sink the postal service and the postal union. Before the pre-funding mandate, the USPS was actually quite profitable. More info here: http://deliveringforamerica.com/reso...heet_final.pdf

I've had good and bad experiences with the USPS, Fed Ex, and UPS. Life is a grab bag. But in the interest of full disclosure: I am a former postal employee, who has sometimes been described by friends as being cold, unaccommodating, and prone to sarcastic sighs and eye-rolls.