December 5, 2005
www.usps.sucks
There’s a reason so many of us consider the free market to be a much more efficient and capable way to get a job done: personal experience.
When we did Christmas last week, I got the one thing on my list: a homebrewing kit from HomebrewHeaven. Someone in my family was willing to help further the debauchery that is my daily life (thanks, Sis!). Since it was in Chicago, and I live in Atlanta, I had to ship it.
So I made the mistake of shipping USPS. They gave me a nice receipt with a tracking number on it. This went out last Monday. It hasn’t arrived. So I tried to get online today to track the package with that nice tracking number. I got online, and it said the package had been accepted in Chicago. It didn’t say where it currently is. It didn’t give me an expected date of arrival. It didn’t tell me anything at all, save that status is updated nightly. Since they didn’t have any information more relevant than a week ago, I thought that was unlikely. So I called them to get an update. I hoped that maybe talking to a live person might get me a little farther. I think the guy on the other end of the phone just plugged the tracking code into the web site. He couldn’t give me the current status. He couldn’t give me an estimated delivery date. All he could tell me was that packages from Chicago to Marietta take “anywhere from 4-8 business days” and that it should be here “any day now”.
I should have shipped UPS. From the cost calculation online, it looks like it would be about $13 cheaper, would be estimated to arrive in 2 days, and if I had actually looked up the tracking number online, it would tell me exactly where my package was last scanned and every bit of the current status.
Why do I trust the private sector more than the public? Even though USPS is set up to try to be a profitable business, they can’t seem to beat the private sector. It is simple. Even with the monopoly of being the only folks able to to deliver to a mailbox, and with the economies of scale of already being tasked with standard mail delivery, they know that they don’t have to perform. If they fail, they’ll be bailed out by the Treasury. They don’t have to fight for market share, because they have no shareholders to please. Basically, all the mechanisms that make UPS and FedEx such efficient package delivery services are absent.
Why do I trust the private sector? Because it works– or people get fired. The government? It works– or they raise taxes.
Below The Beltway linked with The Effect Of Government Ordered Monoply
The Unrepentant Individual linked with Busy…
The Unrepentant Individual linked with Updates from this week…
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Brad, I’ve been shipping with UPS for years. They are more professional and I trust that my package will get there when I ship with them. I hope you get your package soon.
Didn’t show up again today. And their tracking system (in addition to not being working at all a few hours ago) still says the packages are in Chicago. I can only pray that’s not true.
Now I know why people “go postal”…
All work and no homebrewed beer make Brad a dull boy…
I suppose this isn’t a good time to mention that the price of a stamp will be going up in a month……..
Still hasn’t shown up… Website still says nothing more than it has been accepted in Chicago. Their Customer Service (in addition to dropping my call twice– from a land line, not a cellphone) can’t seem to tell me anything either.
I can’t wait to trust these folks with my healthcare!
[...] Recent Posts Updates from this week… More on EPA at The Liberty Papers Don’t spit, or you’ll create an EPA-protected wetland! His first mistake was being born Congress and the BCS http://www.usps.sucks Today’s Carnivals BCS Bowls announced… I got an iPod Nano! Meeting with Congressman Price Arguing Online Thank you, PartyPoker! Seeing Rep. Price High School Quiz Animal Quiz [...]
[...] Recent Posts Busy… Some quickies while I hit the links… Updates from this week… More on EPA at The Liberty Papers Don’t spit, or you’ll create an EPA-protected wetland! His first mistake was being born Congress and the BCS http://www.usps.sucks Today’s Carnivals BCS Bowls announced… I got an iPod Nano! Meeting with Congressman Price Arguing Online Thank you, PartyPoker! Seeing Rep. Price [...]
The Effect Of Government Ordered Monoply
There is a long article in the Washington Post Business section today about the challenges facing the US Postal Service as mail usage drops.
The structural problems facing the Postal Service are monumental. Despite a tiny uptick last year, first ….