US Postal Service looses $2.8 Billion

[Marc.com]

Geeez my heart bleeds for them, I am not sure how USPS lost 2.8 Billion (The Economist) when I am so actively supporting them with my ebay purchases 

Maybe they should bring back surface mail....but apparently they plan to raise shipping charges instead.

I didn't realize USPS is the 3rd largest employer in the States.

[DR]

  raising shipping charges will not help 'poor' ol' USPS.  People simply rethink and thus refrain or use other methods and or alternative shipping companies such as DHL. USPS has a bit of a monopoly going but the bigger they are the harder they fall

[maicomc490t]

With amount I have shipped through them I was thinking of buying shares !!!

If the prices increase much more there are definitely many other options - a guy sent me some Bully parts the other day by Fedex and I was surprised the price wasn't too unreasonable and it was tracked all the way.

NSW premier, Nathan Rees must have an American cousin running USPS

Dave Mac 

[Marc.com]

With amount I have shipped through them I was thinking of buying shares !!!

yeah my last credit card statement was a heart stopper with the exchange rate. BTW the CEO of USPS earns 800K a year, if they want to save some money I am prepared to do it at a discount.

[firko]

It's pretty surprising that the USPS can lose so much money when Oz Post can pull in a $600 million profit in 2008, up from 400 million in 2007. With 700 plus eBay transactions, mostly from the USA, I figured I'd been keeping them in the black along with the rest of us eBay fiends.
 I've been told by an OZ Post NSW deputy state manager (who's a vintage MXer) that the USPS is extremely inefficient with nearly twice the workforce employed to do the equivalent amount of work as Oz Post. In the USA, after serving in the military you're graunteed a job when you leave the service and the USPS is the biggest recipient of those vets. Many of them come into the job with psychological and service related health problems which contribute to an astounding sicky situation costing them billions of dollars in lost production.If you add the failure to invest in computerised sorting systems and other infrastructure you can see that its not a very efficient operation.
Below is a review of Australia Posts '07 performance.

Australia Post delivers record profit
Email Printer friendly version Normal font Large font October 17, 2007 - 11:24AM


Australia Post has booked a record profit of $400.7 million in fiscal 2007, driven mostly by its booming parcel and logistics division.

This year's result was an 8.9 per cent improvement on the 2006 net profit of $367.9 million.

Overall revenue from its three divisions - letters, parcels and retail - rose four per cent to $4.71 billion.

The strongest contributor to the net result remains Australia Post's parcels and logistics division, with overall revenue growing 9.4 per cent to $1.2 billion.

The parcels division delivered a $255.9 million before tax profit - up 16 per cent on the previous year.

Growth in its domestic parcel delivery has been driven by the boom in online trading as householders order wine, electronic goods, CDs and DVDs from home.

But the internet has challenged Australia Post's traditional mission of delivering letters as people go online to send documents and personal messages.

Nevertheless, the national carrier is defying the long-term forecast for letters, reporting its biggest increase in domestic letter volume since the 1990s.

Domestic letter volumes increased 1.9 per cent, or 93.1 million items, in 2006-07.

Much of that increase was driven by the surge in promotional mail, both direct mail, up 8 per cent, and unaddressed mail, up 11.4 per cent.

But the increased volume did not translate into better profit.

Australia Post's letters division reported an 8.4 per cent slide in its before-tax profit to $160.0 million.

The decline in profit was attributed to costs from wages, fuel charges and new delivery points rising faster than revenue, which is pegged to a price-freeze on stamps.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is due to consider any proposed increase in the basic 50-cent postage rate cost next year.

The internet also proved a challenge to Australia Post's retail network which reported flat before-tax profit of $86.6 million.

The number of agency-based and bill-payment transactions declined slightly during the year as more consumers went online to pay their bills.

But there was good news in the retail division with the growth in identity services transactions - such as passports - that are required by business and government agencies.

Revenue from this emerging area increased 56 per cent on the back of a 25 per cent increase in the number of transactions.

Australia Post returned a $296.9 million dividend to its sole shareholder, the federal government, along with another $474.9 million in government taxes and charges.

Chairman David Mortimer said the ongoing question of whether Australia Post should be privatised was a one for the government

"That's an area which we have no influence on. That's a matter for the shareholder," Mr Mortimer said.

"Our understanding is both the government and opposition have indicated it's not going to be privatised, so that's off the agenda as far as we're concerned."

AAP

[DR]

Ironically Mark the only real trouble I've ever had with post is Australia Post. They have stuffed me around on numerous occassions and completely 'lost' a few items including 2 complete wheels from separate oz sellers. USPS on the other hand have a strike rate of 1 loss in about 500 items vs AuPost of about 6 in 50 or less! I use registered mail for Australian stuff these days as I simply do not trust them anymore. 3 weeks for an item to arrive in Gympie from Brisbane is another goody and 4 weeks from Bundaberg on a parts book the latest. Most of the items sent by USPS arrive within 10 days, sometime 9 and I've even had them arrive in 8 days but never have I had to wait as long as as I do for AuPost. I just recieved a package this morning containing 2 wiseco piston rings from Sth Dakota posted on May 5th and postage price was a mere $1.40US. I'm flat out sending these rings accross the country for less let alone 8000miles so I really can't complain. I think a lot of the problem is many sellers in the US simply use a flat rate box, the ebay postage calculator or guesswork which all usually carry an over inflated price. The parts I get from my good mate Buz are far more reasonable and what a lot of people don't know is the flat rate boxes come in various sizes at the same price. Just sent a parcel to NZ yesterday and was barely over 1.5kgs and it cost me near $30!! For larger items obviously post isn't the cheapest but it is easy. For small items I don't see any problem so long as the seller does the right thing at his end. Sent a piston to the US just before easter and that was about $12 with minimal packing so USPS really aren't as bad as they appear. I guess my bottom line here is I shouldn't be complaining about the USPS rates and charges but moreso the way people exploit and/or the little effort required finding the cheaper rates..oh, and of course the poor exchange rate we are still getting for our $..that sux but nobody can control that. Cheers

[firko]

Doc...I agree with you. From a consumers point of view USPS works very well. As a business though it obviously falls short of efficiency while Australia Post is one of the few postal services in the world that actually makes a profit.
I've had the same experience as you with OzPost but go one better. I borrowed a rare book from a fellow forum member to research an article I was writing for VMX and when I was finished I sent it back via registered post. I naturally assumed that the lender got the book as I hadn't heard from him so when I cleaned the car out I threw away the tracking number sticker. I learned a big lesson in that one when I found out that the book hadn't arrived. OzPost really didn't want to know about it without a tracking number and after weeks of being shuffled from one department to another I reluctantly accepted we'd never see the book again and gave up. The moral is, always keep your tracking number sticker. What makes it even worse for the poor bugger who loaned me the book is that I can't find another replacement copy. I'm embarrassed and pissed off but still trying however. The other moral...don't trust express post or registered mail. It's still fallible.

[mx250]

NSW premier, Nathan Rees must have an American cousin running USPS

or another well connected garbologlist/ex green keeper as a CEO

[mx250]

I've had an excellent experience with AP and I've been both impressed with their cheapness at times and equally dismayed at the expense at times (with more impressed then dismayed . 100% delivery and receiving (from a small sampling) .

I've also had a good experience with USPS  and if you use the First Class overseas rate it reasonable with fees ( the 70c to the dollars dosen't help ). 100% delivery and receiving (from a small sampling) .

[DR]

I guess I'm just unlucky but really the prices for USPS are pretty much comparable. Cost me about $12au to post an RM125 piston to CT. US and to get another RM125 piston posted back was $6.40US so it's pretty level excepting I've seem to have had mine and others share of losses Last 12 months hasn't been bad admittedly excepting the delays with local post.

[Nathan S]

The two times I've publically praised AusPost, its bitten me within weeks, but I'll risk it again:

Its very rare for them to lose stuff, they're cheap, the staff at my local post office are friendly and helpful so yeah, no complaints. In ten+ years, I've had one thing go missing, and two bizzaro "Return to sender, address does not exist" - one of which was correctly addressed to my home address. Heard them blamed plenty of times, but that's another story*.

No, they're not perfect, but I honestly reckon that they're hit:miss ratio is better than any other business I've dealt with over a large number of transactions.


*Best one was a car clutch. Copped a heap of excuses, including some very strong vitriole directed toward AP - "I've sent three of them out! I'll bet those cocks at AP are stealing them because the boxes are going out with our company sticker on them! Happens all the f$%kin' time! I'm gonna ring those bastards and tell them..." etc.
Many months from the start of the process, it turned up in a plain box - fair enough.
Then, a year later I was talking to a bloke, and he mentioned that he made those clutch plates. I mentioned that I should have bought one from him rather than the shop. He told me that he was THE supplier to the shop, and that they were unavailable for some time beforehand... Basically, the shop never had them, but was happy to blame AP for the delay in getting them....

[pokey]

No suprise . i think they have always been running at a loss considering they had special model vehicles made for them . The harley davidson trike. Many other specially made models were designed specifically for  UPS. All Gov emplyees wil know just how easy it is to waste the public purse.

[crash n bern]

Well I've never lost anything through Aussie post. But I recently had the contents of a package stolen. The package arrived, had been opened, contents removed  and re taped.  Obviously by a Aus post employee.  In the US messing with the post is a federal crime and your looking at serious jail time. Here.. probably get a slap on the wrist.

Even though Australia is the "Backside" of the world, we embrace modern technology quicker than most other countries.  I've spent time in the US and I was amazed at how behind the times a lot of they're systems where.

[lukeb1961]

sometimes you just have to be patient...

From: Luke Brennan
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 6:55 PM
Subject: PE175E Owners Manual


I don't know if anybody remembers, but WAAAY back,
I said that the only thing I had ever NOT had arrive from
eBay was the much sought-after PE175E Owners Manual.

To my utter amazement, it landed on my doorstep TODAY.
With a postage date of    2008 07 29
Yes, really !!

Part No. 99011-14422-01B
August, 1983

Chuffed.
Luke

[Lozza]

Hmmmm, I think there is a moral here "good for the customer bad for the business", I had 2 parels go missing in transit recently, despite having the tracking number, no record was found.I started an investigation, within 5 days the package turned up. Seemed 'someone' had put the wrong address on the express post bag . Another was sent from o/s and instead of air turned out it was sent by sea. Japan Post EMS and ROyal Mail Parcel Force are all very good also. I haven't any complaints about any Postal system.