USPS to end Saturday mail delivery

[RJW76]

Yea, no way FedEx or UPS would ever want to handle delivery of such mail. They would ruin themselves.

Yep. There's a reason they haven't entered the full market space of the USPS.

Well, they're not allowed to by law.

Still, I doubt very much that they'd want to.

It will be hilarious when they get a huge government subsidy to upgrade their infrastructure in order to handle daily mail delivery. And of course they'll keep the cost down for you.

[mac5155]

For the record, they wouldn't want to as the current system stands. There are no barcodes on US Mail. Barcodes are EVERYTHING to Fedex/ups.

[RJW76]

For the record, they wouldn't want to as the current system stands. There are no barcodes on US Mail. Barcodes are EVERYTHING to Fedex/ups.

USPS barcodes and automates just about every single letter and most packages. Could be better with tracking, though.

[mac5155]

For the record, they wouldn't want to as the current system stands. There are no barcodes on US Mail. Barcodes are EVERYTHING to Fedex/ups.

USPS barcodes and automates just about every single letter and most packages. Could be better with tracking, though.

Yeah but they still have to place the barcode on the mail. Most of fedex already has it on there with weight and dimensions, otherwise it gets SWAKed.

[TheHammer24]

Yea, no way FedEx or UPS would ever want to handle delivery of such mail. They would ruin themselves.

Yep. There's a reason they haven't entered the full market space of the USPS.

My head is about to explode? Are you guy serious? USPS has an exclusive monopoly on letter carrying. It's illegal for FedEx to deliver letters or anything other than packages.

And have you ever seen a FedEx or UPS sorting facility? It's like 5 air hangers big, and they get a package in from one truck and onto another truck in under 10 minutes. And the thing already works on 8.5x11 size envelopes (obviously), do you really think they'd have to do much to sort letters.

[TheHammer24]

No way they could handle letters:

[mac5155]

Hammer, they deliver letters. They charge $6+ to do so, but they're allowed to deliver letters.

[columbia]

That sounds like a great deal.

[mac5155]

Under the current infrastructure it is what it is. Economies of scale?

[TheHammer24]

The USPS has a monopoly on using letter boxes. They're not allowed to go door-to-door with mail like the USPS does, period. Not to be so crude, but you don't get it. They charge $6 a letter because they have to independently deliver each package. They can't go door to door like the USPS does. Obviously, it costs a lot less per letter if every 12 steps you drop off another 10 letters as opposed to dropping one letter off, getting in your truck, and driving two streets over to drop the next. It's a scale economy---as FedEx delivers more letters, the average cost per letter decreases, making the service cheaper and more profitable. Letter delivery is a scale economy. It takes relatively similar infrastructure to deliver 100 million letters as it takes to deliver 100,000. But only one entity---USPS---is able to take advantage of the scale economy in letter delivery.

Why is home delivery (not the cost of the paper) of the Wall St. Journal more expensive than the Post Gazette? Because it takes A LOT more delivery people to deliver 1000 Wall St Journals because they're scattered all over the delivery area, while a Post Gazette delivery stops at nearly every house along the route.

If you allowed other businesses to use mailboxes (and got rid of USPS), the quantity of letters they deliver would soar, they would consolidate package and letter delivery and streamline routes.

I can't believe that people think USPS some how magically figured out a way to sustain a business without government subsidies by delivering letters, but somehow the logistical giants UPS and FedEx couldn't figure out a way to do it.

[mac5155]

I work for fedex, but ok, I don't get it.

They don't go door to door cause they don't need to. They do pickups. They deliver letters. They don't deliver junk mail

[columbia]

hah.

[TheHammer24]

Because you're not allowed, Mac. Only one company can deliver door to door mail. It's the law.

If someone explains to me how USPS turns a profit but FedEx can't, I'll stop. I can think one plausible explanation.

[Hockeynut!]

Because you're not allowed, Mac.

If someone explains to me how USPS turns a profit but FedEx can't, I'll stop. I can think one plausible explanation.

Isn't the entire point that the USPS is not turning a profit? I feel like I've stepped into Bizzaro world.

[Rylan]

I am confused.

[mac5155]

Because you're not allowed, Mac. Only one company can deliver door to door mail. It's the law.

If someone explains to me how USPS turns a profit but FedEx can't, I'll stop. I can think one plausible explanation.

If every person in a town got a letter shipped via FedEx, they would go door to door delivering them. I am not sure what you are arguing

[Idoit40fans]

This argument is bizarre.

[Alejandro Rojas]

I assume he is arguing that FedEx cannot use your actual mailbox.

[pfim]

Because you're not allowed, Mac. Only one company can deliver door to door mail. It's the law.

If someone explains to me how USPS turns a profit but FedEx can't, I'll stop. I can think one plausible explanation.

Well, as pointed out above, they're not profitable. This business segment is one of the biggest reasons.

I'm sure Fedex could but it would cost more than $.50 per letter for the consumer, there would be variable rates (Fedex isn't going to charge the same for delivering within highly populated areas and for servicing rural areas), and they don't want the business because the demand for the service is declining rapidly.

[mac5155]

I assume he is arguing that FedEx cannot use your actual mailbox.

oh, lol. well i have no response to that.

[Letang Is The Truth]

i dont think he is saying anything about actual mailboxes

[Idoit40fans]

Thats the only argument that he could possibly have.

[TheHammer24]

Is argument started pages ago when someone suggested FedEx couldnt profitably replace USPS on metropolitan areas (where 90% of the country lives).

[Rylan]

ok...?

I still don't get what you are getting at...

[mac5155]

Is argument started pages ago when someone suggested FedEx couldnt profitably replace USPS on metropolitan areas (where 90% of the country lives).

You're saying they aren't allowed to do it. And I'm saying they are. If you pay them $6 to deliver a letter they arent cgoing to say "no were not allowed to do that"