Trouble might come with this rant, but I’ve about had it with United States Postal Service.
They just recently raised the price of a postage stamp to 71 cents. It seems every year the price goes up another 5 cents. I’m old, but I remember vividly when it was only 5 cents.
But that’s not my major beef with the USPS. You see we depend on the service to deliver newspapers to our subscribers. The price of that service continues to rise year after year, but the service provided gets worse and worse.
I can’t tell you how many complaints we receive weekly from customers who do not get their newspapers on time. And if you happen to be an out-of-state subscriber you can feel lucky if you receive your newspaper within seven days.
I’m a pretty big USPS customer. I pay between $50,000 and $70,000 a year to use their service. Do you think they care? Try to track down someone who can help you with a customer’s complaint. It is a useless endeavor.
It has gotten so bad that I have taken a couple of our newspapers out of the mail entirely. Instead we offer subscriptions that come directly to one’s email that actually are sent and received before the newspaper is printed. It’s much more efficient than the USPS, and subscribers really seem to like receiving an on time newspaper.
But unfortunately, partially because we had so much trouble with the mail, we had to cease publication of our smallest newspaper, the Marion Press. Like dozens, or maybe hundreds of newspapers across the United States, dependent on mail service to get their subscribers their product, we no longer could functions successfully.
I’ve got plenty of other publications that catch my attention, so I’m fortunate. But I feel bad for the single paper publishers who have endured price increase after price increase, only to cease publication because they have lost dozens of customers because they don’t get their newspapers on time.
This is a huge problem. Some of these newspapers have been publishing for 150 years or more. I believe the USPS has “blood on their hands” as their poor service exacerbates the plight of the small newspaper to the point they have to stop publishing.
I don’t pretend to know what the answers are, but I do know the USPS needs a total makeover. Maybe it needs to be shutdown, and mail privatized where an Amazon or another company takes over mail delivery. I do know it can’t exist as it is now. It must provide better service and it must hold the line on continually raising prices
My son often says, and he is correct, the USPS is the only entity around that can raise prices while providing poorer service. If it were a private company it would be bankrupt. But hey it’s a part of the government, we all know they don’t care much about how they service their constituents, the taxpayers.
Rant over. Make something good happen, USPS.
The usps is understaffed like all companies. They prioritize Amazon over all else so don’t get mad when your newspaper is delivered late it was probably held up at the main facility and then dumped on postal carriers all at once. We do the best we can considering we deliver 150-300 packages a day on each route and then get told oh yeah your working your day off.
USPS has done an outstanding job over the years delivering newspapers. Nobody else would or could deliver them so you could make money. Kinda sour grapes really. The general public can’t get the deal your newspaper gets……..how much do you pay per paper? Less than a stamp guaranteed. USPS is done subsidizing print media……PMG said so recently.
The old I spend 50-70K per year…. are no more important than the retail residential customer down the street. That was what made the USPS great. I have never seen delivery confirmation on my newspaper or magazine. How do you actually know when it was delivered because you don’t pay for the service?
Here is one reason: With this long and proven record of service to the American people, it’s hard to understand why the U.S. Treasury has persistently and unfairly tapped the retirement funds of this essential workforce for over half a century.
That’s right, for some 52 years, a glaring misallocation of pension liabilities has persisted, resulting in about $90 billion in unjust expenses to USPS, harming postal employees and postage ratepayers.
Here is another reason: Louis DeJoy
I recently mailed a package to New York. The USPS sent it to California. After a week, it was finally delivered. I will use UPS in the future.
I used to deliver papers for CCR, and got $70 for 1/4 of the city of Clare back (SE) in late 80’s. Pullin a wagon with my bike, putting papers into bags… It was good work for a teenager. Maybe USPS prices drive it back full circle.
I think CCR is a great paper for Clare County. I have no idea what pricing structure you have now other than I pick up a paper in Farwell at the Nest for nothing and read info here online for nothing. Maybe diversify service, you could like email subs are “x” cents, mail delivery 2x cents, and picking from stacks at restaurants 1.5x cents.
Perhaps you could look for grants that help offset those costs. https://www.grants.gov/