Steve Hoffacker's Sales Quips

We all know the the USPS is the dinopsaur of written communication and parcel delivery. FedEx, UPS, and other services are more efficient and profitable.

The Post Office has said that they have no way to pay a $5.5 billion bill due tomorrow (September 30) to fund retirees' health care. It would be too bad if that program can't be funded, but what if there is no Post Office? How does that program get funded then? What if someone works for a company their entire life and that company shuts down? It happens. Unfortunate, but it happens - with some degreee of regularity. It's the free market.

The Post Office is provided for in the Constitution so it has some legitimacy - legitimacy that has been mitigated by big labor, out-of-control spending, and lack of forward thinking. The USPS reveals that 80% of all the expenses are for labor. That's just not right. Of course they are going to upside down with this model.

Anyway, I have a solution:

1. Sell half of all the regular route delivery vehicles. Even if there is no retail market, they can be sold at auction. Just saving the maintenance and fuel costs is going to be huge.
2. Terminate half of the regular letter carriers. Let someone else figure out how to apply their complex union rules for retention and severance.
3. Go to every other day delivery.
4. With half of the letter carriers and half of the vehicles, mail can be delivered by the same carrier to one route on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and to a second route on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Most people don't require daily delivery - especially when 90% of the mail is of the junk variety.

I have other plans as well, but this one will work. As far as the retiree programs, adjustments will need to be made sooner or later. this cost savings plan will add to unemployment in the short term but save the USPS in the long term and possibly even continue to cover those unrealistic retiree benefits.

  ──

For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website or go to my other blog "Steve Hoffacker's Home Sales Insights" for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at "Steve Hoffacker's Happenings."

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Podcaster, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

The USPS (postal service) has contributed to its own demise by not anticipating shifts in the way people commincate and by not offering a competitive product.

Who can afford to wait a week for an important message to arrive when there is overnight mail and email that will get it their with much greater spped and efficiency?

How many people pay their bills by writing out a check and mailing it when online payments are so much quicker? Besides, having it delayed by the post office is no defense against a late payment.

At any rate, the Post office applied for a larger rate increase than they just got, and it was rejected. Now the US District Court of Appeals for DC ruled that the Postal Regulatory Commission who blocked the increase had better come up with a better answer for disallowing the increase.

So go ahead raise the rates. Charging $5 a letter still will not make the Post office profitable. Until they address their physical plant costs, labor costs, benefits, and vehicle costs, it is hopeless to expect the Post Office to turn a profit.

If we need to have a post office, privatize it.

We could also go to just one or two days a week delivery to drastically cut costs.

───

For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other bloghomesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.

First class letter rates aren't going up, but nearly everything else is. The typical one-ounce letter that has one or two pages or a check in an envelope will stay at 44 cents. However, if the weight goes beyond one ounce, the second ounce goes to 20 cents from 17 currently. The same for the third ounce.

Other formulas and increases will be applied as well. The postcard goes to 29 cents, from 28. An increase of 1 penny - when that's what they used to be way back when. Ever heard of the penny postcard?

Letters from the US to Canada or Mexico will go to 80 cents each - an increase of 5 cents for Canada and 1 penny for Mexico.

The USPS lost $8.5 billion last year and expects that the rate increase will generate just a meager $340 million. The USPS will never be able to produce a profit with their curreent business model.

Maybe it's time to bring back the Pony Express.

───

For more information on my coaching and educational programs and services, visit my website stevehoffacker.com, or go to my other blog homesalesinsights.com for additional sales tips, insights, and commentary. Listen to my free podcast messages at Steve Hoffacker's Happenings.

Steve Hoffacker - Consultant, Coach, Author, Blogger, Photographer, Motivator, Teacher, & Strategist - for Realtors, Real Estate Sales Professionals, Home Builders, New Home Salespeople, Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners, and Independent Sales Representatives.

© Steve Hoffacker, 2011. All Rights Reserved.