USPS raising Priority Mail prices 1/17/16

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Jsega51 said:
Maybe they aren't saving crazy amounts of money with fuel being cheaper. With the population growing, more roads, more housing developments, subdivisions, businesses, etc, they need more delivery vehicles, carriers, shipping centers and the such.

I've had excellent luck with USPS. Had a few hiccups but it happens when you think about the amount of mail they handle each day. Had good and bad with UPS and FedEx also.
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Our annual population increase is only .7%. Gas prices are half what they were 2.5 years ago. If an organization isn't saving a large amount of money on fuel costs when fuel cost is a large part of their budget, that organization is messing up. I realize fuel cost for a large transportation company is far more complicated than just saying "fuel cost go down, so should price for service". There are some very complex calculations that go into most transportation fuel costs. That said, if we leave all that out and just look at the gasoline in the little mail trucks the savings USPS has come in to is quite clear. Average gas prices by year: 2013-$3.60, 2014-$3.34, 2015-$2.64, and as of today ~$2.00. In 2010 USPS reported using 650 million gallons of fuel. Let's say half that was for gasoline in the little white trucks. In 2015 that would have cost $858 million, in 2014 that would have cost $1.08 billion, in 2013 at peek average yearly fuel cost that would be $1.17 billion and today would cost ~$650 million. Even if we reduce the savings to half or a quarter of this example we are still talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. And they still are raising prices.

USPS is still the best option for shipping. That doesn't mean it could not be better. It just happens to not be as bad as the others.
 
I just don't understand what all the complaining is about? They are going up less then a $1.00 on a small flat rate box, and are still nearly three times less then their closest competitor. It is what it is, and your not going to change it. You either use them, or go the FedEx/UPS route.
 
craytab said:
USPS is still the best option for shipping. That doesn't mean it could not be better. It just happens to not be as bad as the others.
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That.

I get mad when stamp prices go up considering how the small town I live in only delivers mail to people that live X distance from the PO. And I don't. Why do I have to pay the same for less service?

I definitely have a love/hate relationship with the PO..
 
knifehunt said:
I just don't understand what all the complaining is about? They are going up less then a $1.00 on a small flat rate box, and are still nearly three times less then their closest competitor. It is what it is, and your not going to change it. You either use them, or go the FedEx/UPS route.
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IMO they are still the best option. The problem is the cost increase defies common sense. I guess it is a for profit company though so maybe it does make sense. And heck, the average household is going to save $750 in fuel costs a year so why not grab for some of that money!
 
craytab said:
IMO they are still the best option. The problem is the cost increase defies common sense. I guess it is a for profit company though so maybe it does make sense. And heck, the average household is going to save $750 in fuel costs a year so why not grab for some of that money!
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Maybe you should give your employer some money back this year because you won't be spending as much on fuel, lol.. They are in business to make money, and that's why anyone is in business. My grocery bill doesn't seem to go down, nor does the check when we go out to dinner, it only goes up.
 
knifehunt said:
I just don't understand what all the complaining is about? They are going up less then a $1.00 on a small flat rate box, and are still nearly three times less then their closest competitor. It is what it is, and your not going to change it. You either use them, or go the FedEx/UPS route.
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You Hit The Nail On The Head
 
Get ready for more padded envelopes.
I generally like the post office and prefer using them to fed ex/ups. But when the rates go up 4x the inflation rate, I have to wonder when the last rate increase was.
 
leghog said:
I think it's fortunate. Over the last few years I've gotten much better service from USPS than FEDEX or UPS.
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Haha! Lol. I have had nothing but great luck with FedEx, but I do not use them if I can help it. All my wife's medication is delivered vis UPS, and they have not missed a beat in four years. I've had a few issues with the USPS, and it wasn't pretty. I really think it is all based on your location, the delivery person themselves. If everything were like McDonalds.... I can buy a cheeseburger on the east coast, down south or out west, and they are all the same.
 
If a $1 increase on shipping and receiving our toys, through an optional service, threatens our financial security then we must reconsider other life choices.

Buy one less knife or accessory, one less immitation food order from mcdonalds. Repeat as necessary.
USPS prices still pale in comparison to driving it there yourself or using another service. Our world is one of choosing the lesser evil, no perfect solutions out there, and you cant always make everyone happy.
 
You have to do what you have to do - raising the price might reduce the number of people who use the service, but I assume the USPS has looked at that equation and decided they would benefit from the increase.

I have read here several times that Fedex is more expensive, but that was not my finding this past holiday season; I had a package that contained liquor that I wanted to ship, and the USPS priority rate was almost twice as much as the Fedex. I found this out when the USPS would not ship the liquor, citing it as "hazardous material". The Fedex shipping also provided tracking etc, and they did not have any qualms about shipping the dreaded and extremely dangerous bottle of scotch (sarcasm there...)

For the record, I have not had one USPS priority package lost or otherwise put in peril, they just get delivered and amazingly quickly given the volumes of parcels the USPS deals with on a daily basis.

best

mqqn
 
craytab said:
Our annual population increase is only .7%. Gas prices are half what they were 2.5 years ago. If an organization isn't saving a large amount of money on fuel costs when fuel cost is a large part of their budget, that organization is messing up. I realize fuel cost for a large transportation company is far more complicated than just saying "fuel cost go down, so should price for service". There are some very complex calculations that go into most transportation fuel costs. That said, if we leave all that out and just look at the gasoline in the little mail trucks the savings USPS has come in to is quite clear. Average gas prices by year: 2013-$3.60, 2014-$3.34, 2015-$2.64, and as of today ~$2.00. In 2010 USPS reported using 650 million gallons of fuel. Let's say half that was for gasoline in the little white trucks. In 2015 that would have cost $858 million, in 2014 that would have cost $1.08 billion, in 2013 at peek average yearly fuel cost that would be $1.17 billion and today would cost ~$650 million. Even if we reduce the savings to half or a quarter of this example we are still talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. And they still are raising prices.

USPS is still the best option for shipping. That doesn't mean it could not be better. It just happens to not be as bad as the others.
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You're justifying your mathematical equation using 2010 fuel figures with 2015 prices. Apples to oranges. How much fuel did they use in 2015 to go along with the price of fuel in 2015? You have to keep your examples uniform to prove a point. As you and many others have stated, they're the cheapest way to ship. So in the last 5-6 years, since that 2010 fuel total, wouldn't it seem logical that their fuel use has gone up? How many people, companies or businesses in the last 5-6 years have stopped using UPS or FedEx and switched to USPS to save on their own shipping costs, which increased costs for the USPS, which are then passed on to the consumer?

Their rates don't fluctuate like gas prices so the two are not directly linked anyhow, I was just using an example of a small puzzle piece reason why they would have to make adjustments to their shipping rates. First rate increase in 3 years? It's such a small amount that no person on this forum should feel the effects with the amount of packages that we send....and if you are, you should be paying for a dealer membership, or maybe you don't need to buy that next $150 to $1K knife.
 
Price is ok. with kids at college out of state using USPO usually faster and I have never had issue with post office delivery . lines much slower at post office though. always 100% there will be a 10 + minute wait. will probably check with UPS store next time if price difference a wash
 
knifehunt said:
Maybe you should give your employer some money back this year because you won't be spending as much on fuel, lol.. They are in business to make money, and that's why anyone is in business. My grocery bill doesn't seem to go down, nor does the check when we go out to dinner, it only goes up.
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That analogy does not make sense.
 
Jsega51 said:
You're justifying your mathematical equation using 2010 fuel figures with 2015 prices. Apples to oranges. How much fuel did they use in 2015 to go along with the price of fuel in 2015? You have to keep your examples uniform to prove a point. As you and many others have stated, they're the cheapest way to ship. So in the last 5-6 years, since that 2010 fuel total, wouldn't it seem logical that their fuel use has gone up? How many people, companies or businesses in the last 5-6 years have stopped using UPS or FedEx and switched to USPS to save on their own shipping costs, which increased costs for the USPS, which are then passed on to the consumer?

Their rates don't fluctuate like gas prices so the two are not directly linked anyhow, I was just using an example of a small puzzle piece reason why they would have to make adjustments to their shipping rates. First rate increase in 3 years? It's such a small amount that no person on this forum should feel the effects with the amount of packages that we send....and if you are, you should be paying for a dealer membership, or maybe you don't need to buy that next $150 to $1K knife.
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Yup. You are right. I did what I could with what I thought was out there. Here is a report from 2014: http://about.usps.com/what-we-are-doing/green/report/2014/

There is a ton of information in there. Quite impressive really. The USPS owned fleet had an increase in fuel use of 11% since 2005. While the biggest use of fuel for USPS, the contracted transport, has decreased 7% in the same time span. Te me that sounds like a wash. What has changed the most in that time is the fluctuation of fuel cost with it now being at its lowest.

Like I said, they are the best option there is but announcing a price increase while we can all see a major cost of theirs going down, significantly, is poor timing in the least.
 
Well Cray, I'd rather pay an extra $1 each time I mail a package out then pay an extra $40 at the pump each week haha. I do understand there are probably variables which we can't see or access the information to. Oh well, nothing gets cheaper as we all get older I guess!
 
Remember that much your 'air" mail is now being carried by UPS or Fedex, but the actually delivery is done by the letter carriers who have to come to your house or business anyway. That is the main reason why it is cheaper.
 
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