Three Cheers for the U.S. Postal Service
A couple of weeks ago, I received a Christmas card that was addressed to a house we haven’t lived in for twenty years. I’m sure our “new” forwarding address was no longer on record. However, somebody at the local post office took the time to look in the University directory, spotted my name, and forwarded the card to me at work. Impressive, I think. The U.S. Post Service seems to be everybody’s whipping boy. Over the years, a public notion has developed that the USPS is inefficient, slow, too expensive, sloppy, and generally inept. Maybe we think this because 1) it gives us somebody to blame if our mail doesn’t arrive when we want it to (“Well, you know the U.S. Postal Service, sigh“, 2) it’s a convenient excuse for our own sloth (“The check is in the mail“--yeah right) 3) it’s kind of fun, and 4) we’ve never really measured our own satisfaction in any objective fashion. I’ve always been pleasantly amazed at the level of service USPS provides. Consider this: for a measly 39 cents (is there anything else that costs this little?), you can take an actual physical object, write a specific destination on it, walk a couple of blocks and put it in a box. Somewhere between 3 and 5 days this object will appear in another box on the recipient’s porch even if it’s three thousand miles away -- for 39 cents! I don’t understand why it doesn’t cost $3.90 or even $39! When I go to the P.O. the employees are helpful and friendly. So are the delivery men and women. Yet, we (by “we,” of course, I mean “not me.”) continue to gripe about it. Everybody seems to have some horror story of something being lost or unreasonably delayed in the U.S. Mail. How often does this actually happen? I suppose there are stats on this, but since I couldn’t find it immediately I gave up. I do know that in nearly 60 years of living, I can’t recall a single piece of mail that did not arrive at its destination after I dropped it in the box. Remember, also that after you put the letter in the box and it arrives at a business, there are plenty of non-USPS handling that mail. If it’s lost, though, the USPS automatically gets the blame. Over 206 billion pieces of mail are delivered to U.S. households annually! Amazing. I’m so inspired by my own message that the next time I see our mail carrier I’m going to tell him how wonderful I think he is. I urge you to do the same.
posted by unca | 7:16 PM
7 Comments:
Unca, I have long felt exactly as you do about this subject. I think it's incredible that a first class stamp only costs 39 cents. Thx for this post, and articulating the whole thing better than I would have.
Thanks for this Unca:
Its good to hear someone else compliment the PO. I have always stuck up for the post office and airplane food. (When they used to serve it on every flight) Two things people love to hate. I have used the 39 cent argument myself when I hear someone complain about them. (Less than a pack of gum)
I think because the Government has the tendency to create unnecessary bureaucracy in other areas and in many cases the private sector could probably do a better job it’s hard for many people to give them credit where credit is due.
Here are some more interesting facts
•Handles more than 43% of the world's mail. It's nearest competitor is Japan with only 6%
•Depends exclusively on postage and fees rather than tax payer revenue for it's operations.
•Handles more than 41 million change-of-address cards each year as a free service to the 17% of the nation's population that moves each year.
•Delivers more in one day than FedEx does in a year, and more in three days than UPS does in a year.
“Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”
Thanks for your comments. Maybe we ought to start a very small club: "USPS Fans" or something. Blogball's stats are really interesting (where did you find them?). I also agree about the airline food. They don't serve too often now but when they did, I thought it was pretty good and I was amazed that they were able to do it at all. While we're at it, how about the patient flight attendance who have to put up with the discontents and the rowdies (and the folks who insist on stuffing luggage the size of bean bag chairs into the overhead bins). My hat to them too.
great post! totally agree. and everyone has already articulated everything so well, i have nothing else to say (i know, it's too weird, and i'm sure you're grateful...) :)
Here are more PO facts from the that site
http://www.ceol.com/vvpo/facts.html
I also found out that at high altitude your taste bud sensitivity is diminished. So maybe that’s why I think everything tastes so good when I’m flying.
blogball, maybe that's why I like spicier food in my higher altitude location?! Unca, I think you'd better hug that postal worker the next time you see him/her! Show how you really feel! I know from a family member on my husband's side that postal employees actually put up with a lot of unpleasantness at work (confirmed by at least one other former postal employee that we met). Making their helpful smiles all the more admirable.
Ha! I love this post, and the comments. I myself give the "post office speech" occasionally (one more sign that I am turning into my mother... ;). I am inspired by this post to compliment and be extra nice to the postal employees I see and deal with in the future. I ALSO like airplane food (without even considering the whole 'it must be hard to serve 200 hot meals all at the same time in the middle of the sky' thing) -- it just has usually tasted good to me. So there!
Post a Comment
<< Home