US Postal Service beats out FedEx and UPS in terms of cost effectiveness.

[Selatius]

http://consumerist.com/5072394/overnight-shipping-battle-fedex-vs-usps-vs-ups

Consumer Reports mailed 48 packages from Yonkers, N.Y., to 16 consumers in 12 states, using regular next-day delivery (Standard Overnight for FedEx, Express Mail for the Postal Service, and Next Day Air Saver for UPS.) All of the packages got there the next day — but the price was wildly different.

From Consumer Reports:

The Postal Service was the least expensive by far for local and long-distance deliveries. For letter-size envelopes, such as the ones it gave us for sending the books, it charges a flat rate of $16.50. (Flat rates for slower delivery are lower.) The other shippers base prices on weight and distance traveled. UPS charged $62.87 to send our book next-day to Oregon and $29.55 to Manhattan. FedEx charged $54.57 and $27.48, respectively.

...Asked how the Postal Service, an independent part of the U.S. government’s executive branch, can deliver overnight shipping for less, a spokeswoman, Yvonne Yoerger, said: "We have an infrastructure in place and letter carriers everywhere. We’re simply adding package delivery to a network that already exists."

Still want to privatize it, anybody???

[Political Tiger]

1. It's important for people to know

that the USPS does NOT receive one penny of tax money!

[The Wielding Truth]

2. When I think of the Bush path of destruction, I was thinking of

Fed. Dept. He did not try to break. I remembered the postal department and other than the anthrax it has remained unbroken. Well he still has 2 1/2 months....

Oh, if McC wins he can do that job.

Tell your coworkers to vote Obama, if they want their mail system to keep working.

[depakid]

3. I will also add that this is true for parcels sent internationally

though you may not have an overnight option available.

The difference between the postal service and UPS is significant.

[kimmylavin]

4. I've always loved the USPS.

For less than 50 cents (I'm counting back my whole life here, even with all the increases), they will carry something ACROSS THE COUNTRY and deliver it to someone's door.

Then there all the different mail classes/speeds/sizes.

AND they'll send you any PO supplies you need for FREE (I'm always stocking up on the Priority Mail flat rate boxes...)

And I've never had a problem, not one, even with all my eBay-ing and my little online bookstore.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. From Consumer Reports no less .... kick nominated n/t

[Hannah Bell]

6. i remember when i was a kid how beautiful & well-maintained the local usps building was -

& how proud we were of our great mail delivery - e.g. how, even with an incomplete address the carriers would find the right place, how even the backwoods got their mail.

today the same building looks like the po in a third-world country, peeling paint, unkempt lobby, dirty grounds. the po trucks leak oil & have bad paint jobs.

meanwhile, ups & other carriers skim profit & waste gas running the same routes usps does.

i despise what the reaganauts have done to our country.

[Kitty Herder]

7. This doesn't surprise me one bit.

FedEx and UPS are over-priced and provide very poor service to those of us who live in rural areas.

[Jane Austin]

8. We've been shipping more and more with USPS.

The surcharges and extra fees ($2.00 extra to deliver to a residence!) were killing us at FedEx and UPS.

So far so good on using Parcel Post and Priority Mail.

Our volume is so huge at the Holidays, it makes for a significant difference. Last December one of our FedEx bills was $18,000.

For a Mom and Pop outfit like us (www.dogstuff.com) that's a big hit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. SHHH don't tell anybody but UPS USES the USPS for shipping low cost packets

[TomInTib]

10. Thanks for posting this.

Not only are they far less expensive, USPS never tears up anything.

I just received two cast-iron Foo Dogs that I shipped a customer via UPS. UPS broke the legs off of cast-iron figurines.

[matt819]

11. True, but. . .

I know this is not the essence of this post, but you really do have to look at a load of factors, and the answer is not always clear.

First, USPS is not always the least expensive way of shipping, even when shipping long distances. Depends on a lot of factors. Once you get much larger than a small parcel, the courier services may be less expensive.

Notwithstanding a daily mail delivery, my letter carrier is not set up to collect much more than letter mail and a couple of small packages. Anything larger in size or quantity and I have to drop it off or arrange pick-up. There is a cost in terms of time away from the office in doing this.

Next, the tracking services available via UPS and FedEx are superior to those of the USPS. Customer service for all three when it comes to tracking mis-shipped packages is about the same for all - average.

For about three months last year I took the trouble to compare pricing for every package I sent - FedEx, UPS, and USPS. This also has a cost. You can subscribe to a service that does this for you, but there's a cost for this, and it's not quite accurate. Or I can spend the time doing this. Again, that's a very real cost.

I'm not so small that I can't get some sort of discount from UPS. But I'm not so large that I can negotiate tremendous rates, like Zappo or Netflix or Amazon.

So, while your post was about privatizing - which didn't apply anyway because the postal service is no longer a strictly government entity - I think it's important to delve deeper into the sorts of "black and white" evaluations you read in magazines. Hmmm. . . kind of sounds like politics.

[Tempest]

12. They may be cheaper, but they lose and damage a lot more packages

I shop online all the time.

Over the last 5 years I've had 27% (I keep track) of my USPS packages lost, delayed by more than a week or have arrived damaged.

During the same time, I've had only one package from UPS and FexEx arrive damaged, and the damage was barely noticable. I've never had a package lost or arrive late.


Unless you don't care when or in what shape your package will arrive, I would avoid USPS like the plague.