The short way from Pennsylvania to Maryland: California

[Tdarcos]

I have an electric wheelchair that I had to order a new power supply. Hoverround's PS would be a (tongue-swallowing) $250.00, so I go on-line and find another supplier that sells a 12V 5A supplier with an XPL connector (3 pins) for $37.00. Express (UPS 3-day) shipping is another $17.50 (as opposed to $9.50 for UPS ground which can take over a week.)

So they e-mail me the tracking number, 1Z9148X81259830640. It shipped from the seller to UPS distribution site in Philadelphia, where it was put on a flight to... Oakland, California. Then transported to the UPS package routing facility in San Jose. It's supposedly on-track to get here by Friday, but I find it rather humorous that it's faster or more efficient to send something 3,000 miles away.

Yes, yes, I know FedEx does the same thing; all packages go through their hub in Memphis and are routed back to the destination from there. It still seems funny.

I sometimes wonder if they might have better results with smaller regional hubs as opposed to one massive hub at one site. Whether this makes them more efficient I don't know, but as bad as the Post Office is, if they used the same kind of hub-and-spoke system as these package processors did, mail would probably take a lot more time.

Witness the fact that ever since the Postal Service started using FedEx to process Express Mail, the on-time delivery rate has dropped so much they've had to increase the amount of time that a package has to get somewhere before it qualifies for the late delivery refund.

I remember sending a Christmas package to my best friend in Colorado. I shipped it out of the nearest Post Office that could promise delivery by Christmas, which was the Merrifield, Virginia distribution center. (I was living in Arlington, Virginia at the time.) So I take the package in, and it's $22. Most of which I used postage stamps I had on hand. So I shipped it on, like, the 21st for delivery on the 23rd.

It gets there on the 24th. Still before Christmas, but since it was after the promised delivery time, I get my $22 back! The only thing nicer than getting a Christmas package to someone on time is getting it to them for free!

[Casual Observer]

I can't believe you have a hoverround, I've never known of someone that actually had one. Every time I see the commercial I tell my wife that I have to get one (because I'm lazy). I think the usps should not only drop Sat. delivery but should go ahead and raise first class prices to .50 now. I've always wondered why they don't just go ahead and bump it up to even numbers every time so they can be ok for longer. Not that I send mail anymore anyway.

[Flack]

Someone mentioned that stamps might be going up again. I said, "aren't they about 24 cents still?" I had no idea. In fact, I honestly couldn't tell you the last time I bought stamps. I don't ever remember buying stamps. All my bills are paid online now, and before I was married I used to just drive around town and pay everything with cash. Stamps and checks, just no use for 'em. I got a box of checks when my wife and I got married in 1995. So far I've written 4 and I think they've all been for pizza deliveries (which you can pay for online now too).

I'm not that worried about Saturday mail deliveries. Like I said, what's the difference between six days of junk mail and five, you know? What I'm worried about is them closing the post office on Saturdays. I have a PO Box and they are constantly leaving me these little notes when someone sends me something that won't fit in the box, or when my box is full, or when I need to sign for something. Their hours are 8-5 I think; I work 8-4:30 and can't make it there during the day, so the only time I get to deal with that stuff is on Saturday from 8-Noon. If they close up then, I might as well cancel my PO Box.

For that matter, maybe they can just stay open on Saturdays and if you're expecting something important you can just go up there and get it yourself. I'd be okay with that.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Yeah, that would be an .... acceptable solut- actually, the fuckers close at like noon on Saturdays where I live. They might as well put my post office on fucking Deimos, I'm going to neither before the early afternoon on Saturdays.

[Flack]

Yeah they close at noon here too, so you really have to be thinking about it at 8am on Saturday because if you wait until 11 you'll never make it through the line by noon.