Letters from North
America
In
checking back over the
columns I’ve already
written, it seems that
March is usually the
month I choose to pick
on the United States
Post Office. So in the
interest of tradition,
I’ll start there this
week.
The news reports today
that the USPS will lose
another 3.8 billion this
year. I know this comes
as a big surprise to
most of us. I certainly
thought it would be
more. They have seen a
13% drop in volume in
the past year. As a
result, they are
thinking of cutting
service (again) and
raising prices (again).
The service at my
station has not gotten
any worse, but then it
hasn’t gotten any better
either. So, in a way
that does show signs of
improvement. I always
like to put a positive
spin on things. Several
of the employees at my
station are new. I’m not
sure if they found out
that some of the older
ones had died and needed
to be replaced or if
they took early
retirement (is 85 years
old …early?) The newer
folks seem to be more
fit and robust; at least
I have seen a
significant reduction in
the number of people on
canes and walkers.
The post office paid
nearly five million of
our taxpayer dollars for
a consulting company to
do a study to look at
ways to improve their
service. I would have
done it for a lot less.
Whoever owned that
consulting company must
have been smiling all
the way to the bank. I
feel certain he hand
delivered the check
rather than depended
upon snail mail to get
it there in a timely
manner. I imagine his
report was very short
and to the point. It
probably said something
like… ‘improve customer
service.’ I could have
told them this for free.
The news article went on
to say that the plans to
have the post offices
sell insurance, offer
banking services and
possibly sell cell
phones had been shelved
for the time being. I
would imagine the
training required to
teach everyone how to
count would be very cost
prohibitive. I do think
if they opened up a
Starbucks in every post
office, it would spark
new revenue as well as
keep more of the workers
awake. It might be kind
of novel kind of like a
police station serving
donuts.
The last time I wrote
about the post office
someone wrote to me and
told me I was a jerk and
that the service had
always been bad and I
should accept it as some
sort of American
tradition. I failed to
see the logic in his
argument, but it’s a
free country, so he can
believe what he wants as
far as I’m concerned. Of
course, most of you know
I am only kidding about
the entire postal system
being bad. I am certain
there are many, many
professional and
competent people working
there and I don’t mean
to paint everyone with a
broad brush. It’s just
that in my 60+ years, I
haven’t found too many
that I can brag about.
I’m sure they are out
there. I just don’t know
where.
I feel like I can pick
on the post office since
they can’t do a lot to
me if I make them mad. I
guess they could hold my
bills, but that wouldn’t
be any big loss. My
approach is that if I
don’t see ‘em, I don’t
owe ‘em. It’s works so
far. I certainly don’t
talk bad about the IRS,
they can cause you some
sever hurt. They happen
to be one of the nicest
federal agencies I’ve
ever dealt with. Boy,
are they efficient and
courteous as well. The
post office could learn
from those guys.
But in the interest of
helping keep America
productive, I do feel it
is my obligation to
close with one thought.
Let’s combine the post
office with McDonalds.
You could get your mail
and a big mac at the
same time. All across
the country you could
hear… “You want fries
with that…and how about
some stamps?”
If you work for the post
office and I made you
mad or you are a cop and
didn’t like my donut
joke, I apologize in
advance. I’ll work on
developing a better
attitude as soon as I
get out of this line at
the post office.
Comments got to
www.pearyperry.com.
Complaints go nowhere.
