Often when spring comes, many of the pipes on sidewalks for water-shut-off start rising up, providing an annoyance to runners and walkers.
At 8:49 this morning I sent the following message through the Duluth water and gas service website.
Spring has sprung, the ground heaves, and the water-turn-off pipes rise to trip the unwary walker.
Please add my address to your long list of tasks.
At 14:20 I sent the following message.
Thanks for the fast service on tamping down the water-shut-off pipe. Another fine example of good government service.
If we really stop to think about it, there is a long list of government services at all levels that are provided efficiently and courtesy: Post Office, fire departments, Social Security, snowplowing, parks, and on and on.
I think the government bashing is mostly from those who don't want to pay taxes for any of the many services they receive. They would rather provide these services themselves and make a profit from them. How well, does the private sector perform? Just consider all the problems you have with the device that you are using to read this. How many help desks have provided prompt and correct answers? Yes, you can find many corporations that provide quality products and services, but it often depends on management. Good management is found in the public and private sectors. Bad management is found in the public and private sectors.
Showing posts with label Post Office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post Office. Show all posts
Monday, April 03, 2017
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Why do people pick on the Post Office?
For some time it has seemed the fashion to claim the United States Post Office is a bad example of government services, that it is run by the greedy mail carriers' union, and that it should pay its own way.
From my experience, the United States Post Office has been run effectively, provided friendly and courteous service, and provided an essential public good.
I have often found that mail deposited one day is often delivered the next day within the state and often delivered within three days within the lower 48. It almost always arrives in the same condition as it was deposited.
A case in point is the delivery of DVDs from Netflix. I put a DVD in a box on Sunday, next scheduled pickup was 12:30 on Monday, at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday Netflix sent me email that it had received my DVD, and on Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. I had my next selection.
Granted the return address for Netflix is Duluth. But what would happen if the processing center was closed in Duluth and all local mail had to first make a 300-mile round-trip to the Twin Cities?
If the Post Office is so inefficient, why does UPS use USPS for the last-mile delivery of small packages? Several times I've gotten small orders delivered by our mail carrier, but the shipper had originally given the order to UPS. This hand-off happens because it is inefficient for UPS to deliver such small packages door-to-door.
Some have complained about surly counter service at the Post Office. My general experience is that counter personnel treat every customer as the only customer. They give alternative shipping costs and conditions and always ask "Anything else?"
The Postal Service seems to be the only government agency that Congress expects to pay its own way. Is Congress going to insist that every Interstate highway be a toll road? Is Congress going to insist that every homeowner whose house has been saved by U.S. Forest Service firefighters pay a fee?
The U.S. Constitution states: "Congress shall have the power … to establish Post Offices and post Roads." The Constitution mentions nothing about how post offices and post roads should be paid for. In fact, in recognition that newspapers were important for an informed populace, an early Congress determined that newspapers should be sent at a lower rate than letters.
The benefits and the costs of the Postal Service should not be examined as a direct cost/benefit problem but as a system cost/benefit problem. It is not a question if the revenue of the Postal Services is meeting its costs, but it is a question of what benefits would not be realized if postal service were cut back. For example, if all Duluth mail had to go to the Twin Cities to be processed, would the Netflix office in Duluth close, putting some local people out of work?
From my experience, the United States Post Office has been run effectively, provided friendly and courteous service, and provided an essential public good.
I have often found that mail deposited one day is often delivered the next day within the state and often delivered within three days within the lower 48. It almost always arrives in the same condition as it was deposited.
A case in point is the delivery of DVDs from Netflix. I put a DVD in a box on Sunday, next scheduled pickup was 12:30 on Monday, at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday Netflix sent me email that it had received my DVD, and on Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. I had my next selection.
Granted the return address for Netflix is Duluth. But what would happen if the processing center was closed in Duluth and all local mail had to first make a 300-mile round-trip to the Twin Cities?
If the Post Office is so inefficient, why does UPS use USPS for the last-mile delivery of small packages? Several times I've gotten small orders delivered by our mail carrier, but the shipper had originally given the order to UPS. This hand-off happens because it is inefficient for UPS to deliver such small packages door-to-door.
Some have complained about surly counter service at the Post Office. My general experience is that counter personnel treat every customer as the only customer. They give alternative shipping costs and conditions and always ask "Anything else?"
The Postal Service seems to be the only government agency that Congress expects to pay its own way. Is Congress going to insist that every Interstate highway be a toll road? Is Congress going to insist that every homeowner whose house has been saved by U.S. Forest Service firefighters pay a fee?
The U.S. Constitution states: "Congress shall have the power … to establish Post Offices and post Roads." The Constitution mentions nothing about how post offices and post roads should be paid for. In fact, in recognition that newspapers were important for an informed populace, an early Congress determined that newspapers should be sent at a lower rate than letters.
The benefits and the costs of the Postal Service should not be examined as a direct cost/benefit problem but as a system cost/benefit problem. It is not a question if the revenue of the Postal Services is meeting its costs, but it is a question of what benefits would not be realized if postal service were cut back. For example, if all Duluth mail had to go to the Twin Cities to be processed, would the Netflix office in Duluth close, putting some local people out of work?
Saturday, April 14, 2012
The price of gas and other things, a perspective
Many are complaining about the cost of gasoline as the price approaches $4/gallon. Consider that about fifty years ago gas was often 25 cents/gallon. The price is now about 16 times as much. But consider also the use of those gallons of gas. Fifty years ago many cars got 10-15 miles per gallon; now many cars get 30 or more miles per gallon. In other words we are getting an effective $2/gallon or better of travel compared to fifty years ago. So, as far as our use of gasoline, the price could be considered only eight times as much.
Consider postage. Fifty years ago the price of a first class stamp was three cents. Now it is 47 cents (I don't know exactly because I buy forever stamps). Hm! That's about 16 times as much, about the same as the increase in the price of gasoline. But postage is now a better deal. Fifty years ago a first class letter would take five days or more to go across country. Now it can go coast to coast in three days and even four or less to Hawaii. To get that kind of service fifty years ago, you had to buy an airmail stamp at eight cents. So, in one sense, postage has gone up about six times as much as fifty years ago. Pretty low inflation considering it is a government service continuously hobbled by Congress.
Consider newspapers. Fifty years ago the price of a daily paper was five cents. Now it is one dollar, twenty times as much. And they are a lot smaller. And in most cities there is only one newspaper rather than two or three. Worse, the last newsstand increase was from 75 cents to one dollar. A 33-1/3 percent increase, and I never saw a single complaint in letters to the editor. A newspaper is produced by a "free market" company.
The list of items whose prices have "skyrocketed" goes on and on. I remember sixty years ago going to the movie (sometimes a double feature with a cartoon, a short, and the news) for ten cents for the ticket and ten cents for a box of popcorn. I wouldn't buy a candy bar at the theater because they cost six cents compared to five cents at the drug store next door. Ice cream cones were five cents a scoop. Sundaes and milk shakes were 25 cents. "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you!"
Consider postage. Fifty years ago the price of a first class stamp was three cents. Now it is 47 cents (I don't know exactly because I buy forever stamps). Hm! That's about 16 times as much, about the same as the increase in the price of gasoline. But postage is now a better deal. Fifty years ago a first class letter would take five days or more to go across country. Now it can go coast to coast in three days and even four or less to Hawaii. To get that kind of service fifty years ago, you had to buy an airmail stamp at eight cents. So, in one sense, postage has gone up about six times as much as fifty years ago. Pretty low inflation considering it is a government service continuously hobbled by Congress.
Consider newspapers. Fifty years ago the price of a daily paper was five cents. Now it is one dollar, twenty times as much. And they are a lot smaller. And in most cities there is only one newspaper rather than two or three. Worse, the last newsstand increase was from 75 cents to one dollar. A 33-1/3 percent increase, and I never saw a single complaint in letters to the editor. A newspaper is produced by a "free market" company.
The list of items whose prices have "skyrocketed" goes on and on. I remember sixty years ago going to the movie (sometimes a double feature with a cartoon, a short, and the news) for ten cents for the ticket and ten cents for a box of popcorn. I wouldn't buy a candy bar at the theater because they cost six cents compared to five cents at the drug store next door. Ice cream cones were five cents a scoop. Sundaes and milk shakes were 25 cents. "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot / Twelve full ounces, that's a lot / Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you!"
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Externalities - the market component forgotten by "free marketers"
A true free market is defined by many buyers and sellers, complete information to both buyer and seller, freedom of buyers and sellers to enter and leave the market, and no externalities.
In other words, ideal conditions that will never happen on any large scale in any functioning society.
Externalities are something that happen with almost all commercial transactions and are ignored at a society's peril.
I was thinking about externalities as I walked a short distance from where I parked my car to the post office. Rather than park twice, I parked in front of the liquor store and walked to the post office with my package. As I walked I thought about all the proposed post office closings.
Many of these closings will mean that many people will have to drive farther to a post office. The customer travel time is one cost of this change. Second, is the increased fuel usage. Third is a possible longer wait at the post office, more customer time. If we use more fuel, then the cost of gas can go up because of higher demand. If we keep using gasoline, we will need more oil. Because access to oil is considered a "national security issue", trigger-happy politicians would stump for yet another costly war. For want of a post office, a war was lost.
Sure, this is a far-fetched scenario, but a similar lack of looking at the bigger picture permeates our "free market" society. We shouldn't abandon a "market economy" because of its flaws, but we should at least recognize these flaws and their added costs.
Now, how many externalities are there in my driving to buy those heavy wine bottles shipped from Italy?
In other words, ideal conditions that will never happen on any large scale in any functioning society.
Externalities are something that happen with almost all commercial transactions and are ignored at a society's peril.
I was thinking about externalities as I walked a short distance from where I parked my car to the post office. Rather than park twice, I parked in front of the liquor store and walked to the post office with my package. As I walked I thought about all the proposed post office closings.
Many of these closings will mean that many people will have to drive farther to a post office. The customer travel time is one cost of this change. Second, is the increased fuel usage. Third is a possible longer wait at the post office, more customer time. If we use more fuel, then the cost of gas can go up because of higher demand. If we keep using gasoline, we will need more oil. Because access to oil is considered a "national security issue", trigger-happy politicians would stump for yet another costly war. For want of a post office, a war was lost.
Sure, this is a far-fetched scenario, but a similar lack of looking at the bigger picture permeates our "free market" society. We shouldn't abandon a "market economy" because of its flaws, but we should at least recognize these flaws and their added costs.
Now, how many externalities are there in my driving to buy those heavy wine bottles shipped from Italy?
Friday, December 23, 2011
Internet service but not customer service
After I wrote "Internet service – What free market?" I tried signing in again. I selected "I forgot my password" and was shown a page that gave me the choice of having the password emailed to me or giving my security code. But there was no button to click for the first! As for security code, the only thing that I could determine was a security code was a three-digit, one-letter suffix to our phone number. The site was not happy with that.
I get far better customer service from that "inefficient" government entity that so many love to criticize as wasteful - the United States Postal Service. And the USPS website is very easy to navigate and provides full information on fees and services.
I get far better customer service from that "inefficient" government entity that so many love to criticize as wasteful - the United States Postal Service. And the USPS website is very easy to navigate and provides full information on fees and services.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Who does "snail mail"?
Ever since the Internet started, many people have dubbed postal mail as "snail mail". It may be a cute phrase, but I think it is grossly unfair.
In general, despite the detractions of many, including Grover Norquist, the U.S. Postal Service gives very good service. Within a city and sometimes even within a state, deliveries are often the next day. If it takes longer, it is often because the sender didn't put it in the mail on day the letter was dated.
When I worked for Univac years ago, a standing joke was that one could put identical pieces of mail in a company mail tray and in the U. S. Postal Service box outside. If the mail was addressed to one's home address, the mail put in the box outside would arrive the next day and the mail put in the tray inside would arrive sometime later.
As for customer service, I've always found that carriers and counter clerks do all they can to provide cheerful and helpful service. No matter how long the line, counter clerks offer a choice of rates and always ask "Anything more?" At least this is true in Minnesota.
Today I saw a great irony in service. I ordered a small item from Amazon and was told it would be shipped via UPS. Today if arrived in my mail box!!??!! The postage section of the package was labeled "US Postage Paid/UPS Mail Innovations". In other words, the "superior service" private company is depending on the U. S. Postal Service to do its job efficiently.
In general, despite the detractions of many, including Grover Norquist, the U.S. Postal Service gives very good service. Within a city and sometimes even within a state, deliveries are often the next day. If it takes longer, it is often because the sender didn't put it in the mail on day the letter was dated.
When I worked for Univac years ago, a standing joke was that one could put identical pieces of mail in a company mail tray and in the U. S. Postal Service box outside. If the mail was addressed to one's home address, the mail put in the box outside would arrive the next day and the mail put in the tray inside would arrive sometime later.
As for customer service, I've always found that carriers and counter clerks do all they can to provide cheerful and helpful service. No matter how long the line, counter clerks offer a choice of rates and always ask "Anything more?" At least this is true in Minnesota.
Today I saw a great irony in service. I ordered a small item from Amazon and was told it would be shipped via UPS. Today if arrived in my mail box!!??!! The postage section of the package was labeled "US Postage Paid/UPS Mail Innovations". In other words, the "superior service" private company is depending on the U. S. Postal Service to do its job efficiently.
Monday, April 19, 2010
By all means let us return to the intent of the Founders
But be careful what you ask for!
"The intent of the Founders" is one of the rallying cries of the Tea Parties and others who are unhappy with certain events in Washington. One of their charges is that health care is not in the Constitution; therefore health care legislation is unconstitutional. But the U.S. Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance are not mentioned in the Constitution, does that mean they are unconstitutional?
The Founders were against standing armies. In his Farewell Address, George Washington said, "they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty…" Yet some of those who want to follow the intent of the Founders, want an even larger military (without paying taxes for it).
One of the intent of the Founders was for Congress to establish post offices and post roads. I wonder if the Founders would have called for the privatization of the Post Office. This same section of the Constitution gives Congress the power "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions". I wonder if gun-toting Tea Partiers realize that the Founders might consider them insurrectionists!!
One thing the Founders seem to have that few anywhere on the political map seem to have - humility. Unlike partisans of all stripes who think they have all the answers, the Founders knew that they couldn't foresee how the country would develop. Therefore, the Founders charged Congress with making specific laws and included in the Constitution the mechanisms for amending the Constitution.
Sources:
U.S. Constitution - http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/constitution.html
George Washington's Farewell Address - http://www.100megspop3.com/bark/Beware.html
"The intent of the Founders" is one of the rallying cries of the Tea Parties and others who are unhappy with certain events in Washington. One of their charges is that health care is not in the Constitution; therefore health care legislation is unconstitutional. But the U.S. Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance are not mentioned in the Constitution, does that mean they are unconstitutional?
The Founders were against standing armies. In his Farewell Address, George Washington said, "they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty…" Yet some of those who want to follow the intent of the Founders, want an even larger military (without paying taxes for it).
One of the intent of the Founders was for Congress to establish post offices and post roads. I wonder if the Founders would have called for the privatization of the Post Office. This same section of the Constitution gives Congress the power "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions". I wonder if gun-toting Tea Partiers realize that the Founders might consider them insurrectionists!!
One thing the Founders seem to have that few anywhere on the political map seem to have - humility. Unlike partisans of all stripes who think they have all the answers, the Founders knew that they couldn't foresee how the country would develop. Therefore, the Founders charged Congress with making specific laws and included in the Constitution the mechanisms for amending the Constitution.
Sources:
U.S. Constitution - http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/constitution.html
George Washington's Farewell Address - http://www.100megspop3.com/bark/Beware.html
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