Rob Hall Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 1 minute ago, crazyjim said: I bet everyone will be so happy when the USPS rates go up in January. That Christmas card you mailed for 50 cents? Next it'll be 55 cents - and probably delivered late. Merry Christmas I mail so few bills (plus a few cards) every year, and with the Forever stamps I have no idea what the current rate is..never notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 The Forever stamps are turning out to be a good investment, they were originally 47 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, Tom Geiger said: The Forever stamps are turning out to be a good investment, they were originally 47 cents. 47 cents? Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that I still have some Forever stamps which cost me heck a lot less than that! Edited December 20, 2018 by peteski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 2 hours ago, peteski said: 47 cents? Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that I still have some Forever stamps which cost me heck a lot less than that! January 21, 2018 $0.50 January 22, 2017 $0.49 April 10, 2016 $0.47 January 26, 2014 $0.49 January 27, 2013 $0.46 January 22, 2012 $0.45 May 11, 2009 $0.44 May 12, 2008 April 12, 2007 $0.42 $0.41 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteski Posted December 20, 2018 Share Posted December 20, 2018 (edited) Thanks! I have to look at the year imprinted on my stamps - I'm pretty sure some go back to 2009 (or even earlier). And those are "for use" stamps. I have Forever ones that I'm keeping (for my collection) which go back to 2007. Edited December 20, 2018 by peteski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranma Posted December 21, 2018 Author Share Posted December 21, 2018 Logistics? I have a package that is coming from Henryville Ind, Two days ago it got to Louisville Ky . This morning at 7:12 a.m. It arrived in Lexington Ky which is 82 miles away from Louisville. It took two days to go 82 miles? Which is actually only about a two hour trip from one to the other! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muncie Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 (edited) On 12/19/2018 at 6:26 AM, Tom Geiger said: It appears wasteful to the average person, but it's actually quite efficient. I've been a stamp collector as long as I've been a model builder and have studied USPS delivery, since I am a collector of local postmarks. Back in the 1970s the USPS started streamlining towards automated regional sorting centers. They eliminated the sorting and postmarking staff at local post offices since this was all manual work, saving headcounts. So the local post office just collects the outgoing mail and it goes in big unsorted bags to the sorting center. In my case, living in the suburbs of Philadelphia in PA, mine goes to either Trenton, NJ or Wilmington, Delaware sorting centers, which is decided by the volumes at either center. The automation equipment detects volumes and directs additional workload to the center that has capacity to handle it. In your case it is Spokane, WA. All the mail from every post office in the region go there for automated sorting by computers. The only mail that sees actual human touch is the items the computerized system rejects. This is all done overnight, and mail then gets sent out to the local post offices before opening time, to be delivered that same day. I've tested that here, I put a card in the box at the post office early afternoon, and indeed it was delivered to my home in my 3pm delivery the next day, Wilmington postmark and all. One pickup round, one delivery round per day. In New Jersey there are 650 local post offices. In the old days there would be a couple of sorting clerks at each office. There would be a canceling machine with local postmark for them to run and maintain. Now there are four sorting centers! One in North Jersey (Daniels Center in Kearny), one in Central NJ (Kilmer in Edison), one for Western NJ (Trenton) and one in Southern, NJ (Southern Station). And those three centers do the work of a few thousand clerks that are no longer needed. In your perfectly logical scenario, the mail would be postmark and sorted in Dayton and then sent over to the Pasco post office, only that's all manual work and there would be a small handful of items going between those two offices so that trip wouldn't be anywhere near as efficient as the current practices. Now that's a lot more info than you asked for, but since model guys are interested in the world around them I thought it might be of interest! Tom, that's a very good explanation. GF works at a regional distribution center. In very broad numbers, the machines there can sort 10,000 letters in delivery sequence order in the time it takes a person in a local station to sort 10 letters to go to the next place they would be sorted. and yes, there are some smart people who work very hard at the USPS. The train museum in Sacramento has a rail car from the early 1900's (IRC) that was used to carry mail - looked just like a box car. Mail handlers sorted mail in the car as it was travelling to its destination. A legible address helps Edited December 21, 2018 by Muncie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 (edited) Thanks Steve- Here's an example of that railway post office from my collection.... Going back to 1904! Piece was mailed at 5pm at Mohank Lake, New York (west of Poughkeepie) about 265 miles to Baltimore. That would be a 5-6 hour drive today, but in 1904 there were no interstates. This card was put on the train, and was sorted enroute by the NY&Baltimore RPO (Railway Post Office), probably overnight. It arrived in the mail the very next day. That's the postal marking on the left. Not bad for 1904! Back in the day, the postal service and fast delivery was much more important than it is today. Messages we text, email. or phone, were sent by penny postcard. I have one in my collection telling the recipient to meet the sender at the train station the very next day. Edited December 21, 2018 by Tom Geiger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 My box I sent to Illinois and should have arrived this past Monday is still not there today, Friday. But it did finally move out of Denver. Phoenix to Chicago area by way of Denver Colorado ??? Possible I guess. At least 5 days late on a priority shipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranma Posted March 18, 2019 Author Share Posted March 18, 2019 Well USPS has done it again! This time two packages are MIA Both were to be delivered today. Both have tracking One from Oroville Wa and the second from Lancaster Pa. Well the one coming from Lancaster went to Columbus Ohio then to Detroit Mi onto Chicago Ill and has been in transit since Saturday. The One From Oroville Wa is In Cincinati since Saturday evening! The sad fact is that the package form Pa was in Ohio , and that's were I'm at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYLIBUD Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 33 minutes ago, ranma said: Well USPS has done it again! This time two packages are MIA Both were to be delivered today. Both have tracking One from Oroville Wa and the second from Lancaster Pa. Well the one coming from Lancaster went to Columbus Ohio then to Detroit Mi onto Chicago Ill and has been in transit since Saturday. The One From Oroville Wa is In Cincinati since Saturday evening! The sad fact is that the package form Pa was in Ohio , and that's were I'm at. The USPS is run by,well I can't use the words here in this forum,but I think you know what I mean.They are the worst.So not only do they lose one package of yours,but they " misplace" two of them.Oh And you can't say the word lost,to them.The correct word is misplaced.Whatever you call it,the point is that you don't have your packages that you paid for...Their tracking numbers are useless.In fact the entire USPS is useless.Good luck getting those packages.And you probably will eventually get your packages,but why we (customers) have to deal with this so many times.Once in awhile is ok,I mean they do have to sort through thousands upon thousands of mail and packages every day,but I'm finding it happening more and more.Arrrrggggg.Last year I ordered something for a car of mine.I was told it was misplaced (lost).They put a trace on it,but nothing turned up.I gave up looking.Well this past December out of no where,,it arrives????,just about a year late. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High octane Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 At least they don't charge you extra for sending your packages on a "tour" before its final destination, so that's a plus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted March 18, 2019 Share Posted March 18, 2019 The last time my friend Bill land I went to GSL in Salt Lake City, our return home flight to Newark, New Jersey as via Texas. We're sitting in the airport in Texas (which is the opposite direction than New Jersey) waiting for our connecting flight back to New Jersey and it hit me... hey, the airline is doing to us the same thing USPS does to our packages! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 I live in the general area around Nashville, Tennessee. I ordered a package from somewhere in California a few years back. It went to Boston, where it had a two day layover, then to Memphis for a two day vacation, and then to Nashville, where it bounced around different facilities for nearly a week! Finally, somebody in the Music City decided to send it 80 miles south to Lawrenceburg, where they brought it to me the next day! Recently, I haven't had that much trouble, but sometimes they do still bounce around. Some east coast stuff goes right past Nashville to Memphis, only to turn around and go back 200 miles to Nashville!! HAHAHAHA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Handley Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 On 12/21/2018 at 6:31 PM, cobraman said: My box I sent to Illinois and should have arrived this past Monday is still not there today, Friday. But it did finally move out of Denver. Phoenix to Chicago area by way of Denver Colorado ??? Possible I guess. At least 5 days late on a priority shipment. I had that issue too, ordered some parts out of Michigan on a Saturday, they were mailed that following monday and according to USPS, should have been here that Thursday got shipped to Charleston, SC by then but it took another full week an extra 9 days to get from SC to here in West Chicago, only to find one of the parts was squished in transit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranma Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 I have informed delivery so I can check for any mail that I have coming. Last night I checked it and the package from the ebay seller showed it had departed Detroit at 6:42 p.m. So I thought great It should get here Tuesday, WRONG!!!! I checked Informed delivery at 6:15 a.m. this morning to find that it once again left Detroit at 4:10 A.M. this morning! So it's had a 4 day vacation in Detroit . While the package from my friend has spent the last 3 day's in Cincinatti! This isn't the kind of service they paid for! The ebay package was mail Priority 2-3 day's and was has been in shipping s for 7 day's! that 4 -5 days more than it should be coming from Pa to Ohio! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranma Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 Well at least the package from my friend Finally made it to our post office this morning so I'll get that one today, and hopefully the ebay sellers package tomorrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranma Posted May 4, 2019 Author Share Posted May 4, 2019 Well here A package goes again! When USPS does shipping wrong they do it big time, And this one's a dilly! I bought a 1/24 Coca cola Machine on ebay a few day's ago Which had left Jersey city N.J. then on to Columbus Ohio, and I thought ok Should get here Friday. Wrong! The thing went to Stanford Ct, and today it's back in Jersey City N.J.!!!! USPS where Priority shipping can be Inferour shipping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete J. Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 Say what you will about the Post office but it is still a pretty good deal. Think about this. If someone walked up to you and gave you a letter and two quarters and said "deliver this to Florida" what would your reaction be? I still think it is amazing that it can be done so relatively cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 2 hours ago, Pete J. said: Say what you will about the Post office but it is still a pretty good deal. Think about this. If someone walked up to you and gave you a letter and two quarters and said "deliver this to Florida" what would your reaction be? I still think it is amazing that it can be done so relatively cheap. The US Postal Service should be much better than it is, are taxes are subsidizing the Post Office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjim Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 Taxes don't subsidize USPS. They're all on their own and that's probably why the shipping costs keep going up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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