Post office changes routes in recession
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Truck driver Norman Hartwig pulls a cart of mail to his truck on the Janesville Post Office loading dock. The Postal Service has consolidated the local routes, reducing the number from 49 to 44.
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A line forms as three postal clerks wait on customers at the Janesville Post Office.
JANESVILLE — Like any business, the U.S. Postal Service has taken a hit from the recession.
So like any business, it's tightening its budget and increasing efficiency, Janesville Postmaster Jon Buchholz said.
The changes include consolidating routes and not filling open positions, but Buchholz doesn't expect extra strain on the post office or its employees, he said.
The amount of mail coming through the post office had been dropping for years as people discovered e-mail and online bill paying, Buchholz said. But that steady decline turned into a sharp drop-off in the last two years, he said.
The biggest drop came from credit card, bank and mortgage companies that stopped mailing offers as credit tightened.
"When the banking businesses don't mail and the real estate people don't mail, that really affects our business," Buchholz said.
In response, the post office hasn't been filling open positions for more than a year, said Buchholz, who assumed his position in January. The office has consolidated and adjusted some routes, dropping from 48 or 49 routes last year to 44 now, he said.
Buchholz wasn't sure how many positions have been left open this year. The office has not laid off any employees, he said. He doesn't believe the consolidations have created more overtime, though the office has been short-staffed recently because of illness.
The consolidations have changed when some people get their mail, but the office hasn't received many complaints, he said.
"They understand what we're doing," he said. "Unfortunately, somebody's got to be the last on someone's route."
The post office's busiest time of year is fast approaching, but Buchholz thinks the reduced staff can handle the workload. He doesn't expect to see as much holiday mail as last year.
"And that wasn't very good then," he said.
Buchholz expects the hiring freeze to remain in place for the foreseeable future, he said.
Local post offices have considered other ways to increase efficiency this year, as well. Last winter, Clinton's mail carriers started delivering mail out of the Beloit post office, and Orfordville carriers started to work out of the Brodhead office.
The federal office considered delivering Milton's mail out of Janesville, but Buchholz believes that's off the table for now.
"As far as I know, that's kind of a non-issue at this point," he said.
Nov 9, 2009 at 6:40 a.m.
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A question to those who complain that they don't get their mail about the same time every day or that it comes at different times or that it comes in the afternoon instead of in the morning.
Where is it written that you are supposed to get it at the same time each and every day. Where is it written that we all must get our mail in the morning? Have any of you ever stopped to ask yourself how we can all get our mail in the morning? Geez !
The postal employees do a fantastic job given the management that they have to work with (for)
Nov 4, 2009 at 1:28 p.m.
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i have gone to a couple sites to reduce some junk mail and credit card offers. It seems to work EXCEPT for charter. I havent used them at this house or my other house for over 10 years and doubt will ever do so again.
Nov 3, 2009 at 4:10 p.m.
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farmgirl, your argument is known in economics as the "broken window fallacy" -- the idea being that even a broken window creates work for the glassmaker. But economists generally consider this type of argument fallacious because there is an unaccounted economic loss rather than a windfall gain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_...
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There is a strong (not completely accepted) argument that the computer and the internet have boosted productivity enormously. I don't know the current (global recession and all) thinking on that question, though. Ultimately we have to accept that time marches on and things like railroads and automobiles will ultimately always put buggy-whip makers out of work. The economic term for this is "creative destruction".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_de...
Nov 3, 2009 at 3:17 p.m.
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for all those bashing online banking, think about how many people touch your envelope and have access to your checking routing number, account number, etc. Not just post office workers. But at the companies you send the checks to. Probably upwards of 50 people come in contact with that envelope. Needless to say a lot less have access to it online. That is why you have secured web pages. Also there is much more tracibility with online theft than someone taking a check.
Food for thought.
Nov 3, 2009 at 2:58 p.m.
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I for one like to send by mail my bills.I dont trust the online banking Others may get your info by a slip on the keyboard.Thats a bit scary to me.
Nov 3, 2009 at 2:57 p.m.
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"The consolidations have changed when some people get their mail, but the office hasn't received many complaints", Buchholz said.
Is it possible that they haven't received many complaints because you cannot FIND the phone number to the local post office in new phone books?! I know this because important mail was to be received on a particular day. We didn't have our mail delivered to our house until 7 pm. I appreciate that they DID deliver; however, it's somewhat pointless after "the close of business"...
Anyway, I tried to call to find out (after 5:30) why no mail when I knew what was expected...
Nov 3, 2009 at 2:14 p.m.
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napalm, almost all mailing are done on recycled paper, for those of you who think you can do with out the post office what happens when you went to mail a card to someone with a check in it , you going to email that? the reality is not everyone has access to a computer , not everyone trust s online banking . i for one have had two major problems with both and anything important gets mailed.
Nov 3, 2009 at 12:44 p.m.
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It does cause one to reflect on all the rapid changes besieging the “old guards” of our society. The music industry; newspapers; the Post Office; book publishers; libraries; the auto industry; all seem to have abruptly reached a critical time in their survival matrix. Don’t forget the abandonment of land-line telephones; how about on-line college classes – something that worries dusty-room college profs.? I guess we will all have to go work for cell phone and Internet companies.
The two antagonists I do look forward to being “on-deck” for obsolescence are the gasoline and electricity barons. – Not sure about the undermining of gasoline oligopolies in the near future; but, in the case of electrical monopolies, there are more and more schemes to produce electricity at one’s own home. At any rate, I wonder what ol’ Benjamin Franklin would think about the state of his Post Office evolution, or should I say de-evolution?
Bob Keith
- humble and obedient citizen -
Nov 3, 2009 at 12:13 p.m.
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About the junk mail, how many trees go directly into the garbage can? All while people are saying my vehicles are not "green" enough. Ive been tempted to stick some of those newspaper ads back in the mailbox deposit at the post office. I consider it waste and my mailbox is not a garbage can.
Nov 3, 2009 at 10:21 a.m.
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I have a separate garbage bag just for Charter propaganda crap.
Nov 3, 2009 at 9:59 a.m.
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farmgirl...there is such a list. It used to be called the Mail Preference Service, but now it's called Catalog Choice. Go to www.dmachoice.org for more information.
Nov 3, 2009 at 9:36 a.m.
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farmgirl: by your logic then we should not try to stop drug trafficking because it creates jobs for both police officers, and those dealing, or prostitution for the same reasons.
So your logic is a little flawed.
Nov 3, 2009 at 9:26 a.m.
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Here is the other thing most people forget when they say cut out all junk mail. How about the people who are working at the printing factories of these catalogs, or the art designer who designs them, or how about the paper industry. All of these jobs also tie into the junk mail process. If it were not for junk mail these people would be out of work.
*
Although I do agree that Charter and other ads that bombbard you 2-3 times a week are overkill. Maybe we need a do not mail list on the order of the do not call one? That way we can decide to opt out of junk mail ourselves.
Nov 3, 2009 at 9:21 a.m.
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The Postal Service has been covering its own costs for many years, biffklg. Any other bogus analogies you'd like to share?
Nov 3, 2009 at 9:10 a.m.
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I say eliminate it completely. 99% of the mail I get is junk advertisement, and at work I get hundreds of pounds (literally)of junk mail catalogs and garbage. All my business, bills, are done electronically.....online. The post office is kinda like an 8-track. Sure it still works but so inneficient. Get with the times and sign snail mail off.
Nov 3, 2009 at 7:48 a.m.
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The feds can't run the post office at a profit, or break even for that matter, but the Obama backers think they can get debit neutral Govt Health Care?
Nov 2, 2009 at 11:38 p.m.
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gray_ghost, your mail doesnt come at the same because the volume of mail each day changes, along with the volume of parcel that are delivered. if one day the carrier has to deliver 12 parcels and the next 50 obviously your delivery time is going to change. before when the volume was high , they tried to maintain and even flow of mail , by rolling over standard mail for a light day that s why shipping is so much cheaper on standard mail it give s the flexibility to fit it into the work week. and for the junk mail complainers with out it you wouldnt get mail delivered to your house anymore , that pay s for the gas to deliver the first class mail and packages. without it you would probably forced to go to the post office and stand in line to pick up your mail, if mail volume keeps declining i can see this happening soon.
Nov 2, 2009 at 9:02 p.m.
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here's my suggestion.
Residential service M-W-F, Business service M-F, and have Saturdays open only for dropping off mail. If people need to mail stuff they can either wait until the next day, drive to the post office, pay online or over a phone, or PLAN AHEAD.
Simple solution and that would save Millions across the county, so much so, you might be able to drop postage. What a novelty!
Nov 2, 2009 at 9:01 p.m.
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I mail a lot of letters the old fashioned way. I have to say that the carriers are always friendly and they work hard. Thanks for deliving my mail on time!
Nov 2, 2009 at 8:09 p.m.
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you would think the service would get better,with less mail. instead it gets slower and slower. my mail arrives different time everyday,anywhere from 12noon to 5pm. never the same time, like it was years back. god forbid, if you call and complain, they tell you, you received your mail didnt you, then they hang up.
Nov 2, 2009 at 8:08 p.m.
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Well, some of the routes have changed making delivery earlier. We have always been around 4:00-4:30, but, now we are closer to noon. We also lost our regular carrier, but, have gained another (hot, young) carrier. LOL
Nov 2, 2009 at 7:32 p.m.
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I agree about Charter! I won't ever go back to them. It doesn't matter how many fliers they send me EVERY week!
Nov 2, 2009 at 5:34 p.m.
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Well this would explain why we get our mail after five now. It used to be noon (ish). I'm still annoyed.
BTW, yes the charted crap is annoying too. EVERY week I get something from them!
Nov 2, 2009 at 5:19 p.m.
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I wouldn't mind if mail was only delivered on M-W-F. Most of my urgent mail is sent electronically.
Nov 2, 2009 at 4:24 p.m.
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The mail volume decline is quite stunning.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal...
Nov 2, 2009 at 4:18 p.m.
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This would explain why mail doesnt come till 2 pm ish vs 11 am ish.
Nov 2, 2009 at 4:16 p.m.
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They could stay in business by CHARTERs crap they send biweekly.I called them to stop sending this stuff. they said WE CANNOT- sorry. I get at least 4. my name-husbands name-a name of my husband with my maiden name- resident.
It doesnt help when postage is nearing .50 to mail ONE item. I do it all online.
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