Cash-strapped post office tests same-day delivery
Source: AP-Excite
By HOPE YEN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Emboldened by rapid growth in e-commerce shipping, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is moving aggressively this holiday season to start a premium service for the Internet shopper seeking the instant gratification of a store purchase: same-day package delivery.
Teaming up with major retailers, the post office will begin the expedited service in San Francisco on Dec. 12 at a price similar to its competitors. If things run smoothly, the program will quickly expand next year to other big cities such as Boston, Chicago and New York. It follows similar efforts by eBay, Amazon.com, and most recently Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), which charges a $10 flat rate for same-day delivery.
The delivery program, called Metro Post, seeks to build on the post office's double-digit growth in package volume to help offset steady declines in first-class and standard mail. Operating as a limited experiment for the next year, it is projected to generate between $10 million and $50 million in new revenue from deliveries in San Francisco alone, according to postal regulatory filings, or up to $500 million, if expanded to 10 cities.
The filings do not reveal the mail agency's anticipated expenses to implement same-day service, which can only work profitably if retailers have enough merchandise in stores and warehouses to be quickly delivered to nearby residences in a dense urban area. The projected $500 million in potential revenue, even if fully realized, would represent just fraction of the record $15.9 billion annual loss that the Postal Service reported last week.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20121123/DA2NDGI00.html
This Dec. 19, 2011 file photo shows people in line at the U.S. Postal Service Airport station in Los Angeles. Emboldened by rapid growth in e-commerce shipping, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is moving aggressively this holiday season to start a premium service for the Internet shopper seeking the instant gratification of a store purchase: same-day package delivery. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
Historic NY
(37,452 posts)theye think it will give them some cash infusion. They're still waiting on the congress appoving the pending legislation to fix the pension problem.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/issa-blocks-fix-of-post-office-pension-prepay-time-bomb-says-robert-weiner-former-spokesman-for-us-house-govt-reform-comm-bipartisan-bill-has-229-sponsors-but-chairman-issa-pushes-privatization-159224595.html
quakerboy
(13,920 posts)Congress wants them to fail. Why would Republicans pass anything that might allow them to compete with private industry.
And how does any entity, public or private, get away with not funding its pensions. This keeps happening, for instance with the hostess situation. I don't understand how it can be legal to have just taken that cash and used it for other things.
Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)Now let's see them do that and I'll be impressed.