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USPS To Launch Line of Smart Clothing
SpaceGhost writes "The Washington Post reports that the United States Postal Service has contracted with Wahconah Group, Inc. to produce a line of USPS-branded smart clothing. Per USPS Licensing manager Steven Mills 'This agreement will put the Postal Service on the cutting edge of functional fashion... The main focus will be to produce Rain Heat & Snow apparel and accessories using technology to create 'smart apparel' — also known as wearable electronics.' USPS Spokesman Roy Betts reports that the line will be found in premium department stores and specialty stores starting in 2014. The Washington Post points out that the USPS had done a similar retail line in the 1980s sold exclusively at Post Offices, but the line was discontinued after lobbyists complained of competition with the private sector." I hope it has hidden pockets for lost letters, and a loop for the package smashing mallet.
My understanding is, a lot of their financial woes are coming from a 2006 Congress mandate that the USPS start pre-paying into their retirement plan to fund future-future retirement. In short, they're asking them to pay more to handle people that won't retire for years now. And that Congress is dipping into that money for something else.
And from what I've heard, if they weren't asked to be paying extra into said fund they'd actually be making a small profit.
Yes:
Release the Postal Service from the draconian Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/release-postal-service-draconian-postal-accountability-and-enhancement-act-2006/Gz6MrsBy
Actually they're remarkably efficient. I don't have the link handy, but USPS handles an amazing amount of stuff, and their overall track record is excellent. They have two basic problems, or three depending on how you count. 1) Congress saddled them with a requirement to pre-fund the retirement account for all their workers, which no other company is required to do; 2) mail volumes of all types (and thus, revenues) have been dropping by 10-20% per year; and 3) bulk emailers (catalogs, junk mail - the stuff that really pays the bills) have pulled way back due both to the internet and to the economy. One might also note that in most countries the cost to mail a letter is substantially (often multiple times) more than in the US, and/or is subsidized or run by the government. USPS, like AmTrak, is a bastard concoction created by Congress to look like a business, act like a business, and be required to be profitable like a business, while being saddled with an impossible set of rules. Others than myself have described both as 'designed to fail'.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
UPS and FedEx may not be perfect, but at least their tracking software works
To add another anecdote to the fire, just yesterday I received a package from the USPS that the tracking software said would arrive last week, and that apparently never left their sorting facility as far as the tracker was concerned.
Actually, the train of events that showed up on the tracker was:
1. Shipping information received
2. Package sorted through facility.
3. Package received by USPS from the shipper. (The day after the previous one where it was "sorted.")
Then nothing, until the package arrived over a week later.
Although it was fun seeing the "estimated arrival time" not change days after it was supposed to arrive.
But, hey, they only slightly damaged the contents of the package, just some minor cosmetic damage. Plus, unlike a previous package shipped via the USPS, this one actually arrived...
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.