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A friend used to deliver for usps, it’s way less pressured than UPS/FedEx. My understanding is they were given a block of paid time to deliver mail for a phys

by aksss 7y ago

A friend used to deliver for usps, it’s way less pressured than UPS/FedEx. My understanding is they were given a block of paid time to deliver mail for a physical area, but no real expectation on total time taken. So you could get your route done in whatever duration you please and benefit accordingly. An interesting comparison can be made from my front window: USPS truck parks in front of my house, postman talks on phone for 10-15 mins, finally gets out, walks the residential neighborhood delivering mail all the while talking on phone, eventually returns to truck dicks around and leaves to next waypoint. UPS guy drives up, almost screeching to a halt, hops out, typically jogs up front walk with package, jogs back and takes off. Those guys are under a lot of pressure to deliver. I know the USPS guy who delivers to work office downtown, he’s super chill and pretty chatty (zero hurry). IOW, I think being a USPS delivery guy is still a rewarding, community focused job if you have the personality to handle the routine and like to get your steps in. Nobody’s looking over your shoulder, it’s Union, and with seniority you can choose your routes.

WWLink 7y ago
At the same time, I get annoyed at people getting so offended over the idea. Why should everyone have to work like the UPS guy? It sounds like the UPS driver's job is unsustainable and will either lead to an accident or injury at some point. I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit.
- derefr 7y ago
  > I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit. There's no real "why" to it. It's not like any individual in a corporation chooses to run the corporation that way. It's rather an emergent effect of how corporations are legally structured (= shareholders electing/firing directors from the board based on quarterly results.) Directors are incentivized to pursue short-term profits during their tenure (such as by overworking employees), to enable them to enjoy the spoils of their positions for as long as possible. A corporation can be "designed" intentionally to do something other than this (by e.g. choosing to create a benefit corporation; or even just by the founder retaining majority ownership and thus effectively "being" the board) but if you don't explicitly make a choice, being driven by quarterly profitability is what you get.
  - aksss 7y ago
    No - it's a natural product of competition, the pressure of which exists regardless of your legal structure. A sole proprietor running a courier service will need to differentiate himself relative to the other courier services, and the potential customers of such services place immense value on timeliness. Even if the courier were a non-profit, for it to be selected in favor of a competing service it would need to choose the basis upon which it wanted to compete and excel at it. USPS is sufficient for many things (e.g. 70% junk mail), but it's not a market competitor. Where it matters, there's a need to differentiate to survive. When our business needs something overnighted fast and reliably, it's always a private carrier for a reason that doesn't involve its legal structure.

by aksss 7y ago

WWLink 7y ago

At the same time, I get annoyed at people getting so offended over the idea. Why should everyone have to work like the UPS guy? It sounds like the UPS driver's job is unsustainable and will either lead to an accident or injury at some point. I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit.

derefr 7y ago
> I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit. There's no real "why" to it. It's not like any individual in a corporation chooses to run the corporation that way. It's rather an emergent effect of how corporations are legally structured (= shareholders electing/firing directors from the board based on quarterly results.) Directors are incentivized to pursue short-term profits during their tenure (such as by overworking employees), to enable them to enjoy the spoils of their positions for as long as possible. A corporation can be "designed" intentionally to do something other than this (by e.g. choosing to create a benefit corporation; or even just by the founder retaining majority ownership and thus effectively "being" the board) but if you don't explicitly make a choice, being driven by quarterly profitability is what you get.
- aksss 7y ago
  No - it's a natural product of competition, the pressure of which exists regardless of your legal structure. A sole proprietor running a courier service will need to differentiate himself relative to the other courier services, and the potential customers of such services place immense value on timeliness. Even if the courier were a non-profit, for it to be selected in favor of a competing service it would need to choose the basis upon which it wanted to compete and excel at it. USPS is sufficient for many things (e.g. 70% junk mail), but it's not a market competitor. Where it matters, there's a need to differentiate to survive. When our business needs something overnighted fast and reliably, it's always a private carrier for a reason that doesn't involve its legal structure.