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ERD50 · 03-02-2014, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29

...

Sure, they CAN take a truck from a larger town and drive 80 miles to an isolated house in the middle of nowhere, but they know that would be cost prohibitive and USPS will be going by that house (or to the nearest tiny little post office) anyway, so why bother? Their business model and infrastructure is not one that allows them to go every "last mile" profitably.

I imagine that is the main motivation, but it is used pretty regularly by me in a fairly densely populated area, and it seems a couple UPS and FedEx trucks pass every day.

But the FedEx/UPS guy/gal has to stop, get out of the truck, etc. So I suppose offloading the smaller packages to USPS (it always seems to be smaller ones, I think) might keep them from running an extra truck some days? Or limit the OT on some routes?

At any rate, both FedEx and UPS seem to run a pretty tight ship, I'm pretty sure they have this bench-marked pretty accurately.

-ERD50

ziggy29 · 03-02-2014, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50

At any rate, both FedEx and UPS seem to run a pretty tight ship, I'm pretty sure they have this bench-marked pretty accurately

It may well be. They may look at the source and destination and quickly decide whether it's more cost-effective for them to take it the whole way, or contract with USPS to deal with the last mile.

After all, UPS advertises that they love "logistics", so that may include the logistical calculation as to when it's best to deliver all the way and when to only deliver to a nearby post office and let someone else finish it.

meierlde · 03-02-2014, 04:41 PM

Actually if you look at it direct carrier (fexex/UPS) costs more than what is sometimes called standard delivery, where it is dropped off at the post office. For example 2 day shipping really can't work with the USPS, as packages are dropped off at the post office after the days mail sort is done, and the carriers are on their route. So it is partly a question of what level of shipping you are willing to pay for.

tinlizzy · 03-02-2014, 05:10 PM

The current rule for UPS Surepost is if there are 2 or more packages, we deliver. If we are going to be on the same street, we deliver. If we're already going to that address, we deliver.

The confusing part, as people have mentioned, is that I'm not going to be on a street so the pkg is diverted to the USPS and is delivered the next day - and this day I am delivering on the street.

Hermit · 03-02-2014, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29

UPS does not have the infrastructure to deliver to every address in the country, no matter where and no matter how remote. USPS is already required to do that, so UPS contracts with USPS to provide that "last mile" service.

USPS does not deliver mail or anything else to my place in the mountains (too remote). UPS delivers from Amazon and usually in two days!

meierlde · 03-02-2014, 07:56 PM

Actually that makes the point that some locations are served by boxes at the local post office, rather than delivery. In addition at least in Tx in many cases the mailboxes are at the junction of the dirt road and a paved road perhaps a couple to many miles from the house. (Again a matter of cost).

zinger1457 · 03-02-2014, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bUU

It costs less. USPS is going to visit every address, regardless, so they charge less than it would cost to send a truck out to that address special.

As I said the UPS truck makes deliveries in my neighborhood every day so there is no special trips involved. Also, in my neighborhood and most of the newer ones in my area we have centralized USPS mail boxes, for me about a 1/2 mile from my house. Handing off to USPS requires the driver to make special house deliveries for packages that can't fit in the mailbox, which is most of them. In my case handing off to USPS seems to create more cost/work and results in a longer delivery schedule.