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CanStan
Samba Member
Joined: October 16, 2005
Posts: 1039
Location: Calgary, AB
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 Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:13 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| wcfvw69 wrote: |
| I ship parts all over the world. Usually with USPS. To be honest, I don't know how they are able to ship a 2lb box to Australia for only $35 dollars. I've seen the priority mail costs go up anywhere from 50 cents to a couple of dollars. |
I usually find using the post office is cheaper than the bigger companies, but I'm going to assume USPS and Canada Post are highly subsidized by the governments. That's the reason you can send a letter across the country for under $1. Think about how many hands, machines, and trucks are involved in moving that. There is absolutely zero chance they aren't losing money on that deal.
Which then explains why the cheapest way you can send a letter with FedEx / UPS etc. is more like $15. Because they are 'for profit' companies, and that is closer to the actual costs.
And before anyone gets upset that this isn't about the cost of a stamp, the same principles apply to larger parcels.
The big private shipping companies can't stay in business if they lose their asses on every transaction. Government funded ones can. The fact that the USPS lost $9.2 billion last year and still exists proves that. Canada Post lost $626 million. So, all things being equal, any company truly trying to make money needs to be charging a lot more than these Federal companies are charging. But they also need to stay competitive, so I'd bet for the most part they are probably charging the lowest rates they can in order to not lose business, but to also stay afloat as a viable business. When your competition has such a huge advantage, it's probably not easy to stay alive. |
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photogdave
Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2004
Posts: 3053
Location: Vancouver Island, B.C.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:31 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| CanStan wrote: |
| but I'm going to assume USPS and Canada Post are highly subsidized by the governments. |
Don't assume. It makes as ass out of both of us. 
Actually Canada Post does not receive any government funding whatsoever. As a Crown Corporation it operates entirely on its income.
Until COVID we were showing a profit every year for the last 20 except for the year we had to invest heavily in new equipment for Postal Transformation. Profits would be greater if it wasn't for the pension solvency payments it's forced to make, despite having a pension surplus. I believe USPS has a similar issue.
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CanStan
Samba Member
Joined: October 16, 2005
Posts: 1039
Location: Calgary, AB
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| Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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Well I’ll eat my words then. I stand corrected!
I still say it’s impossible to get a letter across the country for an honest $1. Is there internal subsidization? As in, money is lost on the stamp, but made up on other services like flyers and parcels etc? |
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photogdave
Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2004
Posts: 3053
Location: Vancouver Island, B.C.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 7:10 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| CanStan wrote: |
Well I’ll eat my words then. I stand corrected!
I still say it’s impossible to get a letter across the country for an honest $1. Is there internal subsidization? As in, money is lost on the stamp, but made up on other services like flyers and parcels etc? |
I believe so. There is a nice markup on flyers and we get contract deals from big companies like Amazon, Sephora etc.
Honestly, seeing the inefficiencies going on like top-heavy salaried management, overpaid and unproductive communications staff, and high seniority letter carriers riding the overtime gravy train, I'm surprised we've been as profitable as we have been!
OTOH I've now worked in every area of the mail and parcel stream from induction to delivery and I'm actually surprised that shipping is still as cheap as it is.
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skills@eurocarsplus
Samba Peckerhead
Joined: January 01, 2007
Posts: 16883
Location: sticksville, ct.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:45 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| Xevin wrote: |
My friend owns a logistics/trucking company. Nobody’s firing anyone and it’s hard as hell to hire drivers. Another friend drives for FedEx ground. It’s a shit show hiring and retaining drivers at FedEx. My daily UPS driver said his terminal is down on staff too. Logistics is a mess. |
that may be the case today. it wasn't a few years ago.
the reality is almost ANY industry is fighting to keep the help they have....and if you can fog a mirror....you're pretty much hired.....
i'm trying not to get political here...but the vax mandates aren't helping either especially with new data coming out. airlines, trucking companies etc are having a mass walkout because of this.
all that is going to do is raise prices for everyone and those willing to pay will be served first in my opinion.
hold on folks, it's gonna get way uglier than it already is....
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| gprudenciop wrote: |
my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese....... |
| Jake Raby wrote: |
| Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public. |
| Brian wrote: |
| Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history |
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Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 22670
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:00 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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No tax dollars subsidize the USPS.
Fun fact..it’s retail operations exceed that of Walmart, starbucks, amd McDonald’s…..combined.
Pretty amazing that you can send a 28g letter to any zip code for $0.58
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wcfvw69 
Samba Purist
Joined: June 10, 2004
Posts: 13389
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 5:07 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
| Xevin wrote: |
My friend owns a logistics/trucking company. Nobody’s firing anyone and it’s hard as hell to hire drivers. Another friend drives for FedEx ground. It’s a shit show hiring and retaining drivers at FedEx. My daily UPS driver said his terminal is down on staff too. Logistics is a mess. |
that may be the case today. it wasn't a few years ago.
the reality is almost ANY industry is fighting to keep the help they have....and if you can fog a mirror....you're pretty much hired.....
i'm trying not to get political here...but the vax mandates aren't helping either especially with new data coming out. airlines, trucking companies etc are having a mass walkout because of this.
all that is going to do is raise prices for everyone and those willing to pay will be served first in my opinion.
hold on folks, it's gonna get way uglier than it already is.... |
I was surprised to see a prime time football we're hiring commercial from Fedex.
Clearly this is illustrating how desperate all companies are getting trying to hire folks. I'm sure all the shipping companies are really panicking trying to backfill their openings and also to staff up with the holidays coming.
This lack of bodies to hire is accelerating inflation as well. With companies having to raise their hourly wages to attract employees, we're paying for it with $12.00-$14.00 dollar hamburger meals at our favorite fastfoot joint.
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Cusser
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2006
Posts: 31379
Location: Hot Arizona
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| Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2021 7:00 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| wcfvw69 wrote: |
The biggest issue I've had with shipping recently was with Greyhound.
I had to go to the hood and visit the Greyhound terminal... |
Ha !!!! My first experience ever with Greyhound was during the gasoline shortage of 1973; due to that, we decided to take the Greyhound bus from Phx to Las Vegas. Greyhound was near Central & Washington then, we were told to park in the rooftop lot as there was security and security lights. We returned to find the security lights near my VW were broken, my 1970 VW's passenger vent window broken, my gas cap on the fender, most of my gas siphoned out, my glove box door and my cassette stereo stolen from inside my glove box. Greyhound said that was my risk, offered nothing, and I cured the #$^%%$#@%&$#%^^&$## out of them.
Two years later I accepted employment with Armour-Dial research in Scottsdale which turned out to be owned by Greyhound, stayed over 4 decades.
I visited that Greyhound terminal once more; I attended a wedding in Phx in 1986, after that reception Mrs. Cusser dropped me off at Greyhound at midnight so I could catch a bus to L.A. and transfer to Amtrak to get to San Francisco in time for a work-related conference (I don't fly).
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297 |
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Zundfolge1432
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2004
Posts: 12468
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 3:26 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| Cusser wrote: |
| wcfvw69 wrote: |
The biggest issue I've had with shipping recently was with Greyhound.
I had to go to the hood and visit the Greyhound terminal... |
Ha !!!! My first experience ever with Greyhound was during the gasoline shortage of 1973; due to that, we decided to take the Greyhound bus from Phx to Las Vegas. Greyhound was near Central & Washington then, we were told to park in the rooftop lot as there was security and security lights. We returned to find the security lights near my VW were broken, my 1970 VW's passenger vent window broken, my gas cap on the fender, most of my gas siphoned out, my glove box door and my cassette stereo stolen from inside my glove box. Greyhound said that was my risk, offered nothing, and I cured the #$^%%$#@%&$#%^^&$## out of them.
Two years later I accepted employment with Armour-Dial research in Scottsdale which turned out to be owned by Greyhound, stayed over 4 decades.
I visited that Greyhound terminal once more; I attended a wedding in Phx in 1986, after that reception Mrs. Cusser dropped me off at Greyhound at midnight so I could catch a bus to L.A. and transfer to Amtrak to get to San Francisco in time for a work-related conference (I don't fly). |
Travel by Greyhound has always been dramatic but to really appreciate you need to do a coast to coast ride😀 To enjoy the full experience. To the junkie that dropped his rig in the bus station, I told him and he was happy to get it back. The lady having sex with someone a few seats back. The bus travels 24 hrs, the food, the smells,the humanity of it all. The man outside the terminal barking like a dog while throwing trash onto the roof of the building. The guy that was drinking and told me he was going home to die. Greyhound is interesting mode of travel.
Speaking about not flying Cuss we had a few slow days near the end of an aircraft coming out of major overhaul always. The company didn’t mind if we went on test flights with the pilots. We even signed waivers in case the ship went down😀 Then we went for a ride and just like that we are doing things let’s just say out of the ordinary. These memories I have,
I saw a guy on his last day deploy the emergency escape slide on a Boeing 757 because he didn’t release the girt bar. At that time it cost the airline over 20,000 dollars to repack the slide. |
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Manfred58sc
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2009
Posts: 3382
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| Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 7:32 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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To get us back on track...UPS became a major player thanks to a long Bus driver strike in the 50's. Greyhound used to handle the vast majority of boxed items and had a very impressive distribution network. That part of their service never recovered. With Amazon ramping ups it delivery service I wonder if that will put pressure on the other carriers to bring costs back in line?
I think we all see reasons for an increase in rates, granted. The huge jump in rates smells like price gouging to me. Sales will decline as they break price points.
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skills@eurocarsplus
Samba Peckerhead
Joined: January 01, 2007
Posts: 16883
Location: sticksville, ct.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:12 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| Manfred58sc wrote: |
| Sales will decline as they break price points. |
for smaller items we as hobbyist buy...perhaps. but everything else that is a true need will still get shipped
everyone blaming workforce shortages is partially true. California has once again fucked everything up with AB 5
i warned about this a couple years ago
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
and here is a cut and paste from a recent news story:
| Quote: |
Deffenetly going to get much worse before spring. Posted this yesterday: The NEWS says the California port situation is caused by a driver shortage.
Not so fast: It is in part caused by a California Truck Ban which says all trucks must be 2011 or newer and a law called AB 5 which prohibits Owner Operators.
https://www.investopedia.com/california-assembly-bill-5...
Traditionally the ports have been served by Owner Operators (non union). California has now banned Owner Operators.
Long term, truckers in California are not investing in new trucks because California has a law that makes them illegal in 2035. The requirement is to purchase electric trucks which do not exist.
And in the words of Paul Harvey, “Now you know the rest of the story”
BUSINESS
CARB to begin blocking certain trucks’ DMV registrations in 2020
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/.../truckstop/pdfs/sb1_faqeng.pdf
Carriers domiciled in California with trucks older than 2011 model, or using engines manufactured before 2010, will need to meet the Board’s new Truck and Bus Regulation beginning in 2020 or their vehicles will be blocked from registration with the state’s DMV, the state has said.
The new “health-based requirements” will need to be met before a driver is allowed to register his or her truck through the Department of Motor Vehicles, CARB says. A new enforcement tool used by the DMV beginning in 2020 will automatically block 2010 and older trucks from registration |
somehow i got labeled an alarmist with a click bait post title.
how do you like me now? can i say 'told you so' yet?
love the so-called “health-based requirements” while 120+ cargo ships sit and idle burning bunker oil while they wait....
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| gprudenciop wrote: |
my reason for switching to subaru is my german car was turning chinese so i said fuck it and went japanese....... |
| Jake Raby wrote: |
| Thanks for the correction. I used to be a nice guy, then I ruined it by exposing myself to the public. |
| Brian wrote: |
| Also the fact that people are agreeing with Skills, it's a turn of events for samba history |
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wheel607
Samba Member
Joined: May 30, 2004
Posts: 1847
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:53 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| this just in...........their revenue was UP 6% in the third quarter.........no wonder with their jacking prices. Where is their loss of revenue due to their "shortage" of drivers due to COVID''like they said! |
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Manfred58sc
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2009
Posts: 3382
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 11:25 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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AS I said , happy little price gouge. Figure $5 per # in your calculations and you will be close. Of course corporations don't pay those rates, they get special deals.
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Manfred58sc
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2009
Posts: 3382
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| Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 7:41 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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OK , not exactly a UPS update, but greyhound package express just had a major rate hike. I got singed on a few sales today. Figure $7-13 per pound. Manager says greyhound paying $8/gallon of diesel through fleet sales. fuel surcharges $20 and up. UPS can't be far behind. Make sure you ship same day as the quote. Sellers beware.
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photogdave
Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2004
Posts: 3053
Location: Vancouver Island, B.C.
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| Posted: Thu May 19, 2022 8:04 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| Manfred58sc wrote: |
| OK , not exactly a UPS update, but greyhound package express just had a major rate hike. I got singed on a few sales today. Figure $7-13 per pound. Manager says greyhound paying $8/gallon of diesel through fleet sales. fuel surcharges $20 and up. UPS can't be far behind. Make sure you ship same day as the quote. Sellers beware. |
Higher fuel surcharges are just a reality. We can't expect these businesses to operate at a loss.
At Canada Post there has always been a fluctuating fuel surcharge built into the price. We just implemented a new system where the customer now only sees the base price first, then sees the fuel surcharge after selecting the service. So now the customer thinks they are getting this new charge out of nowhere and getting angry at the poor clerks, even though they have always been paying the surcharge. 
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89 Syncro GL Westfalia 2.1 WBX/WBXaustSS
My Westy Movies:
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Tram
Samba Socialist
Joined: May 02, 2003
Posts: 22728
Location: Still Feelin' the Bern- Once you've felt it you can't un- feel it.
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 12:49 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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UPS through Pirate Ship has been very good to me.
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Manfred58sc
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2009
Posts: 3382
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:56 am Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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usps has new surcharges! Ad $5 if its over 22" long etc,etc,
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Manfred58sc
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2009
Posts: 3382
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| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2022 5:37 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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Just had some estimates and looks like UPS ground is coming in at $6/per pound, increase by a buck since spring.
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Tram
Samba Socialist
Joined: May 02, 2003
Posts: 22728
Location: Still Feelin' the Bern- Once you've felt it you can't un- feel it.
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| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2022 6:35 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| Manfred58sc wrote: |
| Just had some estimates and looks like UPS ground is coming in at $6/per pound, increase by a buck since spring. |
UPS Ground through Pirate Ship has come in at about $2.50 lb on average for my last ten parcels that didn't kick into dimensional weight. The one that did was a light gramophone horn that only weighed 15 lbs but needed a 24" cubed box to ship safely from Oregon to Vermont. That one was $72.
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Немає виправдання для війни! Я з Україною.
| Bryan67 wrote: |
| Just my hands. And a little lube. No tools. |
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wheel607
Samba Member
Joined: May 30, 2004
Posts: 1847
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| Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:39 pm Post subject: Re: United Parcel Service (UPS) is now very expensive |
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| I can see and hear it now. UPS goes up another $5-$10 as a Greyhound closing freight terminals fee. UPS is the ULTIMATE when it comes to charging all sorts of fees. Last time ( 3 months ago) when I shipped a decklid from a Virginia location, they had THREE fees that were added on. This was from the crooks at the shopping center where I took the package.....not the UPS terminal. |
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