75-07-A5

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Postal Feedback

Transcript Everybody talks about the postal service. Some even want to do something about it. I'll be right back. On one of these broadcasts several weeks ago I spoke about the soaring subsidies and operating losses of reorganized United States Postal Service. My comments touched some nerves, a few of them raw. I received a sack full of mail, most of it in agreement with what I'd said. Many told their own horror stories of bad service. One man in charge of mailing operations for a large company with plants throughout the country had been monitoring the speed of mail delivery between the company's installations. Consistently he found that there was nothing consistent about deliveries. Often coast-to-coast letters would be delivered in two days but those between offices a hundred miles apart might take a week. A Pasadena couple mailed two packages within five minutes of one another to Washington D.C. The one sent by way of an independent partial delivery firm arrived in good shape two days later. The one sent from the post office by parcel post took six days and was mangled. The producer of these broadcasts received plaintiff calls from several radio stations recently, complaining that the broadcast material hadn't reached them by the scheduled air date, despite more than a week's leeway allowed for delivery. Most of the feedback I received was in the same vein, except for the reaction of one postal employee's union official in a midwestern city, he seemed to think I was accusing all postal employees of being laggards which I wasn't. He also thought I was criticizing the postal service for not making a profit which I wasn't. Anyway he's entitled to draw his own conclusions and he sent a flyer to all one thousand members of his local asking them to write to my local sponsor and give him a piece of their minds. So far the sponsor hasn't received a single card or letter. You suppose the postal service sent them to the wrong city? Several writers offered constructive suggestions. One lady who lives in a working-class neighborhood where most people go to the post office at lunch hour or on Saturday mornings noted that week after week when the lines were longest the fewest windows were open, even though there seemed to be plenty of postal employees in the building. I don't know the cause of this but maybe the Postmaster General should visit the big supermarket chains. They regularly monitor the flow of shoppers at various hours and days and adjust the number of check stands open to fit changing customer patterns. In my earlier broadcast I spoke about the independent, privately-owned postal companies that deliver packages and third class mail. I heard from an executive of one of them. His firm is now testing delivery of some national magazines in selected markets. He had two proposals: First that the independent postal firms be allowed to deliver your utility bills. He estimates the utilities could cut postage costs about in half. That might even help stave off some rate increases as fuel costs soar. Another fuel saving idea he offered, permit the independents to put their mail in your mailbox. An archaic law permits only the U.S. Postal Service this privilege. At present technically your neighbor is violating the law if he leaves a note in your mailbox. Not having access to mailboxes, the independents usually deliver their mail in polyethylene bags these are a derivative of petroleum. So if the independents could use the mailbox and dispense with the bags we save that much more fuel. Ideas worth considering. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 75-07-A5 Production Date 04/01/1975 Book/Page N/A Audio Yes Youtube? Posted by Me with Postal Service
		Added Notes Follow-up to Postal Service episode