The downfall of the USPS is no surprise to any of us. What will be a surprise is the level of service that we receive after they make their anticipated cuts. We shouldn't be shocked when mail that use to arrive in 1-3 business days, now takes 2-5. Now I'm not talking about the cut in Saturday's, because that isn't considered a business day in the first place. I'm talking about looking all the way back to the winter of 2010. No one blamed our fearless postal carrier for not showing up in 2-1/2 feet of snow, but after the storm, the delay in service lasted six weeks. Here are a couple of examples; (1) A major account 70 miles away from our Philadelphia office sent out a bid request for courier services on a Friday in late March. This was sent with certified mail, and would have usually arrived the following Monday. Seven business days later it finally arrived, leaving us only a few days to complete the paperwork and submit it back to the client. (2) My family was throwing an informal party in honor of my daughter, Jenifer, reaching an important milestone. We sent invitations to family throughout the country including; Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Northern, NJ. We should have used our American Expediting couriers, because some family members became distraught over not being invited. Actually, they were invited, however the USPS didn't get around to delivering their invitations for 8-14 days later. In my opinion this is definitely a service failure. Can you imagine this service improving when they cut back on their services? How many customers would you retain if you delivered less than 50% on your promise? According to AOLNEWS, in an April 12article written by Mara Gay, "The GAO endorsed the five-day delivery week but encouraged even more extensive cuts, including hiring more part-time workers, raising prices, closing some post offices and even outsourcing delivery routes to private contractors." My inclination is that business will no longer be able to afford using the USPS for their local incoming and outgoing deliveries into their facilities. Not because of cost, even though it will become a bigger factor, but mostly because of questionable service. Can you imagine the Post office working with private contractors and dealing with the myriad of growing pains with this new solution to delivering your mail? Have they even considered backup drivers for vacation schedules, sick days, holidays, deer hunting day, or just a plain old raining and miserable day? American Expediting is already a step ahead in addressing these changes. We have been delivering mail for large corporations for years. In addition to daily 7:00-8:30AM pickup from the main postal station, and immediate delivery to local businesses, they also offer inner-office routes for branch locations, and return delivery to the post office throughout the day. So, be prepared the next time you speak with your local American Expediting office. Your representative may ask if you are interested in adding this service. Not only will your company be receiving your mail much earlier than you currently are experiencing, you may just find your companies invoices getting into your clients hands much quicker. Also, don't forget, we are also specialists in process serving, and handling those critical packages that are sensitive to chain of custody.
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