  Spiritofdetroit Member Username: Spiritofdetroit Post Number: 665 Registered: 11-2006 |
About 150 jobs affected in Detroit overall. http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll /article?AID=/20071023/NEWS01/ 71023020/1003&GID=98iAhLzE9NjV ke/yLwlUb+8AS7sjBBGoiV7eZN0sR3 Y%3D | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10569 Registered: 10-2003 |
End junk mail and the USPS is completely irrelevant to me. | ||
Andylinn Member Username: Andylinn Post Number: 602 Registered: 04-2006 |
this actually pisses me off. i always liked knowing that I could take a letter to the post office before 5pm, and it would get next day regional delivery... no longer. shit. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2828 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: You've been listening to the unions job protecting ads haven't you? I don't see how this could possible affect delivery times in the metro area. Why would it matter if they go through processing in Pontiac or Detroit. The mail will still go through processing overnight. In fact it may even pull in more of the region into 1 day service since all the mail from the region would go into 1 processing center. What difference does it make if it goes local Detroit post office 1-> Detroit Processing Center-> local post office 2 or local post office 1-> Pontiac PC -> Detroit post office 2. If FedEx can deliver to the entire country overnight through one processing center in Memphis, Why shouldn't the USPS be able to deliver across southeast Michigan in one night. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1486 Registered: 01-2006 |
While the proof is always, as the saying goes, in the pudding, I concur with Ndavies. There is no reason why the service to which Andylinn referred would be compromised by this action. However, it wouldn't be the first time, if the USPS concocted a way to lessen its service while appearing to have made an improvement in that service. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2830 Registered: 10-2003 |
I agree Ravine, my favorite was when the USPS changed the pickup times on the outside boxes. Just so they could keep the overnight in the market promise. You used to be able to drop mail into a box up until 4:30PM. Now almost all the boxes say some time before 1:00PM. The only exception seems to be the boxes at the post offices. This allowed them to cut pickups and still meet their promise. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1489 Registered: 01-2006 |
Ndavies: Yes. That is the methodology, and that very methodology has been used before. The method, reduced to a sentence, being: If you are not reaching the standard which is your goal and/or promise, lower the standard, and then rave to the public about how you are meeting, and exceeding, your goal. That's how a whole bunch of cities that once were classified as two-day deliveries, from here, came to be classified as three-day deliveries. That Smooth Move was prestidigitated in the late 80's. But you didn't hear it from me. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1383 Registered: 02-2006 |
Pretty sad that mail from Detroit won't even be marked "Detroit" anymore. That says a lot. | ||
Jt1 Member Username: Jt1 Post Number: 10571 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: Not really. Consolidation of services is a logical choice and Pontiac is probably more central to the region that it serves than Detroit. There are many regional/federal things that are done that I think are not in Detroit's best interests but this is just logical consolidation of services. Too bad all gov't functions didn't look at saving money this way. | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 1619 Registered: 11-2003 |
Yeah they are consolidating Flint's service into Pontiac as well so it really is more of a central location. The only reason I don't like it is that hurts Flint's tax base a little. It also sucks because Flint's processing loaction is continually one of the top performing in the state, at least that is what the opposition is saying around here. | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 2832 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: The only thing that matters on an envelope is the to and from addresses. Where it went in between is irrelevant. If you need to have Detroit cancelation you can request it. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 279 Registered: 09-2007 |
The mother-trucking USPS just took eight days to deliver a letter from Dayton, Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky. Amazing how good of a job the USPS does with delivering parcels - thanks to competition with other service providers. Letter delivery....forgetaboutit. Bass-turdz. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1490 Registered: 01-2006 |
As Chuckjav almost certainly knows, the USPS has a monopoly on the handling of First Class mail. The Dayton-Louisville story is a fine example of why monopolies should never be permitted in any business anywhere, ever. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1846 Registered: 10-2006 |
Sad, no more Detroit postmark... | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 6714 Registered: 02-2004 |
Screw them! | ||
1953 Member Username: 1953 Post Number: 1471 Registered: 12-2004 |
I send mail all the time; hate that its going to Pontiac now. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1492 Registered: 01-2006 |
You will still be able to get a Detroit postmark, although I must add that I do not believe that all of the people who are moaning about that issue really, truly give a damn about it. The USPS is not moving out of Detroit and taking all of its personnel, equipment, and buildings with it. If one feels that having a Detroit postmark on one's mail lends it a certain cachet, or possibly even some quasi-mystical aura, one need not fear. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 308 Registered: 04-2006 |
More out of curiosity than because I plan to go through with it: how does one go about requesting a Detroit postmark? Does it have to be done on a case-by-case basis, or does USPS keep a file of addresses from which all outgoing mail is postmarked "Detroit," or what? | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1494 Registered: 01-2006 |
What I'm saying is that the postmark will be available. One of two things: 1) You take your mail to a window clerk at a local station and, at your request, they will, by hand, give it a Detroit postmark, or 2) You take your mail to a window clerk at a local station and, at your request, they will put it into a separate tray of mail for which the customer has requested a Detroit postmark, and even if the postmarking occurs in Pontiac, the postmark will read, "Detroit." | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 280 Registered: 09-2007 |
Ravine....Right-On; we dealt with monopolies in the late 19th century....by the end of the 20th century they had returned - with full blessings from the US Government. Enough threadjacking on my part. I too will miss the fun & excitement of making a last second post office run to downtown Detroit; what's next to leave the city? | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4441 Registered: 10-2004 |
The USPS is faced with the same problem as others located in/near downtown: It's not centrally located, being so close to Windsor and all. That's why Southfield or Troy or Pontiac make for better business locations than much or all of Detroit. The two dailies have printed from Sterling Heights for eons now, obsoleting their downtown offices, for circulation, at least. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1384 Registered: 02-2006 |
That's kind of silly, I know of very few cities that are in the geographic center of their metro areas. | ||
Livernoisyard Member Username: Livernoisyard Post Number: 4442 Registered: 10-2004 |
quote: Older cities are becoming or are irrelevant with respect to their metro areas. Detroit is a classic example of that. Who, relatively speaking, lives, shops, or works downtown any longer? And it was that way three decades ago too. Sheesh! Look around. Ask yourself, "Where have all the stores and offices gone downtown?" | ||
Dustin89 Member Username: Dustin89 Post Number: 143 Registered: 07-2006 |
This is great news for Pontiac. The new postal facility being constructed on Montcalm is, combined with the new GM construction nearby on Joslyn, and the EDS jobs moving to the building on South Blvd., helping fill the gaps left in Pontiac by GM consolidation, and other employers who left or downsized. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 317 Registered: 09-2007 |
So...., Pontiac is becoming the new center for SE Michigan? First it was EDS, now it's USPS. | ||
Rocket_city Member Username: Rocket_city Post Number: 443 Registered: 04-2006 |
I think the stamp should still remain "Detroit". The city government of Pontiac really has nothing to do with postage stamping, does it? The location of mail leaving this area is Detroit. This is like eliminating all Los Angeles mail for Long Beach...all Dallas mail for Irving and all New York City mail for New Rochelle. It's stupid. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1498 Registered: 01-2006 |
Comprehension usually comes after listening or reading. However, with alarming frequency, talking and writing precedes all three. | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 1083 Registered: 04-2005 |
quote: most definitely. workers have been pulled southward down the i-75 corridor from the flint and saginaw areas, making communities like grand blanc, clarkston, and davisburg detroit "suburbs." and of course, we have the push of businesses northward along the i-75 corridor from detroit, building up troy, auburn hills, and the like. | ||
Luckycar Member Username: Luckycar Post Number: 47 Registered: 02-2007 |
Keep rockin Pontiac!Of course I've got a vested interest in Pontiac becoming the hub of S.E.MI.55 years in used cars and still going strong.What difference does a Detroit postmark make?Who looks at a postmark?The FBI,detective movie buffs? | ||
Sycloneman Member Username: Sycloneman Post Number: 60 Registered: 12-2003 |
I saw the mention of "monopoly" earlier on in this thread. It is a monopoly in the true root of the word, but in today's culture it is not a monopoly as it is run by the government. The USPS is not a business. I know, useless information I'm sure, but it was something that was fighting to get out of my head. Thanks for you patience... ...now back to your regularly scheduled blogging. | ||
Chuckjav Member Username: Chuckjav Post Number: 281 Registered: 09-2007 |
Sycloneman...Well said. One thing though, if I am not mistaken, wasn't the USPS spun-away from Federal control in the early 1970s? Any History majors out there....anyone? | ||
Genesyxx Member Username: Genesyxx Post Number: 795 Registered: 02-2004 |
I'm assuming this is the post office by the West Riverfront? Geez, even the government is moving out of the city. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1388 Registered: 02-2006 |
The USPS is a quasi-governmental agency. I think it's called a "public-benefit corporation". | ||
Dustin89 Member Username: Dustin89 Post Number: 144 Registered: 07-2006 |
Thecarl...I understand your point, but I have to respectfully disagree. Clarkston, Auburn Hills, etc., might be seeing some development, but Pontiac is not exactly booming. The downtown is a hub for many major regional roads, and the city itself is close to pretty much everything, but it has a mostly vacant downtown, and the city as a whole has no major chain grocers. The population of Pontiac has crept up towards 70,000 again in the past few years, but the city is weighed down by loss of tax revenue from GM plants that have closed, the cost of maintaining city-owned properties like the Phoenix Center Ampitheater, Silverdome, and Golf Course. Plus state revenue sharing payments are down, and millages passed last November to fund police, youth services/senior centers, etc., were improperly worded and went over the legal millage limit for the city, raising the question as to whether they can be used. Something like 17 police officers were just laid off. So, Pontiac is growing in population and has seen some positive development of late, but there is a lot of work to be done, especially in the areas of city leadership, revitalization of downtown, etc. There are also several residential areas of the city that need some work, esp. the Southeast Side (City Council District 7) a.k.a. "Unity Park," the lower Baldwin corridor, and a few other areas. I love Pontiac and am happy to see progress, but to say that Pontiac is becoming the new center for SE Michigan is putting the cart before the horse, and totally inaccurate. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1183 Registered: 11-2003 |
Livernoisyard wrote, "The two dailies have printed from Sterling Heights for eons now." They've indeed printed from Sterling Heights for a long time, but only in the past several years has it been done there exclusively-- since the riverfront plant closed (originally built by the Free Press in '79). | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5572 Registered: 08-2004 |
Just out of curiosity... I wonder where the "central" USPS facilities are in the following cities: Chicago Milwaukee St. Louis Philadelphia Cleveland Cincinnati Boston These are all cities that have a city center near a waterway, and the center of the metro area is outside of the downtown location, just like Detroit. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 367 Registered: 09-2007 |
ACtually, ALL of those CBD's actually are a CBD. They have a generous amount of residents, workers and businesses there. They don't have as many abandoned buildings (if any at all) and a lot more foot traffic and mass transit. Much of our workers and businesses are in Oakland County. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 5576 Registered: 08-2004 |
Yes Detroitrise, but what has that got to do with it? They're not moving the people to Pontiac because downtown is less populated than they might like. They're saying it's all about geography. And that's the point I was making. If geography for Detroit is part of the problem, then is it also a problem in those other cities? | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 1502 Registered: 01-2006 |
Whoa; hold on. Some of the inferences which were drawn, and are being tossed around, here are a bit wayward and getting some distance from the basic, mostly simple facts of the case. The facility downtown on Fort Street is not being abandoned. The facility in Pontiac is thought to be better suited to the running of certain postal operations, so those operations will be conducted at the facility in Pontiac. The USPS is not thumbing its nose at Detroit or saying, "Detroit sucks, so we're moving out." |
