[Milsurplus] Re: [Boatanchors] Re: Postal Rates

[Don Buska]

There was a very interesting show on last night about airlines flights 
and the costs.  They did one analysis on American Airlines flight #1 
which goes from New York to Los Angeles.  Twice a day.  Subtracting all 
the costs for employees, loading and unloading,  fuel, paying of the 
plane, etc. etc and then adding what everyone on that flight paid for 
tickets plus any fees collected for cargo (like USPS and others) they 
had a grand total profit on that single flight of $200.  Makes you think!

I do like the fact that KD4E was able to perhaps see a positive side to 
this all,  Hamfests may make a big comeback!  Often times we do need to 
sit back and ask if there will be positive aspects to these changes?  
Fuel prices will be going up.  Perhaps that will mean that overseas 
manufacturing will not be as big a cost savings, no matter what benefits 
or pay a worker makes.  Thus localized manufacturing could return in 
some sectors.  I'm no economist but I often can see possible silver 
lining on gray clouds.  I went to college for engineering and today 
probably 90% of US engineers are in support related fields.  Not much 
real engineering going on there when all you wanted to do was design, 
create and build.  - OK off the soap box now.....

The nice thing about the USPS is I know if a Priority Mail package is 
due at my door today it will be here between 3 and 4PM.  Just like my 
mail gets dropped off everyday six days a week..  When I get FedEx or 
UPS I have no idea when it will arrive.  The UPS distribution center is 
about five miles from my house.  I had a package that per the tracking 
sight left that facility at 7AM for delivery.  It got to my house around 
4PM.  So I basically stayed around the house all day as I didn't know 
when the driver would decide to hit my neighborhood.  My guess is the 
prices across the board will all even out in the end and you will pay 
about the same no matter whom you use.  At times one or the other will 
provide a lucrative deal, but most likely it is in an attempt to gain  
market share or perhaps branch out into a  new market.  Some will even 
find innovative process changes that will save time and money and thus 
let them reduce affected service prices (assuming it ties in with my 
last sentence).  I don't know of any USPS, UPS or FedEx carriers I've 
personally met who live in amansion, hi.  All of them I've known were 
far from it.

73

Don N9OO

WA5CAB at cs.com wrote:
> Actually, some rates did go down.  First Class Mail @ 12 and 13 ounces, for 
> example.  11 ounces and below all went up.  But PriMail went up across the 
> board, in the ballpark of 50 cents per pound increment.  And what the real 
> boatanchor related discussion was about was no more Surface shipment.  So the cost of 
> shipping anything over three or four pounds out of the country just more than 
> doubled.  Last week it cost roughly $25 to ship an LS-3 to Europe and about 
> $30 to Australia or the Far East.  This week those numbers have jumped to $75 
> and $80.  And shipping weight on an LS-3 is only about 14 pounds.  By and 
> large, most of the sets and components any of us are interested in (either military 
> or civilian) now cost more for shipping than for the item.
>
> In a message dated 5/14/2007 7:00:19 PM Central Standard Time, 
> telegrapher at att.net writes: 
>   
>> Well if i understand this right, The post office changed rates yes. 
>> BUT, the 1st ounce is 41 cents right?  the 2nd and subsequent ounces are 
>> 17 cents.  That comes to lets say for example, 58 cents for 2 oz and 17 
>> per oz from there on.
>>
>> Previously it was 39 for the first ounce and 23 for subsequent oz's. 
>> That came to 62 cents for 2 oz and 23 per oz for each additional one. 
>> So in reality the rates have gone down.  NO?  Or did i miss something in 
>> translation here?  Not sure how it affected certain other methods of 
>> shipment.
>>
>>     
>
> Robert Downs - Houston
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