Western Railroad Discussion > Does USPS ship by Rail? (much?)

I see that there is some serious logistics knowledge on this board, so I'd like to ask about USPS shipping. I'm working for a small online retailer near Waukegan, IL, and was surprised to find that they switched over to USPS for packages from UPS, because of lower rates. Call me ignorant, but I did not even know you could send packages USPS! We pile high several pallets a day of small boxes (7x13x13 is the largest) and even get one of their box trucks to pick it up. Some customers still chose to ship UPS, though.

Yet... last Friday, Dec., was our cutoff for Christmas shipping. Hearing that, I'm curious of the logistics -

First, I hope to clear up the basic issues - does USPS treat packages separately from their mail system, or is it all sorted in the same facilities? Can it all then be shipped in the same loads; i.e., will USPS send out bins of mail and pallets of packages on the same truck?

I presume USPS ships by rail - is it any significant amount? If I send a letter cross-country, will it be TOFC most likely? Would a package be any different?

Why are the transit times so much longer?

Also, would anyone care to explain the basic difference between FedEx/UPS for packages, and USPS for packages? As far as I know the former have distribution centers on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas with convenient interstate and rail access. By contrast, does USPS sort everything, in effect, downtown? For example, there is a huge USPS complex south of Union Station in Chicago, obviously there because of RPO's in the past. Is this still be the main Chicago sorting location, and do UPS/FedEx instead have soomething on the outskirts?

I do not if this answers your question directly but I have used the U.S Post Office for all my E-Bay shipments for the sizes you are listing and their service has the great in every way. From the service at the post office to the quick two to three delivery and the price is right. They also have flat rates for for a couple package sizes where the weight does not come into play.

The only draw back with the post office is that the insurance is more expense than UPS for the very valuable packages. Also they are the best when it comes to shipping world wide.

By the way I do not work for the post office or any government agency and my alternative shipping company after the post office is always UPS,

First class and priority go air for extended distances. For media and slower mail, I would assume truck as I see lots of trucks with, for example, LAX-DEN on the back.

Not sure on this one. USPS seems to use mostly over the road truck contractors, passenger airlines ,and Fed Ex and UPS for most linehaul. They ran a lot of intermodal in the past, but I do not see that anymore. USPS guys,, Is this correct????

gmojim

DWGOLDE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do not if this answers your question directly
> but I have used the U.S Post Office for all my
> E-Bay shipments for the sizes you are listing and
> their service has the great in every way. From
> the service at the post office to the quick two to
> three delivery and the price is right. They also
> have flat rates for for a couple package sizes
> where the weight does not come into play.
>
> The only draw back with the post office is that
> the insurance is more expense than UPS for the
> very valuable packages. Also they are the best
> when it comes to shipping world wide.
>
> By the way I do not work for the post office or
> any government agency and my alternative shipping
> company after the post office is always UPS,

DW - You are absolutely correct. I too have used USPS for e-Bay shipments exclusively for a number of years. Most everything gets where it is going in 2-3 days and it is significantly cheaper than UPS, who charges for daily pick-up and has surcharges for deliveries to rural areas. I can ship to the East Coast from remote northern California on a Saturday, and it's usually there on Monday. Even international is pretty good for the price (5-6 days to New Caledonia, for example). Stamps.com offers cheaper domestic insurance (about 1/2) than the PO for those occasions where it is needed.

I do get some inbound stuff UPS and FedEx Ground. FedEx is usually a day quicker from the Midwest.

Tom Y

Problem I have with Fed-Ex on surface is they turn it over to the USPS for delivery. Delays it a day.

I will take an educated guess on part of this. USPS will probably charge less on a lot of packages since we go to every house every day and the UPS and FedEx guys don't. Those become special trips for them, mainly in the rural areas. The rural carriers know where every house is and a lot about the people. If they aren't home, I know where to put their package and have ways to contact them to let them know it is there. There are four sizes of those 'if it fits, it ships' containers. I am still learning as I have less than a year in as a rural carrier and was surprised to learn the USPS does a lot of pickup and delivery with UPS doing the long haul movement in between.

I've used USPS "Click-n-Ship" method extensively to ship packages from CA to VA and if I ship early in the week my son receives the package somewhere between 32 and 44 hours later. Not bad, in my opinion.

This is really interesting information. On the one hand, USPS is being cut, with the proposal to eliminate Saturday delivery. At the same time, it really sounds that they serve an important role in local delivery, particularly in rural areas.

To make it railroad related - at Fairhope, PA, a great spot on CSX's assault of the Alleghanies, there is no town so to speak, but there is a post office right after crossing the railroad. People live nearby, spread out... but they certainly have good access to the postal system.

I buy a a lot of stuff from Amazon and have their Prime service which gets me 2nd day delivery at no charge (I paid an $80 fee up front). By in large it works great. Many times if I order early in the day and it come out of their facility near Reno I get it overnight (I live near Sacramento, CA). In the past they have always used UPS for these shipments. Recently I've been getting the same 2nd day delivery by USPS. Don't know how it's shipped but they are matching UPS and probably doing it cheaper since they have a contract of some sort.

Peter

USPS uses UPS to carry the long distance (more than about 250 miles) First Class and Express mail between cities, just the same way that mail used to go on trains between cities. UPS does nothing other than load the containers on the planes and take them off at the other end. USPS gets them to/from the airports. They did the same when the mail moved by train. Trucks operated by contractors make the shorter hauls. Priority Mail is First Class so it may "fly" if it's going far enough. Parcel Post which are not First Class parcels go through the USPS parcel handling centers where they are sorted and sent to destinations. Eventually they get to the local Post Offices but in transit they're also hauled by contract trucks. Non First Class mail, like advertising and similar materials go by contractor truck no matter how great the distance.

Sounds complicated and to an extent it is, but the system minimizes the amount of handling for each kind of mail and thus moves it more quickly.

Some of this did move by train in the Amtrak Road Railers and Material Handling Cars but that's no longer done.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/10 15:51 by dbrcnw.

I've often had USPS on pig trains to and from Chicago

At one time the basis of the 199 train to Richmond, California was the USPS and UPS. The USPS loads in Richmond were at 20 to 21 a day
The loads were drayed to the USPS Distribution center in Richmond.

The same was true for Los Angeles and the loads were drayed to the USPS Distribution Center in Bell--I think

I do not know if these mail loads still exsist

Dale Smith

I used to be a shipper/receiver back in the day. UPS had Red, blue and orange, meaning, next day, 2 day and three day delivery. I vividly remember shipping a "red" package from Moorpark, CA to Dallas, TX, on a Friday. I remember tracking the package over the weekend. I was startled to see it go from Moorpark,to Los Angeles(truck), and then onto piggyback service to Texas. The idea was that Monday would be the "next day" and the train could get the package from LA to Dallas in 2 days, so UPS used the weekend to move packages by rail instead of plane(cheaper), and kept the promise of next day service.

I also shipped USPS as well, and every carrier told me that packages furhter than 500 miles always flew, and less than that went by highway. Incidentally, ALL holiday packages, even parcel post, goes by air to insure on time deliveries, but that is a post office secret.

Lots of UPS at Gest Street Cincinnati today.

Another thing that I have been told is that USPS Express Mail is handled by FedEx as far as the air part of the travel. That's why you'll notice that there is a FedEx box in front of USPS Post Offices.

WAF Wrote:
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> Problem I have with Fed-Ex on surface is they turn
> it over to the USPS for delivery. Delays it a day.

There is a level of FedEx service that the last segment is the delivery to the door is by USPS, (I forget what that service is called, but I beleive it is targeted for use by on-line retailers.) However, FedEx Ground service delivery is done by FedEx Ground service trucks, not USPS.

As a now retired rural carrier, sub actually, I'm
going to answer some of this.

USPS Express Mail is handled by FedEx, and it can be
a real pain when the planes are late due to weather.
Remember, there's a money back guarantee if it's late.

USPS was the original package handler, read parcel post.
Railway Express was formed to move packages faster than
the Post Office. As first class trains died, and the
airlines took over, REA died.

Parcels and letters are sorted in the same facility,
although in different areas. Trucks are the primary
mode of surface transport, although some long distance
package and standard mail moves by rail, usually between
major urban areas. Remember, Santa Fe's Q-NYLA train was
known as the "Mail Train" for years.

As for local delivery: Mail is sorted at regional centers
for local delivery. The first three numbers of the Zip Code
indicate where the mail is given it's final sort. Packages
are always sorted separately from letters, and bulk mailings
of "flats", i.e. magazines and advertising brochures are also
handled separately. Letters are sorted into trays in what's
called DPS, for delivery point sequence. This means the carrier
gets them in correct delivery order. City carries take this
straight to the street while rural carries, for the most part,
case their's first. (Rural carriers spend less time on the
street than city carriers do for obvious reasons.) Packages,
or parcels, are carried separately, and take extra time. The letters
and flats are combined at the delivery point by city carriers,
cased by rural carries who deliver that as one bundle.

The Postal Service is under priced and undermarketed, which is
part of the reason it's losing money. A letter should cost
over a dollar to mail. And remember this: That you get mail
is a miracle. That's the first thing I learned in the Post Office.

This is, admittedly, a cursory view of the process. I'm sure there
is some use of rail by USPS, long distance, major urban centers, but
trucks and air have the vast majority of it.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA