Andrew Schneider is an MBA student at George Washington University, and he's tried to break down how much each portion of our processes costs to mail a 44 cent stamp.
Here's his analysis, as printed in the Washington Post.
Not all of the categories are clear and some appear to be redundant, but here's what he showed:
* Sorting labor, 10 cents
* Delivery labor, 7 cents
* Facility/vehicle maintenance, 2 cents
* Fuel/transportation, 1 cent
* Buildings, equipment, vehicles, 2 cents
* Retiree pension/health, 2 cents
* Misc. expense, 8 cents
* Overhead, 16 cents
Total: 48 cents.
That means we lose 4 cents on every letter.
Care to comment?
2 comments:
Math figures can be made to tell any story the way the story teller decides.
My opinion: I'm no math wizard but this has so many holes it isn't worth printing. What was the Washington Post thinking?
Though I am not sure about the posted numbers, a new formula needs to be created to give each area their just share of all postal sales. A bulk mail center may show billions in sales but tehy don't deliver any mail directly to our customers. I work in a small rural post office and my sales may be small, but we deliver a lot of mail. So by HQ standards we are not "profitable" but if we were to be given a share of the sales generated on the mail I receive to deliver...that status might change.
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