My point was that USPS USED to recoup a lot of its money that it lost on first class mail by delivery costs on small packages. UPS and FedEx have almost put the PS out of business on that front, and that really hurt their bottom line.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but basic letter delivery is necessary, and UPS and FedEx aren't going to take that over cause it's too expensive, with zero profit margin.

Again, as I noted a while back, look at the Postmaster General, who is now one of the highest paid bureaucrats in government....

Nevertheless, Bypass Mail was a creation of the Congress, and was never favored by the USPS. In fact, it's a HUGE money pit, losing money massively every day. When a contractor was building a new, very large municipal building in Barrow, Alaska, they MAILED the concrete blocks from ANC to Barrow via first class mail. Tag on each one, and shipped em off, via bypass mail. It turned out it was cheaper to do that, including the cost of the guy putting tags on them all and handling them all, than it would have been to ship them there via barge.

Point is, this is a CONGRESSIONAL pork project. It WILL and probably must go away one of these days. The people in the back country suffer? Maybe there are down sides to living in the wilderness.

I know that sounds hard hearted, but what if someone finds a piece of property waaaaaay back in the mountains, and decides to live off the net. Should the taxpayers hire a mule train outfit to haul mail to them? And, by the way, bring in their customers for their B and B or ski lodge, at a quarter of what it'd cost without bypass mail?

Personally, I don't support bypass mail, though it's kept a lot of Alaska villages alive for many years, and would probably be the death of them if it went away. But, it will go away one of these days, and with its biggest supporter out of the Congress, that day probably isn't all that far off.

MTV

I know that Ray Arnold and his crew there at Cascade, ID. have done a lot of good things for the people in the wilderness country. He has been their live line to the outside world. He brings them all the things that they need to exist. I think he will have a hard time still doing all the things he did without the mail contract. Bob

If I remember correctly, the reason UPS and FEDEX are NOT allowed to deliver First Class type letters is that they wanted to "cherry pick" what locations they wanted to deliver to..... The USPS lobbied Congress (?) very hard to prevent UPS and FEDEX from getting First Class mail rights because the USPS delivered to EVERY and ANY rural address.... Now that they have decided differently, they put at risk their monopoly on First Class mail delivery... If I were the management at UPS and FEDEX I would be at Congress's door to push legislation to allow them First Class mail delivery privaleges.

P.S. Although very few people and businesses actually follow the USPS postal rules, alot of what is sent via UPS and FEDEX letter packs is sent illegally, according to Postal Regs. Once in a while a business is brought up on charges, but very, very rarely. In fact , the USPS has been charged with breaking their own rules for sending "first class" type mail via UPS and/or FEDEX (overnight). Mail containing personal information MUST be mailed as First-Class Mail, Priority Mail, or Express Mail (including, but not limited to, personal correspondence, bills and invoices.)

I would point out that a LOT of the small packages that you might take to the USPost Office and mail actually are shipped via UPS or FedEx, not by the postal service. I found this out when the Post Office started that process. We had been shipping live animals via Express Mail for several years, and never lost an animal. That's Wyoming to ALaska. First year after UPS took over that function for the USPS, we lost ALL our birds in the first shipment. Some poking around revealed that UPS wanted no part of shipping live animals, and lobbied the USPS not to require it. USPS said that if they got the contract, they had to move ALL the packages. So, UPS just parked em on a hot ramp in the sun at SLC for four hours....

It worked, no more live animal shipments for us.

But, again, UPS and FedEx don't want to provide the service. They just want to make a profit. First class mail service doesn't make any money. Express mail and overnight does, and both FedEx and UPS do those, as well as USPS.

I'm sympathetic with air operators who stand to lose a lot of business over this. But, we are in a HUGE recession, remember? Granted, a $60 K contract is peanuts, but that's just a drop in that bucket.

As to the residents, If you CHOOSE to live in the woods, I think you should probably expect a few inconveniences. However, it's hard to take away something that's become tradition.

MTV

Mtv... Don't get mad ,,, Get even.. If they wasted the first batch of birds sending a "message" of this will show um. Just be polite, call for another pick up. insure the birds for 50,000 $$$ each ,ship them and watch how they show up in perfect shape. If they do kill that batch you get to retire, if they don't, Then politly call back and remind them they CAN do it without killing the birds and then SUE the shit out of them. I hate lawyers but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. And don't forget to use the famous law firm of
Dewey, Cheatum and Howe..


Ben

Bypass mail provides the villages with the supplies for their stores, I haven't ever seen it used to ship personal stuff, however, I have only been flying the stuff for 2 years. I will say this however, if anyone thinks that any federal government services that go almost exclusively to native villages will be cut during the next 8 years, is dreaming. In fact I would even bet the bypass lives beyond that. In my short lifetime, I have only see the gov't grow ala TSA (have you got your badge for your local airport yet?)

Headout,

Uh, go visit Fred Meyers or one of the other big chain stores in FAI or ANC. They routinely box phone ordered or personally picked groceries/goods, and ship them via bypass mail. By the ton. One thing about bypass mail, it's pretty hard to recognize from regular freight, cause it "bypasses" the regular post office.

It's a great service if you live in the bush. A LOT of Alaska villages would simply dry up and go away without it.

Nevertheless, Congress has made several runs at doing away with bypass mail in the past, and failed simply because of the horsepower of Ted Stevens and his Taz Tie.

He's gone now, so it'll be interesting to see how long it continues. It is definitely pork, with a capital P.

But, then Obama just approved a new budget with a ton of pork in it... So much for "Change you can believe in", eh?

MTV

Actually it is really easy to recognize it has postage on it, and we get weight slips so that we can bill the PO. You made my point though, this will not go away in the next 8 years.

Time will tell, I reckon.

MTV

DonC wrote:http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2009/05/08/ap-state-id/d981mtf03.txt

That's great news!!

will be nice to see ray working again as usual in the back-country...where he is definitely needed...!
maybe he should offer rides to those of us less traveled in the back-country, to see how it is really done...!
i for one would be the first to sign up and buy gas....

jomac wrote:will be nice to see ray working again as usual in the back-country...where he is definitely needed...!
maybe he should offer rides to those of us less traveled in the back-country, to see how it is really done...!
i for one would be the first to sign up and buy gas....

I'll be the second to sign up!

Is Ray an instructor?

not sure, 58. i've seen him work, and it's impressive. amazing what a 206 can do, even with 1500 + lbs in it...!

his knowledge of the central part of idaho, the weather in those canyons, the winds, is invaluable to those of us

"headed for the weeds" fake pilots...!

If he holds a regular 135 certificate, he can offer seats as a passenger carrying revenue flight, as long as the mail and passengers don't go over gross.

That is one of the HUGE advantages of bypass mail contracts, and one of it's primary reasons for being, is to reduce the cost of passenger fares, by paying for most of the cost of the flight with mail revenues.

Offer to buy a seat fare, not buy gas.

MTV

Ray is not an instructor, but his other pilot that flys one of the 206's is an instructor, I did some of my primary with him, he is an excellent backcountry pilot. You can also get a ride on the mail route with Ray for something like $75, not positive how much it is though. I need to do that one of these days