My father-in-law, may he rest in peace, had one of the first open heart surgeries at the Loyola School of Medicine. It wasn't exactly experimental, but he had to agree to allow students to work on him. He lived quite a few years after that surgery and always credited it to the students who worked on him.
I know people who would have their hair done at no other place than the barber college where trainees do the trimming. As far as I could see they did a great job. My uncle was a barber and I have to admit that the school often did a better job than my uncle - who never went to barber school by the way. LOL
And, I'm not surprised to read about your good experience at the dental school. I think you get a lot more care and attention at the schools than you do in the regular business. They are in training, after all, and have the time to do it right. Besides, they are being graded on their performance in school After graduation the pressure is off and they don't have to be so careful. One of the things dentists stopped doing is their own denture work. They send things out to a lab where dentures seem to be mass produced. At the office visit the dentist will touch up the rough edges, but all the hard work is done somewhere else. Now and days they have 3D panoramic x-rays and printers that can make you a set of choppers on demand. I'm not sure that will be any better than the old way because, as you point out, the gums recede as you get older. It's kind of like nature's version of planned obsolescence.
Outdated Medical Software
Re: Outdated Medical Software
One of my late wife's uncles went out of state to a major teaching college for a heart transplant. He was like only the 22nd person to ever have one at the time. He only lived about ten or twelve years after that, but not because of heart problems. All the anti rejection drugs he was on caused him to catch anything and everything that was going around, so he was sick most of the time. Kidney and Liver failure is what the stated he died from.
When I was growing up Mac the barber was our family barber. I have a gash above my eye were I fell onto the footrest of his barber chair, which is why I remember that barber. I don't remember the names of any of them until I was around 18 and started going to Jim on a regular basis. Jim was a union barber, in fact all of them were by then. Here I go to Brother's Barber Shop, never can remember the guys name either. His brother passed away some time before I moved down here. I've gone to a couple of other barbers but like the way Jim does hair the best. He only charges seniors 8 bucks but I always give him a ten anyhow. Back home I was paying 12 and 14 bucks, down here most barbers were 7 when I moved here, but now almost all of them are ten and 12 bucks.
Yeppers, that's how my later dentures were made. Dentist made a mold and sent it off to a factory somewhere.
Three times of doing that with different dentists and I finally gave up.
When I was growing up Mac the barber was our family barber. I have a gash above my eye were I fell onto the footrest of his barber chair, which is why I remember that barber. I don't remember the names of any of them until I was around 18 and started going to Jim on a regular basis. Jim was a union barber, in fact all of them were by then. Here I go to Brother's Barber Shop, never can remember the guys name either. His brother passed away some time before I moved down here. I've gone to a couple of other barbers but like the way Jim does hair the best. He only charges seniors 8 bucks but I always give him a ten anyhow. Back home I was paying 12 and 14 bucks, down here most barbers were 7 when I moved here, but now almost all of them are ten and 12 bucks.
Yeppers, that's how my later dentures were made. Dentist made a mold and sent it off to a factory somewhere.
Three times of doing that with different dentists and I finally gave up.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
I have mixed feelings about getting my hair cut during the world's worst pandemic in 100 years. I am pretty sure, but not positive, the shop I go to is open. I suppose they might qualify for essential business status. Well the whole process must needs be up close and personal. It's not like shopping at Schnucks where you can keep your distance and disinfect the shopping cart handle. In the past I have carefully watched what they do. There is a certain sequence they all seem to follow and the actually cutting of the hair with the scissors is a bit of an art. I could possibly learn to do it if my life depended on it, but my hair would be a mess for many years. So, I decided a long time ago that cutting hair was too complicated for a guy like me. My wife volunteered but she is no expert either. I suppose if it gets long enough to cover my ears entirely, I'd let her have a go at it. It would affect my hearing after all. 
The shop I go to was $12 for seniors when I first moved down here. Three years later they are up to $14. You can reserve a spot with them online which is kind of funky because they make a fair estimate at how long you have to wait. I like that part a lot.
The shop I go to was $12 for seniors when I first moved down here. Three years later they are up to $14. You can reserve a spot with them online which is kind of funky because they make a fair estimate at how long you have to wait. I like that part a lot.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
I used to cut all of my kids hair, and actually styled my first wife's hair better than the hairdresser she was using.
But as far as doing my own, that's impossible, hi hi.
Every barber I've ever been to sterilizes all of their equipment between each patron. Sometimes this is just in a jar of 91% alcohol with an antibacterial they add to it.
The barbers here are closed up tight as a drum! And only a couple of hairdressers are open, and they are way out in the ritzy area, by appointment only types, hi hi.
I honestly do miss the way Jim the barber did hair and all the essentials the barbers down here don't do.
But as far as doing my own, that's impossible, hi hi.
Every barber I've ever been to sterilizes all of their equipment between each patron. Sometimes this is just in a jar of 91% alcohol with an antibacterial they add to it.
The barbers here are closed up tight as a drum! And only a couple of hairdressers are open, and they are way out in the ritzy area, by appointment only types, hi hi.
I honestly do miss the way Jim the barber did hair and all the essentials the barbers down here don't do.
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Something really strange is going on in Missouri. I don't know if the same things are happening up in Chicago-land, but I'm here now and only have memories of the past. Those memories don't include what I'm observing here. I know this is a pandemic and people sometimes are at their best in a crisis situation, but there seems to be something deeper going on other than human decency.
It started a couple weeks ago when we were already a month into this official pandemic. The neighbor across the way stopped me to ask how I was doing and if he can help me out in any way. I've mentioned before that I think this neighborhood is filled with closet missionaries and that they are all just doing the work of the lord. Nobody ever mentions religion, but I was raised by a bunch of nuns and can recognize charity when I see it. LOL
Well, anyway, that neighbor has been the only one to reach out to us from the very beginning of our residence so that it wasn't totally unusual for them to inquire. But then, my insurance agent called. I never talked to her, ever. My wife got the insurance and when we had the automobile crash, again my wife handled it. The agent had to call twice because I didn't recognize the caller ID number; she obviously was working from home. The only reason she called was to check on our well being. Not once did she mention insurance or offer anything to sell. Her interest in our welfare seemed genuine.
Now, a couple weeks after the above incidents, I again got an unrecognized phone call. After they called a second time I answered and it was the hospital with which my general practitioner (and all the specialists I see) is affiliated. The lady on the phone identified herself and said she just wanted to be sure we had everything we needed. She even went through a list of possible things that could be helpful. I then asked her about getting me a mask because I can't find them on line or in any of the local pharmacies. She gave the name of two places she knows has them. The hospital orders from one of them and the other is somewhere in St Louis. Thank you very much and yes I will call my doctor if I feel I really need help.
I don't know, Gary, but I'm really impressed with the way people are reaching out to us. It's all very simple and costs them next to nothing, but they are doing something constructive by checking up on us old codgers. I don't recall such an outreach up north. Then again, we never had a pandemic of this magnitude until this year.
It started a couple weeks ago when we were already a month into this official pandemic. The neighbor across the way stopped me to ask how I was doing and if he can help me out in any way. I've mentioned before that I think this neighborhood is filled with closet missionaries and that they are all just doing the work of the lord. Nobody ever mentions religion, but I was raised by a bunch of nuns and can recognize charity when I see it. LOL
Well, anyway, that neighbor has been the only one to reach out to us from the very beginning of our residence so that it wasn't totally unusual for them to inquire. But then, my insurance agent called. I never talked to her, ever. My wife got the insurance and when we had the automobile crash, again my wife handled it. The agent had to call twice because I didn't recognize the caller ID number; she obviously was working from home. The only reason she called was to check on our well being. Not once did she mention insurance or offer anything to sell. Her interest in our welfare seemed genuine.
Now, a couple weeks after the above incidents, I again got an unrecognized phone call. After they called a second time I answered and it was the hospital with which my general practitioner (and all the specialists I see) is affiliated. The lady on the phone identified herself and said she just wanted to be sure we had everything we needed. She even went through a list of possible things that could be helpful. I then asked her about getting me a mask because I can't find them on line or in any of the local pharmacies. She gave the name of two places she knows has them. The hospital orders from one of them and the other is somewhere in St Louis. Thank you very much and yes I will call my doctor if I feel I really need help.
I don't know, Gary, but I'm really impressed with the way people are reaching out to us. It's all very simple and costs them next to nothing, but they are doing something constructive by checking up on us old codgers. I don't recall such an outreach up north. Then again, we never had a pandemic of this magnitude until this year.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
The church I belonged to back in St. Louis has a branch down here that checks on the wife and I about once every 2 or 3 months and have since we moved down here, even though I do not belong to them anymore.
But for the current time. Yes, we are getting calls also, from our medical group, a couple of neighbors we don't even know, and we did have one call from our homeowners insurance company to see if they could bring us some canned goods. I told them no we were OK. Now, one of the neighbors who called I talked to for a bit, but mainly to find out how she got our number. She said she don't know where they got it, but she got it from the Neighborhood Watch group she volunteers for.
I do get calls from both of the companies that supply my durable medical equipment.
I asked about a second oxygen concentrator for my office, and she said if I wait until this pandemic is over, they will be available for a penny on the dollar. The company they buy new ones from, has gone into mass production, making over a 1000 more per month than they normally make, due to the sudden high demand for them.
A company who made something like 10,000 more nebulizers where they only make like 400 per year, is already offering them at cost, or for about 15 bucks each. She doubt's if I can get one from them though because the offer was to medical equipment supply companies first. Besides, we usually sell the ones we take back for only 10 bucks if a client wants to keep one after their insurance payments run out. But beware, don't accept one. Keep the rental because then your mouthpiece and medication is covered by us even after your insurance no longer pays.
I did check into that previously when I was griping about them charging my insurance 55 bucks a month for an item that only costs 35 bucks new. Medicare only pays for like two years, and your supplemental for like three years. But any medical supply company who takes you on, they are stuck providing it after that until you die or change insurance companies, then you have no coverage. So you are stuck with who you have once you are on durable equipment.
But for the current time. Yes, we are getting calls also, from our medical group, a couple of neighbors we don't even know, and we did have one call from our homeowners insurance company to see if they could bring us some canned goods. I told them no we were OK. Now, one of the neighbors who called I talked to for a bit, but mainly to find out how she got our number. She said she don't know where they got it, but she got it from the Neighborhood Watch group she volunteers for.
I do get calls from both of the companies that supply my durable medical equipment.
I asked about a second oxygen concentrator for my office, and she said if I wait until this pandemic is over, they will be available for a penny on the dollar. The company they buy new ones from, has gone into mass production, making over a 1000 more per month than they normally make, due to the sudden high demand for them.
A company who made something like 10,000 more nebulizers where they only make like 400 per year, is already offering them at cost, or for about 15 bucks each. She doubt's if I can get one from them though because the offer was to medical equipment supply companies first. Besides, we usually sell the ones we take back for only 10 bucks if a client wants to keep one after their insurance payments run out. But beware, don't accept one. Keep the rental because then your mouthpiece and medication is covered by us even after your insurance no longer pays.
I did check into that previously when I was griping about them charging my insurance 55 bucks a month for an item that only costs 35 bucks new. Medicare only pays for like two years, and your supplemental for like three years. But any medical supply company who takes you on, they are stuck providing it after that until you die or change insurance companies, then you have no coverage. So you are stuck with who you have once you are on durable equipment.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
It's good to know that all this outreach isn't confined to where I live. It's just all kind of new to me but probably has been going on since Adam. Maybe part of the motivation is our age. I sometimes hear or read things encouraging people to check up on their elders and older neighbors. It never occurred to me that people would actually do it.
I think the economy and the supply chains for just about everything is going to go topsy turvy, if it has not done so already. Take inhalators for example. There is going to be an over abundance of those once the virus settles down. I read an interesting comment about oil, and how much there is of it floating around unused these days. In fact there is so much that there no long is anywhere in the world to store it. This is causing the price of oil to go negative. Texas crude recently closed at -$37.50 a bbl. In other words the oil company is paying the buyers to take the oil off their hands. The reason they are doing this is because they don't want to cap any wells and shut them down. Restarting them when this crisis is over would be very costly. It's cheaper to pay people to take your the oil away. But, then, there is no place to put that excess oil. Interestingly enough, Brent Crude, the stuff the Arabs sell, is positively priced; somewhere around $25 a bbl. I guess it's cleaner crude but the differential in pricing is amazing.
I think the economy and the supply chains for just about everything is going to go topsy turvy, if it has not done so already. Take inhalators for example. There is going to be an over abundance of those once the virus settles down. I read an interesting comment about oil, and how much there is of it floating around unused these days. In fact there is so much that there no long is anywhere in the world to store it. This is causing the price of oil to go negative. Texas crude recently closed at -$37.50 a bbl. In other words the oil company is paying the buyers to take the oil off their hands. The reason they are doing this is because they don't want to cap any wells and shut them down. Restarting them when this crisis is over would be very costly. It's cheaper to pay people to take your the oil away. But, then, there is no place to put that excess oil. Interestingly enough, Brent Crude, the stuff the Arabs sell, is positively priced; somewhere around $25 a bbl. I guess it's cleaner crude but the differential in pricing is amazing.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
We have a lot of dairies here dumping milk. While stores are limiting folks to only one or two gallons at a time.
There are only so many packaging plants making gallon and half-gallon sizes for consumers, and they are still running at full or even more than top production.
However, those who package milk in bags for milk machines in restaurants, and small cartons for schools, their source of sales is currently nil. The industrial use of milk is also nearly at a standstill.
And those places are what accounted for the sale of milk in huge train car volume.
The cows still make the milk, and must be milked or dry up and be worthless.
So the diary farmers are still working their butts off just to dump what isn't being sold.
One cannery who makes condensed milk in cans, helped a little by leasing two whole warehouses to store canned milk, but they are now full too, so they cut off buying any more milk. And the cheese makers are overloaded too.
The place where I buy my bottles has always changed the price based on the cost of the plastic used. Normally it was always going up a little here and there, then perhaps down a little.
I got an e-mail from them a couple of days ago, and if I had room to store another 20 cases of bottles and caps, they would sell me all 20 cases for the price of only 5 cases, and the shipping charge would only be for 10 cases. Shame I can't swing it right now, nor do I have any place to store 20 cases. But the offer sure is tempting, and I'm still considering it.
Ironically, with everyone stuck at home, many of the aquarists who buy my product from the outlets for it, are paying more attention to their systems. I had just shipped a larger than normal order to each of the distributors in January and February, and know of another order coming in early May from the main distributor. Sounds good, except the lab who makes my enzymes is busy making other things and performing testing as per government orders. So even if I got an order I couldn't get all of the ingredients I need, much less the bulk ingredients which are limited to 2 per customer.
I have been having the frau pick up one of the ingredients each time she is out, although I hate paying retail for them, at least the price is way down right now on them though. They are not panic items.
There are only so many packaging plants making gallon and half-gallon sizes for consumers, and they are still running at full or even more than top production.
However, those who package milk in bags for milk machines in restaurants, and small cartons for schools, their source of sales is currently nil. The industrial use of milk is also nearly at a standstill.
And those places are what accounted for the sale of milk in huge train car volume.
The cows still make the milk, and must be milked or dry up and be worthless.
So the diary farmers are still working their butts off just to dump what isn't being sold.
One cannery who makes condensed milk in cans, helped a little by leasing two whole warehouses to store canned milk, but they are now full too, so they cut off buying any more milk. And the cheese makers are overloaded too.
The place where I buy my bottles has always changed the price based on the cost of the plastic used. Normally it was always going up a little here and there, then perhaps down a little.
I got an e-mail from them a couple of days ago, and if I had room to store another 20 cases of bottles and caps, they would sell me all 20 cases for the price of only 5 cases, and the shipping charge would only be for 10 cases. Shame I can't swing it right now, nor do I have any place to store 20 cases. But the offer sure is tempting, and I'm still considering it.
Ironically, with everyone stuck at home, many of the aquarists who buy my product from the outlets for it, are paying more attention to their systems. I had just shipped a larger than normal order to each of the distributors in January and February, and know of another order coming in early May from the main distributor. Sounds good, except the lab who makes my enzymes is busy making other things and performing testing as per government orders. So even if I got an order I couldn't get all of the ingredients I need, much less the bulk ingredients which are limited to 2 per customer.
I have been having the frau pick up one of the ingredients each time she is out, although I hate paying retail for them, at least the price is way down right now on them though. They are not panic items.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
That milk situation is suffering from the same things that the oil industry is seeing right now. In fact quite a few industrial suppliers are at a stand still due to the lack of demand. I don't quite understand why the industrial supply chain can't convert over to consumer manufacturing. We don't really need pretty paper around our toilet tissue rolls, for example, and I have no objections to picking rolls off a pallet instead of a nicely painted store shelf. If the industrial suppliers could convert even in a small way those empty shelves in the stores could become history. Dumping the milk should be a crime, but I understand why it's happening. Could you possibly qualify for one of those small (very small) business loans to buy those bargain priced bottles? That sounds like and offer too good to pass up.
The pandemic we are living could eventually turn out to be a positive influence on the way the world operates. As I pointed out elsewhere my neighborhood has become alive as I've not seen it before. People are reaching out in ways I never expected. This same kind of thing is happening on a global scale. Your favorite mobster-in-chief is even offering Iran, yes Iran, help in this crisis. Of course there are also countries limiting exports of critically needed goods, but overall even countries are extending themselves to help their neighbors. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this behavior continued when there was no pandemic?
The pandemic we are living could eventually turn out to be a positive influence on the way the world operates. As I pointed out elsewhere my neighborhood has become alive as I've not seen it before. People are reaching out in ways I never expected. This same kind of thing is happening on a global scale. Your favorite mobster-in-chief is even offering Iran, yes Iran, help in this crisis. Of course there are also countries limiting exports of critically needed goods, but overall even countries are extending themselves to help their neighbors. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this behavior continued when there was no pandemic?
Re: Outdated Medical Software
I normally buy Array brand TP for myself, it comes from the commercial supply sources, so availability was never short.
Several stores did get commercial grade TP so they were not totally sold out, but they had to send trucks to pick it up themselves in most cases.
The cows don't quit giving milk, and when the sales avenue dries up, what do you do with the milk?
The frau is freezing milk in ice cube trays to use in things that require a small amount of milk, but you can freeze it in bulk and thaw for drinking unfortunately.
The tire company a late uncle worked for had to shut down also. I don't know what all goes into making the ingredients used to make tires, but they cannot get it right now, and even if they could, nobody is buying tires either.
Up until they couldn't get the ingredients, they were still running at half-production to stock up warehouses around the country. But now, they decided to close temporarily.
Um, how much did you say Obama gave to the terrorists?
I do know the top brass from DHL, FedEx, UPS, and a few others are meeting together with the Heads of the Postal Service. The purpose is not what the sources first claimed either! Turns out it was more about Share Routes to cut costs, and give more to the Postal Service to help them with a boost. UPS has already been passing a lot of deliveries to the Postal Service, and DHL has followed in suit. They were not after trying to carry local mail as was first reported, quite the opposite. As one spokesman said, it doesn't make sense for FedEx to follow a DHL truck who is following a UPS truck on the same delivery routes each day. But no Parcel Carrier should give up their established pick-up accounts. The allocated delivery routes will be shared post-terminal in sorting for delivery routes.
Many of the OTR companies are already doing this to cut down on smaller local delivery costs.
I know this is how my orders for bottles and caps are handled. LF Express brings the order from St. Louis, MO to a hub in TN and Volunteer Trucking is who delivers my order to my house. It would cost 40 bucks more to have LF Express deliver to my door. So in some cases, I guess double handling does save money.
From what I understand, when I place an order, the delivery date is unknown at that time, simply because I'm on the list for ship when full. Meaning the LF Express trailer my order goes onto does not leave their dock until the trailer is full going to their hub in TN. But after their trailer is here, I get an e-mail notification of when Volunteer Trucking will be delivering on my route. Often it is a the day after the LF Express truck drops off their trailer. Using delivery when full saves 20% off the normal shipping costs. I don't know the bottle company pays LF or how much LF pays Volunteer, but it must be profitable for both, while being cheaper for me, so all is good.
Several stores did get commercial grade TP so they were not totally sold out, but they had to send trucks to pick it up themselves in most cases.
The cows don't quit giving milk, and when the sales avenue dries up, what do you do with the milk?
The frau is freezing milk in ice cube trays to use in things that require a small amount of milk, but you can freeze it in bulk and thaw for drinking unfortunately.
The tire company a late uncle worked for had to shut down also. I don't know what all goes into making the ingredients used to make tires, but they cannot get it right now, and even if they could, nobody is buying tires either.
Up until they couldn't get the ingredients, they were still running at half-production to stock up warehouses around the country. But now, they decided to close temporarily.
Um, how much did you say Obama gave to the terrorists?
I do know the top brass from DHL, FedEx, UPS, and a few others are meeting together with the Heads of the Postal Service. The purpose is not what the sources first claimed either! Turns out it was more about Share Routes to cut costs, and give more to the Postal Service to help them with a boost. UPS has already been passing a lot of deliveries to the Postal Service, and DHL has followed in suit. They were not after trying to carry local mail as was first reported, quite the opposite. As one spokesman said, it doesn't make sense for FedEx to follow a DHL truck who is following a UPS truck on the same delivery routes each day. But no Parcel Carrier should give up their established pick-up accounts. The allocated delivery routes will be shared post-terminal in sorting for delivery routes.
Many of the OTR companies are already doing this to cut down on smaller local delivery costs.
I know this is how my orders for bottles and caps are handled. LF Express brings the order from St. Louis, MO to a hub in TN and Volunteer Trucking is who delivers my order to my house. It would cost 40 bucks more to have LF Express deliver to my door. So in some cases, I guess double handling does save money.
From what I understand, when I place an order, the delivery date is unknown at that time, simply because I'm on the list for ship when full. Meaning the LF Express trailer my order goes onto does not leave their dock until the trailer is full going to their hub in TN. But after their trailer is here, I get an e-mail notification of when Volunteer Trucking will be delivering on my route. Often it is a the day after the LF Express truck drops off their trailer. Using delivery when full saves 20% off the normal shipping costs. I don't know the bottle company pays LF or how much LF pays Volunteer, but it must be profitable for both, while being cheaper for me, so all is good.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
The latest brilliancy to come out of the Executive Branch of our government is to privatize the US Postal Service. I think that idea has been floating around since the days of DDE but somehow congress always manages to save the day. The argument is that government isn't as efficient as private industry, but your story about the meetings between the USPS and delivery companies sounds like they got their acts together. The prison system is well on its way to being totally privatized for the same claims made against the post office. Not sure how it applies to mail, but private companies running prisons want to increase volume and not reduce it as is the current line of thought. Keep in mind the sacred corporate maxim, Maximize Profits. I have a gut feeling that private delivery of mail might be efficient if you don't mind paying the $7 to send a first class letter, under one ounce of weight. 
Re: Outdated Medical Software
I've actually studied a little bit about the postal service. Not only looking at individual branches, but also at the sorting centers and cross-country distribution hubs.
I do agree, they are not very efficient being run by the government, but in reality, they are not losing money.
That being said, they may be wasting a lot they shouldn't be wasting. And giving too big of discounts to some bulk mail types. But most of the increases we've had in first class postage over the past few decades has mostly been due to waste and even less efficiency than previously followed.
Working for companies that handled deliveries, from a low amount of deliveries to large amounts of deliveries, both residential and commercial. I'm fairly well tuned to logistics.
From routing drivers for our florist, driving for a courier service, to driving a bus and OTR. Plus running a small newspaper route for a local newspaper with home delivery. It is easy to see which forms of delivery cost the most, and which forms cost the least. And believe me when I say, a postal route is the very cheapest form of delivery possible.
A route is not determined by the number of mailboxes, it is determined by the time it takes to run each route.
They try to balance the routes to the same time length. So a route could have anywhere from 150 stops rural, to 500 stops city, accounting for over 1500 mailboxes on the route, but not a stop at each one each day.
An average number of mailboxes on a suburban route is 600 to 1200, however, the average number of stops is only around 350 stops. Even bulk mail to all addresses in an area are not distributed in the same day, unless they are CarRTPreSort. Unsorted, unaddressed, bulk flyers, are only delivered to the actual stops for that day, which is why it has the lowest mailing rate. It does not have to be sorted, it does not add to the drivers number of stops, and doesn't really increase the time of the stop by more than perhaps a couple of minutes for the entire day. If you don't get mail that day, you may not receive a flyer from Bob's Lawn Service, or the new Dog Grooming Parlor.
The average number of first class mail pieces per stop is only 2. You may only get 1 per day, but your neighbor may get 3 to 5. But based on the entire route of 350 stops, something like 875 pieces of mail are first class, and triple that amount in Pre-Sorted First class at a reduced mailing rate. If the Pre-sorted box has an error in the sort, that mail goes back, the mailman does not back up to a box to put it into the box. He may place it for the next days delivery which then requires manual sorting, but it is rare for it to be not sorted properly per route path.
Only counting the true First Class mail deliveries at 55 cents each times 875 pieces = $480.00 in paid postage.
Add to that 1750 pre-sorts at 27 cents per piece = $472.50
We'll exclude the lower priced fliers and the few parcels he is delivering along the route.
The driver of each suburban route is delivering close to $1000.00 worth of mail each day.
A $40,000.00 van traded in every 4 years, costs about $16,000.00 a year to operate, $45.00 per day.
A floral driver makes about 35 stops per day, so the cost of the truck for that delivery is around $1.25 per stop.
A postal driver makes about 350 stops per day, so the vehicle cost is under 13 cents per stop.
Fuel is about the same in either case, maybe higher for the floral driver because the stops are further apart.
The floral driver carries about $700.00 worth of flowers each day.
The postal driver carries about $1000.00 worth of mail each day.
Which one is making the most profit per driver?
I can get into the sorting house equipment and labor.
The individual post office cost and labor.
And the transportation between hubs.
But it comes out about the same for any business you are in.
All I can say is: what is the post office doing with all that money?
They have the best delivery method as far as logistics goes.
They have established routes which rarely change.
The stops are all close together, closer than any other delivery system.
They use their trucks longer than most delivery companies.
Albeit their maintenance costs are slightly higher due to constant starting and stopping.
FWIW: it is said UPS has the lowest vehicle maintenance cost of any parcel service.
But not as low as the maintenance costs disclosed by the USPS.
RPS used to be the highest, but they are no longer in business.
FedEx truck maintenance is higher than UPS, and DHL's is higher than FedEx.
I was told the cost of the bus I was driving was around $50,000.00 a year.
Which is about the same as what a Tractor/Trailer Tractor costs per year.
Based on my number of passengers per day, I don't see how they made any money at all.
However, they must be making money somehow. I don't know what the fare each passenger paid was either.
Or if they got grants to run certain routes like the lousy one I was stuck on.
That being said, I did know a private bus owner who made money had over fist.
He only ran from one parking lot he owned, to four stops downtown.
Same route every day, same stops every day.
He parked the bus downtown during the day, because he worked downtown too.
Ironically, each passenger was paying a different price too. And they actually set the price themselves.
It was based on how much it cost to drive their own car, pay for parking, and drive back home again.
Whatever that amount they determined was, he charged them 1/2 of the figure they gave him.
Of course, over time, new riders got wind of how he charged, so he had to come up with a new way of calculating what he charged, which was usually higher than his other fares.
By the way, he got a new bus every two years too while the trade-in was still high on his bus.
I do agree, they are not very efficient being run by the government, but in reality, they are not losing money.
That being said, they may be wasting a lot they shouldn't be wasting. And giving too big of discounts to some bulk mail types. But most of the increases we've had in first class postage over the past few decades has mostly been due to waste and even less efficiency than previously followed.
Working for companies that handled deliveries, from a low amount of deliveries to large amounts of deliveries, both residential and commercial. I'm fairly well tuned to logistics.
From routing drivers for our florist, driving for a courier service, to driving a bus and OTR. Plus running a small newspaper route for a local newspaper with home delivery. It is easy to see which forms of delivery cost the most, and which forms cost the least. And believe me when I say, a postal route is the very cheapest form of delivery possible.
A route is not determined by the number of mailboxes, it is determined by the time it takes to run each route.
They try to balance the routes to the same time length. So a route could have anywhere from 150 stops rural, to 500 stops city, accounting for over 1500 mailboxes on the route, but not a stop at each one each day.
An average number of mailboxes on a suburban route is 600 to 1200, however, the average number of stops is only around 350 stops. Even bulk mail to all addresses in an area are not distributed in the same day, unless they are CarRTPreSort. Unsorted, unaddressed, bulk flyers, are only delivered to the actual stops for that day, which is why it has the lowest mailing rate. It does not have to be sorted, it does not add to the drivers number of stops, and doesn't really increase the time of the stop by more than perhaps a couple of minutes for the entire day. If you don't get mail that day, you may not receive a flyer from Bob's Lawn Service, or the new Dog Grooming Parlor.
The average number of first class mail pieces per stop is only 2. You may only get 1 per day, but your neighbor may get 3 to 5. But based on the entire route of 350 stops, something like 875 pieces of mail are first class, and triple that amount in Pre-Sorted First class at a reduced mailing rate. If the Pre-sorted box has an error in the sort, that mail goes back, the mailman does not back up to a box to put it into the box. He may place it for the next days delivery which then requires manual sorting, but it is rare for it to be not sorted properly per route path.
Only counting the true First Class mail deliveries at 55 cents each times 875 pieces = $480.00 in paid postage.
Add to that 1750 pre-sorts at 27 cents per piece = $472.50
We'll exclude the lower priced fliers and the few parcels he is delivering along the route.
The driver of each suburban route is delivering close to $1000.00 worth of mail each day.
A $40,000.00 van traded in every 4 years, costs about $16,000.00 a year to operate, $45.00 per day.
A floral driver makes about 35 stops per day, so the cost of the truck for that delivery is around $1.25 per stop.
A postal driver makes about 350 stops per day, so the vehicle cost is under 13 cents per stop.
Fuel is about the same in either case, maybe higher for the floral driver because the stops are further apart.
The floral driver carries about $700.00 worth of flowers each day.
The postal driver carries about $1000.00 worth of mail each day.
Which one is making the most profit per driver?
I can get into the sorting house equipment and labor.
The individual post office cost and labor.
And the transportation between hubs.
But it comes out about the same for any business you are in.
All I can say is: what is the post office doing with all that money?
They have the best delivery method as far as logistics goes.
They have established routes which rarely change.
The stops are all close together, closer than any other delivery system.
They use their trucks longer than most delivery companies.
Albeit their maintenance costs are slightly higher due to constant starting and stopping.
FWIW: it is said UPS has the lowest vehicle maintenance cost of any parcel service.
But not as low as the maintenance costs disclosed by the USPS.
RPS used to be the highest, but they are no longer in business.
FedEx truck maintenance is higher than UPS, and DHL's is higher than FedEx.
I was told the cost of the bus I was driving was around $50,000.00 a year.
Which is about the same as what a Tractor/Trailer Tractor costs per year.
Based on my number of passengers per day, I don't see how they made any money at all.
However, they must be making money somehow. I don't know what the fare each passenger paid was either.
Or if they got grants to run certain routes like the lousy one I was stuck on.
That being said, I did know a private bus owner who made money had over fist.
He only ran from one parking lot he owned, to four stops downtown.
Same route every day, same stops every day.
He parked the bus downtown during the day, because he worked downtown too.
Ironically, each passenger was paying a different price too. And they actually set the price themselves.
It was based on how much it cost to drive their own car, pay for parking, and drive back home again.
Whatever that amount they determined was, he charged them 1/2 of the figure they gave him.
Of course, over time, new riders got wind of how he charged, so he had to come up with a new way of calculating what he charged, which was usually higher than his other fares.
By the way, he got a new bus every two years too while the trade-in was still high on his bus.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
I imagine that being the businessman that you are it would be to your benefit to know how the delivery system works. The current concern over at the USPS is basically from outside the system. The president claims they need to renegotiate the deals they have with UPS, FedEx and their likes. They aren't being charged enough. That could be true for all I know. Even if it is true I don't see what the advantage would be of changing ownership to private enterprises.
Your comment about bulk mail only being delivered to the regular stops is interesting. I had no idea it worked that way, but it does make sense. It''s not adding to the cost of delivery, so bulk mail should be cheap.
The stores I shop have run out of or stopped selling two brands of juice that I like. This is frustrating even when there is no panic buying going on. So I went on line and a lot of the places are indeed out of stock. I could not get both from the same shop and had to order from two different places. It was "free" deliver in both cases, but I can tell from the price that they were making a profit in excess of what I'd pay in the store. Anyway, just about every web site now has a disclaimer that you may or may not get your order this century because the virus is shutting things down. I don't need this juice right away so that was not a problem. The first place was located up north near where I used to live. I'm sure it was a distribution center because the juice is actually made in some other state. It took two days to get here in spite of the warning it could take two weeks. The second juice came from an Amazon drop shipper who I think is in Kansas. That one arrived in three days. I'm thinking this quick delivery time is good news and was totally unexpected. Then again, who else but me buys juice on line?
Your comment about bulk mail only being delivered to the regular stops is interesting. I had no idea it worked that way, but it does make sense. It''s not adding to the cost of delivery, so bulk mail should be cheap.
The stores I shop have run out of or stopped selling two brands of juice that I like. This is frustrating even when there is no panic buying going on. So I went on line and a lot of the places are indeed out of stock. I could not get both from the same shop and had to order from two different places. It was "free" deliver in both cases, but I can tell from the price that they were making a profit in excess of what I'd pay in the store. Anyway, just about every web site now has a disclaimer that you may or may not get your order this century because the virus is shutting things down. I don't need this juice right away so that was not a problem. The first place was located up north near where I used to live. I'm sure it was a distribution center because the juice is actually made in some other state. It took two days to get here in spite of the warning it could take two weeks. The second juice came from an Amazon drop shipper who I think is in Kansas. That one arrived in three days. I'm thinking this quick delivery time is good news and was totally unexpected. Then again, who else but me buys juice on line?
Re: Outdated Medical Software
My first wife's dad worked for REA (Railway Express Agency) as a driver for years after he worked on the trains themselves.
He blew up at me when I told him he should consider another job, because REA was going to go belly-up soon.
Said to me, they've been in business for over 100 years and will not be going anywhere anytime soon, much less in my lifetime.
Here's the thing, I saw the writing on the wall so to speak. REA relied on the trains, and for that reason usually had unusual pick-up requests. A lot of bags from college kids between sessions, and of course deliveries to companies who's products were shipped by train. Plus they did add OTR between terminals and hubs to add more cargo than ever before.
But their prices were way out of line, often more than double of UPS, FedEx, RPS (one of their main rail competitors), and of course DHL. Now companies shipping by rail got the best deals, but it didn't help much.
All, not just some, but ALL of the manufacturing companies I knew who at one time used REA for shipping to major cities, now shipped via UPS, because UPS hit the smaller towns too, and gave them bulk rates.
Well, sure enough, it was only about two or three years later REA shut down.
At his age, he couldn't find another job doing the same thing, so I hired him to work at the flower shop as an OTR driver for the greenhouse at first, but then as a delivery driver a year later. He didn't like the really big rigs, and preferred a step-van. But the greenhouse didn't have enough local accounts to have so many step van drivers. He did enjoy driving for the flower shop though and was with us long after his daughter and I were divorced. He could have retired, but stayed with us until the florist closed down.
I had an uncle who worked for the USPS, although he was never a driver per se, he quickly worked his way up to a management position, and then climbed higher at was transferred to the main downtown center, where he stayed until he retired. If you went to his house, he had several plaques on his wall issued to him by the USPS for various achievements.
Sad thing though, he only lived for like three or four years after he retired. Always healthy, then got cancer that took him really fast. At least he had a huge pension for his wife!
Not all Bulk Mail. If it is CarRTPresort it gets delivered. Only the non-sorted, bulk flyers, without addresses on them, do they skip over if they don't have to stop at that mailbox. Most of our grocery store ads and coupon pages come this way in like a bundle of newspaper reprints. I'm sure you get them too. If you look, you'll see they are not addressed. Some are which makes them Pre-sort and do get delivered to every box. Heck about a month ago, we got a flyer about a lost dog that we know was delivered by the mailman. It's illegal for someone to put a flyer in your mailbox, although it does happen sometimes. But this was bundled with the pack of advertising papers. We get single flyers like this from time to time, sometimes all by themselves also.
Don't forget, it FROZE down in Florida, and also in California which wiped out a lot of blooms on fruit trees, and when this happens there is often a shortage. Although, many juice companies supplement the fruits they use from overseas or down from Mexico. Companies like Simply Orange are very short on product right now, since they are local Florida farms that produce their product.
There's a bird out on my feeder just swinging his beak back and forth to knock seeds to the ground. Then he flies down to the ground to eat for a while. It's interesting how the different breeds of birds seem to take turns at the feeders.
He blew up at me when I told him he should consider another job, because REA was going to go belly-up soon.
Said to me, they've been in business for over 100 years and will not be going anywhere anytime soon, much less in my lifetime.
Here's the thing, I saw the writing on the wall so to speak. REA relied on the trains, and for that reason usually had unusual pick-up requests. A lot of bags from college kids between sessions, and of course deliveries to companies who's products were shipped by train. Plus they did add OTR between terminals and hubs to add more cargo than ever before.
But their prices were way out of line, often more than double of UPS, FedEx, RPS (one of their main rail competitors), and of course DHL. Now companies shipping by rail got the best deals, but it didn't help much.
All, not just some, but ALL of the manufacturing companies I knew who at one time used REA for shipping to major cities, now shipped via UPS, because UPS hit the smaller towns too, and gave them bulk rates.
Well, sure enough, it was only about two or three years later REA shut down.
At his age, he couldn't find another job doing the same thing, so I hired him to work at the flower shop as an OTR driver for the greenhouse at first, but then as a delivery driver a year later. He didn't like the really big rigs, and preferred a step-van. But the greenhouse didn't have enough local accounts to have so many step van drivers. He did enjoy driving for the flower shop though and was with us long after his daughter and I were divorced. He could have retired, but stayed with us until the florist closed down.
I had an uncle who worked for the USPS, although he was never a driver per se, he quickly worked his way up to a management position, and then climbed higher at was transferred to the main downtown center, where he stayed until he retired. If you went to his house, he had several plaques on his wall issued to him by the USPS for various achievements.
Sad thing though, he only lived for like three or four years after he retired. Always healthy, then got cancer that took him really fast. At least he had a huge pension for his wife!
Not all Bulk Mail. If it is CarRTPresort it gets delivered. Only the non-sorted, bulk flyers, without addresses on them, do they skip over if they don't have to stop at that mailbox. Most of our grocery store ads and coupon pages come this way in like a bundle of newspaper reprints. I'm sure you get them too. If you look, you'll see they are not addressed. Some are which makes them Pre-sort and do get delivered to every box. Heck about a month ago, we got a flyer about a lost dog that we know was delivered by the mailman. It's illegal for someone to put a flyer in your mailbox, although it does happen sometimes. But this was bundled with the pack of advertising papers. We get single flyers like this from time to time, sometimes all by themselves also.
Don't forget, it FROZE down in Florida, and also in California which wiped out a lot of blooms on fruit trees, and when this happens there is often a shortage. Although, many juice companies supplement the fruits they use from overseas or down from Mexico. Companies like Simply Orange are very short on product right now, since they are local Florida farms that produce their product.
There's a bird out on my feeder just swinging his beak back and forth to knock seeds to the ground. Then he flies down to the ground to eat for a while. It's interesting how the different breeds of birds seem to take turns at the feeders.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
Some birds are crazy. The underside of my deck is a hotel for two families of unidentified birds. Not sure what happened but last year there were three. There is no shortage of birds in our neighborhood and sometimes I think there may be too many and not enough places for them to build a nest. Anyway, there is this male cardinal that wants to come into our house. We are situated on a hill with the front end of the house buried in dirt but the back side is open. We have a walk out basement with a large sliding door. Just above it is the bird nursery. Next to that are the living room and bedroom windows. One day this beautiful red cardinal was hanging onto the screen outside the living room window. He stayed there for a few minutes and I was beginning to wonder if he was stuck and could not get away. When I got close enough for him to see me, he flew off.
That was unusual but my wife says she has seen that bird do that exact same thing a few times already. The really odd thing is that this bird flies into the window glass. He bounces off of course, but apparently can't tell it's a solid piece of material. Over the last couple weeks he has attempted to break through the glass on nearly all the windows; both those up high and those at ground level. At least twice I've seen him do the same thing to the neighbor's sliding door across the way. There is something about glass windows that this crazy bird likes.
That was unusual but my wife says she has seen that bird do that exact same thing a few times already. The really odd thing is that this bird flies into the window glass. He bounces off of course, but apparently can't tell it's a solid piece of material. Over the last couple weeks he has attempted to break through the glass on nearly all the windows; both those up high and those at ground level. At least twice I've seen him do the same thing to the neighbor's sliding door across the way. There is something about glass windows that this crazy bird likes.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
After the big hailstorm we saw very few birds, but their numbers are now building back up fast.
I feed the birds right outside my window, and every so often, one will smash into the glass.
I put a few gummy stickers on the windows which keeps them from hitting it so often.
The problem is, the way birds see, the glass is basically invisible to them.
When they pinpoint their eyes on something, perhaps a landing place inside your house, they don't see the glass anymore than we do when we look outside and focus on a bird in a tree. We don't notice the glass there either, and we don't have the zoom lens they have, hi hi.
One of my bird feeders is a shallow long pan on the window ledge against the window. Most of the birds that come to it know there is glass there. But if something startles them and they take flight, sometimes they find themselves trying to fly through the glass which is comical in a way.
We have this one Cardinal that is about 1/3 larger than all the rest. I saw him last year a few times, then this year he has become a regular at the feeder out on the fence row. Usually you'll see the male and females coming together, but not this big guy, always by himself. For a while I wasn't sure if it was a Cardinal, but he is, all the same markings, color, and beak. He's not fat, just bigger than the rest by a noticeable difference in size.
A little research shows there are actually 19 species of Cardinals, and the ones we normally see are Northern Cardinals, or Cardinalis Cardinalis. A slightly larger Cardinalis Richmonda is often seen in the southern states and is normally found in abundance in northern Mexico.
Every once in a while I see a blue bird or two, larger than finches, but never long enough to study them to see what they really are. We've also had a few budgerigars (commonly called parakeets) that escaped from their owners appear at the feeder every so often, but not on a regular basis.
I feed the birds right outside my window, and every so often, one will smash into the glass.
I put a few gummy stickers on the windows which keeps them from hitting it so often.
The problem is, the way birds see, the glass is basically invisible to them.
When they pinpoint their eyes on something, perhaps a landing place inside your house, they don't see the glass anymore than we do when we look outside and focus on a bird in a tree. We don't notice the glass there either, and we don't have the zoom lens they have, hi hi.
One of my bird feeders is a shallow long pan on the window ledge against the window. Most of the birds that come to it know there is glass there. But if something startles them and they take flight, sometimes they find themselves trying to fly through the glass which is comical in a way.
We have this one Cardinal that is about 1/3 larger than all the rest. I saw him last year a few times, then this year he has become a regular at the feeder out on the fence row. Usually you'll see the male and females coming together, but not this big guy, always by himself. For a while I wasn't sure if it was a Cardinal, but he is, all the same markings, color, and beak. He's not fat, just bigger than the rest by a noticeable difference in size.
A little research shows there are actually 19 species of Cardinals, and the ones we normally see are Northern Cardinals, or Cardinalis Cardinalis. A slightly larger Cardinalis Richmonda is often seen in the southern states and is normally found in abundance in northern Mexico.
Every once in a while I see a blue bird or two, larger than finches, but never long enough to study them to see what they really are. We've also had a few budgerigars (commonly called parakeets) that escaped from their owners appear at the feeder every so often, but not on a regular basis.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
We have birds here in O'Fallon that I've not seen up in Roselle. Some are as common here as the sparrows were up there, but they are not sparrows. I don't know what they are, but they are good looking. The variety of birds down here is not as great as what I've seen back home. That surprises me a little because it was definitely way more urban up north. Here the country is just half a mile away as the crow flies; no, I've not seen or heard any crows down here either. I have heard an owl but never seen it. Morning doves coo once in a while but there were a nuisance in my old place. I don't expect to see the pheasants here that I saw up there because the terrain here isn't pheasant friendly. There was a blue jay that would visit our back yard forest for many years but it disappeared a few years before we left. No jays of any color have been noted in my ol' Missouri home. I only fed the birds a few years but down here I have not attempted it. That might explain why we don't see too many birds here. When the flowers are blooming we do see a lot of hummingbirds and they were rare up north. Also had deer migrating through my forest about twice a year. Don't expect to see any here. Heck, I rarely see even a horse in Missouiri and not sure I ever saw a cow. I guess they do that down south more than up north were I live.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
And here my wife just made a comment that she doesn't see as many birds here as she did back at my house in Creve Coeur, MO. But then too, I lived there 20 years and had up to six bird feeders of different types too, not counting the hummingbird feeders.
I have five places I feed birds here year round, again not counting hummingbird feeders, but I only feed 4 to 6 ounces in each one, else they waste the food, and it attracts ground critters I don't want.
I do have one place partly under the deck where I put raisins and oats for the chipmunks, and where the squirrels can't get to them too, hi hi.
I had list here of the birds I do see here nearly every day so I wouldn't forget their names, but have lost the list and forgot their names. Old age is the pits, hi hi.
We had a big ole owl perch on a lower branch of our tree year before last for about an hour, I got out my camera to take a picture and just as I raised it up, off he took. It wouldn't have been a very good shot anyhow, through a dirty window with a screen and old bottles lined up in the window. I was way back at my desk too.
We do see a lot of those real small barn owls every night about an hour after sunset.
I had two bat houses at my old house, up in the gables under the eaves, but they only attracted about two or three to each is all. I put one up here on the far end of the house, but never saw a bat use it. I also have a few birdhouses around, one got used often, the others don't seem like they've ever been used at all.
I have one little Smoky Shrew that comes and takes a food wafer I leave for him every night outside my office door. I've only seen him a few times, not that good looking that's for sure. Except for the nose, he almost looks like a super fat rat, and would be mistaken for a mole if he had bigger front feet.
I have five places I feed birds here year round, again not counting hummingbird feeders, but I only feed 4 to 6 ounces in each one, else they waste the food, and it attracts ground critters I don't want.
I do have one place partly under the deck where I put raisins and oats for the chipmunks, and where the squirrels can't get to them too, hi hi.
I had list here of the birds I do see here nearly every day so I wouldn't forget their names, but have lost the list and forgot their names. Old age is the pits, hi hi.
We had a big ole owl perch on a lower branch of our tree year before last for about an hour, I got out my camera to take a picture and just as I raised it up, off he took. It wouldn't have been a very good shot anyhow, through a dirty window with a screen and old bottles lined up in the window. I was way back at my desk too.
We do see a lot of those real small barn owls every night about an hour after sunset.
I had two bat houses at my old house, up in the gables under the eaves, but they only attracted about two or three to each is all. I put one up here on the far end of the house, but never saw a bat use it. I also have a few birdhouses around, one got used often, the others don't seem like they've ever been used at all.
I have one little Smoky Shrew that comes and takes a food wafer I leave for him every night outside my office door. I've only seen him a few times, not that good looking that's for sure. Except for the nose, he almost looks like a super fat rat, and would be mistaken for a mole if he had bigger front feet.
Re: Outdated Medical Software
I'm not sure where I saw this, but it was up north near the outskirts of town. I guess some birds don't fly south for the winter and if you are concerned enough for their welfare you can build a bird hotel. It's just a stack of straw near the trees. Hang some suet from the tree branches and sprinkle seed about liberally. It doesn't take long and those stacks of straw become heavily populated with birds of all kind. They burrow into it and nest there for the duration. They make a heck of a racket too, which is how I spotted this hotel in the first place. Not too long after that sighting I read an article in a magazine explaining how to build it all. The only congregation of birds I've seen during the winter are those that sit on the power lines. The amazing thing is how may of them perch there for so long. That would seem like the last place I'd want to be if I were a bird. LOL
Re: Outdated Medical Software
Dang it, I just lost my entire message again.
Sometimes I can get back, sometimes not.
Sometimes I can get back, sometimes not.