So the Post office is pretty useless?

[Justa Guy]

Okay I got a few DLC with the summer sale and got access to the Post office. It's a fairly cheap building that makes people happy like a park. However you seemingly need these things every where, and they have a pretty small radius of effect. Add in the sorting stations and your roads become plagued with traffic form all the mail trucks.

All for a service people don't seem to complain about if they don't have it, they treat it just like a park and not a vital service.

[RM1985]

You could also try to activate the "email policy", that way the people send less letters.

[ThisHero]

i think of the post service as literal postal service, as well as a stand in for UPS/amazon/DHL. looking at it this way has made more sense for me of how many post vehicles are in service. works for me.

i view in game taxi cabs as both taxis and uber as well.

[Smokerbait]

Keep in mind the radius of effect does not determine the range of the delivery vans. They can deliver to a wider area, so really don't place a lot of the post offices down.

As for the larger sorting buildings, try to keep them away from busy intersections, and typically close to a highway for easy distribution and getting in and out of the city.

[Justa Guy]

Yeah I did placement pretty good I think, most the sorting stations near a major high way with direct access to it and several are near cargo hubs. It only dropped my traffic from about 85% to 83, and that is with city wide coverage. Something like 15 post offices and 4 sorting stations in a 100k pop city.

Still 10 delivery vans and 2 mail trucks per post office and 20 trucks per sorting station is quite a bit of traffic to worry about. As you say though I do it for looks and imersion than anything else. Same reason I have at least a few of every form of public transit despite things like Blimps being fairly useless.

[RM1985]

You can still adjust the budget for the postal services, just lower it to 80 or 70%.

[me22ca]

I think useless is a bit strong. I've used it to help particular areas upgrade.

It's certainly not necessary, though. Leaving large swaths without post coverage is fine.

[Justa Guy]

I am just over all curious on the happiness provided. The routes declared green is rather small, but as people say they deliver packages all over the city despite that. They are also super cheap for only $80 a week per post office.

But just feels that given traffic is nearly the biggest problem all cities have adding more when you don't have to is a bit harsh considering a park can do as much or better.

[Mr. Monday]

Originally posted by Justa Guy:

...Something like 15 post offices and 4 sorting stations in a 100k pop city...

What's the ratio for sorting facilities? I usually build just two.

[ThisHero]

Originally posted by Mr. Monday:

What's the ratio for sorting facilities? I usually build just two.

I never bothered looking into the ratio. I just monitor whatever sorting facilities I have to see what their free capacity is, and when it is about 80% filled I add another sorting facility. In a ~200K city I think I have three or four sorting facilities and many more post offices.

Originally posted by Justa Guy:

I am just over all curious on the happiness provided. The routes declared green is rather small, but as people say they deliver packages all over the city despite that. They are also super cheap for only $80 a week per post office.

But just feels that given traffic is nearly the biggest problem all cities have adding more when you don't have to is a bit harsh considering a park can do as much or better.

Really it is just about adding increased complexity and 'realism' to a city. As you know, parks are a much better way (meaning no/little traffic) to increase land value compared to postal service. But FedEx/DHL/Amazon/UPS/USPS are a real thing, and building out a city that is capable of supporting those, plus sporting events, concerts, and thousands of tourists can be pretty rewarding when successfully pulled off. These things are not necessary in the strictest sense, they just give a city that little bit of extra flavor.

[Justa Guy]

Originally posted by Mr. Monday:

[.[/quote]

What's the ratio for sorting facilities? I usually build just two.

Hard to say exact numbers. I mostly went with 4 to have one at the four corners of my city, pretty close to the major high way connections. Their use seems to ebb and flow. Some times their at near max with 18-20 of the 20 trucks in use, others they are at zero. I mostly use 4 so the post office trucks don't have to go so far to get the mail sorted or sent out.