And frankly, it’s damned reliable. It’s very rare for something to really get lost in the mail.
And as a comedian once joked, “You try walking up to some teenager in Times Square and saying, ‘I’ll give you 44 cents if you take this letter to Seattle for me.’”
I agree with Patty O’Furniture that Congress would be within its rights, even without a constitutional amendment, to completely remove the USPS’s monopoly on first-class mail, or to abolish the agency entirely. I would not be terribly surprised to see it happen in my lifetime.
It’s really the cost of junk mail that needs to increase big time. Not only will that reduce use (thereby reducing stress on the system and saving trees, cutting emissions, etc.) it will put the burden back on those with the heaviest consumption. If you can afford to print up a million catalogs for people who have never even heard of your company, you can afford to pay more to mail them than I have to pay to send a birthday card to my cousin in Phoenix.
It’s important to note that, mandate by Congress notwithstanding, the USPS is an independent commercial entity supported solely through sales of products, services and postage. Their only tie to the federal government at this stage is the fact that USPS workers are a part of the federal workers’ pension plan.
Reliability is high. Prices are low. Prices for basic consumers could probably be even lower if the rates for mass consumers were proportionately higher. There should probably also be some method of differing rates for bulk mail that is sent on an opt-in basis and that which is sent out based on purchased address lists or simply to all addresses in a region.
They could change it to once a week for all I care. All I get is bills and junk mail. A few days difference isn’t going to matter.
Just as I was getting to your post I was thinking, I wonder if they could close the POs and stop delivery on a weekday instead of Saturday.
In the poll I voted for stopping Saturday delivery, but keeping POs open out of respect for those of you who work M-F. I dont. If however, all USPS stopped on Wednesdays it would be pretty easy for me to work around.
I agree with this at its base, but barring the government getting out of the mail business, I want Saturday deliveries to continue. I love me my Netflix.
Relatively little of the mail we get is so sensitive that another 2 days (until Monday) would be a huge deal. BUT - a lot of people really need to do their household errands - including mailing stuff - on Saturdays.
As others have commented, I, too, only really care about Saturday delivery of my Netflix fix… so I could pretty much live without mail delivery on the weekend. Ninety percent of what I get in the mail is trash, anyway.
However, I’d really prefer the post office to stay open on Saturdays. It’s hard enough to get to the post office as it is- removing the day when I have the most free time will make it even harder.
Depending on where you live. I live in Chicago and it’s notorious for having bad mail service.
I have had so many things “lost” in the mail. But I think it’s theft. For instance, in my building there are at least 40 flats. The mail carrier will take out the mail for our building, leave all the mail and packages in a cart OUTSIDE the gate. Then walk into the building and opens our mailroom then delivers the mail for this building.
The other mail and packages sit outside for minimum of 15 minutes each day.
On at least three seperate occasions I have had notes left in my mailbox to come get mail or packages and the post office can not find. None of them were ever located. Obviously if I have the slip, telling me to go to the post office and it’s filled out, the mail carrier had the package.
The post office response was, nothing we can do about it, have the sender file a claim. It’s a joke. But I will say that’s Chicago for you. I’m sure it’s better elsewhere
Voted for They can stop mail delivery, but should leave the post offices open.
I moved to one of those oddball places where they don’t deliver. I have to pay for a PO box to get any mail at all. This struck me as very odd when I first got here (I had never heard of the concept), and as even odder when I was told one of the main reasons they do it is so that people can socialize at the post office. Hello? I run into people I know everywhere here. This is not a necessity. This is a small town.
So, honestly, this doesn’t touch me at all. But I can’t say I’d mind anyway. It’s not like something that arrives on Saturday that I’d need to deal with can’t wait until Monday – usually it has to!
They can cut off Saturday mail, I won’t mind. If they cut off all junk mail, they could cut back my mail to twice a week - that would be an great trade as far as I’m concerned…
Post Office? Why do we (the US) even still have one? It is corporate welfare for the direct-mail industry.
i just checked my mail for the first time since October 1. It took me an hour to sort through the crap and I filled a trash can with the junk mail. The only thing I missed was an election while I was out of town everything else was junk and tax docs since i get my bills electronically.
Back in the day, Shadow Jack, the now-deceased Vietnam-vet owner of Shadow Bar in Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy red-light district, would have his girls regularly shave off their pubic hairs, then have the hairs encased in clear plastic for use as key chains and sell them. I sent a few to friends in the States, but one friend in Texas failed to receive his. What he did receive was the envelope that had been ripped open, with a note inside from the post office apologizing for the incident! 
How so?
I voted “other”. For argument’s sake, I’ll stick with my own selfish reasons.
I vote for longer hours but you can close one day. I agree with Thursday. This gives more employees opportunities for longer hours, or for management to split shifts per day to give their people a break. USPS workers get the occasional break for mondays off some times, so let them keep their perk.
With no mail Thursdays, you would have until Saturday to post your bills and what not to make sure they get delivered.
What I’d really like to see is a chance to print labels for registered mail and other stuff from home to be dropped off at a box or office. I can do most of my bills online or at the store in person, but when I need to do “official” business, my only option is to drag my butt out to an office to pay extra for registered mail. Can’t I just print off a bar code from my puter?
I agree that Rx’s and life-dependent drugs shouldn’t be USPS, but don’t they have a package tracker just like UPS or FedEx? These should be purchased as far in advance as allowed by law, and tracked like a hawk. If they get lost, re-order or raise all hell.
That being said, the few items I buy online can be shipped FedEx or UPS, and I can track them.
If you are shipping (or having something shipped to you) via USPS, and it’s important that it get there, use Priority Mail. The package spends less time sitting in a warehouse, and more time bouncing around in the back of a truck on the move. Thus, less opportunity for it to get stolen or misplaced. The service costs a whopping $6. You can also get insurance or delivery confirmation, but I’ve never messed with that and have no idea how it works (or if it works, natch)
I always use USPS if I have the choice, as it is usually cheaper than FedEx or UPS, and because packages from those services get deposited in a package locker at my apartment complex, with the key to the locker in my mailbox. When I was in college, I’d be home all day waiting on a FedEx package, just sitting in the living room playing XBox. I’d finally decide to leave to get dinner or something, and find a little note saying that they had been by and nobody was home. :rolleyes: I ended up having to drive all the way across town to the nearest FedEx Store
On a related note, is it just me, or is the nearest FedEx store by definition always on the far side of whatever city you live in when you need to go to the store to pick up a package?
Anyhow, if they had to reduce delivery/business days, I’d say cut out Monday, giving them a nice two-day offset weekend, and maybe keep the place open an extra hour or two every other day they’re open. This way M-F folks can come to the post office on Saturday to do their business. I’m honestly kinda apathetic towards the Saturday delivery thing. I like the extra day of service, but I rarely get anything THAT time-intensive that waiting another couple days would actually seriously bother me.
Most postal customers (by tonnage) are companies sending “junk mail.” The post office loses money. Therefore, its major customers are not paying enough.
It can be argued that mass mailers pay their fair share. They presort their junk and that makes it easier for the USPS. But the fact remains the service is not self-supporting (at 44 cents). increasing the first class postage will do little good, as there are not a lot of first-class stuff. Closing post offices would work, but is politically impossible.
The solution seems obvious, sell the post office to its employees for a dollar. Let the new corporation sell stamps at whatever price it wants, close whatever post offices it wants and compete with FedEx however it wants.