# Post Office Closings to Be Announced Today **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 23, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743 "2012-02-23T16:47:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/41 "2012-02-25T22:55:40Z")
I just noticed that I don’t visit the mailbox at the end of my driveway but 3 times a week on the average. I don’t get much stuff thru the mail; I pay bills online, order stuff online, UPS delivers to my door, checks are electronically deposited, and most stuff is “virtual” nowadays – movies, newspapers, radio, magazines, entertainment and education of all kinds. No wonder the USPS doesn’t have a raison d’être anymore. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/42 "2012-02-25T22:59:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I just closed a drop box at one of the UPS stores (not the post office). I rented annually for several years at $135. This year they wanted $220. > > It was convenient for my Ebay and Amazon purchases. The package isn’t sitting on my front steps. When needed, someone can sign for the package. But $220 a year??? Hell no. I’m curious about this - Canada Post doesn’t leave packages on the steps; if it doesn’t fit in your mailbox (or in the package box at the cluster boxes) then they leave you a note and you go pick it up at the nearest post office. No cost, no hassle, just bring proof of address/ID. The USPS doesn’t do this? > [@lindsaybluth](#): > > And if your experience is different it’s certainly not the norm. Interesting that you would assume that your experience _was_ the norm, given the size of the country and the sheer number of facilities in question. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/43 "2012-02-25T23:05:05Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > The USPS doesn’t do this? I’ve only ever had them do that with things that require a signature. UPS and FedEx leave things on my porch, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/44 "2012-02-25T23:07:18Z")
No, the USPS leaves a post card indicating that they missed you and that you need to visit the office to pick up a package. I just had to do this the other day. But I think that **aceplace57** was referring to UPS and Fedex deliveries. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/45 "2012-02-25T23:20:47Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > I’ve never understood this argument. I can put a letter in a box in front of my house, and for 45 cents the USPS will take it anywhere in the country that I want them to. And they do it with remarkable consistency; 99% of the times that something gets "lost in the mail’ it was actually jacked up on one end or the other. I loathe getting stuff via FedEx. The drivers are notorious in my neighborhood for not even attempting delivery, arriving at the door with a sticker already filled out. > [@lindsaybluth](#): > > We’re both fully aware of the fact it’s not actually 45 cents but significantly higher as we pay for their health care and paychecks through our tax dollars. Cite? > [@](#): > > I’ve been to a variety of post offices in multiple cities and the tune is the same: we don’t care about you, just try to get rid of us, we’re lifers and you can pry this job from our cold dead hands. There is no performance review, absolutely no incentive to do a good job. I’ve had postal employees walk away from me while I"m in the middle of a sentence, I’ve had them standing around in groups like truant teenagers, simply not doing _anything_. > > I’ve seen postal employees openly MOCK Asian immigrants trying to get their passports straightened out. I’ve seen them scream at them, as though they’re deaf or dumb. I’ve witnessed them putting on fake Asian-American accents cruelly making fun of them. These are trashy people with absolutely no education making fun of fucking brilliant researchers and engineers at Google, Apple and Carnegie Mellon. > > And if your experience is different it’s certainly not the norm. I mail hundreds of packages every year. I have a small side business selling DVDs, and I send padded envelopes with one or more DVD in each. USPS gets the ones in the same town to the recipient _the next damn day_! They do it for $1.96 for the package with a single DVD. FedEx would charge me $20.40 for the exact same service, or roughly **ten times as much**. > [@Eve](#): > > The Evilton and Viciousville post offices must be very differently staffed than mine, which has pleasant and hard-working employees. If they mock me, they have the decency to do it after I have left. The post office at the end of my block is staffed with pleasant and hardworking people. In fairness, I only deal with three people who staff the front counter, and they may have stuck all the assholes in the back. > [@Musicat](#): > > I just noticed that I don’t visit the mailbox at the end of my driveway but 3 times a week on the average. I don’t get much stuff thru the mail; I pay bills online, order stuff online, UPS delivers to my door, checks are electronically deposited, and most stuff is “virtual” nowadays – movies, newspapers, radio, magazines, entertainment and education of all kinds. No wonder the USPS doesn’t have a raison d’être anymore. I can’t do my DVD delivery virtually. OK, I could upload them to YouTube, but it’s much more difficult to get paid for that and people prefer to have a disc. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/46 "2012-02-26T02:03:56Z")
Nearly all of my husband’s co-workers at the USPS have a college degree. And if any of them are ever caught even being rude to a customer, much less openly mocking them, they will be seriously reprimanded if not fired. He was reprimanded by his supervisor once because a customer felt that he had sarcastically lifted an eyebrow at her. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/47 "2012-02-26T02:59:19Z")
I really don’t understand the loathing some here have for the post office. Have you considered the consequences of doing away with the USPS? Watch FedEx and UPS raise their rates across the board because they don’t have the cash cow revenue delivering bulk mail. If small business can’t deliver their products, they’re gone as well. Anyone want to venture how families will deliver their brownies and cookies to their family members serving overseas? What about the reciprocal agreements among countries delivering mail? Does anyone really believe FedEx and UPS will benefit? Will consumers benefit? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/48 "2012-02-26T05:00:24Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They’re only closing one PO in my town and it’s one that I wasn’t even aware existed. Looking at the address, it’s on the main street of downtown just past the main shopping area. I’ve been right in that area I don’t know how many times. As it happens, I am going to be right across the street from there in half an hour so I’ll have to take a look for it. I’ve passed that PO jillians of times. It’s right below a live music club I go to at least once a month and really close to one of my favorite sushi places and next to a parking lot that I use all the time when I go downtown. It’s also a really dumb place for a PO and there are other ones close by. It makes good sense to shut it down. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/49 "2012-02-26T06:11:02Z")
hah, hajaro. I haven’t lived in town for years, but I knew exactly what PO you were talking about! Is Video Schmideo still there? I used to like hitting that post office with packages because parking was so simple. On the other hand, the main post office seemed to have a more knowledgeable staff. I love USPS and think it is amazing what a great job they do for such low rates. Luckily, none of the post offices closing are near where I live. There is a processing center closing that is about 10 miles away. I hope that doesn’t slow up my Netflix arrivals too much. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/50 "2012-02-26T07:20:05Z")
That’s the one! Video Schmideo is long gone. I remember when Arigato was right next door but now it’s way bigger and on State. The Netflix hub for us used to be in Oxnard but it moved to Goleta last year so I get great Netflix turnaround. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/51 "2012-02-26T15:44:34Z")
> [@pricciar](#): > > I love USPS and think it is amazing what a great job they do for such low rates. > Luckily, none of the post offices closing are near where I live. There is a processing center closing that is about 10 miles away. I hope that doesn’t slow up my Netflix arrivals too much. The first thing is to check the return address on your Netflix envelope and figure out if you were in the local delivery area for the shipping center. If you aren’t getting next day delivery now, then you probably won’t change much. Here is a map of the Netflix shipping centers. [http://www.moviesinhouse.com/articles/netflix-shipping-centers.html](http://www.moviesinhouse.com/articles/netflix-shipping-centers.html) ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/52 "2012-02-26T16:11:02Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Nearly all of my husband’s co-workers at the USPS have a college degree. And if any of them are ever caught even being rude to a customer, much less openly mocking them, they will be seriously reprimanded if not fired. He was reprimanded by his supervisor once because a customer felt that he had sarcastically lifted an eyebrow at her. What kind of college degree? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/53 "2012-02-26T17:40:18Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > What kind of college degree? I dunno. I’ll ask my husband later. He has a B.S. in math and a master’s in…I think also math. (I should probably know this.) Is this important for some reason? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/54 "2012-02-26T18:11:19Z")
OK, well, embarrassingly enough for me, MrWhatsit has just informed me that I am completely full of crap, and he estimates only 1 in 10 of his co-workers have a degree. I swear to God I remember him saying that most of his co-workers had a degree one time before, but apparently that was in some alternate universe or a dream or something. I would like to invite the rest of you to carry on with your fact-based conversation while I slink off and play computer games and pretend this didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/55 "2012-02-26T20:01:17Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > The first thing is to check the return address on your Netflix envelope and figure out if you were in the local delivery area for the shipping center. If you aren’t getting next day delivery now, then you probably won’t change much. > > Here is a map of the Netflix shipping centers. > > [Netflix Shipping Center Information - MoviesInHouse.com](http://www.moviesinhouse.com/articles/netflix-shipping-centers.html) All of the sorting centers in Oregon are closing, except for two in Portland. So if your Netflix distribution center is Salem, you should expect your deliveries and returns of Netflix to be delayed one to two days, unless you live in the Portland metro area. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/56 "2012-02-27T13:03:28Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I dunno. I’ll ask my husband later. He has a B.S. in math and a master’s in…I think also math. (I should probably know this.) Is this important for some reason? Of course it is … If you are trying to make the point that you need a Postal Science degree these days that’s one thing. A (relatively)worthless liberal arts degree is quite another. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/57 "2012-02-27T13:49:07Z")
Uh…what? Postal science degree? WTF are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/58 "2012-02-27T22:08:43Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Just the oposite for me and well everyone in this county. USPS does not deliver. UPS and FedX does. Where in the country do you live where you don’t have mail service? Even UPS and FedEx require postal addresses for delivery, as far as I know. Oh, and **Rand Rover** just wants government not to do this because it’s historically been cheaper than the free market alternatives, which messes with his worldview. Though I admit having it be an independent entity that isn’t directly controlled by congress would be much better, being able to both keep the price down due to no concern for profits and also get around the pesky fact that Congress does really stupid things, like reappropriating a surplus rather than saving it for the inevitable deficit. I mean, surely he doesn’t just have something against people who live in rural communities and wants to cut them off even further from the rest of the country. Surely he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for there not to be any way for the government, whether federal, state, or local, to guarantee contact with someone. Surely he understands that a democracy can’t function if half or more of a country’s citizens are cut off from the world. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/59 "2012-02-27T22:23:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Where in the country do you live where you don’t have mail service? Even UPS and FedEx require postal addresses for delivery, as far as I know. > > Oh, and **Rand Rover** just wants government not to do this because it’s historically been cheaper than the free market alternatives, which messes with his worldview. Though I admit having it be an independent entity that isn’t directly controlled by congress would be much better, being able to both keep the price down due to no concern for profits and also get around the pesky fact that Congress does really stupid things, like reappropriating a surplus rather than saving it for the inevitable deficit. > > I mean, surely he doesn’t just have something against people who live in rural communities and wants to cut them off even further from the rest of the country. Surely he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for there not to be any way for the government, whether federal, state, or local, to guarantee contact with someone. Surely he understands that a democracy can’t function if half or more of a country’s citizens are cut off from the world. The usps is cheaper because it is paid for with tax revenue–it’s a publicly supported failing business. That doesn’t mess with my worldview, it show its merit (ie, that it is ridiculous to have a publicly supported entity performing a private function). Your last paragraph is just standard speculation about the motives of fiscal conservatives, which deserves no.response. if you could argue on a policy level, then presumably you would, so I’ll take that paragraph as an admission that you can’t. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743/60 "2012-02-27T22:29:32Z")
The USPS is not paid for with tax revenue. Not even a little bit. Edit: Correction, $96 million of the USPS’s annual budget of around $70 billion is tax revenue. > **[About the US Postal Service: Agency or Private Business?](https://www.thoughtco.com/about-the-us-postal-service-3321146)** > > Is the US Postal Service a government agency or a private business? Since 1970, it has been, for better or worse, a bit of both. > [@](#): > > The USPS does get some taxpayer support. Around $96 million is budgeted annually by Congress for the “Postal Service Fund.” These funds are used to compensate USPS for postage-free mailing for all legally blind persons and for mail-in election ballots sent from US citizens living overseas. A portion of the funds also pays USPS for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-office-closings-to-be-announced-today/613743.md?page=4)