# The USPS closes. What will be the result? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 5, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295 "2011-09-05T18:24:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/141 "2011-09-27T10:43:02Z")
> [@jacobsta811](#): > > Answering the OP rather than the tangent, I think that if the USPS shut down, little would change for people in the cities (except mail rates might get cheaper). Fedex + UPS would pick up the USPS mail business city to city no problem. Rural areas would get screwed - Fedex/UPS would probably simply fail to deliver to a lot of addresses and you would have to drive to the nearest major town/city to get your mail at all. Possibly there might be some sort of service introduced where your letter mail gets opened and scanned at the source and you login via the internet to view and print it, and if it is something like a check or money or something you have X days to indicate you want it delivered to your nearest UPS facility for added cost, else it gets shredded. This. We need only look to countries without a reliable postal service, e.g. Mexico (though that one has improved in recent years), to see this scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Khendrask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@Khendrask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khendrask)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/142 "2011-09-28T14:48:22Z")
> [@bump](#): > > **Chronos** already said that in his post. > > Basically FedEx and UPS will deliver themselves where it’s convenient, but where it’s not convenient (i.e. to some podunk town of 75 people 10 miles outside of the “big town” of 500 people), they’ll pay the postage for the USPS to deliver it for them. Bull. You don’t get more ‘podunk’ then my house, and both FedEx and UPS deliver there often. 45 miles away from their nearest distribution centers (which are across the street from each other). USPS never delivers anything shipped by UPS / FedEx. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/143 "2011-09-28T15:14:05Z")
> [@biddee](#): > > I know that in Antigua there is home postal delivery maybe once a month. Everyone has post office boxes and you go and pick up your mail at the post office. Right there the USPS could save a fortune by stopping deliveries. I kind of don’t think the issue is “what would we do without postal service daily”, I kind of think the premise is “we can’t lay off all these people, we are in a recession!” so we should further subsidize the postal service (for those advocating we can’t live without it) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/144 "2011-09-28T17:11:45Z")
\*\*The USPS closes. What will be the result? \*\* Mail delivery will be slightly slower, unless someone takes over the service. It will definitely cost more to send a first class letter, and junk mail may disappear. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/145 "2011-09-28T19:00:12Z")
The Repubs pushed through a bill a few years ago that forced the Post Office to pay for future retirees, 75 years in advance. They are the only company in the world that has to do that. That forces them to put operating money into a retiree account for people who have not even been born yet. It was designed to break the P.O. so it could be privatized. As you can see, it has worked. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/146 "2011-09-28T21:01:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It will definitely cost more to send a first class letter, and junk mail may disappear. I’ve always heard that junk mail was a profit maker for USPS. Maybe it will increase instead, although the rise of the Internet makes it doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/147 "2011-09-28T23:11:10Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I’ve always heard that junk mail was a profit maker for USPS. Maybe it will increase instead, although the rise of the Internet makes it doubtful. Not exactly a profit maker, but the volume was crucial in maintaining the large enterprise necessary to deliver daily first class mail. The USPS was already going to be making all those daily deliveries. But if a business wasn’t ready to service that huge market, junk mail wouldn’t be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/148 "2011-09-28T23:33:29Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Not exactly a profit maker, but the volume was crucial in maintaining the large enterprise necessary to deliver daily first class mail. The USPS was already going to be making all those daily deliveries. But if a business wasn’t ready to service that huge market, junk mail wouldn’t be worth it. If the junk mail stops, closing the USPS may be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/149 "2011-09-29T17:46:47Z")
The post office is the second biggest employer in the country. It is unionized. Easy to figure out why the oligarchies want to kill it. The rightys passed a bill making the post office pay for retirements for the next 75 years in a ten year period. I suppose you can see what a financial effect that would have on any business. They have to pay up front out of operating expenses ,creating a false losses. Without these rules the Post Office would be showing a profit every year. That is a strange bill to push through ,don’t you think? Wonder why they did that? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/150 "2011-09-29T18:38:19Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The post office is the second biggest employer in the country. It is unionized. Easy to figure out why the oligarchies want to kill it. > The rightys passed a bill making the post office pay for retirements for the next 75 years in a ten year period. I suppose you can see what a financial effect that would have on any business. They have to pay up front out of operating expenses ,creating a false losses. Without these rules the Post Office would be showing a profit every year. > That is a strange bill to push through ,don’t you think? Wonder why they did that? Gonzo, that would have been the whole story 30 years ago, but now there is the problem that technology has eliminated a lot of the need for postal service. Personally, I don’t find it that big of an issue yet, the price of stamps could be raised, it’s a dirt cheap service already. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/151 "2011-09-29T18:46:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Gonzo, that would have been the whole story 30 years ago, but now there is the problem that technology has eliminated a lot of the need for postal service. Personally, I don’t find it that big of an issue yet, the price of stamps could be raised, it’s a dirt cheap service already. Incorrect. that is the story now. the bill was passed during Bush to kill Post Office profitability. Private business wants it. The Post Office would show profit now without that burden. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/152 "2011-09-29T18:53:05Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Incorrect. that is the story now. the bill was passed during Bush to kill Post Office profitability. Private business wants it. The Post Office would show profit now without that burden. Maybe we should put you in charge of the Post Office. We could pay off all our national debt with the profits from the Post Office. Or you could realize that there is now more to the issue than the political anti-government effort. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295/153 "2011-09-30T02:41:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Maybe we should put you in charge of the Post Office. We could pay off all our national debt with the profits from the Post Office. > > Or you could realize that there is now more to the issue than the political anti-government effort. I don’t believe I claimed they were able to pay off the national debt. That was you being childish. The point is too break unions. Why do you think teachers are under assault? They pretend it is just for the good of the country to fix the crisis they manufacture. People are dumb enough to buy it. I pity us all when they succeed. They will. Yep, teacher are bad. yep, the Post office is bad. Banks are good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usps-closes-what-will-be-the-result/595295.md?page=7)