For U.S.A. members...

[DuckiesDarling]

How do you feel about the Postmaster General's request that mail service for Saturdays be suspended to save money for the post office?

They are saying that postal workers can't work more than five days so cutting off the sixth day postal service would allow them to cut about 120,000 jobs and put a dent in the 9billion dollar deficit they are currently operating under.

Supposedly e-mails have cut way into their business and they were also trying to push for at least 1 cent cost for sending emails.

[othercat]

all i know is my mail girl is a hottie! shes so cute, super short hot pants jean shorts with her postal uniform shirt. her blonde pony tail hanging through the back of her postal cap. fuzzy socks with ankle high boots. i live in a rural area and she drives a little postal van. i love it when she comes up my drive way and delivers my sex toys to my door. the packages are descreet but just the thought of her bringing me something that is going to make me cum is so exciting. i love sneeking a peek out the window and watching her walk up to my porch. she has a lttle twitch in her giddy-up and her thighs are nice and tight up near her crotch, rubbing together as she walks, yummers! her legs are nice and tan, she must have had a walking route because her legs are toned and she has calves to die for. i quickly spray on a little bit of axe and always answer the door in just a pair of cargo shorts, never a shirt. she doesnt seem to mind, she'l linger and chat for a moment. sometimes i give her some fresh produce from my garden. recently i gave her some home made sweet pickles(hint hint). she returned the empty jar to my mailbox with a note saying how much she enjoyed them and signed it with a smiley face. thats all i have say about the USPS and their policies. :)

[maxtor]

first, they need to get rid of the unions. the unions is ruining jobs and the postal system in the US now. at one time they served a good cause but now the are basically self-serving. they have become too political and does not represent all the union members interests. unions should not be allowed to sponsor or endorse any political or public office.

i personally wouldnt care if they cut Saturday delivery or even Monday, Wednesday-Friday deliveries. the cyber world has cut into their business so much that you have too many postal workers for the amount of mail and you cant get rid of them in many cases. you have postal workers that goes into rubber rooms and sit all day, play games, or whatever they do just to be at the place of employment. what a waste but that is what the unions are doing to the economy and taxpayers.

i think the postal system could go private and be much more efficient.

[bottom's up]

I NEVER COULD FIGURE OUT WHY WE HAD HOME DELIVERY MORE THAN 3 TIMES A WEEK MY WHOLE LIFE

[darkeyes]

The Royal Mail proposed that, ther wud b uproar... just as ther is whenever they propose just bout ne thing to save money.. quite rite an all...

..me mum an dad are always on bout postin stuff in the mornin to someone on otha side of town an it bein delivered by lunch time.. now yas lucky if its by dinner time a week later... an parcel post if eva... ther is a place in Belfast wer all unclaimed undelivered parcels end up... but wenya fone the Royal Mail they never have them.. so never ever send owt by parcel post.. am sure its a ploy so ya will send em by spesh delivery an pay out a bloody fortune...

[cumplay]

I don't know about anyone else in the US but I sent packages to Florida pretty frequently (my mum lives there) and they always arrive just as the post office says they will. My concern is that there's 120,000 more jobs in the crapper. like the US needs that hit.
(side bar - Dark Eyes, I get so turned on by the way you talk)

[Jobelorocks]

They are definitely doing this to save money. Man, I live on the east coast and when I try to send a family member a letter, my fam lives in California, it takes at least a week to get there. Now it will take even longer.

[bullhead69]

Wow! I live in the greater Buffalo/Niagara region and when we mail things to Seattle (both of our sons live there) they get stuff in 2 days. I have never had a problem with the postal service. I have often wondered how I can mail a letter for 40 someodd cents and have get there. I think they should raise the postage for a letter to 60 or 65 cents.

[12voltman59]

Not only do they plan to cut delivery to the weekdays--they are planning another round of cutting out many post offices in smaller places all over the nation--many such places don't yet have a hard wire connection to the internet and many people om those areas are of "modest means" so they cannot afford things like satellite or other wireless internet connections, so they will be losing another connection to the world. I know near me---it will help kill what is left of many small and struggling communities if they do away with their post office.

I don't really know what the answer is to this--it is kind of a sad thing in a way that in a country that is supposed to be "the best nation in the world" as some would have it---we may see things like postal delivery go away. It seems to me that a big country without a postal system is hardly indicative of a country that is both one of the top ones--that it actually means a country is on its way out.

I know it hardly gets mentioned-but perhaps if we didn't have several hot wars going, a few more under the radar ones, and having bases and troops in countries all over the world in places we fought wars in 50, 60 and 70 years ago to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a month----maybe if weren't were "WAR Inc" as it seems America now is--maybe we could afford things like postal delivery in spite of changing technology, keep up the quality of our primary education and not have secondary education increasingly beyond the reach of only those who are the most well off, be able to repair, upgrade and enhance our crumbling infrastructure systems--hell--we might even be able to actually have an affordable and rational health care system!!!!

But no----its like I started to joke about----do a war someplace and our Congress--- with both parties but one in particular----its a blank check to the defense department for whatever they want but try to ask for a fraction of that money for things like postal service and education and its "My God, man---do you think we are made of money??? We cannot afford such things!!"

Oh yeah----since 9/11----we have spent untold billions on our intelligence gathering--with the secretive building in suburban Washington DC of the new Homeland Security HQ that will be something like double the size of the Pentagon and we now have something like a million people working in our intelligence agencies--around the number we have in our military.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/topsecretamerica/

Check out this show to see an interesting report on "SecretAmerica"

I know--"9/11 changed everything"---but it does seem--we have bankrupted ourselves over the "war on terror" and have set in motion our unraveling as a result--just like going into Afghanistan took down the Soviet Union back in the 70s and 80s.

[mooon]

Volty,

You are right on!


Not only do they plan to cut delivery to the weekdays--they are planning another round of cutting out many post offices in smaller places all over the nation--many such places don't yet have a hard wire connection to the internet and many people om those areas are of "modest means" so they cannot afford things like satellite or other wireless internet connections, so they will be losing another connection to the world. I know near me---it will help kill what is left of many small and struggling communities if they do away with their post office.

I don't really know what the answer is to this--it is kind of a sad thing in a way that in a country that is supposed to be "the best nation in the world" as some would have it---we may see things like postal delivery go away. It seems to me that a big country without a postal system is hardly indicative of a country that is both one of the top ones--that it actually means a country is on its way out.

I know it hardly gets mentioned-but perhaps if we didn't have several hot wars going, a few more under the radar ones, and having bases and troops in countries all over the world in places we fought wars in 50, 60 and 70 years ago to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a month----maybe if weren't were "WAR Inc" as it seems America now is--maybe we could afford things like postal delivery in spite of changing technology, keep up the quality of our primary education and not have secondary education increasingly beyond the reach of only those who are the most well off, be able to repair, upgrade and enhance our crumbling infrastructure systems--hell--we might even be able to actually have an affordable and rational health care system!!!!

But no----its like I started to joke about----do a war someplace and our Congress--- with both parties but one in particular----its a blank check to the defense department for whatever they want but try to ask for a fraction of that money for things like postal service and education and its "My God, man---do you think we are made of money??? We cannot afford such things!!"

Oh yeah----since 9/11----we have spent untold billions on our intelligence gathering--with the secretive building in suburban Washington DC of the new Homeland Security HQ that will be something like double the size of the Pentagon and we now have something like a million people working in our intelligence agencies--around the number we have in our military.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/topsecretamerica/

Check out this show to see an interesting report on "SecretAmerica"

I know--"9/11 changed everything"---but it does seem--we have bankrupted ourselves over the "war on terror" and have set in motion our unraveling as a result--just like going into Afghanistan took down the Soviet Union back in the 70s and 80s.

[jamieknyc]

Snail mail does have uses: it is good for low-priority, non-critical stuff. However, when you walk into a post office, you feel like you stepped into a time machine and ended up in 1950.

Nobody really needs Saturday delivery, though. It is a holdover from our grandparents' day when there was a six-day business week. No residential customer really has any absolute need for a Saturday delivery.

[tenni]

I don't remember when Canada had Saturday mail delivery. I think that they delivered milk and bread to your door during that era by horses. :eek:

Recently, the same argument about lack of business for snail mail means cut backs. People are just not using the government mail service the way that it was once. There was talk about cutting back mail delivery to three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday?)

All new development areas do not get mail delivered to their door. There has been something called a Superbox in the neighbourhood and you go to pick up your mail from that point. You have a key to your box and a message and larger key is left for a larger box if you get a parcel. Delivery time can vary but it seems ok by my standards. No one expects to get a letter delivered in less that two or three days unless you pay extra for that special service.

[drugstore cowboy]

Snail mail does have uses: it is good for low-priority, non-critical stuff. However, when you walk into a post office, you feel like you stepped into a time machine and ended up in 1950.

Nobody really needs Saturday delivery, though. It is a holdover from our grandparents' day when there was a six-day business week. No residential customer really has any absolute need for a Saturday delivery.

Perhaps you personally do not need or want mail delivered or sent on a Saturday.

However many people who run businesses who send out their products very frequently need Saturday delivery.

[NjbiGuy01]

Between the unions outliving their usefulness, and the need to cut down, they missed the boat. When you look at what they make for what isn't exactly rocket science, it's bizarre. That's the case with many unionized trades.

The fact is they should have been progressively downsizing as the internet and e-mail started taking over and Fedex/UPS have package shipping quite well covered. Even though they are not officially "government" anymore, they are still as dumb. I read someplace where they actually know that they lose money on one of their overnight or express package services, yet continue to do it.

They are too large and bloated an organization to be profitable anymore without major housecleaning..

[_Joe_]

first, they need to get rid of the unions. the unions is ruining jobs and the postal system in the US now. at one time they served a good cause but now the are basically self-serving. they have become too political and does not represent all the union members interests. unions should not be allowed to sponsor or endorse any political or public office.

i personally wouldnt care if they cut Saturday delivery or even Monday, Wednesday-Friday deliveries. the cyber world has cut into their business so much that you have too many postal workers for the amount of mail and you cant get rid of them in many cases. you have postal workers that goes into rubber rooms and sit all day, play games, or whatever they do just to be at the place of employment. what a waste but that is what the unions are doing to the economy and taxpayers.

i think the postal system could go private and be much more efficient.


70% of the USPS budget is on Labor & Pensions. There's the #1 problem.

[love1234]

Thy should have made cuts long ago.

[DuckiesDarling]

I do agree the net has removed some of the snail mail, nowadays most places want to direct deposit checks too, doesn't mean that there is no need for a business to not have a checkbook. There will always be a need for the postal service to deliver mail and it is still a federal law that no one messes with anyone's mail. But as Volty said they are also talking about closing a lot of the smaller post offices and forcing people to drive to the next town if they want to actually visit the post office. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they cut out Saturday delivery and got the weekends back to being what they are there for, relaxing. But what about the person who gets a check that is delivered on Saturday? He or she would have to wait til Monday to do anything. That's okay...but what if that was what they did on weekends, pay bills, do grocery shopping for the week you know...those things that require the paycheck. And with many people living paycheck to paycheck...it's not an option that they suck it up one week and plan better for the next.

I think if they want to remove the Saturday delivery they should make it mandatory for everyone to either have a bank account or debit card (there is one that is from the government and also a prepaid card called GreenDot from WalMart that you can direct deposit to) for getting paid. In short, I guess I think there are more issues to solve before they start cutting back on the delivery end of things without considering all the consequences.

[mnTIMIDguy]

A drop to five delivery days would be fine with me, but I'd not want to lose the Saturday delivery. I'd rather they gave up one of the midweek ones, or if rules require the five days to be continguous, drop the Monday. I'd also like to make sure that the post office stays open on Saturdays. Close another day in the week if necessary, but the majority of people still work M/F, so there's many people who cant get to the facility itself on M/F without it becoming a chore.

There would seem to be something to be said about the post office taking off various holidays that most people don't get off.

One postal carrier told me that deliveries of packages has increased with web shopping, which makes sense because most of my Amazon stuff comes that way. So while letters may have decreased, I wonder how much decrease there has really been in delivery sales in terms of $$$.

As for charging for sending an email..... I LOVE THIS IDEA. A penny per message might be high, but what if it was a value like 1/1000 of a penny? It would be negligable to the typical citizen, and even conventional businesses, and IT WOULD HIT HARD AGAINST SOURCES OF SPAM.

[love1234]

I pay to send and receive e-mail now. I pay for a service.

[NjbiGuy01]

70% of the USPS budget is on Labor & Pensions. There's the #1 problem.


Ahhh, like our auto industry ? :bigrin:

[love1234]

I think if they want to remove the Saturday delivery they should make it mandatory for everyone to either have a bank account or debit card (there is one that is from the government and also a prepaid card called GreenDot from WalMart that you can direct deposit to) for getting paid. In short, I guess I think there are more issues to solve before they start cutting back on the delivery end of things without considering all the consequences.
We do not need any more rules here, the rules here were even ten years ago not countable according to google.

The postal goons have government backing them up or they would have made changes decades ago.

This is the biggest bankrupt country in the history of the world. The postal goons need to work with the money they take in.

[DuckiesDarling]

Love, the more I read your conspiracy theory posts the more I want to go find a tin foil hat. Say what you want about government but anarchy sure isn't working for the countries in upheaval now is it?

[tenni]

70% of the USPS budget is on Labor & Pensions. There's the #1 problem.

Well, 70% seems a bit high. I do wonder about such posts like Joe's though. I've read such comments being made about education. I may be wrong but isn't the majority of delivering mail require humans to do that? In service based industries and government services isn't about paying people to do the service? Would you prefer that the ratio be 30% on labour and pensions and 70% on machines? Robots bringing you your mail? That would be flawless...lol?

[Hephaestion]

I would have thought that a dependable national postal service would have been essential to the cohesion of a nation.

In the UK we go through bouts of navel gazing. Things get privatised, get cocked up and then handed back to the public sector to shoulder all of the problems. It weren't broke so it got fixed being the usual situation.

[Pasadenacpl2]

A couple of misconceptions to clear up.

1. The USPS is not funded by the federal government. It is a federally sanctioned private business required by the Constitution. It is not funded through a federal budget in any way, and only subsists on the postage fees it takes in. So, Volty, your rant about "if we weren't paying so much for the wars..." is rubbish.

2. The best thing to happen to the USPS was private mail carriers. Since FedEx came along, USPS has become more efficient in both dollars and time. Competition spurs creativity and increased effectiveness. I cannot remember the last time anyone had a serious complaint about the mail not arriving on time. If anything, I'm constantly amazed at mail arriving exactly when they say it will, if not sooner (unlike in the 70s and 80s when the USPS was fucking it up all the time).

3. Whoever said we don't need the hit on 120k jobs is absolutely correct. While I agree that cutting government jobs is usually a great idea, at the moment it would be disastrous.

4. The taxing of email is an internet hoax that's been around since at least the mid-90s. http://www.snopes.com/business/taxes/bill602p.asp

Pasa

[jamieknyc]

Perhaps you personally do not need or want mail delivered or sent on a Saturday.

However many people who run businesses who send out their products very frequently need Saturday delivery.

I run a business, and have for a long time. Anyone in business who has something that must be delviered by Saturday or any other fixed date is not sending it by snail mail.

[jamieknyc]

I do agree the net has removed some of the snail mail, nowadays most places want to direct deposit checks too, doesn't mean that there is no need for a business to not have a checkbook. There will always be a need for the postal service to deliver mail and it is still a federal law that no one messes with anyone's mail. But as Volty said they are also talking about closing a lot of the smaller post offices and forcing people to drive to the next town if they want to actually visit the post office. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they cut out Saturday delivery and got the weekends back to being what they are there for, relaxing. But what about the person who gets a check that is delivered on Saturday? He or she would have to wait til Monday to do anything. That's okay...but what if that was what they did on weekends, pay bills, do grocery shopping for the week you know...those things that require the paycheck. And with many people living paycheck to paycheck...it's not an option that they suck it up one week and plan better for the next.

I think if they want to remove the Saturday delivery they should make it mandatory for everyone to either have a bank account or debit card (there is one that is from the government and also a prepaid card called GreenDot from WalMart that you can direct deposit to) for getting paid. In short, I guess I think there are more issues to solve before they start cutting back on the delivery end of things without considering all the consequences.

Paper checks are another anachronism. Most other countries have done away with them.

[jamieknyc]

I would have thought that a dependable national postal service would have been essential to the cohesion of a nation.

In the UK we go through bouts of navel gazing. Things get privatised, get cocked up and then handed back to the public sector to shoulder all of the problems. It weren't broke so it got fixed being the usual situation.

The issue is not whether the USPS is dependable. Generally that is so. The issue is whether Saturday delivery can be eliminated.

[welickit]

Getting rid of the Saturday delivery isn't a problem for us and it won't solve the problem for the post office. They have been and are way over paid with far to many benefits. The government needs to stop bailing them out. Either they go under or they get their shit together.

Raise the cost of sending junk mail. We appreciate our mailman and always offer him a place to dry off when it is raining etc. and even though we see them as over paid we leave a Christmas card with money in it for him. We can respect him as a person and in fact a friend and still argue that the postal service is mismanaged.

If it wasn't for junk mail they could cut delivery down to two or three days a week. Perhaps give people the option to opt out of junk mail and reduce the volume and time it takes to deliver it. The internet will put them under if they don't make some drastic changes. Even with change they won't be able to meet the payments for benefits being drawn by those now working and retired. :2cents:

[Randy from Pa]

Hi all, Just want to comment on this subject. First of all the USPS has never been "bailed out" by govrt.,they were denied that.2nd,going to a 5 day week would lose 20%of the work force,( 120,000) on unemployment,like we need that.3rd they are paid nicely,yes, but you work in blizzards,hurricanes,earthquakes etc. And yes the biggest problem is the USPS is "top heavy" with salaries.(postmasters...100K yr ) consolitate 1 postmaster for 5 POs save 400K a yr.And no they dont get great raises either,about 1.5% a yr. thats below inflastion rate. Now with the new implimantion of more computerized sorters, more jobs lost,and expanding routes.That means more time on the road,later or adjusted deliveries.Never mind the added stress on the carrier.Also Postal management are told to,just short of,treat carriers like donkeys.Very little respect for them as people. Thats my :2cents:for now.I could go on but.... Oh ,by the way,I am a Letter Carrier,of 28 yrs,inPa. Just hope i will get my full,well deserved pension which I worked hard and long for. And I am aMarine Corp vet. So when possible say Thank You to your carrier,and a Veteran,for their service.

[jamieknyc]

Getting rid of the Saturday delivery isn't a problem for us and it won't solve the problem for the post office. They have been and are way over paid with far to many benefits. The government needs to stop bailing them out. Either they go under or they get their shit together.

Raise the cost of sending junk mail. We appreciate our mailman and always offer him a place to dry off when it is raining etc. and even though we see them as over paid we leave a Christmas card with money in it for him. We can respect him as a person and in fact a friend and still argue that the postal service is mismanaged.

If it wasn't for junk mail they could cut delivery down to two or three days a week. Perhaps give people the option to opt out of junk mail and reduce the volume and time it takes to deliver it. The internet will put them under if they don't make some drastic changes. Even with change they won't be able to meet the payments for benefits being drawn by those now working and retired. :2cents:

Junk mail is actually what pays the bills for the USPS. Your measly 45 cents a letter isn't paying anyone's salary or pension. Part of the problem of the USPS is that junk mail has been made obsolete by the Internet and that source of revenue has dropped off considerably.

[Hephaestion]

The issue is not whether the USPS is dependable. Generally that is so. The issue is whether Saturday delivery can be eliminated.

The point is not dependability as a stand alone item. It is the benefit that it contributes to a sense of identity and functionality.

I doubt very much whether the trams in European cities actually make their running costs. However, that they run is a source of comfort as a mark of normality; very much appreciated after the WW2 rebuild.

There is no possibility of running a cost effective service to the remote parts of a country, but doing so reaffirms the cohesion and thus a component identity (Western Isles of Scotland). Reduce the service and the 'you don't matter that much' factor begins to creep in.

In the extreme, a country could inadvertantly telegraph an invitation for invasion or separation.

[Darkside2009]

A number of points were raised in this thread, which are already practised on this side of the Atlantic. Cheques have largely been replaced by debit cards using a chip and pin number. Salaries, even welfare benefits are paid into bank accounts, from which the owner of the account draws money as and when they need it, either from ATM's or their bank branch.

They can use the debit card for purchases over the phone, by quoting the long number on one side, together with the card issue date and card expiry date. There is also a three digit code printed on the reverse of the card to use during phone transactions. This three digit code is only printed on the card.

At the supermarket the till has a key-pad to insert the card and tap in the four digit pin code, which is personal to the account holder, and which they can change themselves at any ATM, once they have entered the correct four digit pin.

The money owing for the groceries is deducted electronically from the account instantly. The same can't be said for paying the credit card bills, it takes the banks four or five working days to clear the funds and credit them to one's account. Even if one pays the bill by cash. You can guess what the bank does in the interim.

The Government set up accounts for welfare claimants at the post offices, so they wouldn't be hit by bank charges. One couldn't overdraw on them. The next thing they did was to start closing the post offices.

For a lot of pensioners, their weekly visit to the post office to collect their pension, was the only time they got out of the house. It may have been their sole human contact during the week. Closing post offices in rural locations has been especially hard on people. They have longer to drive to find an ATM to get cash out. You can guess what happens next. The owners of the ATM machines started charging for every withdrawal, especially in rural areas. Imagine that, being forced to pay a fee to access one's own money. Like being charged every time one took one's wallet or purse out of one's pocket.

Now if you cut numbers of employees, you lose tax from the income tax they paid, many of them will not find work, so they start claiming welfare and become a drain on government spending. Not to mention all the attendant social problems that entails.

A lot of people work Monday to Friday and have weekends off, so they are at home on Saturday to receive mail, parcels etc. Here if there is no one to sign for a parcel, they leave a note asking you to collect it from the postal sorting office. If you are working 9-5 Monday to Friday, this may not be convenient.

It is not just letters, but products that get delivered. One might wish to use the product the following week. For example, if Volty receives a new camera lens in the mail on Saturday, he can start using it straight away, he doesn't need to take time off work to go to the camera store to buy it, or to use up his precious lunch hour driving to the store, finding a free parking space near the store, buying the lens and driving back to work.

If you think this is a scheme to obtain the most amount of work from fewer employees, you might well be right.

E-mail has undoubtedly altered the way many business are run, but it has also made ordering goods on line easier, these goods all need delivered at a time convenient for the householder to receive them.

As for junk mail, there are ways of cutting down on that. We also have, in the UK, a mailing preference service to opt out of much junk mailing.

So spare a thought for the post office, it is often the hub of rural village life, and spare a thought for the person who delivers the mail in all weathers, they deserve some respect. Christmas cards, birthday cards, and love letters sent over the net, do not have the same emotional impact as ones delivered to your door in the hand-written scrawl of your loved ones. :)

[jamesbttm]

Fine, who needs junk mail on Saturday!

[Bicuriousman]

There are elderly as well as other immobile people who depend on the USPS to deliver their medications. Not to mention how many of you out there have received a parcel with a fedex or UPS label, but was delivered by the USPS. hahahahaha. I do concur the USPS is to TOP heavy. You can't make money by cutting the worker bee's adding more queens and cutting service. It wont work. Ohh and these so called benefits are NOT free to the employees. they pay dearly for them.

[bluesky55]

I say cut the Monday delivery and leave Saturday's on. Mondays always suck and nobody expects good news on Monday. I did away with the insecurity of home delivery. I work, get my mail at a PO box and only check it once or twice a week. There's nothing I can't wait a day or two for.

[Bicuriousman]

The problem with cutting a day right next to sunday is, mondays already get 2 days worth of mail. Just because mail is not delivered on sunday doesn't mean the mail does not run.

[dickhand]

I agree with it . Everyone else has had to cut back due to economic realities , why not them ? Since I got my computer , I would be hard pressed to use more than one stamp in a month . Most of my out going mail always was for paying bills . Now I pay them online . As far as I can see , the main purpose of the postal system is to deliver pounds of junk mail that I don't want . My mother , being the kindly old soul that she is , recieved two to five catalogs daily and enough address labels to paper the bathroom on a monthly basis . Add to that the mail delivered to the wrong address and I could with less postal service .

[JP1986UM]

I've actually talked to postal workers who say that the consolidation merely eliminates the top heavy post masters in tiny areas and consolidates them with others. THese people get hefty salaries for areas with 400 to 800 residents. Seriously?

Like who can possibly be against that?

Further, eliminating saturday delivery will merely mean interfacing with FedEx or UPS. Seriously, if the package has to get there on Saturday, it will and some other company will flourish. Its not a zero sum game like many would just Love for people to believe.

Economies of scale usually invite more innovation and progress toward a more efficient model.

[IndyBiFun]

The postal service is bankrupt but yet they want to run my healthcare, energy, school loans and every other facet of our lives?!

No thank you. Stay away!

[Annika L]

A couple of misconceptions to clear up.

1. The USPS is not funded by the federal government. It is a federally sanctioned private business required by the Constitution.


Are we talking about the same document? Please tell me where in the US Constitution you saw a requirement that we have a postal service. I believe you are mistaken about this.



3. Whoever said we don't need the hit on 120k jobs is absolutely correct. While I agree that cutting government jobs is usually a great idea, at the moment it would be disastrous.


So wait...the USPS isn't funded by the federal government...yet losing 120k postal jobs amounts to cutting government jobs? I's confuzzled. s'plain?

[Annika L]

The postal service is bankrupt but yet they want to run my healthcare, energy, school loans and every other facet of our lives?!

No thank you. Stay away!

The postal service wants to run your healthcare, energy, and school loans?? When did that start?

[Sparky]

Addressing the original question of Saturday delivery...
My father and my grandfather were rural mail carriers. I joined the corporate world. But looking at what is delivered, I, for the life of me, have wondered for decades why we have Saturday delivery. Most mail is generated during the typical M-F work week. And any items received on Saturday can't be effectively responded to until Monday. And as an earlier post mentioned, businesses that have truly urgent needs use overnight, not the regular post. When I presented this issue to our post lady, her response was not about the functionality and health of the postal system, but about losing her hours. Nearsighted.