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50-Cent Stamp, Other Postal Changes Coming
Yahoo ^

Posted on 02/17/2012 1:10:30 PM PST by Java4Jay

The U.S. Post Office, facing financial losses of up to $18.2 billion a year by 2015, wants to charge more for postage, more for services, and to suspend Saturday delivery.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: postal; usps
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To: DuncanWaring
How much would it cost to have someone in New Zealand box one kiwi fruit and send it to you, using the shipper of your choice?

Using the most economical means:
For a package weighing .3 lbs
USPS $74.95
Fedex $91.15

41 posted on 02/17/2012 3:10:26 PM PST by Focault's Pendulum (If Obama was any more thin skinned, he'd have a receptacle end: Dennis Miller)
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To: yarddog
It has to have been mailed before 1912. Notice the postage. I also found it interesting that it was in color.

Dunno when it stopped, but for a long time the postcard companies had people hand-color the photos.

Walter Wyckoff, when he walked/worked across America as a social experiment in 1891, ran into a guy who was conned in Chicago (where else?). It seemed to be a variation of the "stuff envelopes at home" scam. For a "fee" the person would buy a group of photos to hand color at home, then sell them back to the company. Unfortunately, they always found "flaws" and wouldn't pay or else gave such complicated photos that it took too much time to be profitable.

42 posted on 02/17/2012 3:44:45 PM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Joe the Pimpernel
What is a post office?

A post office is a dilapidated, dirty building that is owned by the government and staffed with angry union workers. You can stand in line there for a good part of an hour to purchase an overpriced shipping service. You can purchase envelopes for an extra fee. Once your package is sent you have no record of its existence until the recipient tells you that it arrived. There is nobody to call regardless of the need. An option exists where for extra money you can purchase a number, and you can track your package by that number once per day, whenever the USPS worker can be bothered to scan the barcode.

Alternatives include FedEx and UPS. These services send you free envelopes and labels; you can set up your account on their Web sites and print shipping labels on your computer. When you are ready the driver will stop by your place and collect the package for free. The driver will typically not curse you for using their service. Once the package enters the UPS system (or earlier!) the package will be scanned and tracked whenever anyone touches it, and you can track it in real time. In case of change of plans you can call these companies and talk to a live person who will assist you.

43 posted on 02/17/2012 4:35:57 PM PST by Greysard
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To: bert
Here's a link with an interesting graph showing inflation adjusted postal rates since 1885. First class stamps actually been more expensive in the past using constant monetary units.

http://stampsmarchingforth.blogspot.com/2011/10/usps-will-increase-first-class-postage.html

44 posted on 02/17/2012 4:41:17 PM PST by Menehune56 ("Let them hate so long as they fear" Oderint Dum Metuant), Lucius Accius, (170 BC - 86 BC))
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To: Oatka

When I first looked at the postcard I thought it was a color photograph and wondered how they managed it back then.

I had scanned it at high resolution and decided to enlarge a portion and sure enough, it was clearly hand colored.


45 posted on 02/17/2012 5:03:42 PM PST by yarddog
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To: BfloGuy

Fedex - ups wage/revenue difference is due to ups being union.

Ups - usps wage/revenue diff is difference btwn private union and govt union.

Hint - think about your govt union teachers....


46 posted on 02/17/2012 5:42:36 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Average Al
I wanted to mail a small box that used to cost me about 5.00 to mail and they wanted 13.00 to mail it! That was more than UPS with insurance and real tracking.

Yes. More and more I find that FedEx is now often cheaper than the Post Office.

Plus, FedEx has never lost a package sent to me or from me, and the packages arrive in the time frame they promise...and a tracking number doesn't cost extra. Not so for the Postal Service.
47 posted on 02/17/2012 6:02:35 PM PST by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: LostInBayport

I was thinking that packages might give the post office a chance of surviving in some form, now, not so much.


48 posted on 02/17/2012 6:19:43 PM PST by Average Al (Forbidden fruit leads to many jams.)
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To: Greysard
Fedex will always give your package the respect it deserves. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2823216/posts
49 posted on 02/18/2012 12:52:44 AM PST by Route797
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To: Java4Jay

Why not just glue a dollar bill on the GD envelope?


50 posted on 02/18/2012 1:02:08 AM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: troy McClure

(Full disclosure: I’m a postal worker)

>>I just paid $4.00 per gallon for REGULAR gas.

Think of all the postal vehicles out there, trucks, jeeps,
etc. Think of how much gas has gone up. That has to affect
the price of postage. Of course things like postal salaries and the _mandated pre-funding of retirement and health care
decades into the future, in a short time frame_ is another reason.

Yes, fewer people are mailing but there’s still quite a bit of mail to be processed. Facilities are being cut in half.
My big sorting center already is jammed with mail and soon
when another center closes down, even more mail and some
employees from that center (the ones who won’t be taking
early retirement) will be coming in. Our pay is frozen
(only the military among govt. workers don’t have their pay frozen). Eliminating Sat. delivery, getting rid of the
pre-funding mandate (only govt. agency to be forced to do so), and a small postage increase (50 cents won’t break your bank) will help.

$1.45—price of 20 oz. Pepsi in a vending machine at work.
For less than that (45 cents per), you can send three
letters 3,000 miles away.

When costs increase, they have to be passed along. Yes a lot of people say “make everything go by e-mail”. But there’s still a need for:
—birthday cards (non e-cards, physical ones)
—wedding invitations
—tax forms
—advertising mail
—Valentines, Christmas cards, etc.
—etc.

We need a streamlined and effective postal service. Cuts are
being made to weed out the fat.
I suppose it would be nice if a stamp cost a quarter
but see the prices of things around you; factor in
gas, electricity, etc. Eventually stamps do need to go
up but they’re still affordable. It’s not like we charge
$1.50.


51 posted on 02/18/2012 7:11:31 AM PST by raccoonradio
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To: DuncanWaring

There have been great reductions in force. In fact big sorting centers like where I work are going from 500 to
about 200.

Maybe we should stop delivering to every single address in
the country. So you live in Pawlet, Vermont, on the NY
border? No longer will you get mail in your mailbox. Instead,
drive 30 miles to Rutland and pick it up there.

That would help...right? (/ sarcasm)


52 posted on 02/18/2012 7:17:12 AM PST by raccoonradio
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To: Persevero

>>email, electronic bill pay, etc., that it would make sense to go to a MWF delivery system

Yes. It is true that more people do pay online (even I,
a postal worker, do). But a lot of people still do pay
by mail. I see lots of credit card and utility payments
being sent to NJ, Delaware, etc.


53 posted on 02/18/2012 7:19:44 AM PST by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

No, people in Pawlet, VT would still get their mail delivered into their mailbox just like they do now ... it would just be Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, instead of six days a the week.

Whatever their schedule is, on their “off” days their mailman would be delivering to some other small town.


54 posted on 02/18/2012 8:05:16 AM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: DuncanWaring

I was agreeing with you; what I meant was the USPS is required to deliver to all addresses. Under privatization that might not necessarily continue. As for retail post offices some are being closed down but hopefully it won’t be too much of a hardship. (There are options like stamps via
your PC printer etc...or would it mean driving 30 miles
away to mail a package via USPS if smaller offices
were to be shuttered?

The facilities I was talking about that are being consolidated are big distribution facilities not the smaller
offices.


55 posted on 02/18/2012 11:03:01 AM PST by raccoonradio
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