Posted on 05/10/2011 3:36:03 PM PDT by Beaten Valve
I should add, also note that it is only for letter size items.
You may request that you postman/person Leave all parcels/certifieds in your box, you will have to sign a waiver for them to do that. Ask about it. I use it, as I am not driving about 15 miles to the PO to pick us some certified or package.
Just make that remaining 20% 2PD-BB offices.
Love, Fred Drucker
If they lay off 10% (60,000 with a loaded cost of $100,000 each) the gap would be closed and they would be operating at a $4bil surplus.
And YES they can stop mail delivery on Saturdays.
No taxpayer monies. None.
In fact, there are entities that are "Natural Monopolies". It's one of the basics of Economics education.
The USPS is one of those.
That's not to say that they don't need to change with changing times.
As another poster stated...sending a letter cross-country for $.44 is a BARGAIN.
Yes, they should close on Saturdays. Yes, they need to lay off 10% of all employees. Yes, they need to move from defined benefit to defined contribution retirement.
Yes, they are not very friendly or efficient.
Still, $.44 for a letter is a bargain.
Not that anyone actually sends "letters" anymore.
Not as many as there used to be, although there are still some.
So, your internet service is free - your computer was free and your electricity is free?
“I won’t miss ‘em...”
A lot of people will. Not everyone is wealthy enough to drive 30-40 miles to a Fed-ex office everytime they need to mail a bill payment. And not everyone trusts paying their bills online and giving up private info online.
Sam here - I’d be cooked without the USPO. They are by far the best postal system in the world as far as delivery of items.
I have heard for ten years from any number of postal employees that the entire organization is far too top heavy with redundant management positions.
It is at the library. Paying bills online and sending emails are just two of the many wonderful advantages I get from 24/7 internet access. Counting the cost of the internet is like counting the wear and tear and gas that it costs me to buy stamps and mail letters. It's just silly.
“People want cheap reliable mail service, what they have is expensive, unreliable,....”
Yeah,,, paying .44 cents for delivery of a letter in a matter of days with a 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 chance of getting to it`s destination is outrageous. sarc/
All true. But their business model is completely outdated. Most private citizens (and most businesses for that matter) would be completely fine with delivery a couple of days a week. With instant communication widely available, the Post Office's business model needs to change. Every year since the economy has gone south, we've been getting more and more evites, Christmas cards, and thank you notes via email. Even some wedding invitations.
Maybe the Post Office can't be profitable right now since most of its apparent value is to the rural population. As a constitutionally defined service of the government, I don't mind my taxes funding it, just so long as it's not to the tune of billions of dollars.
That is correct. All of the bulk rate stuff is delivered in bundles that have to be broken down and added to the presort at the delivering post office. So while the regular mail is presorted by delivery, the contractor in the rural areas will probably still recase it to add the bulk mailings and then put it back into the trays.
None of the vehicles have the space to do that going down the road without slowing the route delivery and ... pissing people off who expect their mail to be delivered at a certain time.
From Key West, Florida [33040] to Kaktovik, Alaska [99747] (which lacks any access roads), for 44 cents?
Actually, the main reason they can't be profitable is because Congress is bending them over the table on behalf of the postal workers union and their pension fund.
You trying to be the new Post Master General?
You trying to be the new Post Master General?
It's not required by the constitution. Congress has the power to create a post office and post roads, but there is no mandate that they exercise the power.
The point of the clause was to provide a constitutional sinkhole for tax revenue.
There is nothing in the constitution that prohibits a state or private interest from delivering messages and parcels.
How much will switching the workers to a defined contribution plan help? That's one change that clearly needs to happen.
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