Post Office's Rescue Plan: Junk Mail

Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/6/11 | Jennifer Levitz

[ruralvoter]

Many consumers are irked by the catalogs, credit-card pitches and other "junk mail" they receive. But the U.S. Postal Service loves it—and wants to deliver more.

The agency, beset by historic losses and a plummet in first-class mail, is running promotions, easing rules and planning television and radio ads to encourage more businesses to send pitches by standard mail, the official term for bulk mailings used by marketers to prospect for customers.

"What we want to do is to make standard mail more interesting for customers so we can grow the total volume," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview. "We don't call it junk mail—it's a lucrative avenue for anyone who wants to reach customers."

[The Great RJ]

A recent incident illustrates why the USPS deserves to be disbanded for incompetence if no other reason. A decision was recently made to shut down a postal facility in Sioux City, IA and move its operation to Sioux Falls, SD in order to save money. The 40 postal workers at the Sioux City facility however recently renegotiated their four year union contract and will continue to get full pay and benefits for the next 3 1/2 years for being "stand by" workers i.e. get paid for doing nothing. The cost for these workers salaries and benefits will amount to 2.88 million and thus exceeds the estimated 2.8 million savings from closing the Sioux City facility. Link to the newspaper story

[GunsareOK]

The Republican National Committee and the Senatorial and Congressional committees are the most persistent and annoying junkmailers.

[GunsareOK]

They won’t return junk mail; only first class. The junk mail you refuse goes into their trash. I know because I’ve asked.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I remember an old Fritz Leiber story - “The Last Letter”. A guy tries to send a personal love letter to some girl and it crashes the postal system that only handles advertising. Dated, like many old SF stories, but we seem to be headed in the same direction.