US mailboxes removed from streets

[donsu]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0610130139oct13,1,2713186.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true


Old icons consigned to obscurity
Underused mailboxes are disappearing by the thousands, thanks to rising Internet use


Like the phone booth before it, the blue street-corner mailbox is rapidly becoming a casualty of the digital age.

As more people send e-mails and pay bills online, the decline in first-class mail is forcing the U.S. Postal Service to remove tens of thousands of underused mailboxes from city streets.

"People just don't write letters as often anymore," said Yvonne Yoerger, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service. "It's not a part of our culture anymore."

-snip-

Along with mailboxes, the Postal Service is facing a drop in jobs. In the past five years it has reduced staff through attrition by more than 80,000 employees. The current postal workforce stands at about 700,000.

-snip-

The decline in mailboxes is not just due to decreases in mail, however. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Postal Service removed about 7,000 mailboxes around the country for security reasons. Among the cities that cut back, were New York, which took out about 100 boxes near churches and mosques, and Chicago, which removed almost 200 boxes, mostly around Sears Tower.
-snip-
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life is change and loss, nothing stays the same

[Crazy Dave]

1. For mail such as letter delivery you can't beat the US postal service

But for package deliveries their service is about 20 years behind UPS and FedEx as far as tracking goes and you don't get customer service from the USPS, it's not in their business model. Package delivery is about the only option left for the USPS to improve upon and to see future growth from online shopping.
Recently I made a purchase from Amazon and they chose DSL as the shipper who partners up with the USPS. DSL got the package from Nevada to my town in one day and turned it over to the local postal facility who sat on the package for five days before delivering it the four to five miles to my home.

[demwing]

7. USPS outsources its customer service

But customer service is definitely in the business model. I know, I've run a team in their call center.

And I've seen just as many DSL stories where the company claimed to have delivered the package, but did not, or misrouted it.

The USPS is the the least expensive way to send mail, and recently has been rated the most efficient and timely. The USPS regularly scores above 90% satisfaction from their customers.

The USPS looks like America, and is highly integrated.

Also, the USPS is the only service that delivers everywhere in the US. They hit every address. The corporate delivery services only go where it's profitable.

The USPS is becomming more green every year, with enourmous recycling efforts, and use of renewable energy sources, incuding solar power and alternative-fuel vehicles.

Finally, the USPS is 100% self supporting, and takes not one dollar of income tax money to fund its operations. So when you think about calling the post office to say "My Taxes pay your salary!" don't, because you would be wrong.

USPS is an old school organization that has rapidly and successfully changed its business methods to accomodate the changing ways that Americans communicate.

[Crazy Dave]

11. I disagree that they are "rapidly" making changes

They have no real time or even daily tracking of their packages as do all the private carriers. That so called tracking number they give is worthless and sometimes takes days to update.

Funny that you chose DSL as an example because I'm sure their package delivery service is going downhill by partnering with the USPS. Like I said, one day from Nevada to Jacksonville, five days from arriving in Jacksonville to get to my door. DSL: "Duh...we've turned the package over to the postal service", Postal service: "Duh....your package is still ahead of schedule and we can even wait two more days (than the four at time of call, five total) to deliver it", customer service huh???

Like I said, it's still a bargain to send a letter anywhere in the US for $0.39 but I guess it comes with cost of inferior, 1970's package delivery and tracking technology.

[NV Whino]

13. DSL didn't have far to go to go downhill

They may be fine for urban areas, but in the twenty years I've lived in the same house in a rural area, they still can't find it. UPS and FedEx have no problem finding my house.

And as for the DSL partnership with the USPS, it sucks. Yes, they delivered the package according to their tracking number, but after the mail delivery. So it's another day or more if it was delivered on Friday before I get my package.

Letters and the USPS? Well, the bills certain get here.

[Blue Diadem]

16. USPS can't even supply home delivery in our town..

They claim that there isn't enough 1st class mail brought into the town to be delivered so "everyone" in town is forced to obtain a PO Box..of which they charged residents an annual fee until just a few years ago. That changed after I & several others griped about it after finding out that forced Boxes are supposed to be provided free. At that same time, they finally became smart enough to keep the Box area open beyond 5..prior to that, no one working until 5 could get their mail until Sat.

Now I find out that they do home deliver within the town limits but only on certain streets..I suspect if that amount of 1st class mail was added to what comes into our post office, it would meet their standards and we'd all have home delivery.

[Captain Hilts]

8. The people at my local post office are so rude.

They don't want my business. And I'm not impatient or demanding. Hell, I dealt with Canada Post and the Russian postal service without incident. But the folks near me are so rude. A friend told me that her therapist never goes there because she, too, thinks they're rude.

Too bad. The letter carriers are a nice bunch. But the folks that work at the offices are a different breed.

Still thirty-nine cents for a letter is a good deal.

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. Ah, and try to find a telephone booth anywhere... n/m

[Historic NY]

3. Sucks to be Clark Kent.................

[IntravenousDemilo]

20. It does, oh, it does... n/m

[Longhorn]

4. life is change and loss, nothing stays the same

That's true. We don't have ice delivered any more and very few have milk delivered. And we don't get our news from the news reels at the movies. Some of these changes might even be considered gains. :)

[ananda]

5. I still get a lot of snail mail..

.. from organizations, political groups, activist groups,
charities, and of course shopping junk.

I also use NetFlix and need my corner blue mailbox,
so it's still there.

Sue

[pooja]

6. Well, I still get plenty of bills and tons of junk mail to entice me to

buy more... mail boxes are unsecure anyway.. better to have a locked box that has a key.

[tammywammy]

9. I also get mostly junk

I'd only check the mail box once a week, but it gets crammed with crap.

I live in an apartment complex, and all the boxes are locked. And they even have two cameras monitoring it, in case someone tries to break into them.

[earth mom]

10. LIE LIE LIE!!! There are jobs they just aren't hiring for them!

The Post Office is working part timers 11 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week and still all the mail doesn't get delivered and they won't hire or they hire very s l o w l y-like 6 months to get a job. The powers that be in D.C. want to get rid of the post office and privatize it for their cronies and they are systematically trying to destroy it! :grr:

And there may not be as many letters as in the past, but there are TONS more packages thanks to the internet. Obviously, packages can't be placed in those mail boxes on the street! :eyes:

[Crazy Dave]

12. You reminded me of something a long time ago

I used to work for a general contractor who built large warehouses and offices for the postal service and two buildings, one for bulk mail and one for lost mail had about 80 - 100 employees each making $6 to $8 an hour but only had two supervisors per shift who were actually USPS employees. They were the part time, non-civil service, outsourced, independent contractor type employees. Mostly from the lower income neighborhoods in that area.

[earth mom]

14. Sounds like "casual" employees.

The union has clamped down on the use and abuse of those kind of employees which takes jobs and hours away from Union members. Casuals mostly get hired at the holidays now.

[Crazy Dave]

15. That's good to hear

Before my mom retired she was I guess a "casual" employee for the Navy for over ten years. Part-time status (up to 39 1/2 hours a week), no benefits, no paid holidays, no union protection, etc.

My last visit to the area I mentioned previously did have one of those facilities (lost mail) closed down. This was earlier this year.

[alfredo]

17. Cluster boxes have taken the place of the corner box.

In urban areas businesses use them because there is usually a pick up late in the day.

[DaveJ]

18. Would not be a problem is they would pick up mail from home!

My friends live in a combined unit in the same area, and if they leave outgoing mail in their mailbox the letters are just left there by the mail carrier. The only way to send mail is to drive to the post office, where the mailboxes are often so overstuffed that someone can literally reach in and pull out other peoples' mail. I am sure that there are many fine people working at the post office but it has problems, and I know there are a lot of extremely competent people who would LOVE to get jobs there who are passed up -- Why? I don't know.

[donsu]

21. have they complained to the P.O.? they are supposed to pick up

outgoing mail. but you have to place it so the carrier can see it. I use a clothespin to make the mail stick up and and be seen.

[Tanuki]

19. Lots of people don't have access to the internet,

especially the elderly and the poor. They are also less likely to drive, so it is more of a burden for them to get to the post office. I hate this sort of trend, even though it won't affect me personally.