Wouldn't the Repugs love to kill the Post Office

[edhopper]

So it could be replaced by a private corporation that pays minimum wage to nonunion workers while charging $3 to mail a letter.
Of course their political campaign mail would go out free.

[karnac]

1. I think the "business model" has to be changed

Somebody supply some stats, because my opinion might be poo poo... ;-)

I have to have things(much bigger than a letter) to me. generally, I've used, UPS,fedex, whatever. a corporation. interestingly, on the final delivery it's most likely been the post office. apparently, the corps have contracted the post office to do the final delivery themselves when it's not time critical, giving the post office a mere pittance fee for a HUGE package. when it's time critical of course the corps do the delivery themselves.(2-5) times as much. Obiviously keeping ALL of the fee.


Seems to me they can simply keep to delivering letters and correspondence and their costs should be containable. AND charge the full-cost fee for end-to-end delivery of hefty packages.

[Cool Logic]

2. UPS and FedEx wages/benefits are generally better than the USPS...

And unlike the USPS, those companies actually earn a profit.

[edhopper]

3. And they don't deliver a letter to any address in the US

for 40 cents.

[Tanuki]

5. [phone] n/t

[Cool Logic]

8. Who needs that...? Anyone can send a letter anywhere for 0 cents.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Your court system for starters.

[gulliver]

15. No they can't.

An email is not a letter. And you can't enclose money, an old picture, or a magazine clipping in an email.

The sad thing is that a letter is not just a transmission of statements. A letter is a work of art, and the rise of email has destroyed an art form. E-mail is not a replacement for the letter, but thanks to email people would actually feel weird about sending a letter now. Our ability to create sensible customs to incorporate technology non-destructively vastly trails our ability to create new technology.

I understand that thanks to tweets and texts, even email and phone conversations are starting to turn into "lost arts."

[Cool Logic]

22. I can do all of that and a whole lot more than you can do with snail mail.

Attach your letters in PDF and let them print the "work of art" at the point of destination. That is far more efficient than this antiquated idea from the 18th century days of the Pony Express.

I invite you to join the rest of us in the 21st century.

[gulliver]

27. The surprising thing is that you might not be joking.

I assume you are and that you are just messing with me. But just in case...

It's essentially impossible to define efficiency without incorporating quality. You can sit in a bar and listen to a musician playing a song or you can play it on your iPod. The iPod experience is easy to transmit over email. But you can't transmit physical presence or anything approximating it—not yet anyway.

A letter is the same. It is a communication gesture that used to be necessary to achieve communication at all. Email and other digital communications have not replaced the letter by any stretch, and I am saying this as a professional technologist, not a sentimentalist. Much has been lost in terms of all-important context that can't be replaced by multimedia and instantaneous transfer. Letters are disappearing because of digital communications, but digital communications have not replaced letters. They are physically and qualitatively different and carry different information payloads.

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Yup, shipping packets is also done through email...

:sarcasm:

So what other UNIONS do you want to bust since well they are antiquated?

And do you like paying MORE to use a private company?

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Do they also have to pre fund benefits for people NOT YET BORN?

[GentryDixon]

16. You need to stop listeming to FAUX.

And contrary to the lies out there, most of them perpetrated by your favorite "news" source", they are not supported by taxpayer dollars. They are supported by revenue from stamps and mailings. Yet Congress sends all of their mailings free and the Postal Service absorbs this cost. Then there is the pre-funding of retirement accounts for employees that have not even been hired. This was a Republican end run during the Bush years.

Do your honestly think FEDEX, UPS or anyone else is interested in delivering mail to Vernon Utah, or any other small town the Postal Service currently provides for? Where does your grandmother live? Is she willing to give up her mail?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon,_Utah

[Kingofalldems]

20. Looks like you agree with the republicans

[Cool Logic]

23. Actually, I agree with application of logical business principles, which tells me that...

the USPS is no longer essential or necessary.

I would say that they should maintain a scaled down version to ensure service for sparsely and economically depressed areas. However, most of the private shipping companies will make deliveries to most any spot on the planet.

[LaValle]

25. delivery

You Say,

"
the USPS is no longer essential or necessary.

I would say that they should maintain a scaled down version to ensure service for sparsely and economically depressed areas. However, most of the private shipping companies will make deliveries to most any spot on the planet."

Yeah for 5 to 6 times the cost.

I can mail a package to Europe for 40 bucks, but have UPS, Fed-Ex or DHL tajke it and it costs over 400 dollars to send the same package

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. Like Iraq and Afghanistan

I hear Yemen is also popular with Brown.

[Kingofalldems]

33. I think you need to get the facts before applying said 'principles'

[tsuki]

28. I don't know what FedEx independent contractors that you have

been talking with, but the ones that delivered to me received neither wage nor benefits.

[Fuzz]

4. From what I've read on 'conservative' aka fascist boards, absolutely.

[sarcasmo]

6. The Union jobs and the Pensions are what the republicans really want to kill.

[elleng]

7. They're doing it.

Whose idea was the USPS 'pay it forward' rule?

[gulliver]

9. The USPS shouldn't need to be profitable.

I'm actually kind of stunned to see someone say it might shut down because it is "losing money." Who cares if it is losing money? We don't expect the military, the government, or the highway system to be profitable. The USPS is fundamental national infrastructure. It is not something to be left to the whims of the market. I wouldn't care if there were only one letter a day going through the system and the letter were to Santa Claus.

Add "budget" to rain, sleet, and dark of night. The mail goes through. Even thinking about it not going through is an outrage.

[arikara]

17. Exactly!

Canada Post is doing the same thing too, corporatizing it, demanding that it make a profit. Trying their damndest to destroy the union so they can privatize. But the private corps aren't going to deliver a letter or package to some northern fly-in village so those people will just be out of luck.

[Cool Logic]

24. "Who cares if it is losing money?"

That is just too much...For not spending the People's money wisely is what created the US' budgetary problems.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. They are self funded.

Now tell me cool logic, how many departments of the government, OR PRIVATE COMPANIES are forced to fund retirement for people not yet born? That s the origin of the crisis. But it does not matter how many times you are told this it seems you are for union busting and privatizing the service. Why is that?

[Nye Bevan]

10. Isn't email killing the Post Office? (nt)

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Hmm no, pre funding retirement 75 years in the future is

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. They've been trying since 1973

[salin]

18. and in rural areas where the expense is high - wouldn't the public being served

start turning on the gop - when what cost 50 cents - suddenly cost more than a dollar - each item.

[bemildred]

19. One can hardly wait for the "Charter" post offices to come. nt

[ChandlerJr]

21. I know I'm part of the problem

I literally check the mailbox at home on the day I take the recycle bin to the end of the driveway, most everything goes from one to the other. I get absolutely no bills or statements on paper anymore, Even my insurance companies put all the "important documents" online if I need them as do the banks, credit cards and mortgage company. Need a proof of insurance form for one of the cars? Hit the print button. Need the weekly specials for the Safeway? Log in.

But the topper was a few weeks ago when I noticed a customer service survey for the Postal Service in with the junk mail, it gave me the option of going online to participate.

[Scruffy1]

26. The whole e mail thing is a right wing meme.

The USPS volume peaked in 2006 long after email became popular. Advertising and parcel are what keeps the USPS alive.
Of course it has an impact, but volume reflects the economy. Another issue is that the Postal Rate Commission sets the rates, not the USPS. Because of intense lobbying of the PRC the USPS has mailed advertising to cheaply for years by giving obscene discounts to mass mailers for presorting. This was somewhat rectified in the last APWU contract by bringing more of the work in house, leading to large savings by the USPS,
The ongoing problem is that the USPS has a dwindling share of the parcel business and has lost some key customers to changes in technology and by not being allowed to compete with UPS and FedEX too much. BMG music is a good example of a technology shift. Their business died with CD's.
Currently the USPS only has a small share of the parcel business and it is not enough to sustain them.
The good news is that both FedEx and UPS need the postal service because they do not service all areas. They might have to give up some business to keep the USPS in business.

[Fire Walk With Me]

29. Yep. K&R