The American Spectator : The Incredible Shrinking Postal Service

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A Further Perspective

The Incredible Shrinking Postal Service

By Peter Hannaford on 3.15.12 @ 6:06AM

It didn’t have to end this way.

Let’s say you own a store with a good clientele, but sales have been slipping in recent years. A new store with new products has faster service at lower prices and is open 24/7. You’re losing money. What do you do?

You consider two approaches. You could slash costs and service and hope the money saved would put you back in the black over time.

Or, you could streamline your business, improve your product and/or add new ones and give your customers better service.

As a business person who understands human nature and the nature of markets, you’ll choose the second approach.

The U.S. Postal Service, understanding neither, is choosing the first.

Last year the USPS lost approximately $5 billion. It has announced drastic cuts that it hopes will result in $20 billion savings by 2015. It was once profitable, but the explosion of internet traffic (especially in correspondence and bill-paying) has sharply reduced the volume of First Class mail.

They have picked an odd way to try to turn this around: Close 700 or more offices, cut Saturday mail deliveries, systematically jack up the price of a First Class stamp and, now, the pièce de résistance, “consolidate” distribution centers.

USPS management thinks it will save $3 billion a year by closing more than half of these centers, 252, across the country. It has begun announcing the closings. Two examples:

Humboldt County, on California’s north coast, has more square miles in it that either Delaware or Rhode Island. It has one distribution center, in the county seat, Eureka. Letters addressed within the city or to nearby towns in the county are typically delivered the next day.

The USPS says it will “consolidate” this center with one in Medford, Oregon, about 150 miles to the northeast over slow mountain roads. Mail will be trucked nightly from Eureka to Medford, sorted, then that bound for Humboldt County will be trucked back to Humboldt post offices for delivery. Result: Customers will lose at least one to two days in delivery of their mail — not to mention the wasted truck fuel and overtime of the drivers.

On the west coast of Florida, the Manasota Distribution Center will be “consolidated” with one in Fort Myers, about 60 miles away. This will mean an extra day for delivery to an area much more heavily populated than California’s Humboldt County.

The inevitable result of this retrogressive action across the nation will be to drive away even more First Class mail from post offices and onto the Internet. It’s elementary: Cut service, raise your prices, and make it inconvenient for your customers and you will sell less of it.

What could USPS management have done? Instead of sponsoring bicycle racing teams they could have spent some money on truly creative management thinkers to come up with out-of-the-box ideas for new services and products. And, if the thinkers came up empty-handed, management should consider radical restructuring in two ways: 1) Sell off package shipping by putting it out to bid. Fed Ex and UPS and possibly others could do the job efficiently at competitive prices — they already do. (2) Don’t expect a smaller USPS would be profitable with only First Class, Second and Bulk Mail. Instead of the U.S. Government lending it money every year (as it has) to pay its bills, subsidize it via the federal budget.

All this would take long-range thinking and plenty of courage to sell it politically, but it could be done.

About the Author

Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (88) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Pecos Pete| 3.15.12 @ 6:33AM

USPS should declare bankruptcy. That would be the common sense solution to the ever rising costs of employee unions. There can be no future for the USPS until labor costs are brought under control. Ain't gonna happen due to the interference of Congress protecting this slice of sacred turf.

KyMouse| 3.15.12 @ 2:53PM

Very true.

When did the USPS logo change from the eagle sitting still to the supersonic eagle we have now? I seem to remember someone asking the Postmaster General why it was worth spending about a billion dollars to change the logo, and he answered that it would be good for postal employees' morale.

Maybe someone remembers it more clearly than I, but if my memory is correct, the employees might wish they had the old logo back (of course, $1 billion wouldn't help much at this point).

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 5:53PM

Stupid comment. Unions are NOT the problem. Mis-management by Congress is . THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

Brian Mc| 3.15.12 @ 6:51AM

It's a wonder why wages failed to keep up with the cost of first class postage.

And secondly, why, for almost two hundred years, that price was pretty much stable. I cannot tell you the last time I bought a stamp...it was that long ago.

Appleby| 3.15.12 @ 7:07AM

Canada Post went on strike and many people discovered they didn't actually need Canada Post. Plus the overwhelming number of people with cameras in their binkies have posted photos of Canada Posties misbehaving (sleeping on the job, urinating in customers' yards, etc.) which didn't do much to ease the slide. Like all other strikes by public employees, this one put the spotlight on a service that is pretty much finished, save for the Territories where the government has not yet provided free internet service. I use the post office for mail to my Mama and elderly relatives, plus friends who prefer the old fashioned virtue of letter writing. I suspect most other people do the same these days.

PattyMor| 3.15.12 @ 7:37AM

The real solution would be to sell off the USPS franchise to the highest bidder with the stipulation that they can renegotiate the union contracts. And get rid of Saturday delivery.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 5:54PM

THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

Patrick49| 3.15.12 @ 8:07AM

On Dec. 9 2011 we mailed three packages from New York first class mail which we were assured would arrive before Christmas. They were destined for VA, IL and HI. The VA and IL packages arrived Dec. 23rd and the HI package arrived Jan. 14, 2012. When I complained to the PO I was told they no longer guarantee any delivery times except for overnight delivery which they contract out to FedX or UPS andI should do the same in the future if I want a guaranteed delivery date.

Darin| 3.15.12 @ 8:15AM

Congress insists the Post Office run like a business, yet Congress refuses to allow the Post Office to run like a business. The Post Office has been trying for years to close and consolidate unprofitable post offices and mail processing centers, but Congress and state politicians refuse to allow it. Both the USPS and Congress are equally to blame for this mess.

Dick Nome| 3.15.12 @ 8:19AM

Postal Unions have been great. Increased costs, excessive benefits and guaranteed employment. I get more unsolicited junk in the mail than I do stuff I want or expect. Screw'em.

Anthony M| 3.15.12 @ 8:57PM

Actually, Postal workers are not that well paid, they contribute to their own pensions and pay part of their medical insurance premiums. I don't know any wealthy mailmen, they are at the lower end of the middle class. The problem isn't the workers, it is, like the US auto industry, a problem with overpaid, incompetent management.

Drake| 3.15.12 @ 8:54AM

The third and fourth choices, as people above have hit on: sell the business, or sub-contract it out to your more efficient competitors.

Both would take some political courage.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 5:56PM

Good luck if you live in rural America. Here is the real truth: THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

Douglas Fletcher | 3.15.12 @ 9:03AM

Most people probably don't know about the "Postal Buddy" machines that the USPS tried out in a few markets then killed precipitously back in the mid-90s. They were basically super vending machines where you could buy stamps and get the postage for packages, and it had other services too -- you could design and print up business cards with it. I used it a few times and it was great, really cut down the hassle factor of going to the post office. The last time I went to a post office to buy stamps (after hours) I could barely figure out how to do it, and I was completely annoyed when I finally did.

We don't need the USPS anymore for the most part. Contract the work out and stop wasting taxpayer money. I'm sure all that can be done and still fulfill the constitutional requirements.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 5:58PM

Mr. Fletcher, you are a idiot. The Post Office get NO tax money and has not since 1972. The Post Office also makes a profit and has since 1972. You want the truth? THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

JP| 3.15.12 @ 9:06AM

Retirement benefits are what is killing the USPS. In my neck of the woods, a regional mail distribution center is closing, and with a couple hundred positions. USPS, like Big Auto, has become nothing more than an HR organization dispensing retiree pension checks and medical benefits.

Petronius| 3.15.12 @ 9:27AM

It's the mandatory overpayment of retirement benefits prescribed by law that are killing the Postal Service which Congress refuses to change. Over my time Congress has also looted USPS retained earnings of $26 billion to fund ETHANOL. If that money alone was paid back to OPM our retirement funding would be secured indefinitely.

Wade Smith| 3.18.12 @ 11:16AM

Since the post Office IS NOT funded by the government [ according to you] why is OPM [federal government] involved in the post office's retirement programs, health programs. etc?

Auction the USPS off to the highest bidder and contract out ALL functions.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 5:59PM

Again, you speak myths. Congress is what is killing the USPS. THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

Rich Fisher| 3.15.12 @ 9:25AM

It's amazing to me that with all the supposed free marketers that read the Spectator no one came up with the real solution to the USPS problems. It would only take two actions. First, make it a totally independent business with no ties to Congress whatsoever. Second, go to UPS or FedEx and hire a couple of top execs and ask them to turn the operation around. Within less than three years I can assure you the USPS would be back in the black and running like a well tuned engine. Government no longer needs to be involved in the mail business as has been proved by UPS and Fed Ex. What's wrong with this plan? It takes power from the Federal Government and we know that just can't happen.

Susie Q| 3.15.12 @ 9:59AM

Rich Fisher, you hit the nail on the head. Anyone who had stood in a line of 20 people at Christmastime,when there is only one service window open, and the postal clerk, who happens to be head of the local union, is taking his/her sweet time looking for a certified letter while all the other clerks are on their mandatory break, doesn't need a brick to fall on their head to see what the problem is.

This scenario is no exaggeration. If anything, it is understated. Get the government out of it, run it like a business, and it will turn around in no time.

jay train| 3.15.12 @ 11:05AM

Everyone in America has had an experience like yours . And so people avoid the post office like the plague and it still goes on and on . Now I don't get my electric bill on time : I got my january bill on March 5 . So now I pay online and will convert my credit card bills to online as well . It's called a death spiral and it's time to get off , now , and just not make their problem a part of your world .

PolishKnight| 3.15.12 @ 12:51PM

Perhaps my experience is different because my PO is the local district hub. I think they do a pretty good job especially during the holidays: All the windows are open and they even have an extra guy going to customers to help them plan their trip to the window. Don't know what's going on in the back room, of course.

Tim the Enchanter| 3.15.12 @ 5:02PM

Here's a bit of a problem for Constitutional Conservatives. There's a lot of talk about restricting Federal government to the enumerated powers. Unfortunately, the Post Office IS one of the enumerated powers!

The Bruce| 3.15.12 @ 11:17PM

Very true...

"The Congress shall [...] establish Post Offices and postal roads."

Wade Smith| 3.18.12 @ 11:19AM

Yes I agree! Congress can establish ONE post office on the Hill and ONE post office at the White House. Congress can then pave the road in between the two post offices. All other mail delivery services can be outsourced.

FiddlerBob| 3.17.12 @ 2:18PM

Well, I'm a very strict Constitutional Conservative who definitely believes that the government should get back to its enumerated powers. Having a Post Office as required by the Constitution doesn't provide any problem for me. Please note that the Constitution does not require the postal service to be over-bloated, mismanaged, and archaic. Restructuring is apparently in order. Perhaps if we can get our government back within their Constitutional limits, they'll have time to take care of this properly.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:01PM

UPS and FEDX both deliver the mail to USPS to finish delivery to areas that do not pay for them to go to. You ever hear of Universal Delivery by USPS? Try to deal with the truth. THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

RJ| 3.15.12 @ 9:30AM

I don't get much "real" mail; most of what is in the mail box is advertising throw-aways and unsolicited letters requesting a financial contribution. I would have no problem with reducing mail service to 2 or 3 times a week. Perhaps only once a week. Congress should also repeal the statute that grants the Post Office monopoly status. If companies in the private sector can win mail service business, so be it.

PolishKnight| 3.15.12 @ 12:58PM

Another reason for the monopoly was to make the service more efficient and inclusive. Private companies would be happy to delivery letters in the more lucrative areas (city centers where businesses get lots of mail) while ignoring the rural regions that the PO serves. Should rural customers be able to send a first class letter for 47 cents? We can debate that but keep in mind that most of them are probably red-staters. So it's a mixed benefit here: kill the postal unions while hurting red-stater rural customers...

This is assuming that any private carrier would be able to do this job reliably and safely at the same level. It will cost significant money to send deliverymen every day on the same route, coordinate the letters, etc. Probably existing package services might consider it which have this infrastructure in place but does UPS really want to handle 47 cent mail?

RJ| 3.15.12 @ 10:36PM

I understand your point.

I do, however, find it funny that federal law has civil and criminal penalties regarding monopolies in the private sector. We are told that it is necessary to give consumers a choice and create efficiency. However, when the government operates the postal business, it insists on the need for monopoly protection.

I recently read that when the telegraph and later, the telephone, came into existence that they could have been considered as an extension of the federal government's authority over the mail. In much of (if not all of) Europe, these industries were government run. We chose to let private industry handle it and I am glad they did.

I am unaware of any material factors which would distinguish the case for or against a post office monopoly from that of the telegraph and telephone industries. For many years, we were told that utilities such as telephone services needed to be monopolized for similar reasons, yet we have certainly seen an active and competitive telephone industry since the break-up of AT&T. Nonetheless, the biggest problem the postal service is facing is the dramatic decline in the need for its services in the electronic age.

THKrupp| 3.16.12 @ 11:41AM

You can send letters by Fed express, its just going to cost a lot more. As someone mentioned above the Post Office was set up to service everyone. Im not sure that anyone would want to take on rural routes...those have to be big money losers for the post office. The reason that Fed Express and other companies can make money is that they dont stop by every house every day to see if you want to mail a letter. If you ship something with them you have to set up a pick up or take it to a pick up office or drop. The post office's mandate is very different from these other carriers.

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 12:27PM

The electrical and water hookups are state approved monopolies as are often the cable companies. When Thomas Edison first came out with DC power generation, NYC was crisscrossed with wires from multiple electrical power generation companies. Another state approved or run monopoly that works well are... railroads. Not in the USA certainly (because our system is already designed to make a mess of government run operations) but in most other countries, rail is an outstanding success. It's one of the things I enjoy most when I'm out of the USA.

RickZ| 3.15.12 @ 3:39PM

@RJ:
Very interesting idea -- deliver mail 2-3 times a week.

My mail consists of junk mail, some magazines, a couple of bills that I never got around to doing online and birthday/holiday cards.

All this mail could easily be served with your 2-3 times a week delivery.

If something HAD to come more quickly by US Mail, well, the Post Office now has Special Delivery. For the extremely rare occasions it's needed, charge ... [ shrug ] ... $10 or $20.

Some of the money saved could subsidize manufacture of Buggy Whips and Chevrolet Volts.

In short, the Post Office business model has changed due to the Internet. Demand is way, way down.

RJ| 3.15.12 @ 10:38PM

And I was the kid who used to sit by the front door waiting for the mailman to come. It was a big event. My Dad says that when he was a kid, the mail was delivered twice a day. How times have changed.

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 12:38PM

Here's another option (I ought to patent it)

In Ukraine, when my in-laws get a notice for a special delivery, they don't get it delivered to their door. They get a notice to come to the post office to pick it up. They then have to show their ID and sign off for it.

With bi-daily deliveries, we could improve on that model: For a small fee, the post office sends a notice via email or mobile phone to the registered recipient. There's no need for the firm or person to know this information, the PO would keep it private and use it only for this purpose. (Keep in mind, they already probably have this via your tax return!) They notify you the overnight package or letter is at the post office and if the letter carrier isn't due for that day on his route, you have the option to go get it yourself early.

Problem solved.

Keep in mind that so-called "overnight delivery" is no guarantee your recipient will receive it either. If they can't sign off for it, it could sit in the mailbox for 2 days anyway OR worse, be returned to the PO if a signature is required.

One idea that was shot down and I can see why was the USPS floating the idea of them authenticating email senders. They would serve as a third party to validate email senders in order for you to avoid spammers who use a false address to avoid complying with anti-spam laws. THAT should be an easily solved open source problem and I'm befuddled why it hasn't happened. EVERY email server that transmits mail should be registered via a DNS record with the domain they claim to be representing. So if yahoo.com email is coming from a jmail.us server and there is no DNS record to indicate that's ok, bounce it.

Appleby| 3.16.12 @ 3:44PM

Problem solved provided you are a rich yuppie with an upscale binkie, or under the age of 50 (or have children who can find some way to reach Apps without special expensive equipment). What happens to the rest of us? We don't get our mail?

I suggest we do what New Zealand did -- put the post counters in dozens of small shops in communities where people can walk to them and can pick up mail and packages 7 days a week. When NZ went broke, it sold off the mail and now it's so efficient that one day a year, everybody gets free postage (they never know which day it's going to be, in advance, so you can't save up.)

As for delivery in the RFD, pay teenagers to service the route. In housing developments you can hire 12 year olds for 1/10 what a union adult would charge . (See that incredibly annoying Verizon comercial with the little girl who has turned her lemonade stand into a corporate giant.)

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:03PM

Do you live in a city? Are you speaking for the Americans who have no computer service or have to make a living off the land? Try to remember that United we stand, divided we fall. The constitution required a Post Office from Congress.

Bill| 3.15.12 @ 10:48AM

Privatize USPS.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:03PM

John Wilson| 3.15.12 @ 10:55AM

Why not just close the damn service and let private industry do it faster, cheaper and more efficiently?

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 2:45PM

Constitutional mandate. Believe it or not, the PO isn't an FDR boondoggle. It just appears to be at this point. :-)

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:05PM

You are delusional if you think Universal Service can be done cheaper by Private Companies. You do realize the Post Service is International and serves our Military world wide?

ttousps| 3.15.12 @ 11:01AM

the POST OFFICE delievers for UPS&FEDEX; we go to the places they dont want to go and we dont get taxpayer money its amazing how people talk about something they have the wrong facts we have overpaid 55 billon into the retirement fund the POST OFFICE would have made a PROFIT of $200 mill last quarter if it wasnt for the prepayment of the retirement fund

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 1:17PM

I respect what you're saying, TTOUSPS, but one of the reasons I'm killing my PO Box, other than the rising cost, is that UPS and Fedex can't deliver to it. I strongly suspect it's because the USPS wants to lock them out. It doesn't make sense to me because they're still getting my PO Box fee and someone who wants to send me UPS and Fedex packages will simply insist upon my physical address.

Since PO box customers are fleeing, I expect they'll probably try to get more flexible in the future to avoid losing revenue...

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:07PM

That is the LAW. It is called security and sanctity of the Mails. Use your neighbor or relatives address if you have a problem.

Johnny D| 3.15.12 @ 11:04AM

1) The Post Office just raised the price of my post office box by 25% -- in a recession.

2) Expecting an increase in postage, I had to google '1st class stamp.' The price wasn't prominently displayed nor readily available at the Post Office web site.

3) I receive 2 pieces of mail per month at my current address -- cable and utility bills. I've been here 10 years. The Post Office failed to deliver half my mail 2 months in a row.

4) Mail sent with return receipt requested. Delivered a week ago. Return receipt never showed up, either.

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 12:47PM

I never had those negative experiences except for the PO Box prices going up. Mine expires at the end of April and I've already changed it to my condo that I'm renting. That means when I move again, I'll have to send out a good 20 change of address notices (even though I don't get mail on a regular basis from them, they still need my latest address).

So the PO Box was a great way for renters and those who move a lot to have a place to pick up their mail but with them going up to $130 or more for the privilege, no way.

I don't think I'm the only one. I see them putting up ads touting how convenient PO's are but raising the price in a recession doesn't help matters.

In addition... I'm amused that they cracked down on private PO box companies by making their customers put down "POB" on the address in order to make it appear more trashy using the logic that such POB owners might be engaging in fraud and pretending to have a real address. Now, I see the PO advertising that you can get a faux physical address if you want for your PO Box. So it's ok to engage in fraud provided you get the government's help and pay for the privilege?

Sinz54| 3.15.12 @ 11:05AM

Traditionally, the big moneymaker for the Postal Service was first class mail.

But thanks to competition from Internet email facilities, the number of pieces of first class mail sent per year is now down by 25% from its pre-Internet peak--despite a growing American population. Hardcopy first-class mail--which can take 3 days to travel across the American continent--simply can't compete for speed with email, which is practically instantaneous.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/sta.....s_Mail.jpg

And with the loss of their biggest moneymaker, the Postal Service will continue to lose revenue. Unless they can find another market that yields comparable revenue.

Talking about wage cuts and reorganization won't help. Such actions didn't save Borders and Circuit City and many other bricks-and-mortar retailers from Internet competition, and they won't save the Postal Service either.

The only bricks-and-mortar businesses that can survive, are those that learn how to operate on the Internet.

The postal services in other countries already do this. In some European countries, you can take a picture on your smartphone and have the Postal Service turn it into a postcard to send to someone. You can scan in documents and send those as mail too.

Those things don't even require human workers. The Postal Service could do what RedBox did: Create automated kiosks everywhere (as well as online) that let you send such postcards and other documents directly from your smartphone or from a thumb drive, by swiping your credit card through. No postage stamps needed.

If the Postal Service continues to be a hardcopy-only business, it will end up like Borders.

Dick Nome| 3.15.12 @ 3:10PM

The higher the 1st class rates go the lower the usage goes. It's like taxes, if the rates were lower the revenue would increase due to increased activity as long as costs were controlled. Postal Unions don't understand that.

Rmm| 3.15.12 @ 10:48PM

The unions don't have a damn thing to do with that. Like any company, management leads and blue collars follow. With 1st class mail declining, bulk mail has to increase to make up for the drop in revenue. The real problem facing the USPS is overcoming poor business decisions from the past, like sponsoring Lance Armstrong & Co. to the tune of millions of $$$$. Legislation passed by Congress in 06 requiring that USPS pre-fund retiree benefits at $ 5.5 billion / year for ten years is nothing more than the Feds handing the Service an IOU as the $$$ goes into the General Fund. Without that yoke around our necks the Postal Service is in the black.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:09PM

Postal Unions do understand. The PO has made a profit and still does. You need the truth: THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 1:22PM

This doesn't make sense. Why use a smartphone to send physical postcards to people? Certainly, if the recipient doesn't have an email address it makes sense but in most of western Europe and the USA, it's an obsolete idea even before deployment. I'll just email it to them! I know perhaps only 3 people who don't have email (old rural residents) and they would prefer I fill out the postcard, by hand, and get the postmark.

Greeting cards are still big business but the PO's bread and butter were making money from bills. They loved getting it two ways: Getting money from the bills when they were sent, and then money when the customer mailed out their checks to the companies! I now pay ALL my bills through the internet. All of 'em! The only one the PO touches is my rent check which I have my bank print out and mail on my behalf.

ttousps| 3.15.12 @ 11:10AM

another question for you smart people if they do away with SAT delievery what what happens to the mail when they is a holiday weekend no mail SAT /SUN/ MON what is happen to the millions of prescriptions that on going to sit on loading docks in extreme temps the overtime in the POST OFFICE is going thru the roof now because of a shortage of drivers and some consolidations already in place some drivers are working 6/7 days aweek just because you dont get mail on holiday it is still moving thru the system and most processing centers cnat hold 4 days worh of mail

Drake| 3.15.12 @ 1:25PM

Fed-Ex?

jay train| 3.15.12 @ 11:11AM

Or y0u could laugh about it : What's the same thing about the Post Office and Thom Mc Ann's ? Thousands of black loafers lying arond ! Rimshot .

scott| 3.15.12 @ 11:27AM

The next Pony-Express of our day: libraries. There's around 14 in my county alone. Can't imagine what it costs to operate, maintain the buildings, the wages, benefits, etc.,....and for what? For the local free-dvd outlet, that's what.

robert petersen| 3.15.12 @ 1:13PM

Yeah! Only a bunch of snobs read anyway!

PolishKnight| 3.15.12 @ 11:57AM

The original purpose of the USPS (I think) was to guarantee important documents could get to people such as your court summons, tax returns, etc. That's why it's a federal crime to mess with them. Privatizing would ruin that.

Amazingly, the courts sometimes serve notices through USPS without registered or certified restrictions. So if someone else opens the box or steals the mail, you could wind up going to jail. There's a funny episode on Seinfeld where his neighbor "babu" is deported back to Pakistan because his mail got mixed up with Jerry's. It seems ridiculous, but it could and probably does happen all the time.

Ironically, the internet actually helps generate more traffic via services such as netflix and amazon that have people ordering products over state lines (and not paying taxes) and getting delivered instead of driving to their brick and mortar store. Environmentalists gripe about the horrors of package delivery but I think it saves gas in the long run. Instead of hundreds of people driving to go shopping, why not relax at home and let the postal carrier drag it on up on his runs?

Since most people can wait an extra day for delivery, having every-other-day runs shouldn't be a big deal. It will shoot up the price for next day delivery though but how often do you need that? I like Saturday delivery because that's a great day to get packages on (I'm home!) so I can sign for packages if I need them. If they're going to drop a day, drop Wednesday.

Regarding the junk mail: Don't get too much of it nowadays. I think because it's too expensive for the sender. Most of it is from insurance companies, pizza delivery coupons, and the ValPack mailer. Most of that will be going web in the near future.

Brubaker| 3.15.12 @ 12:12PM

"Instead of the U.S. Government lending it money every year (as it has) to pay its bills, subsidize it via the federal budget."

In other words, continue business as usual. There's some serious "long-range thinking and plenty of courage."

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:11PM

Ned| 3.15.12 @ 12:12PM

At least 90% of what arrives in my mailbox today goes straight into the paper recycle bin... we even call it the "junkmail bin"... I located the bin right by the inside garage door, so the crap doesn't even get into the house...

Privatize package delivery by selling service areas to the highest bidder on a state-by-state basis... don't screw around just cutting Saturday delivery, reduce home delivery to *every other day* - some areas will get their junk mail on MWF, others on TThSat... there's very little in the mail that can't wait an extra day to be delivered, and if it *can't* wait, it shouldn't be in the every-day-mail... this will buy the USPS ten years... and at the end of that time, sell it off just like the package business...

Ron| 3.15.12 @ 1:00PM

I live in Alaska, Juneau, to be exact....i have had nothing but good service with the USPS...Priority mail is excellent, with packages (including shipping tracking) arriving in the Lower 48 in 3 to 4 business days and at rates way less than fed Ex or UPS...SinceJuneau is landlocked, UPS and fed Ex ground have to come in on aircraft, which, are, guess what, USPS aircraft...BTW, those packages are shipped only after USPS regular mail has gone, so USPS Priority is a much cheaper, better deal.

If the .gov would get it's mitts off of the USPS, it would become profitable again...get rid of the stupid merchandise that no one buys (pins, CDs, decorative plates, and stamps) and consolidate outlying rural post offices to closer larger ones...We have one on Douglas Island that serves maybe a couple of thousand people at best, and not three miles away across the connecting bridge is the federal building with another USPS Office in it.

Dick Nome| 3.15.12 @ 2:49PM

Those aren't USPS aircraft, they are contractors.

The Bruce| 3.15.12 @ 11:29PM

"[...] arriving in the Lower 48 in 3 to 4 business days and at rates way less than fed Ex or UPS [...]

You just described one of the reasons the USPS is hemorrhaging money -- they're charging you less than what it actually costs to provide you that service.

It's not unlike GM going bankrupt selling you cars at less than what it costs to manufacture them (to make prices "competitive" with non-union shops).

See how that works?

robert petersen| 3.15.12 @ 1:10PM

only one commenter has gotten it correct so far-make UPS and FedEx pre-fund their retirement/health care programs for 75 years and they would be bankrupt as well. the USPS was and is totally self supporting and was established by BEN FRANKLIN for reasons that are perfectly valid. Close the post office and then try to get mail delivered if you live outside a major city. Congress screwed this up and they can very easily fix it.

The Bruce| 3.15.12 @ 11:56PM

FedEx and UPS only fund medical/retirement (401K) benefits while the employee is active (not retired) so there's nothing to pre-fund. It's an apples and oranges comparison. They don't promise "utopia" for life after 20 years of employment. That's the key difference.

FedEx and UPS pay into your benefits only while you're employed with them, unlike the public sector where it's possible to retire at age 40 and spend the next 40+ years living off of the taxpayer.

You'd know this if you worked in the private sector, which expects you to work (and pay into your 401K) until you reach 65, wherein you'll receive SSI, your 401K retirement, and Medicare.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:16PM

Try to read and learn before posting. ALL federal employees , including USPS are under SS and pay into a Thrift Savings Plan [ 401K] NO one retires at 40 years. You may be thinking of your parents or years past. They had Civil Service Retirement System. We all are in the same boat now and we all hope it does not sink.

Shaboe Delucks| 3.15.12 @ 5:02PM

In what universe are Fedex, UPS, DHL, and their ilk faster and cheaper than the USPS? None of them have any service cheaper than about $15, and that's for "we'll get it there approximately whenever we feel like it." Want it there the next morning? Inherit a small fortune, did you? Mr. Hannaford, do a little research before you start making wild and crazy remarks. And no, I have no affiliation of any kind with the USPS or its employees or their labor unions.

The Bruce| 3.16.12 @ 12:05AM

Actually, Fedex, UPS, and DHL are faster and cheaper. You just don't know it because the USPS is only cheaper on the front-end. Your taxes make up the rest on the back-end (bailouts).

By the way, did you know that Federal Law mandates that front-end costs for the "big three," mentioned above, be set higher so as to make the USPS appear to be the more "economical" option? You're dealing with a government monopoly at work. You think you're paying less with the USPS, but you're not -- that is to say if you're part of the 53% of the country that actually pay income tax.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:18PM

Another Dolt comment. "your taxes make up the rest". THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

Pat| 3.15.12 @ 7:33PM

So, our Constitution requires we maintain a postal service monopoly to deliver our junk mail? The Postal Service charges the junk mail generators less to deliver their product than it charges for the mail we’d really prefer to receive. Our various levels of government support the USPS by insisting we receive their “official” communications via the USPS only. So, our property tax bill comes in the mail but we can pay it online via a bank account debit to assure a faster remittance into government coffers along with lower processing costs to them than depositing a paper check. We then receive a confirmation via email that our tax bucks were taken from our bank account because email is cheaper for the government entity than responding to us via first class mail - but not in the case of sending out our original tax bill. Is this a great country or what? I suspect it’s the “or what”.

The Bruce| 3.16.12 @ 12:29AM

Crazy, isn't it? Here's the breakdown of my USPS consumption:

1) Junk Mail/Credit Card offers: 98% (which I shred)
2) Property Taxes: 0.9% (which I pay online)
Voter Ballots: 0.1% (which I shred, as I show up to vote)
3) Packages/Christmas/Birthday/Anniversary Cards: 1%

So yeah, virtually everything I receive from the USPS is worthless junk, and most of the remainder I can receive/pay/etc online.

To the point, the Holiday/Birthday/Etc cards are the only thing I appreciate getting through the USPS. Everything else is useless BS I can deal with online.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:22PM

Good for you. A LOT of Americans need the Postal Service. Personally, there are a lot of parts of the Unitied States I do not need too. However, how about the Common Good? Other citizens do not have the Internet or your choices in life.

POST American| 3.15.12 @ 9:58PM

"You go into the background of surveilance
with the Stasi, KGB, gestapo etc. ---and you
always come across the exasperation of the
'watchers' with handwitten messages on
paper in sealed envelopes."

Thanks to NSA-DARPA Google et al
and the wonder working of people such
as unrepentant, 3rd generation EUGENIST
Bill Gates ---that's about to become a thing
of the past.

--"Everything OLD is NEW-Remberg AGAIN"

AGAIN

Mike Hawk| 3.15.12 @ 10:20PM

Got hold of more Chloroform, eh?? Take another deep huff.

The Bruce| 3.16.12 @ 12:35AM

Mike,

Don't hate PA. Learn to love him. Yes, his rantings are the stuff of an Alex Jones disciple on PCP and Meth, but it's entertaining stuff indeed.

I tend to think of him as one of the "Hybrids" on Battlestar Galactica -- babbling gibberish 24/7 but somehow, almost, making sense.

The Bruce| 3.16.12 @ 12:46AM

Sure, he can be a bit nuttier than a whole-grain bowel movement, but don't deprive the Spectator of its mascot.

idaho2run| 3.16.12 @ 2:15PM

USPS has been doomed to fail for years. Outdated, incompetent management concepts and an out of control union contract has them in an unwinnable situation. I have said for years that if they were forced to operate as a private business, they would have gone under years ago.
I worked for USPS for 10 years, as a carrier and supervisor, finally wised up and got out. The union has so much control it is literally impossible to get rid of poorly performing, lazy, or incompetent workers. Especially if they are minorities or females.
The bidding/contract practices are stupid and often corrupt.
It did not have to come to this, but looks like failure on a massive scale has finally come.

PolishKnight| 3.16.12 @ 2:50PM

A former girlfriend of mine was the first female letter carrier in Hollywood (that gives you an idea of how old I am!) She told me some funny stories. One of them was that she took maternity leave and didn't come back. She enjoyed full major medical benefits for, get this, 2 years, before they gave up and discharged her.

GonePostal| 3.29.12 @ 6:25PM

The Postal Service is a Constitutional Mandate. It is a SERVICE to the American People. You should know better. However, as a former Supervisor, you should know that mis-management such as threats, lies, failure to follow the agreed upon work rules has been the downfall. Also here is the real truth about the PO. THE TRUTH: the Bush White House and Congress “whacked the Post Office with the Postal Accountability Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to pre-pay the health care benefits, not only of current employees, but also of all employees who’ll retire during the next 75 years.” Hightower calls it “hocus pocus” and concludes the intent of the privatizers is to take the USPS and kill it or, at minimum, shrink it. Shame!

Grannybarbara| 3.16.12 @ 5:52PM

If Congress didn't control the USPS I guarantee they would be profitable

Grannybarbara| 3.16.12 @ 5:57PM

As a work partner, non-union, the USPS hands are tied. They can't even advertise competitively against UPS, Brown, DHL, etc because Congress will not allow them too! Congress restricts the USPS, not the USPS Management. You folks are completely uninformed

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.17.12 @ 8:29AM

Go to any Post Office in America near a city, even a small city, and you will receive lousy service from a condescending bureaucrat.

The employees are overpaid nitwits. You could hire people at $8 an hour to work the service counters.

Bobloblaw| 3.18.12 @ 1:42PM

In large cities, the USPS is an affirmative action dumping ground

Bobloblaw| 3.18.12 @ 1:32PM

When sales fall what do most business do with their pricing??? Well the USPS RAISES prices. This is interesting economic thinking. It means the USPS thinks that demand for mail service is inelastic. Raising prices results in more revenue. This might have been true before the early 1990s. But with fax machines and email it is unlikely that demand for mail service is anything other than very elastic. Raise prices and revenues will fall.

POST American| 3.19.12 @ 12:43AM

---Laying aside the latest WIRED magazine
interview with Petreaus in which he nonchalantly
informs us that ALLLLLLLLL new applicances
are fitted to eavesdrop, surveil, track,
data collect and generally spy on us ---in conjunction with
those hideous, fright white, mercury filled,
RED Chinese manufactured, UN mandated
flourescent lightbulbs (---flicker rates interact
with your applicances and PC --CHECK IT OUT!)

----------------------------UH-----------------------------

-really time to stock up on pencil and paper.

-------------------HUAC/ Nuremberg-------------------

WHENEVER YOU'RE READY!

----------------------------BUT MAKE IT FAST!

ertha rizas| 3.23.12 @ 9:19AM

Please note as a member of apwu . The union will also shrink and rightly so. Mr. Jeff Kehlert nat. business agent took advantage of me by making a backdoor deal with management for favors. This backdoor deal left me and my daughter almost homeless. I was out of work by no fault of my own and was yelled at by Mr.Kehlert to go back to work. In the mean time I never was allowed to go to my arbitration. Mr. Kehlert had no intention of representing me. I look forward to speak about the ongoing corruption that goes on in the apwu. I know from speaking to other woman that this is not an isolated incident. Members that feel they have been improperly misrepresnted call immediately nat. labor relations board and retain a lawyer. Dont let what happen to me happen to any member or non member

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