Why the Mail Should Come Every Other Day

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Even more radical change would be mail every third day and the routes still work. Right now they do 1 (route) x 6 (days) = 6 total days. You recommend 2 (routes) x 3 (days/wk) = 6 days/wk. I agree...or 3 (routes) x 2 (days/wk) still equals 6 days per week. They could cut out 67% of their delivery related expenses and think of how green it would be to save all of that fuel/energy. Many people do not even check their mail every day. It is mostly junk and the few things that are not junk can certainly wait. If something is terribly urgent and can't wait and can't be delivered via fax or email, there is always FedEx or UPS. The postal program was much more relevant when we had no other alternatives and served more of a purpose then. Now, however, having daily mail delivery (as opposed to less frequently) is mostly just a jobs program or the result of union mob rule.

Ken Harp of GA 10:12AM March 06, 2013

I would say let the USPS run it's bussiness as it sees fit. Do not let the unions or congress dictate what the USPS will or will not do. The USPS should be a bussiness, not a welfare office.

John Metz of CA 10:46AM September 21, 2011

I think back when we had mail deliverly twice a day,Two party lines on phones. We always spoke to a person when we called information.Almost never saw lines at the post office. Mail men wre always smileing.Now call information what do you get? Look for a smiling mail person.Some people stand in line at the post office to buy a couple of stamps, they need to send out a letter right away. ( Vending machines Great ). So why did the postal service take them out?I think someone thought( post office ) we have three service windows open, an a vending machine, where are the lines,lets cut out vending and close two windows. Lines will make it look like were always busy.One thing I do know,there is a lot of stress on either side of the counter ( postal & customers )

Charles Lyons of MA 9:36AM October 10, 2010

Instead why doesn't the Post Office set up an alternative EMAIL (secured of course) system where you can opt to receive some or all of your mail via email or web site??
If the PO hosts this domain and secures it then it would decrease some of their over head for manning... and thus we would all be free from spam since folks would have to PAY to send us junk mail etc!
Any takers??

chris philibotte of NH 7:31AM July 22, 2010

We oft hear of the USPS desire to deliver 5 days a week... with all of the holidays they have 5 days a week mean we would get delivery more often...
There are reasons the USPS suffers, as any poorly managed business would. Correct, it has strange restrictive rules to follow - but those are what need to be changed - not the function and system. Get rid of the idea that once an employee - always an employee - and we will see better employees worthy of the money. Get rid of the criminal unions which eat the postal increases up. And, yes, close the failing offices and cutback the staff.
The government keeps trying to pretend that they know best for the people, and yet we still see examples that keep bankrupting us. Guess they feel it is okay because all they have to do is raise taxes - the endless supply of money to waste. Time for the US Government to put down it's blank checkbook and take care of business - before the businesses and the country no longer exist.

ThJeff of KS 12:42PM July 21, 2010

need to do away with union. the union has served its purpse and should be delete in all forms

loneed of TX 9:11AM July 20, 2010

Vee Of AR. A Jul 19,2010 8:25 AM
Postmaster General Potter has been over the postal system way to long.
Someone else could do his job better. He's causing postal system woes,
by constanley increasing the price in stamps/ shipping, because he's so greedy. But not starving! ( You can sure tell that. ) by the look's of him.
It's past time to Replace him.
People should be able to recieve their mail daily, with- out lobbist's intervening.
The postal system should be set up like the welfare of other's. And not be an indevidual institution. Because the government still has control of closing's of postoffices, and building new ones.

Vee W of AR 9:39AM July 19, 2010

It's a natural convergence: copy-center, printing center, maybe Internet center tool, with the convenience of handing off those documents to counter personnel on the spot. Retail counters funneling into the USPS delivery system.
Yeah, that can't happen because of how they're structured; but a focused strip-mall / mall-subcell design combining those elements with a Wifi-Starbucks on one side and/or a Wifi-McDonalds on the other, Kinko's / MailboxesEtcetera / USPS in the middle, and all of them sublets, could.

crb3 of MA 5:26AM July 11, 2010

So I've spent the last six months on ebay selling massive collections of all manner of stuff inherited from my father. If postal service were cut to three days they would instantly lose my business; it would be impossible to preserve my customers' perceptions of "lightning quick shipping" that are a major factor in my achieving a top seller ranking & reaping the benefits that brings. Furthermore, you claim that this type of thing falls under priority mail. It most certainly does not; 1st class mail is where USPS is competitive & if the item is heavy enough to require that it go priority or parcel then I'm almost always better off with UPS. I've done the calculations over & over for a wide range of items. Also, by your figures, personal mail is insignificant, the proportion of bills sent by mail will also dwindle to insignificance, which leaves advertising & the business correspondence/packages categories as the two key elements of the mail volume. So preserving six day delivery would allow them to retain their two biggest customer blocks. Finally, look at all the suggestions from the postal workers about how to improve organizational efficiency without compromising service...

Zack Boring of WA 2:40AM July 11, 2010

Why is it that whenever there is a news story regarding the US Postal Service and the money it's losing, the reporter always says the money loss is due to the Internet, as if it were THAT simple. Also there is emphasis on how much rates have gone up in the past decade even though the cost of a stamp today, when adjusted for inflation, costs as much as it did 30 years ago.
I'm a letter carrier with the USPS. And I know that as much as there has been volume loss due to the Internet when it comes to how customers transact their business, I also know that the Internet drives business to the mail; with companies like eBay, Netflix, Amazon... even FedEx and UPS ships with the US Postal Service! It is a tight balancing act between revenue lost and revenue gained combined with operating efficiencies in how the budget gets balanced.
But hardly EVER do any of these reports EVER point out the fact that the US Postal Service has been hit even HARDER in the pocket by something more than the Internet. A requirement was placed on it by the US government to not only pay as it goes with its current retiree health care(as most employers do), but also to put aside an additional $5.5 billion a year for its FUTURE retiree health care. Let me say that again: The USPS pays for its current retirees AND also puts aside an additional $5.5 billion a year into a fund for its future retiree health care. Do you know of ANY other government agency and/or private company that does that?
Let me break down some of the numbers: Since 2007 the US Postal Service has lost $11.7 billion. Over the same period of time, the USPS was required to put aside $12.4 billion in to a fund for its future retiree health care. If you remove the strict prefunding requirement for future retiree health care, the USPS stood to PROFIT $700 million. Not bad for a not for profit agency.
What's more is the Inspector General of the US Postal Service determined that the USPS was overcharged by the US government in the amount of $75 billion for its commitment towards the Civil Service Retirement Fund for employees who were actually a part of the old Post Office Department of the US government before postal reform in 1971. This reform allowed the Service to operate more as a business and generate revenue from products and services sold rather than through tax subsidies from the US government. If the US government were to reimburse the USPS this $75 billion, it would fully pay for the future retiree health care fund and would also put the USPS well into the black. There would be no need for rate increases -OR- any need of eliminating services(i.e. Saturday carrier street delivery.)
So please, don't just report/dwell on the sensational aspects of how the US Postal Service is losing money(i.e. the Internet), but rather report the WHOLE story so the American people can be well informed about THEIR US Postal Service.
For more information please visit the letter carriers' union website at NALC.org

Ryan of OH 6:49PM July 08, 2010