How Postal Rate Hikes Foretell America’s Future

Seriously with the way we relie on the postal service we can't afford to loose it as an entity. However we as a society are now more than ever reliant on the telecomications systems to commicate.

For home service cluster boxes and delivery 3 times a week makes greater sense. The population has expanded, in some locations exponentially, since WWII ended. This would benifit the mail carriers as they would be given more time during a shift to make deliveries.

Bulk mailings and store fliers can be done by e-mail to those who select that route. However bulk mailings will continue as a major means of advertisement.

For those recieving Government checks as opposed to direct deposit of funds there is a greater problem. Still if they know they are on an alternate schedule for mail reciept they should be able to compensate. The banks will have to adapt and deal with the issue as well. They've been bailed out by the tax payer its time for them to support the taxpayer.

As for requirement of businesses having daily cash flow, its simple accounting and depositing. If major businesses can not adapt then they should change too to handle the new reality of society in a cash flow problem. Checks will still be mailed and cashed But the banker's hours will have to support the business and not the banks.

Its time for society in America to wake up, realize business as its been done is over and change is coming. The change can keep a essential institution viable and productive; Or Congress and Lobbyist with deep pockets can kill it.

The U.S. Postal Service reaches every level of society from The White House to Bill Gates and down to the oldest Pensioner and youngest letter writer. It more than any governmental agency has an impact on daily life. Also in times when our electronics fail, the written word and parcels can still be delivered.

The Q of NY 12:42PM August 02, 2010

It is amazing to me the number of people who think they get to decide who gets mail and who doesn't. You get junk mail because someone else has paid for it. Not you, someone else. The PO delivers it because that is their job. You will notice that most of the Junk is now addressed to Resident, removing the option of the carrier to mark it is unknown addressee. The Post office delivers on Saturday because the public is used to it and wants it. Your mommy wants her junk mail and needs to be convinced its ok not to get it on Saturday. Laying off 17% of postal employees is a good idea? In a recession? Gee, what would politicians do in that case? Especially since they have free postage.

So, you want every other day delivery? I can just imagine businesses endorsing that. Businesses have the same cash crunch as everyone else. They need those checks coming in on a daily basis. And, since business accounts for 95% of 1st class mail, I think we dance to their tune.

The post office is a dinosaur. It has been killed off by the internet. In the next 20 years, we may truly see the demise of the USPS. Unfortunately, once it is gone, we won't be able to afford to reconstitute it.

Foot goo of CA 11:36AM August 02, 2010

Everything J.D.Kelley suggest should and can be done. Without the junk mail, there would / will be zero new construction needed forever. Larger facilities were a necessity only because the volume of bulk business mail (junk mail, advertising) was ever increasing. The increase is understandable: the USPS charged the mailer far less than the true cost of shipping, handling, and delivery of the junk. The upstairs bureaucracy is bloated and comfortable in the over-stuffed swivel chairs; who would voluntarily retire from eight hours a day in that comfort and $70,000 a year salary. A bureaucracy functions well for twenty years; after that, it becomes bloated and disfunctional. A bureaucracy in motion tends to stay in motion even though it is moving in the incorrect direction.

But the need for a federal postal service is great. The U.S.Post Office is worth saving.

A retired postal worker who never went postal.

Charley of FL 3:34AM August 02, 2010

I think junk mail should be stacked at the post office by categories, so those who really want it can take it home with them. I would not miss one paper of junk in my mailbox. Or, here's an idea: those who want junk mail, sign up for it at the post office (on a small postcard)! Then we who would rather see a tree in a field than in their mailbox can sigh relief breathing the air the tree makes rather than the chemicals in the paper in their junk mail.

Yes, mail only needs to be delivered 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for businesses, and Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for residentials. Or divide the city in half, with deliveries M-W-F and T-Th-S.

Do not hire any more postal carriers, and when carriers retire, their routes will balance out with the lesser amount of mail as the electronic age advances. Do not raise postal rates. Lower salaries of the higher up employees.

This is the only way the US Postal Service is going to stay in business.

J C of MO 12:05AM August 02, 2010