[governsleastgovernsbest]

[ken21]

the labor unions and technology have destroyed the post office.

it should be privatized and de-unionized.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Horse ‘n buggy logic from the Post Office. Ping to Today show list.

[FrdmLvr]

And a horse and buggy never caused as many traffic fatalities as the automobile.

[gunnyg]

...dump ‘em!!!!!...

[gorush]

We're all Luddites now...:{)

[Cardhu]

OMG - back to the stone age, maybe they should get paid in cowrie shells.

[GeronL]

Wow. That is absolutely dismaying.

Be a Luddite! Buy a stamp.

As a matter of fact, I guess we should all buy a stamp and send our next handwritten posts to Jim Robinson.

[GeronL]

Wow. That is absolutely dismaying.

Be a Luddite! Buy a stamp.

As a matter of fact, I guess we should all buy a stamp and send our next handwritten posts to Jim Robinson.

[catnipman]

I personally haven't seen the new post office ad yet, but I did find a picture of it on the web, and I thought the throw-back colors were a nice touch:

[Minutemen]

Whoa....not so fast... I get checks (income) from my business mail! I suppose people punchin the time clock DONT need the mail.

[BigCinBigD]

Sorry I’m late. I was in the 16th Century looking for the Post Offices pen.

[bigbob]

Even my sister, who is non-political and doesn’t follow this stuff like I do, just about puked when this came up during a football game yesterday. Pathetic.

[KarlInOhio]

An on-line virus has never attacked a cork board.

No one has gotten anthrax through e-mail.

[Captain Peter Blood]

On a more basic level though we have at least one maybe two generations that only know e-mail and text messaging.
Our school systems now don't and won't even teach the basics of letter writing. The Indiana school system will no longer teach cursive writing.
What will be lost is the ability to communicate in a creative and individual manner.
Yesterday for instance I hand wrote, in cursive I might add, a three page condolence letter to the wife of a close friend that passed away. You can't tell me that sending an e-mail would convey the same sentiment.
Technology for all it's vaunted praise still doesn't always mean progress.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Beau and I saw this ad during the Badger game yesterday. Both of us threw stuff at the TV screaming, “OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE PAYING FOR THIS?!?”

It lead to a great discussion about where we want our tax dollars spent - and this isn’t one of them! Advertising for a hopelessly indebted Government agency?

Nope. Commercials advertising for the Military? Fine with us! :)

[The Duke]

I can hack a cork port in 10 seconds by posting "spam" on it.

If the Post Office had any brains at all they would move *to* the Internet and offer a global PKI service. They could justify the cost of selling digital certs by the fact that it would virtually put an end to SPAM.

Then, we'd all be happy.

[asinclair]

Why I don't use the United States Post Office when possible:

• Electronic mail doesn't get lost as often.
• Electronic mail arrives much more quickly
• Electronic mail has a far smaller energy footprint
• Junk mail can be sorted automatically
• Offensive mail can be easily blocked or shunted
• No need to buy stamps
• End-to-end communication can be completed in minutes instead of days or weeks
• Electronic bill-paying stops nuisance cross-in-the-mail problems, like getting utilities disconnected after payment has been entered into the postal system

That doesn't mean I have completely stopped using postal mail. My mother really, really likes getting handwritten letters, and I don't mind showing off my penmanship. I do ship small parcels from time to time using Priority Mail, especially when completing an eBay transaction on something smaller than a breadbox.

Bills? All the utility companies have discovered on-line payments using electronic check, so paper checks don't have to physically move. It costs them less. Besides, when I was paying by paper check, I prefer to go to the utility's office and present in person...until all the utilities here closed their counters to the public.

Now, one person commented on this thread that he gets checks in the mail to him for his business. That's fine, and there is a way to fix the problem and still let the Post Office slash costs: use the lockbox service at your bank. Many large banks have their own ZIP code, and receive tons of mail. Using automated equipment and turnaround documents, the banks can accept the checks directly, and get them started in the mill, and credit the correct bank account. Moreover, the lockbox operations get bags of mail every single weekday and Saturday, and I don't see that stopping when they reduce retail delivery to four or five days a week. Mr. Business man, wouldn't you like to avoid having to deposit paper checks personally, and have then clear much fast to boot?

Don't like dealing with big banks? Little banks contract lockbox server from the big guys -- talk to your banker about it.

Yesterday, I picked up my mail from the large bank of mailboxes on my street. (I haven't had door delivery of mail for years; it's always been Post Office boxes or "cluster boxes" for more than a decade.) It's been a week since I checked it last. There were six letters that needed my attention. The 30 or so other envelopes, as well as the rest of the paper that stuffed my box tightly, ended up in the paper recycling.

[6SJ7]

A refrigerator has never been hacked.

The Post Office forgot about that refrigerator in Ghostbusters.

[Hunton Peck]

I tried switching to smoke-signal communications, but the EPA sued me....

[WePledge]

It’s a shame one of the few things the federal govt. was charged with was building post roads and offices [art.1 sec.8]and they’ve loused that up. If we lived by the Constitution instead of feel good liberalism, the monies spent on social programs would actually have to take a backseat in regards to the USPS.

Of course I’m sure one of our benevolent uberdorks has probably seen this and has dutifully written that responsibility out of existence.