"Hope you enjoyed the ride."
Posted on 09/08/2011 9:29:02 AM PDT by Borges
The U.S. Postal Service appears to be the latest casualty in digital technology's slow but steady replacement of working humans. Unless an external source of funding comes in, the post office will have to scale back its operations drastically, or simply shut down altogether. That's 600,000 people who would be out of work, and another 480,000 pensioners facing an adjustment in terms. We can blame a right wing attempting to undermine labor, or a left wing trying to preserve unions in the face of government and corporate cutbacks. But the real culprit -- at least in this case -- is e-mail. People are sending 22% fewer pieces of mail than they did four years ago, opting for electronic bill payment and other net-enabled means of communication over envelopes and stamps. New technologies are wreaking havoc on employment figures -- from EZpasses ousting toll collectors to Google-controlled self-driving automobiles rendering taxicab drivers obsolete. Every new computer program is basically doing some task that a person used to do. But the computer usually does it faster, more accurately, for less money, and without any health insurance costs.
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And so the president goes on television telling us that the big issue of our time is jobs, jobs, jobs -- as if the reason to build high-speed rails and fix bridges is to put people back to work. But it seems to me there's something backwards in that logic. I find myself wondering if we may be accepting a premise that deserves to be questioned.
I am afraid to even ask this, but since when is unemployment really a problem? I understand we all want paychecks -- or at least money. We want food, shelter, clothing, and all the things that money buys us. But do we all really want jobs?
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Don’t forget those evil ATM machines.
If the post office were able to cut back on their workforce to adjust for the drop in mail, they wouldn’t be in this position. You can’t keep supplying if there is no demand.
They could also quit giving away postage to junk mailers.
We geeks will not rest until CNN is not needed.
Oh, forgot, it’s already not needed.
Which brings to mind the obvious question.........
“If the post office were able to cut back on their workforce”
No-layoffs-allowed Union Contracts
Gotta love liberalism.
Why can’t we all just sit at home and wait for the checks to arrive???? C’mon! This supposed to be a free country! How come have I have to work??
Yeah back then our automobiles were controlled by Lycos or even Alta Vista. None of that new-fangled Google controlled automobile jazz for us!
Amazon and Zappos saved FedEx and UPS.
UPS will go down, however, because it is union and sucks.
“not to mention FEDEX and UPS “
They overlap with the usps but the usps still does what nobody else to a large degree. Maybe in another generation email could totally replace usps, but technology is not there yet.
UPS is also union, but at least there’s a huge warehouse for Zappos right down the road from its Louisville hub.
Oh, of course the unemployment rate isn’t Obama’s fault. It has to be something else. I know, lets blame technology!
Although somewhat misguided in his explanation, the author makes an excellent point.
The 40-hour workweek, clock punching factory crap is history.
Why work for someone else (+Uncle Sam) when you van work for yourself?
In this article is one of the reasons we are so screwed.
The government used to be a drain on the economy. Removing some government programs and employees would put more money back in the people’s pocket and into the economy. However, the leech has grown so large that we now have a symbiotic relationship. Unemployment is very bad right now. What do you think would happen if the federal government really made the cuts we’d like to see, which would mean laying off or terminating hundreds of thousands or even millions of government workers?
The host would die, that’s what.
Waiting for a politician to suggest USPS e-mail stamps in 3, 2, 1...
One thing I LOVE about the USPS: Media Mail.
I mailed thousands of record albums in 60 lb boxes across country for a pittance.
"Hope you enjoyed the ride."
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