Postal Reform Bill Doesn't Address USPS Problems

Townhall.com ^ | July 27, 2016 | Brian McNicoll

[MD Expat in PA]

“Junk mail” is the only class of postage that has been growing. First class mail has been in a steady decline since the mid-90’s with the advent of email and it took another huge hit with electronic bill pay.

And also Direct Deposit – paychecks, SS and SSI payments, etc., and even unemployment payments are all, or nearly all paid via direct deposit or deposited to a pay card now.

99.9% of all the USPS mail I receive is junk mail that goes unread, straight into the recycling bin. I don’t even go to my mail box but once a week.

I pay all my bills on-line and am notified of when bills are due via email or txt message. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote a check or mailed anything. I bought a book of “forever stamps” two years ago and have to date, used two.

I used to have a couple of magazine subscriptions but converted them to digital subscriptions.

Every once and a while when I order something from Amazon, if it doesn’t qualify for Prime 2-day shipping which is rare, it is delivered via USPS but other than that, I wouldn’t notice or care if USPS folded.

[Buckeye McFrog]

What’s worse is I now have to spend about an hour of my time every other week shredding junk mail with personally identifiable information on it.

[Wyatt's Torch]

I order a boatload of stuff from Amazon Prime and a fair bit of stuff is delivered via USPS. Now FDX and UPS often use the USPS for last mile delivery for resi addresses. Resi deliveries are not protiable for FDX and UPS.

[PAR35]

I have had some thoughts along those lines as well. While that would reduce fuel costs and wear and tear on vehicles, I’m not sure how many employees could be cut. And it would only work for residential routes.

[Reddy]

Not only retirees. Postal employees pay a paltry amount for health insurance coverage. An unbelievably small premium.

[cherry]

you see....being shoved on Medicare is the ultimate disgrace....good enough for the rest of us though....

[Dr. Sivana]

Sadly, that's one of the few things that is profitable for them.

“Junk mail” is the only class of postage that has been growing.

I am not so sure that junk mail is profitable for them. It all depends on how the calculations are done. If it is "given" that every house will be visited every day, then yes, Junk mail gives him something to bring to the door. I do know that past price increases made foreign mail (a first class letter costs a dollar to go to Canada?!) and non-huge periodicals shippers nd others take a bigger brunt of the shipping while the junk mailers costs stayed level.

I am under the impression that junk mail rates are actually low to keep employment levels and infrastructure large, to give the USPS more political clout. or as W. Torch put it, "They have to rationalize their infrastructure. They need to offload their retiree benefits as well. Those are untenable as currently constructed."

I would rather take a one time hit on pensions and switchover costs including lost capital projects (a large fleet of custom built postal trucks instead of cheaper off the shelf delivery vehicles like those used by FedEx) instead of kicking the can farther down the road.

This should be in Trump's wheel-house.

[Safetgiver]

There was a news article posted here a few months ago of a meeting with postal officers and the head of the Postal Service flat out declared the PEOPLE are not the customers of the P.O. The junk mailers ARE. He also said the taxpayers are on the hook for paying, so how do we make it easier for our real customers. I read it, did not copy it, but I read and got PO’d.

[Safetgiver]

Who cares? Use the internet? This ain’t the days of the Pony Express. Other wise (For bulk deliveries use UPS, DHL, or Fedex.

[azcap]

As much as I can’t stand the guy, Trump needs to bring in someone like Mitt Romney, a Bain Capital type, to clean house and leave the USPS a shell of what it is now (but a functional shell that does it’s basic function without losing money.)

[dfwgator]

I don’t want Romney anywhere near Washington DC.

[Herman Ball]

Romney needs to be over the Janitorial Service in some prison. He is poison.

[zeugma]

I am not so sure that junk mail is profitable for them.

Ya. Don't know for sure, but I read it on the internet some time back, so it has to be true!

Seriously though, I recall seeing a quote by the postmaster general saying something to the affect "You're not my customer. My customers are 4 or 5 bulk mailers." It was a few months back. I've slept since then, but think I have the gist of it. I remember being shocked, but not surprised by the statement.

[zeugma]

affect effect. I hate when I make that mistake.

[dinodino]

The Constitution authorizes the postal service, not mandates it. Privatize it completely!

[Dr. Sivana]

The Constitution authorizes the postal service, not mandates it. Privatize it completely!

Then who decides to deliver legal notices to addresses that are so remote that UPS won't go there? (They are in Alaska and remote parts of the U.S. west).

[dinodino]

You can deliver by email, or Fedex, or do service by publication. If I had an essential document to be delivered to a remote place I’d use Fedex, not the useless and unreliable USPS.

[Dr. Sivana]

You can deliver by email, or Fedex, or do service by publication. If I had an essential document to be delivered to a remote place I’d use Fedex, not the useless and unreliable USPS.

FedEx does not deliver to every address in the country, and there are plenty of legal mailings where publication is either not sufficient or inappropriate. E-mail is far less reliable, with no way to truly prove a person's current e-mail address.

We've had UPS go on strike, I imagine something similar could happen with FedEx. There are LOTS of things to privatize before we worry about the post office.

[T-Bird45]

...flyers and assorted crap to arrive in your mailbox on Saturday...

Interesting -- my day for "go directly to the waste bin, do not pass GO" is Tuesday.

[dinodino]

This minor use case is your justification for spending billions of taxpayer dollars on a dinosaur? Really? I think you’re on the wrong forum.