[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.

[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.