US Post Office wants 5-day delivery
 

A NY Times article talks about upcoming hearings on the USPS wanting to raise rates and to stop deliveries on Saturdays to reduce costs ($3 B/yr) link

As a private citizen I can easily do without delivery on Saturdays. The bulk of my mail is junk-mail.
I would rather see junk-mail rates increase substantially rather than put any higher costs onto 1st class.

Netflicks and others are complaining already that they would be harmed by cost increases.
But it seems to me that postage is a routine cost of doing business... costs that can be passed along to their customers.
Others are talking about creating/using "private mail companies"

Maybe putting all junk-mail off to Saturdays, we'd see if private companies are willing/able to that business at current junk-mail rates.
Then too, I'd have only 1 trip straight to the recycling bin.

Nobody writes letters, anymore. Its all e-mail. Junk mail is just a waste of time and resources. I think the PO should slap a huge postage increase on junk mail. I bet that would go a long way toward solving the problem. The three people who still write personal letters should get to send them for free. People who send those "happy, happy we are doing much better than YOU" Christmas mass mailings should be sent to jail for 90 days or until their youngest daughter becomes pregnant out of wedlock - whichever happens first.

Books, an endangered species if ever there was one, should cost only a nickle to be sent anywhere in the country. Political mass mailings should have a postage fee of $100.00/word. Post cards should be banned outright - I couldn't care less if you're having a happy vacation. Actually I suspect you're not, and I certainly don't want to be "there," where-ever there may be. All letter bombs, anthrax missives, etc. should be sent directly to Congress, no matter whom they are actually addressed to.

If these simple directives were put into place, the US would be a much happier and certainly more interesting country.

You're not bitter at all, are ya Sam?

SIA, bitter or not, some good thoughts there.

Nah, just having a few laughs. You don't want to see me when I'm bitter. :eek:

I agree that junk mail should cost much more than personal mail.

absolutely. But Netflix is not junk mail. Don't raise rates on that. And only delivering my dvds 5 days a week will force me to plan my movie watching more carefully.

Yeah, anything addressed to Resident or Occupant should be illegal or cost a lot, leave Netflix alone.

speaking of Netflix, could you put Pineapple Express and The Hangover in the queue?

Ya arm's off?

I didn't want to get in there and mess up your queue. just had those recommended today, and i usually forget.....

It's not the DVDs, it's the actual junk mail they send. We get at least 2-3 Netflix ads a week in our junk mail pile. Oversized card stock, bright red. I guess you guys don't?

I know what you mean, but we don't get them very often... unless the kids sort them out with the rest of the trash and Im just not seeing them.

oh oh oh - wait - you all forgot Comcast and Verizon. I get at least three a week from both of them. STOP mailing me that shit! The other thing you can do is mail back all the shit "they" send you in the postage-paid envelopes - whoever "they" are. That'd put an end to a lot of it right there.

The money they collect for all that junk mail, is actually keeping the post office afloat. Without it you'd be paying a dollar to mail a birthday card or pay a bill.

I am having some sneaky schadenfreude at the fact your postal service is in trouble too.
I've always been deeply distressed that in our nationalist and socialised country we are fighting a losing battle to keep the Royal Mail and yet you guys with your private industries and capitalisation seem to have no worries with your mail.

Now I know you do.
Nah, it doesn't make it better.
It makes me realise things will get worse here too.

I love the post.
Only today I was up early knowing that things would be arriving.
I only got two of an expected five, but that means a reason to jump out of bed tomorrow too. And in fact I posted two things off myself yesterday and am all excited that they will arrive as surprises later in the week.

We get post Monday-Saturday. It's a rare day when nothing arrives. Postcards, cards, bills, letters (for Mum), things from eBay or Amazon (Dad & me), official notices re tax and payments, payslips from Homesitters, catalogues or their deliveries (Mum). I guess it could all be done privately, but the need is there.

Bingo!

So what your saying is that if we eliminate the junk mail, then I don't get any more bills and it'll be too expensive to mail B-day cards... Sounds like a win-win.
thanks bruce

I would not mind losing Saturday delivery. My mail lady likes the idea. The only thing I get in the mail is appointment letters from the VA and catalogs, and magazines.

Of course we need the mail. We don't necessarily need very cheap, reliable, frequent delivery, because in the major part, the Internet and email have filled this function. But business people still send written correspondence; documents need to be conveyed in the original sometimes. Saturday is out.

I'd like my mail to be reliable. What's the point of mailing something if you can't be confident that it will arrive at its destination?

Cost and frequency are up for discussion but reliability shouldn't be.

Shoot. Sometimes my mail from STL takes 7 or 8 days. So five day delivery sounds pretty good.

I can count on my mail arriving 2-3 days later than my cow-orkers if we get a company-wide mailing.

That's 'cause the mailman is trying to avoid the stupid bicycles on the road. :p:

okay, yes--reliability is important. But I was thinking more of "nor rain nor sleet nor snow" type of thing--the post office actually has a pretty cool history, if you visit the post office museum in D.C. A functioning citizenry and govt need reliable hard transport lines, no question, but maybe we don't need the behemoth it is now. Chucking Saturday delivery is a no-brainer.

Last weekend we were driving through New Mexico (between Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos) and noticed that every little town has a post office. The PO might be save more money closing some of their offices then by eliminating Saturday delivery.

They need all those offices - thought control transmitters are not very strong.

That was true in the 1990s, but now they can just piggy back on the cell phone signal.

Why is there always so much angst when the price of stamps goes up by two cents? Heck, raise the price by enough to cover Saturday delivery, and Netflix will be fine.

So true. Some freak out and moan and complain every time the stamps go up. Guess what folks, prices go up. Call it a tax and we'll have a whole other newly old political party protesting.

That's why I like the Forever Stamps.

Which is kind of funny. You'd have to buy a lifetime supply, but you'll mis-figure, and one day, when you're old and gray, you'll use your last Forever Stamp. Next stamp you buy will cost you $20.34! :eek:

By the time I'm old and gray, I'll get in my flying car and hover down to the nearest teleportation station, if I can still find my glasses.

That's the only kind I buy as well. After watching them climb up to non-rounded numbers for so many years it is like buying a little insurance for the current investment. We buy them 50 to 100 at a time.

The bigger question is when is the gobberment going to try to tax email.

We have delivery Monday to Friday. Life goes on. That's two days a week when you won't get any bills.

Won't get any of bill's what?

To the person who has bills to pay, please give it back, bill's head is cold.

Ba DUm dum