Post Office

[Pappy]

The loses announced by the PO are due to the prefunding mandate. The prefunding is for retiree heath benefits, not pensions.

"the PO here only delivers junk mail to us even after calling and asking that to stop"

We are required to deliver any mail that is correctly addressed and for which postage was paid unless the customer physically refuses it. Writting 'refused' or 'return to sender' on standard class (junk) mail only creates more work for us. It goes into bins and then has to be sorted through to make sure no First Class or Periodical mail was mixed in before going to the dumpster for recycle.

The parcel volume has been steadily increasing over the last couple of years. The PO is aggressively pursuing shipping from local companies as well as internet sales companies.

Also, look closely at the UPS, FedEx and DHL packages on your porch. A lot of them will have a USPS tracking bar code and are what is termed 'last mile delivery'. The companies deliver them to the PO stations and we make the delivery to the house/business.

[woodturner]

Even if I did it on the cheap, free used computer with a Linux distro, online access is on the low end around here (dial up speed), around $35 a month.

FWIW, that is expensive for slow internet access. In most of the country, DSL (which is considered broadband) is available for free to $20 a month.

If you are in a rural area, though, costs are higher due to the distance to the central office.

[LinuxRandal]

FWIW, that is expensive for slow internet access. In most of the country, DSL (which is considered broadband) is available for free to $20 a month.

If you are in a rural area, though, costs are higher due to the distance to the central office.

I wish DSL was available. I asked a few years ago, and I was too far away to receive it. Since then, I eliminated the home phone since they eliminated pay phones (I used them more, when on the road then the home phone) and went with a prepaid cell (cost me $50 this year).
Google internet, is stopping in KC a little shy of where I live and they "don't know" when or if they are going to expand it. They aren't even hitting all the KC area, like they said they were (two relatives tried to sign up). That would have been a cheaper option (free speed is similar to what Comcast offers now, for around $70, $300 installed and then no charge for 7 years)

As for junk mail, if that is all you receive, it is VERY easy to solve. I've done it to a vacant house where the former tenants were coming back for mail at the landlords request, as well as having a friend do it. Eliminate the mail box.

[alpha]

My friend is fully aware that many people pay their bills on line. For whatever reason, she just prefers the envelope and stamp way. When her mail was not picked up, she called the local postoffice to complain. They told her that someone would call her back. When they did, they basically told her, "we are not required to pick up your mail."

I run a business out of my home. I pay all of my personal bills on line--either by credit card or by e-check. On the business side, I still send out invoices, taxes, and government reports by mail. I do not allow access to my checking account by an automated bank draft. My IRA company wants to do that. They won't take a credit card, or an e-check. If you ask for a written guarantee if they will be fully responsible for any unauthorized bank draft, you see how quickly they back down. They get the bill paid by mail.

I never understand why people look at junk mail as a problem. I love junk mail. First of all, if anything should happen to me, it will be a clue to the postman as the mail collects in the mailbox. Secondly, it helps pay for the postal service. It's no problem for me to toss the junk to the trash. I love receiving the ones with the postage paid return envelopes--especially the ones for credit card solicitations, insurance, and AARP. My flag is up nearly every day with one of those return envelopes in it. That way I can tell when my mail has been delivered. If the companies never purge their mailing list it is okay with me--they are helping to underwrite post office with paid mail both ways.

[cabinetman]

I never understand why people look at junk mail as a problem. I love junk mail.

I doubt you love it so much to want me to forward mine to you. I don't like it. I get the same ads in my mailbox that comes in the daily paper. My letter carrier said he and the PO is paid to deliver it. I asked him how much would I have to pay to NOT receive it.

It gets to the point that at times, I get enough in my box it's difficult to get it out, and find real mail.



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[alpha]

I doubt you love it so much to want me to forward mine to you. I don't like it. I get the same ads in my mailbox that comes in the daily paper. My letter carrier said he and the PO is paid to deliver it. I asked him how much would I have to pay to NOT receive it.

It gets to the point that at times, I get enough in my box it's difficult to get it out, and find real mail.

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Yikes. That must be a local thing. I have never received that much in a whole month!

[vaking]

maybe one of the problems with USPO is that they missed the wagon on the huge internet delivery opportunity. UPS and Fedex existed before but really only had niche markets. Seemes the PO missed their opportunity to be a deliverer of physical goods in a day when the communications have become non-physical (phone calls, text messages, e-mail, internet ordering). They already had the physical infrastructure for residential delivery. Their Priority Mail for the most part is fast, good, and competitive as I see it, but they are sharing market share with companies that are probably making large contract deals with the likes of Amazon.

As for the 60+ YO who still pay by check and mail, they are spending more, making more paperwork, and slower and less secure than internet banking/payments. You sort of don't have much sympathy for them. In 20 years when they're 80+ it'll be a whole lot worse; the PO as we know it may not even be around, couriers will charge $10 to pick up and deliver mail from homes to a reduced postal service that only serves banks, law offices and businesses, and banks will be charging $5 a check fee. Businesses may even charge a fee to accept checks or (gasp!) cash in payment of Point of sale goods or services, and invoices/account statements.

I agree with your predictions about checks but not about cash. Taxes are going higher and higher taxes favor cash because economy starts going underground.
I see gas stations increasing the difference between cash and credit gasoline prices, restaurants offering discounts for paying cash. If taxes continue to climb - cash will get more use.

[woodturner]

I have never received that much in a whole month!

There is a "do not mail" list maintained by DMA that will stop most junk mail. People who get lots of junk mail have signed up for many lists, etc. Even without getting on the DMA lists, most people receive only two or three junk mail items a day, plus local grocery ads, etc. If you sign up at "questionable" sites or end up on certain demographic lists or sign up on a website run by spammers, junk mail quantities can dramatically increase.