WASHINGTON-- Imagine a nation without the Postal Service.
No more birthday cards and bills or magazines and catalogs filling the mailbox. It's a worst-case scenario being painted for an organization that lost $8.5 billion in 2010 and seems headed deeper into the red this year.
"A lot of people would miss it," says Tony Conway, a 34-year post office veteran who now heads the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.
Businesses, too.
The letter carrier or clerk is the face of the mail. But hanging in the balance is a $1.1 trillion mailing industry that employs more than 8 million people in direct mail, periodicals, catalogs, financial services, charities and other businesses that depend on the post office.
Yes ! And getting rid of this drag on our economy would be a good thing. The USPS needs to go the way of the pony express and be a part of American history.
ReplyDeletei would miss the mail because I subscribe to magazines and my presriptions are mail order also. Many businesses would be affected if there was no mail delivery. What a sad time in our country.
ReplyDeleteThey should just Bail them out, just pretend they are another bad Bank or Housing lender, or better yet, a company on Wall Street that has mismanaged it's monies! Why it would be like old times! Have to also be sure and give the PostMaster General a huge bonus, just like the CEO's who drove their companies into the ground!
ReplyDeleteWe would still have a mail system it just would be privatized but by all means let the American economy tank and ruin countless lives so you can get your BS magazines delivered.
ReplyDelete11:47. Believe me when I say this. There would be PRIVATE companies setting up and taking care of the mail that still goes through. And because it would be competitive it would also be reasonable. The bonus would be that we would have eliminated a huge, wasteful, government agency.
ReplyDeleteAs for the employees many of them would be absorbed into the new business.
Yep get rid of the govt run USPS. UPS Fedex and DHL have proven that it can be done better by private companies. They would certainly step in to fill any void left by the demise of the USPS.
ReplyDeleteprivatize it, then it will work. Would have to be totally revamped and the workers would actually have to work.
ReplyDeleteWhy not get it through privet indestry
ReplyDeletePrivate industry is the answer, huh? So when it costs $1.50 to mail a letter from Salisbury to Fruitland, and when your beloved private businesses like FedEx and DHL simply refuse to service areas due to small demand for products, or, even worse, charge you more if you live off the beaten path, will you be singing the praises of private industry then?
ReplyDeleteLook what private industry has done with cable television - 40% of Wicomico County (and 65% of Carroll County on the other side of the bay) can't even get cable service because Comcast et. al. refuses to supply it at any cost.
When prices go up 400% and services are ended for smaller communities because your beloved private industries took over, don't you dare spend one minute whining about it - it's what you asked for.
4:16 I think we need to privatize the public school system as well...lol
ReplyDeleteif the postal service were run like a business instead of a government entity, there would be no problems
ReplyDeletetrust me- who would pay people THAT kind of money for the hours they work and the service they provide- some of those carriers are not working full time anymore since the mail isn't as much but they still make a huge salary
My husband gets all his meds through the mail from VA.What about Birthday and Christmas cards what are you going to text them or Email them that sucks!!I would rather get a real card for my Birthday then a text or Email.What about all the people who work there not the CEOs but the regular working class citizens ,there are no jobs out there now boy talk about unemployment issues you would have some them!!
ReplyDeleteAnything the government has it's hands in, results in waste.
ReplyDeletePrivatize!
2;08-WOW wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? Why so angry?
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine doing without the postal service because of all the magazines, bills, and other items it delivers. Probably privatization is the best answer. Make the service much leaner. While the mail deliverers seems to work long hours, there appear to be too many "supervisors." How the postal service can afford the very generous retirement program will be a huge piece of the reorganization puzzle.
ReplyDelete11:25 is right, ultimately the postal service is going to have to go the way of the Pony Expresss. While technology is generally a good thing, it has ruined the postal service by the way society now communicates. E-mail is largely the culprit for the demise of the postal service, as well as the afore-mentioned generous salaries and retirement that postal workers receive.
Nothing mentioned that I still get from USPS - unless they happened to provide their normal "service" and drop it off at someone else's house. Anything I want comes internet, UPS, or FedEx, on time, reliably with courteous, friendly personnel.
ReplyDeletethey deliver more junk mail than necessary correspondence. Electronic correspondence is the way of the future. Get rid of the post office and you will see private sector step up and revolutionize the way we receive correspondence. We will be scanning bar codes to place orders. Typing e-mails and sending e-cards for birthdays and Christmas. You may as well get used to it. Move ahead or move over. The future is coming. New ways and solutions to problems are being discovered all the time. You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.
ReplyDelete5:57 Not angry just disgusted at the self centered people that are so worried about trivial crap that would be delivered through a private company versus collapsing our economy.
ReplyDelete4:48 spoken like a true government union employee. Join the rest of society and actually work in a job where what you produce and the talents you offer to a company are judged by the marketplace not some union thug that tries to keep a monopoly on the citizens! Damn shame when you've had a monoply forever and still end up bankrupt! that tells you everything you need to know.
ReplyDelete448, HUH? Where do you live? If transitioning to a private sector business is the answer, and if raising prices is the answer, and if lowering prices due to private industry working hard to make a living is the answer, then let us have an answer! We're all tired of (and I include myself who has never believed in unions and has no appreciable retirement in place at 57) f'ing unions! Unions were once necessary, now an obstacle; no, an obtrusive, violent clamping force holding down our economy and in bed with the Big O. Show me how your big union can supply cable tv and internet to the masses and still beat the free market that is now threatening you life is a trip, stay thirsty, my friend!
ReplyDeleteif they go belly up, then let them. just like all those other companies should have, instead of the govt bailing them out. Capitalism, free enterprise, you're free to make a profit, and you're free to fail and go out of business.
ReplyDeleteWhile more of us are paying bills online, there are many people that don't. My parents are elderly, have no computer access and receive their monthly bills in the mail and pay by mail 100% of the time. Not everyone has a device that allows them to get their magazines electronically; some folks still like to turn those paper pages!!
ReplyDelete