w1ngman

Postage will be jumping up here in the US another this coming Sunday

Now its not like I send a LOT of postage myself... but if the USPS has to raise more money to cover the cost of operating, I really have to ask...why not cut OPERATING costs and slash the amount of JUNK mail that trolls my mailbox daily

Is this too obvious a question? Is there a separate boon for the USPS for bulk rate mailers? I dunno...its just that some days (when I'm already pissed that rifling through my mail leaves me trashing obscene numbers of envelopes that are just crap-o-la)...I ask myself if I'M not the one that's paying money so that I can receive crap in the mail?

More and more, I've opted to pay bills online, etc. But as I'm sure more and more folks are doing that very thing...thus dropping the "pool of money" the USPS collects in postage stamps...won't things just spiral out of control?

Wait! Spiral enough...and all that will be left is Bulk Mail . Then I change my mailbox out for a trash can at the road...and cut out the middleman (me!). Let the USPS delivery agent dump everything right into the recycle bin .



Seriously though...what a sham (no, not shame...I mean "sham" ).

[/endrant]

Kyras

And the service has gone down hill too. I get my mail at the Post Office down the street. I end up with someone else's mail (wrong P.O. Box) about every three weeks. I'm sure that's where some of my missing mail ends up.

w1ngman

Oh...don't even get me started there ...but good point. And now that I've moved?...and I have my mail being forwarded (stupid decision, I know...but bills *have* to arrive / be paid).

But the thing is...the bills arrive LATE! I mean, we're talking a difference of 40 miles here...and I'm receiving forwarded mail up to 2 weeks postmarked . Cost me a couple of initial late payment scenarios . I've updated mailing address now with all creditors, etc., but jeez...

Grannyrod

Service is so bad in our neighborhood, I've met tons of new neighbors as they bring my misdelivered mail over and introduce themselves and vice a versa. What are the postpersons looking at? So now we have to go out and buy a bunch of 2 cents stamps.

valentine

Switch over to electronic billing and online bill pay. That'll kick the usps right where it hurts. BTW, bulk mailers and junk mailers use chhhhhhheeeeeeaaaaaap rates -- sometimes only 1/2 cent per envelope. Sickening, isn't it.

batguano

I do my banking and bill pay online. Saves me a load and no need to lick envelopes.
As for the junk mail, I trash the stuff that has no return envelope but on the credit card offers, I stuff the return envelope with everything they sent me. I tear off the preapproved section and return the rest. It costs them each time I do this. Maybe someday they will get the hint.

dlq04

I happen to think mail delivery is one of the few things the government does reasonably well, considering.........

mikegarrison

I really wish they would just sell "First Class" stamps. From time to time they would raise the cost of purchasing them, but the stamps themselves would remain valid. Kind of like subway tokens.

This business of having buy a bunch of two-cent stamps is a PITA.

HydnHood

It is finally making a profit and not being supported by your tax dollars

The service is better than 99% of other countries, I am serious.

The post office loses money on individual letters going to an other individual. The post office MAKES almost all thier money from bulk mailings. Do what that one guy did. He signed up for EVERY mailing list he could find. He burned it all to heat his house.

In a country this big and partially rural, universal service is quite a task.

I wish they could only increase the delivery rates by a nickel. I mean really, 37 or 39 cents, what do we care. Make if 40 and leave it there for 8 years.

DrCloud

It's galling that all that junk mail is delivered to us at cheap rates, but that's essentially a business decision.

The USPS has to run its routes every day, and they may as well do it with full trucks (little cheap trucks -- both to buy and operate -- to be sure). The cheap rates help ensure that the routes aren't run 6 times a week with only a few first-class envelopes in those trucks.

They could cut their costs by ~15% by eliminating Saturday deliveries, but that's politically untenable. So they're forced to keep up the service schedule.

Service, though, is a real issue. While it was marginally OK in Santa Fe, it was a disaster in Los Alamos. Here, back in civilization, it's better, but still not at 99.99% accuracy (from our limited sample) or whatever quality controllers strive for.

The idea of non-denominational First Class Stamps is a good one, although the USPS would have to spring price increases as surprises to prevent stocking up. I, too think those 2-cent makeup stamps are a pain. HPH