USPS still hermoragging money, $2.2B last quarter

[charrison]

1. Raise postage to $1.50 to reduce spam and encourage email, direct deposits, e-billing, etc.
2. Once mail traffic decreases, deliver every other day or twice a week. Businesses can pay extra for daily delivery or consumers can come to the post office if they need it earlier.

3. give the consumer the option to have snail mail delivered as email.

4. Terminate any routes that are walked asap.

5. Terminate any delivery directly to a household(ie replace with neighborhood boxes).

6. If a consumers want mail delivered to their own mailbox, there will be a fee for that.

These are steps that should have been taken years ago.

 

[ShawnD1]

3. give the consumer the option to have snail mail delivered as email.

So you want the government to open your mail, scan it to pdf, and email it to you?

4. Terminate any routes that are walked asap.

That's about 99% of the US right there...

5. Terminate any delivery directly to a household(ie replace with neighborhood boxes).

IMO, this is a good idea. Some I've seen some suburb areas have this already. Trailer parks have them as well. And apartments.

 

[charrison]

So you want the government to open your mail, scan it to pdf, and email it to you?

There exists a hardware/software solution(developed by a US Company) that will do with without anyone touching the mail. The front the mail is scanned and sent to the customer. The customer then has the option to open and scan, shred or have it delivered snail mail.

That's about 99% of the US right there...

There apparently are still many delivery routes that are still done by foot. 10,000 walked routes still exist.

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/postalfacts.htm

IMO, this is a good idea. Some I've seen some suburb areas have this already. Trailer parks have them as well. And apartments.

The post office is doing this, they are just being slow about it.

 

[nickbits]

5. Terminate any delivery directly to a household(ie replace with neighborhood boxes).

These are steps that should have been taken years ago.

Ugh. I hate those. One of the reasons I moved out of Canada.

 

[charrison]

Ugh. I hate those. One of the reasons I moved out of Canada.

Bad excuse for moving. Those have been standard on most new subdivisions for a long time.

 

[nickbits]

Bad excuse for moving. Those have been standard on most new subdivisions for a long time.

It was 1/200 reasons...

I haven't seen them in my area except at townhouses/condos. Subs here are a few years old. What is your definition of "a long time"?

 

[charrison]

It was 1/200 reasons...

I haven't seen them in my area except at townhouses/condos. Subs here are a few years old. What is your definition of "a long time"?

I would say they got pretty common starting a couple decades ago and probably anything built in the last decade had them by default.

 

[nickbits]

I would say they got pretty common starting a couple decades ago and probably anything built in the last decade had them by default.

Guess my area has lucked out then...

 

[RFE]

It's not a business model. They're mandated to service every address.

You might as well say that the VA or Medicare aren't as profitable as a private insurance company. Well no shit, they don't get to pick their customers.

Ah, so endlessly funding a bottomless money pit without addressing fundamental cost structure issues is fine with you? The Postmaster General seems to disagree:

"Patrick Donahoe, the Postmaster General, said the service is still seeking changes to federal laws that would allow it to change its business model and potentially save enough money to avoid a default"

The point wasn't about the USPS being profitable, but to be capable of delivering the expected services within budget. Would be interesting to know your field of work, and why the concept of 'business model' eludes you.

 

[Throckmorton]

Ah, so endlessly funding a bottomless money pit without addressing fundamental cost structure issues is fine with you? The Postmaster General seems to disagree:

"Patrick Donahoe, the Postmaster General, said the service is still seeking changes to federal laws that would allow it to change its business model and potentially save enough money to avoid a default"

The point wasn't about the USPS being profitable, but to be capable of delivering the expected services within budget. Would be interesting to know your field of work, and why the concept of 'business model' eludes you.

But it's not a business, even though he uses terms like "business model". It's a public service.

 

[RFE]

But it's not a business, even though he uses terms like "business model". It's a public service.

No doubt, but they should also be responsible enough to control costs within a defined budget. Runaway spending can eventually get us into a lot of trouble.

 

[Xellos2099]

Try sending out single dvd or game with ups and fedex you will curse like a drunken sailor.

 

[charrison]

Try sending out single dvd or game with ups and fedex you will curse like a drunken sailor.

OF course it is illegal for the fedex or ups to build a business model to support that type of delivery.

 

[Throckmorton]

No doubt, but they should also be responsible enough to control costs within a defined budget. Runaway spending can eventually get us into a lot of trouble.

Maybe the budget should include taxpayer money because the revenue from junk mail was a bubble.