Appalachian Trails perspective -
Post office closures would make long hikes harder
hikers ship supplies in advance to post offices that will hold the packages for them.
... the 121 post offices near the trail.
Appalachian Trails perspective -
Post office closures would make long hikes harder
hikers ship supplies in advance to post offices that will hold the packages for them.
... the 121 post offices near the trail.
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
On a related note - we often have people who think they live in our town because their address says our town.
"I want help for my business. I live at 123 Rural Road, Anytown USA".
"Based on your address, you do not live in the Anytown city limits and we are unable to assist you."
"Then why does my address say Anytown?"
"That's a good question."
I burned down the church to atone for my transgressions.
Sorry. Not goodOriginally posted by DetroitPlanner
"Oh yeah, I do not miss that. Connect me to sewer because my septic is failing and they want $25,000 to put in a new mound."
"I am sorry, but you do not live in the city. If you want to get everyone between you and the current city boundaries to annex, we could extend sewer and charge the cost to you. I am guessing your part would be in the neighborhood of $3 million."
Anyone want to adopt a dog?
Taxes don't go to paying their salaries. The United States Postal Service is essentially privatized except that it operates under mandates that make it less than profitable but that, at least in theory, serve a public interest.
I'd be happy with a reduction in the days mail is delivered and with a removal of street-side mailboxes.
I appreciate your comments. They are considering shutting down my post office in Rico, Colorado, a town where everyone has a PO Box and there is no home delivery, so no one bothers putting their addresses on their buildings. Consequently, FedEx and UPS hate delivering there. The nearest PO is 35 miles in one direction and 38 miles in the other. As you might guess, the town is pretty small, so the PO is really the only consistently open business in town and is also a major social gathering place. But now they''re evaluating closing it down, which would be catastrophic. Most people do all of their shopping on line and have it delivered. I'd seriously consider moving out of town if they do shut it down.
The Central City is down 1.3 million from its peak. Nearly every suburb has lost population as well.
We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes - Fr Gabriel Richard 1805
There are a few small towns like that in New York as well. No rural mail delivery, so you have to drive to the PO to pick up your mail.
In larger places that do have mail delivery, some people choose to have post office boxes for the very legitimate reason that they've had their mail, especially checks, stolen from the mailboxes.
Oh, yeah, will private mail delivery services forward your mail to your temporary address or hold your mail while you're on vacation? USPS does that free of charge now, but you can bet it won't be free with private mail delivery.
Maybe the USPS could charge rates as high as Fedex or UPS. Then they could afford to keep these places open.
There are some old textile mill villages around here that are are so compact that mail boxes or delivery vehicles aren't a viable way to deliver mail. As a result, there's a manned post office in the village centers so people can get their mail. I honestly have to wonder what will happen to those type of post offices with these closings. The post offices don't get a lot of traffic but are essential for the community to function.
The USPS is raising the price of a first-class stamp from 44 cents to 46 cents. According to this article, this two-cent increase "will bring in an extra $2.5 billion, meaning it still faces a $4.7 billion loss."
OK, so if a two-cent increase brings in $2.5 billion in revenue, that means that each penny increase brings in $1.25 billion. So if they are "facing a $7 billion loss in 2011" as this article claims, raising the price of a stamp six cents, or from 44 cents to 50 cents, will completely erase the deficit. So why don't they just do it? Even if this drives away some customers who would have sent a letter at 44 cents but just can't justify 50 cents, they would be much better off.
I think the USPS just wants to close lots of post offices, fire lots of people, and break the postal unions. Why else wouldn't they just raise revenues to meet costs like any other business would? After all, we have some of the cheapest postal rates in the developed world.
Just a thought on a possible explanation, if they increased rates all the way to 50 cents, they could make competitors (e.g., FedEx, UPS, etc.) more competitive, thus driving business to competitors and resulting in lost sales. I would have to imagine this was a consideration in their decision, but I'm just speculating here that this is a supply/demand thing driving their decision on the appropriate price increase.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. (Douglas Adams)
Can you actually mail a regular letter through Fedex/UPS? Looking at the UPS website the cheapest quote for a letter was about $20, not exactly competition for USPS.
The price adjustments go up the ladder don't they? Meaning that the cost of mailing stuff that FedEx/UPS would normally handle would go up proportionate to the increased cost of first class mail. Again, I'm just speculating based on the post above as to why USPS doesn't raise all the way to 50 cents.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. (Douglas Adams)
Junk mail is where a good amount of postage is spent. I suspect a 50 cent increase would be fine for most postal users but not for people who do mass mailings for advertising and whatnot.
Also I think pickup is the big problem for the postal service, not so much delivery. A post man physically has to go to every postal box every day no matter how out of the way or infrequently it is used.
I'm just talking about an additional 4-cent increase, not a 50-cent increase. I think the vast majority of letter-senders could afford 4 cents. As for boxes, the USPS has been getting rid of them for years, 200,000 at last count.
It's obvious to me that the USPS needs to lay off some people (unfortunately) and close some POs. It's mind-boggling that they also won't collect four extra cents to make sure they can pay their bills. Reminds me of a certain Congress . . .
I think this is a respnsible move on the part of the post office. It is saddled with a system that developed over decades, and now is very inefficient. Closing the facilities that are not profitable is a sound way to address a leading reason why the post office is in the red, and help to ensure that it can be run successfully in the future. Simply raising rates does nothing to address the underlying problem, and we will just continue to see more rate increases.
Anyone want to adopt a dog?
On closing a rural post office - another perspective.
Daily Yonder - Closing a Rural P.O. Can Be A K.O. Punch
The post office also needs to look at delivery. I know I don't need delivery every day. In fact I only check my box a couple of times a week. I figure if most of the stuff I get ends up right in the trash anyways why bother making more work for myself?
I would consider setting up ten hour a day routes and giving the carriers two routes: one for monday and weds and the other tues-thurs. The bonus from this would be 3-day weekends for the carriers which many would welcome. However I could see how this could be a nightmare for others who have younger children and need to figure out schedules.
We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes - Fr Gabriel Richard 1805
In Canada we very rarely have free-standing post offices. Our postal outlets are typically found in drug stores and grocery stores. In these cases it's still a full-service outlet with its own separate cashier and everything, it just means that the post office gets to share overhead costs with the main business. We also don't have Saturday delivery, and it really doesn't matter to me at all. As far as I can tell, although there are some rumblings that Canada Post is having trouble in this internet age, it's nowhere near as bad here as it is in the States.
I thought the USPS wasn't allowed to set its rates. Aren't USPS rates dictated by a committee entirely outside the control of that organization? It's my understanding that a $.10 increase in stamp prices would move the USPS into the black but it can't happen until political appointees give the OK. Or is that incorrect information?
You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind.
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