its pathetic that the US can't deliver mail 6 days a wk. without going broke

[ensho]

this was a topic of conversation on Wash. Journal this a.m. with a P.O. person giving the info on the problem.

(give a few housewives the head postmistress job and they will show them how to budget and deliver the mail.)

its annoying - year after year the P.O. can't or isn't allowed to get its act together.

price of stamps going up soon. I forget the date.

[lamp_shade]

1. I get mine delivered 3 times a week. One would be fine.

[Marrah_G]

2. I think it is amazing that for 43 cents they can get a letter from one coast to the other....

... in a couple days.

[gatorboy]

5. I agree!

The post office has always been very reliable for me anyways. Though with all of their complaining about the internet taking business, I would think the growth of Ebay and that sudden push of new Ebay packages through the mail system might counter act the slump. :shrug:

[enlightenment]

6. Absolutely.

The Post Office can't win for losing when it comes to public opinion. It's our longest running Constitutionally mandated public service and I think they do an outstanding job.

[Toucano]

18. The U.S. Postal Service is one of the best in the world.

It is actually easy to take it for granted, but their task is an enormous undertaking.

Door to door delivery is not even an option in many places in the world, and U.S. postage rates are some of the lowest in the developed world.

The sixth day of delivery is unnecessary with the five day work week.

[Owl]

20. I also agree. I also think that 3 to 5 deliveries per week would be plenty enough.

[trotsky]

3. What's killing the USPS right now is not inefficiency or poor budgeting.

What's killing it is the ginormous obligations it has to its pension program. The USPS can't shuffle those obligations like other companies can, thus it is spending almost $6 billion a year just on that.

[DeepBlueC]

4. In Canada it has always been 5 days a week

we survive

[tridim]

7. Make junk mail illegal please.

Actually I'm not sure how much of a cash cow bulk rate postage is for the post office, but it seems to me that getting rid of it completely would save lots of man hours and fuel.

My junk mail to real mail ratio is about 10:1. That's just wrong.

[NightWatcher]

9. junk mail is keeping the USPS afloat. More and more people are signing up for "no junk" lists

and therefore we start hearing that they might not be able to afford to deliver 6 days a week.

I dont think we NEED mail service 6 days a week. If we need a package to get somewhere, now most of us go to UPS or FEDEX.

[mwooldri]

11. Strangely UPS and Fedex contract out to the USPS.

Lots of to-home deliveries are now handled by the Post Office. UPS/FedEx/DHL cart it across the country, and drop it off at the Post Office for them to deliver locally.

[tridim]

13. I'd be happy with 3 day a week delivery and no junk mail

I bet I get a tree worth of junk mail every year, and I never even look at it. What's the point?

[soothsayer]

17. it's still really cost effective, that's why it so much ad mail goes out

[ben_jenne]

16. Maybe we can get rid of 90% of the postal emplyees

if we do away with the junk mail. Currently there are about 800,000 workers in the system.

[Toucano]

19. Raise bulk mail rates?

I think that would be a better solution to deter the accumulation of junk mail and help balance the books.

[Marrah_G]

21. Junk mail is how many small businesses advertise

They cannot afford TV or Radio like the big companies. They can't call people. All that is left is ground mail.

Those companies paying for mailing are what keeps the USPS in business.

[msongs]

8. most of what the USPS delivers is trash for the recycling bin... that stuff pays low rates nt

[sailor65]

10. What's really pathetic

is a society so completely spoiled that it sees this as "Pathetic". We bitch and moan every time a stamp goes up a couple of cents, but our copy of "Whiner's Weekly" had damn well better be in our mailbox on time!

The services we get from the P.O. for what amounts to ridiculously small money make it amazing that it still runs at all.

[trotsky]

14. !

:thumbsup: :applause:

[ensho]

15. I never said they didn't do a good job. my gripe was being broke

all the time. and raising rates every yr. or so.

[Democrats_win]

12. Get a clue, politicians! Deliver five days a week. It's a waste to deliver 6.

A five day schedule will save gas and effort. Besides, on Saturday, I don't get my mail until 5 p.m. They might as well wait until Monday.

STUPID STUPID stupid! That's what it is to waste so much on the extra delivery day.

[rucky]

22. Small businesses need Saturday deliveries.

Priority Mail, at least.

[Urban Prairie]

25. Try being a mail carrier every Monday

Walking your route with three days of backed up mail, packages, and parcels to deliver during downpours, thunderstorms, tornado watches/warnings, floods, hail, blizzards, snowstorms, sub-zero temperatures, very windy days, and 90+ degree heat, then get back to me.

[kickysnana]

23. Trying to break the union n/t

[Urban Prairie]

24. People who do not understand mail flow logistics of the USPS

Should not be talking about what they should do. Breaking it up into privately competitive pieces would be a logistical nightmare. Why are so many bitching about it, when if there was a shutdown of the internet due to a super server virus or worm, or say an electronic disruption lasting days, weeks, or months the USPS is the last and only means of overland communication not entirely dependent upon electricity. Saturday would NOT be the best day for ceasing delivery, since Sunday is a non-delivery day as well, and there are several federal holidays that fall on Monday. This would just back up regular mail delivery further. Wednesday is the best day to eliminate and go to a five-day delivery, IMO. The month of December should be an exception as well, remaining as a sole six-day delivery month because of the holiday season.