USPS going down the hole.

[Magpai]

I'm not even use private postal services would want the task of taking over all of the USPS traffic. The amount of out-of-pocket infrastructure they'd have to build would be completely immense, not to mention totally privatizing it would end up causing a whole ton of division of the marketplace, due to the multitude of smaller delivery services that would pop up.

I hope that's exactly what happens. The only thing that could be better than a government service being privatized is a government service that privatizes and creates competition.

[javen]

I hope that's exactly what happens. The only thing that could be better than a government service being privatized is a government service that privatizes and creates competition.

Unfortunately since most of these businesses would be restricted by region, it'd be even more inefficient than whatever we have now. It'd require an amount of cooperation between competing companies that has just never existed in the private sector. Like it or not, with something as integral as the mail, no agency has the same capabilities as the government. Private postal services hardly ever even work with each other as it stands.

EDIT: I mean, at least when I'm sending a letter or a package through USPS, I know it's going to stay in the USPS, and that regulations and policies are going to stay the same whether I'm delivering to Alaska or Ohio. And that means a LOT when it comes to matters like efficiency, or things like lost parcel situations, or even better yet, insurance if something becomes lost or damaged.

[yetgdhfgh]

As a ex post man who worked for the royal mail for over 5 years but now lives in the states this makes me sad

The postal service is one of those things that you may bitch about time to time but you would be sorry to lose

not sure the politics surrounding the USPS is but if its anything like the royal mail where it was used as the governments private piggy bank and not invested in to compete then the future looks dire indeed

[vizzle]

It took 5 months for USPS to get my laptop from the US to the Philippines. Granted, it probably wasn't all their fault, but if I had paid a little more and used FedEx it would've taken less than a week.

Don't really care about them. It sucks that people are gonna lose their jobs though.

[nnelson54]

Honestly we should just get rid of all paper mail outright.
If you don't have email and direct deposit in 2012, then you deserve to be left behind.

I don't have Direct Deposit because there's a casino between my job and my bank that cashes checks for free and gives you a free spin on a promotional machine that over the last couple years I've won a combined $3,200 on from cashing my checks there every two weeks and depositing the cash directly into my bank on the way home. Woohoo.

[Reeve]

I grabbed the incorrect one, here it is.

Absolute dollar amounts aren't very useful to this discussion though. What has happened to GDP/government revenues in that amount of time? How about the population? How many more kids are there to educate now than then? What about inflation and the cost of materials?

The first graph you showed was a much better indication, because it linked itself to GDP, which increases along with population growth and government revenues. It's still not a perfect measure, but it's a lot better than an absolute dollar value graph.

[Pickynerd]

USPS is pretty useless imo. Constantly get our neighbors mail, they refuse to deliver packages, even if it fits in the damn mailbox. So paying for speedy delivery times is a joke, since I'm stuck picking up the effing packages!

[Porcell]

So laying off a couple hundred thousand people only saves like $200 Million, but stopping Saturday delivery saves $3.1 Billion?

So why don't you cut your employees, cut Saturday, Tuesday, AND Thursday delivery, and save yourself like $10 Billion? Hell, I barely check my mail weekly as it is, we don't need 6 days of mail delivery. Mail usually takes like a day to get delivered anyway, so keep those mail sorting places going on the off days and just don't deliver it.

[Reeve]

So laying off a couple hundred thousand people only saves like $200 Million, but stopping Saturday delivery saves $3.1 Billion?

So why don't you cut your employees, cut Saturday, Tuesday, AND Thursday delivery, and save yourself like $10 Billion? Hell, I barely check my mail weekly as it is, we don't need 6 days of mail delivery. Mail usually takes like a day to get delivered anyway, so keep those mail sorting places going on the off days and just don't deliver it.

You may not need 6 days of mail delivery, but businesses do. Of course they could probably use UPS/Fedex for their deliveries on off-days.