[Denny]

See Mail delivery may be cut

The postmaster-general is asking the government to delete the USPS legal requirement to deliver six days a week. You can guess that once this is approved, it will happen, sooner, not later. I'll bet some planning types there are already rubbing their hands in glle at the prospect of cutting costs. The USPS expects to lose $6 billion this year. That is a big chunk of change.

But, its not that big a deal, in Canada we have had five day a week delivery for about 30 years now, and most people don't miss the other day of mail. I'll bet in a couple of generations, kids will be amazed to learn from their grandparents that once upon a time grown men were paid a salary to walk from door to door stuffing papers into a "mail box". I remember a "milk box", and being small enough to crawl into the house through it if the door was locked.

[Tyler_JC]

Who sends letters anymore?

The only letters I get are junk mail and bills. I could do without either.

[Sixstrings]

You know.. I think I recall saying on this forum many months ago that the USPS cutting back delivery would be a sign of the beginning of systemic breakdown.

All I need to see now are store shortages and I guess I'll have to shut up and head for the hills.

I know a lot folks are saying they they don't really care, but stop and think. A whole heck of a lot of mail gets moved through the USPS -- not just junk mail, think of all the catalogue stuff, ebay, Netflix dvd's, you name it.

This is a real desperation move. Cutting a day out is cutting back operations by 16%. That's significant.

[oxj]

Junk mail? I need junk mail. It's like getting free fuel for my wood stove!

[Heineken]

You know.. I think I recall saying on this forum many months ago that the USPS cutting back delivery would be a sign of the beginning of systemic breakdown.

All I need to see now are store shortages and I guess I'll have to shut up and head for the hills.

I know a lot folks are saying they they don't really care, but stop and think. A whole heck of a lot of mail gets moved through the USPS -- not just junk mail, think of all the catalogue stuff, ebay, Netflix dvd's, you name it.

This is a real desperation move. Cutting a day out is cutting back operations by 16%. That's significant.

I agree with Sixstrings. This is a sign of erosion of another major institution of our civilization. More job losses too---the Postal Service is a huge employer.

Six days could become five. Then it could be just Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Then . . .

Peak Oil is tied in to this, of course. That period of high oil prices really whacked the USPS, and this cutback is in part a delayed reaction to that.

[obixman]

This takes me back to my college course 40 years ago about the Roman Empire. The professor said that the Empire didn't end overnight; instead it ended by the annoucement that "Due to budget problems the Imperial post doesn't come on Tuesdays anymore." Followed in a decade or so by "The Imperial Post doesn't come on Thursdays...." and so on.

While I agree that the advent of electronic mail renders the comparison a bit strained, still.........

[JJ]

You know.. I think I recall saying on this forum many months ago that the USPS cutting back delivery would be a sign of the beginning of systemic breakdown.

All I need to see now are store shortages and I guess I'll have to shut up and head for the hills.

I know a lot folks are saying they they don't really care, but stop and think. A whole heck of a lot of mail gets moved through the USPS -- not just junk mail, think of all the catalogue stuff, ebay, Netflix dvd's, you name it.

This is a real desperation move. Cutting a day out is cutting back operations by 16%. That's significant.

thats the first thing I though of when I heard this on the news yesterday...(your comment)

[wisconsin_cur]

And bye bye to the people whose hours exist because of the 6th day.

[Nickel]

But, its not that big a deal, in Canada we have had five day a week delivery for about 30 years now, and most people don't miss the other day of mail.

Yeah, when I talk to friends in the States and they mention getting mail on a Saturday, it's just weird... it's so Twilight Zone. To me, mail, all my life, has a been a business day operation. I don't even know if I'd WANT mail delivery on a Saturday... it almost seems like an intrusion somehow, you know?

[vision-master]

Junk mail? I need junk mail. It's like getting free fuel for my wood stove!

Yeah 5 day's of junk mail instead of 6.

This is a good thing.

[jasonraymondson]

I feel sorry for the poor postal workers. That is going to make thier mondays a bitch trying to get out all of the extra spam. You know the damn managers in the post office ain't going to hire them any help.

[AlexdeLarge]

So they get another paid day to stay home!

Newman!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vision-master]

Alex, is taht you.

[AlexdeLarge]

Alex, is taht you.

You have had a "Man Crush" on me for some time now. So here is picture of me you can cut out and keep in your wallet!

[Plantagenet]

If you want saturday mail delivery, you'll have to go to Fedex. The government can't be bothered anymore.

[jasonraymondson]

So they get another paid day to stay home!

Newman!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most are lucky to be getting 20 hours a week

The benefits suck

the pay sucks

[jdmartin]

I think it's a rough harbinger of things to come, an inevitable event through the proliferation of electronic data, and a little more convenient for me.

Cutting back that hard is going to be a bitch for the postal workers. That's a pretty significant cutback. I worked temp for the post office during college and it sucked. The junk mail was ridiculous and non-stop. They ought to jack the hell out of prices on that crap to make up the difference.

If you think about e-mail and online bill pay, this was inevitable really - if you took junk mail out of the mix delivery could be 2 or 3 days a week maximum.

It'll be more convenient for me because my mailbox at the end of a treacherous slope, especially in the winter time. I'd be OK with 3 day delivery, personally, and nothing on the weekends.

[deMolay]

Now the US Post is going to issue IOU's. That never happened even at the height of the 1930's or at anytime in the history of the USA. Kiss your ass goodbye. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=43192

[Kristen]

They should let the postal service access the funds, or they could raise the cost of stamps ten cents or something.

[deMolay]

This is historic shit here. The US Postal Service paying employees with IOU's? And nobody can even whisper DEPRESSION the likes of we have never seen. Can you say Zimbabwe.