I ordered misc gadgets from aliexpress/alibaba to tinker with at least once every 2 months. I'm not buying anything else and moving from hardware experiments to software for now until the dust settles.
Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
101–110 of 172 posts
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#102the gang solves plastic pollution.
yes! good way to look at it
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#103Has anyone done a study on the environmental effect of not flying all that stuff to the US anymore? Is it notable, or an irrelevant blip?
good question
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is affecting private carriers as well.
There's no goal for the privatized USPS to actually be successful , only to destroy the public good. It's government, it works, so therefore it must be destroyed. This is really how Republicans think.
I'm Canadian so I can't speak to the issues surrounding the USPS.
However, in Canada we remain in the midst of a long work-to-rule strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) against Canada Post (CP). The biggest issue in this strike is that there is a very wide gap between what CUPW is demanding (in terms of pay increases, protection of workers, maintenance of routes) and what CP is offering.
CP had been losing billions of dollars (even prior to the strike) and the situation continues to worsen as consumers lose confidence in the reliability of CP's parcel service, due to the strike. CP wants to close a lot of post offices, complete the phase-out of door-to-door postal service in favour of community mailboxes (which are already in use for more than half of households), and even reduce delivery frequency to less than 5 days per week.
I actually support these cost-cutting measures by CP because I, like many other Canadians, receive almost zero useful mail by post these days. Almost all of the mail I receive is advertising (junk mail), with the few exceptions being bills and statements from banks and the like (the latter of which ought to be phased out to fully electronic since I only bank through mobile apps anyway).
And so I'm left wondering what exactly is the public good in the postal service anyway? It seems more like a subsidy for a handful of advertisers and banks as well as a jobs program for postal workers. I send actual letters by mail so infrequently that I wouldn't mind paying $10 to send one by courier. But that isn't even within the space of proposals (shutting down CP completely)!
The most extreme proposal would be for CP to eliminate door-to-door service (community mailboxes only) and to switch to weekly delivery only, instead of daily. That would not affect the vast majority of Canadians in the slightest. The only ones who would be truly affected are those with mobility issues (disabilities or the elderly) who are unable to walk down the street to the community mailbox. Fortunately, there is already a service in place for providing mobility assistance to these people!
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#105As much as I like getting cheap things for next to nothing, I have always been horrified about the way that the Chinese firms were able to price things at next to nothing on eBay. Why? All because the postal treaty allowed the Chinese post office to dump all of the delivery costs on the Americans. The costs need to be apportioned accurately and the Chinese firms were getting a great deal on the backs of the regular p…
This used to be true but was adjusted with a correction to the internation postage rates. These days things like AliExpress have stopped using local postal delivery and instead use their own local logistics partners for last mile delivery, and it's surprisingly still just about as cheap.
I'm guessing these last mile deliveries are gig workers, considering I seem to get deliveries from people in unmarked personal vehicles nowadays.
The US is already far behind the economies of scale of Chinese production, and has higher labor costs and higher regulatory costs (both good and bad), so it's fundamentally not possible to compete on price alone, regardless of any postal treaty issues, which, again, are not a huge factor these days.
The new logistics services have been pretty interesting, and don't bode well for UPS/FedEx who have been content to focus only on large packages and charge ridiculous fees for a long time without innovating.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
My visa expired some years ago, and thanks to covid we switched to video conferencing. A blessing in disguise.
Considering the effects of air travel on the climate, why would you not video conference?
1. At certain levels, one has to meet your peers for lunch and dinner. Makes it harder for them to say no.
2. Could not care less about “climate issues.” A better reason for video conferencing is to avoid airports and especially dealing with border control clowns asking the same silly questions every trip, and the McDonald’s rejects called TSA.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
It feels like the US individual tax rates are on the left hand side of the larger curve especially for high earners. It’s especially to the left for estate taxes. If these were corrected to maximize revenue, I doubt we would have these gaps. Didn’t hear Elon proposing that.
The US has the most progressive income tax system in the developed world, and its middle and lower classes are probably the least taxed (due to the combination of the statement above and the lack of a VAT). I'm not sure where this misconception comes from that the upper class of the US would be more highly taxed elsewhere, but it continues to pollute any attempts to have honest discussions about reform.
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Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#108Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
China is by far the most likely candidate, if it navigates its aging demographic issue well.
China has many internal problems and is not looking for the world dominance, at least not in the medium term. It wants to continue building up its economy, not get involved in conflicts on the other side of the world. Rapid expansions lead to societal changes at home and is something China is really keen to avoid today. My 2c.
How does that square with belt and road? I would agree they aren't looking for world dominance, but from my POV they certainly are looking to be a more major player internationally. Especially in the '3rd world', they will likely end up with more influence than the US since we dropped USAID.
Re: Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UN says
#110Oh darn, people buying less cheap shit.