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“There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

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Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#131

Post by infinite8s »

tsally wrote: post #85
roboneal wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the dramatic drop in mail volumes, hasn't the market (businesses and citizens alike) "voted" that traditional first-class letter (USPS only monopoly) is not a "fundamental component" of our society? If we haven't quite reached that point yet, can't you see we will?

With the dramatic drop in mail volumes, hasn't the market (businesses and citizens alike) "voted" that traditional first-class letter (USPS only monopoly) is not a "fundamental component" of our society? No, mail is not the fundamental component I've identified. As I said, the fundamental component is: "the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country". If we haven't quite reached that point yet…

The problem with government issued emails is that while everyone has a physical address (except the homeless and people 'off' the grid) not everyone has access to the internet, and mail is an important communication medium between the government and the people (pretty much any official notice from any level of government).

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#132

Post by tsally »

solutionyogi wrote: post #114
tsally wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the dramatic drop in mail volumes, hasn't the market (businesses and citizens alike) "voted" that traditional first-class letter (USPS only monopoly) is not a "fundamental component" of our society? No, mail is not the fundamental component I've identified. As I said, the fundamental component is: "the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country". If we haven't quite reached that point yet…

Do you really expect a government organization with all its bureaucracy to come up a solution for 'the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country'? Private market has already found out the solution. Email, facebook, twitter. And if you think that USPS (or any government organization for that matter) can do a better job hosting free email than Google, Yahoo or Microsoft (they all provide free e…

Do you really expect a government organization with all its bureaucracy to come up a solution for 'the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country'?

Yes I do. It's called the United States Postal Service. It was founded in 1775. Given its track record, I think the government could implement a digital system that will be good for another couple hundred years.

Private market has already found out the solution. Email, facebook, twitter.

The public sector has its share of successes as well. How about the postal service, the census, and national elections? The US government has been handling large scale projects since the 1700s.

And if you think that USPS (or any government organization for that matter) can do a better job hosting free email than Google, Yahoo or Microsoft (they all provide free email), I have serious questions about your sanity.

Hrm, well lets think about what happened when we privatized part of our elections (Diebold) or our defense (Blackwater). Let's compare that to the USPS which has been running successfully for over 2.5 centuries. Damn right the government can handle some problems better than the private sector. Diebold is an gross embarrassment to this country and you're fooling yourself if you think similar things wouldn't happen with a privatized postal service. The government doesn't need to have a technically superior product to Gmail, just as the USPS doesn't need to have a superior product to UPS (hint: UPS is better). The government simply needs to provide a reliable, stable service with the privacy and civil guarantees that can only be provided by a public entity. The government cares about integrity. Diebold cares about profits, and look where that got us. Untraceable election fraud in the world's most powerful democracy.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#133

Post by solutionyogi »

tsally wrote: post #132
solutionyogi wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really expect a government organization with all its bureaucracy to come up a solution for 'the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country'? Private market has already found out the solution. Email, facebook, twitter. And if you think that USPS (or any government organization for that matter) can do a better job hosting free email than Google, Yahoo or Microsoft (they all provide free e…

Do you really expect a government organization with all its bureaucracy to come up a solution for 'the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country'? Yes I do. It's called the United States Postal Service. It was founded in 1775. Given its track record, I think the government could implement a digital system that will be good for another couple hundred years. Private market has already found out…

Yes, a monkey can run an organization for 2.5 centuries if they don't have to worry about making money and someone else (i.e. taxpayers) will pay their bills. It's not rocket science.

If you actually think about it, USPS has government granted monopoly on delivering first class mail and somehow they still manage to lose billions.

I completely fail to comprehend how USPS is a success. Could you please explain what is your criteria for success is? For me, success for any organization is when they create value (produce more than they consume).

Again, the programs you have mentioned (Diebold and Blackwater) are actually government run private programs. And I am not surprised that they have failed. Compare this with Google, Apple, Microsoft, Exxon and other businesses where they serve their customers extremely well and has produced billions of dollars of wealth.

Also, if you already accept that government is not able to produce a superior product, why should they be allowed to spend the taxpayer's money? In light of national wiretapping done by Bush administration, I would really question your stance that government will be able to maintain privacy of my emails.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#134

Post by solutionyogi »

tsally wrote: post #130
solutionyogi wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that the most essential service is 'grocery delivery'. And it's not run or subsidized by Government and we seem to be doing just fine. There is no reason what so ever for USPS to exist.

This is a gross simplification. Let's expand this discussion to public verses private. I'm going to talk about education instead of the USPS because I know more about education. Goal of a public education system: provide actual learning, understanding, and life-long skills to everyone. Goal of a private education system: maximize profits by providing competitive diplomas as cheaply as possible. See the issue? The pri…

It's interesting. When you simplify USPS as essential service, it's fine. But if I take your 'essential service' argument and simplify it even further, I am doing 'gross simplification'.

Please don't even get me started on public education in United States. I would gladly allow 3 more USPS organizations to waste taxpayer's money if they get rid of public schools and adopt a school voucher system.

Please look for 'Stupid in America' show on YouTube and watch it. It will seriously change your opinion about public schools. Also, how many times have you heard people moving to certain district because they have better public schools? Have you ever heard anyone moving to certain district just because they have better grocery store?

I fail to comprehend why you think profit motive is a bad thing. Just like a private school has a profit motive, the customer (parents in case of private schools) have an incentive to get best value for their money and trust me, they will.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#135

Post by philwelch »

tsally wrote: post #130
solutionyogi wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that the most essential service is 'grocery delivery'. And it's not run or subsidized by Government and we seem to be doing just fine. There is no reason what so ever for USPS to exist.

This is a gross simplification. Let's expand this discussion to public verses private. I'm going to talk about education instead of the USPS because I know more about education. Goal of a public education system: provide actual learning, understanding, and life-long skills to everyone. Goal of a private education system: maximize profits by providing competitive diplomas as cheaply as possible. See the issue? The pri…

I went to public schools. The goal seemed to be keeping young people off the streets while their parents were working while also "creating jobs" for dozens of unionized schoolteachers of varying, often poor quality.

Some government programs accomplish a useful goal, and the USPS is one of these. But many government programs accomplish goals which are orthogonal or counter to their stated, useful purposes.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#136

Post by holygoat »

pxlpshr wrote: post #19
hyperbovine wrote: post #12

The real loser here is netflix. 17% increase in delivery time and not a damn thing you can do about it. Ouch.

Not really, I see mail as a temporary problem. If Netflix Streaming contained all the top titles, I would use that almost exclusively. There really would be no reason for mail, it's slow and inefficient.

I'm about to move from a place with 18Mbit down to a place with 2Mbit down. I expect my use of Netflix Watch It Now to drastically decline.

Mail is only a temporary problem if you define "temporary" as "ten to twenty years". There are plenty of people still stuck on dial-up.

Nobody is going to run fiber ten miles outside of a city of 20,000 people just for me, and apparently the movie studios don't trust me enough to slowly pre-download Watch It Now movies during sleeping hours.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#137

Post by scott_s »

graywh wrote: post #120
dpcan wrote: post #78

Why can't I get/pay for a USPS.com email address of my physical address? 123MainSt.MyCity.State.Zip@usps.com? Anything that is emailed to this address must pay postage, but the message body or attachment can be printed, certified and delivered to my physical location? Maybe this isn't the perfect idea, but if the USPS would just embrace technology and innovate a little, they could really increase their revenues.

Just wondering: how would they handle it when you move?

The same change-of-address form you're supposed to use when you move would work just fine.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#138

Post by philwelch »

tsally wrote: post #85
roboneal wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the dramatic drop in mail volumes, hasn't the market (businesses and citizens alike) "voted" that traditional first-class letter (USPS only monopoly) is not a "fundamental component" of our society? If we haven't quite reached that point yet, can't you see we will?

With the dramatic drop in mail volumes, hasn't the market (businesses and citizens alike) "voted" that traditional first-class letter (USPS only monopoly) is not a "fundamental component" of our society? No, mail is not the fundamental component I've identified. As I said, the fundamental component is: "the ability to affordability correspond with others around the country". If we haven't quite reached that point yet…

If I had a government issued email, I probably wouldn't bother checking it, and nor would most people. Judging from the spam the USPS gleefully stuffs into my mailbox every week already I cringe to think what would happen to my email inbox.

The USPS does what it does very well, and any naysayers should try living in a country with an unreliable postal service. That having been said, I wouldn't trust them to do anything innovative. That dog's too old to learn new tricks.

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#139

Post by wmf »

jrockway wrote: post #36
pxlpshr wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, I see mail as a temporary problem. If Netflix Streaming contained all the top titles, I would use that almost exclusively. There really would be no reason for mail, it's slow and inefficient.

What's nice about mailing physical media is that the movie studios don't have much control. You can buy a widget and do whatever you want with it, including mailing it around. You can't do this on the Internet, though, because computers are magical and Someone Could Copy It!1111!!

What's nice about mailing physical media is that the movie studios don't have much control.

Have you noticed the Netflix and Redbox release windowing? First sale, what first sale?

Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”

#140

Post by dmhouse »

cookiecaper wrote: post #106
ryanelkins wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is what I hate about the USPS and spam. I opened a PO Box to receive rental payments on some properties I owned. The only people who got this address were tenants. It wasn't used for anything else. I'd check it once a month and it would be crammed full of ads. By crammed I mean seriously tightly wedged full of junk. I'd have to pick through it all to try and find my rent checks and not throw them out with the ad…

I'm pretty sure they just pay the Post Office to put ads in every PO Box there.

Would there not have been an address on the mail?
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