This wouldn't be such an issue if the postal service operated like a business instead of an institution. Why not commercialize it more? Where are the Coke stamps and IBM Express Mail envelopes? Why isn't the mail truck wrapped with an American Idol promo? Seems like the USPS could be a huge advertising vehicle. Why is this sacred?
“There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
31–40 of 179 posts
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#32The 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.
Agreed. We tend to site on physical DVDs for awhile, but thanks to the movies available on demand, we more than make the monthly cost worth it.
The other downside of physical DVDs is that often, the discs we received are scratched or damaged beyond usability.
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#33I saw the chairman of their board speak not long ago, and it turns out the biggest problem is that USPS can't fire any of their union employees, who consistently get awarded UPS salaries + 15-20% in arbitration.
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#34Hopefully UPS and FedEx will make up the difference by delivering on Sunday.
The only stuff I get in the mail these days is some envelope warning me that I will go to jail if I don't tell the government my phone number.
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#35When I saw the title, I first thought it was another April Fool's joke. Like it currently takes six days on average to deliver something, but there is not enough mail anymore to keep that up, so they're forced to deliver it in five days...
OK, so I didn't have my coffee yet... =)
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#36The 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.
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!!
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#37> Ten years ago, the average household received five pieces of mail every day. Today, it receives four pieces and by 2020, that number will fall to three. ... And it would receive much less than that if the USPS wasn't mostly a delivery network for spam.
Good point! However, those spammers are doing some good because they're paying money to stamp their mail, which goes to employ mail personel, etc. For that reason I feel good when I throw away credit card letters while saying "Dear greedy creditor, No I don't want your raping fees, but thank you for paying money for me to throw this letter in recycling."
Even better: Write what you say at your trash can on the offer, stuff that and every other piece of paper the CC company mailed you, and put it back in the business reply envelope. Now you've gotten the CC company to help the USPS twice.
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#38commercialize them, introduce competition.
Monopolies always have weird issues like "we'd like to, but we can't"
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#39Privatize the system and outsource it to UPS/FedEX,etc. (I know easier said than done). If I ever need to send snail mail, I just send it via those guys.
Re: “There is no longer enough mail to sustain six days of delivery.”
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
considering that those 44 cents will get a letter basically hand delivered from Key West Florida to Barrow Alaska. Still a pretty good deal.
I'm not saying it's a bad deal, just that the OP hadn't actually bought a stamp in a long time (or at least realized the cost).
I didn't either, and I bought stamps last week. 39 cents vs 44 cents doesn't even show up on my radar.