USPS to propose 5-day mail schedule, major cuts

[marksiwel]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/USPS-to-p ... 8.html?x=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And this is why we need to privatize the mail system.

Heck I would pay extra if they delivered Mail on Sunday. Nothing stinks more than knowing you have a package or a netflix movie just sitting there.

[MechAg94]

So should be buy more stock in Fedex or UPS?

Does anyone know: What does the post office make the most profit on? Regular 1st class letters or all the cheap bulk mail? I was always curious if the bulk mail helps or hurts.
There are a lot of other factors obviously.

[marksiwel]

So should be buy more stock in Fedex or UPS?

Does anyone know: What does the post office make the most profit on? Regular 1st class letters or all the cheap bulk mail? I was always curious if the bulk mail helps or hurts.
There are a lot of other factors obviously.

I dont think the Post Office has been in the Black for years.

I assume they make their money on those Bulk Mail flyers, just because there are so many of them.

If you're like me, it seems 90% of my mail is
Guns and Ammo
Nra magazines
Credit Card Applications
Flyers for Local Stores
And
Mail from the STATE saying my name is Jaun Perez and I have a warrant

[MechAg94]

So should be buy more stock in Fedex or UPS?

Does anyone know: What does the post office make the most profit on? Regular 1st class letters or all the cheap bulk mail? I was always curious if the bulk mail helps or hurts.
There are a lot of other factors obviously.

I dont think the Post Office has been in the Black for years.

I assume they make their money on those Bulk Mail flyers, just because there are so many of them.

If you're like me, it seems 90% of my mail is
Guns and Ammo
Nra magazines
Credit Card Applications
Flyers for Local Stores
And
Mail from the STATE saying my name is Jaun Perez and I have a warrant

Considering all the bulk mail is automated, you are probably right.

Be careful on the warrant thing. I got a phone call from the local PD (automated) explaining they were about to have a roundup of outstanding warrants. If I had a warrant out for me, I should call them and take the opportunity to get it cleared up. I say this because you don't want your local PD to come around you house (in the daytime all friendly I am sure) looking for that guy.

[davidtx]

If we privatized the Post Office, that would be one less place we'd have to disarm. That's enough of a reason for me.

[marksiwel]

If we privatized the Post Office, that would be one less place we'd have to disarm. That's enough of a reason for me.

oooh I didnt think about that

[cougartex]

If we privatized the Post Office, that would be one less place we'd have to disarm. That's enough of a reason for me.

[frazzled]

If we privatized the Post Office, that would be one less place we'd have to disarm. That's enough of a reason for me.

in addition, I'd be ok with private services for everything. With the exception of just a few magazines, literally everything I get is bills or lots and lots and lots of junk mail.

[MechAg94]

I think you would see a lot of things go electronic.

Would you want your mail box opened up to allow non-USMail to be dropped in it? I assume that is what would happen and advertising services would pop up to distribute that same junk mail.

[frazzled]

Just get rid of the mailbox then. Sick carnivorous wiener dogs on people who attempt to distribute junk mail (aka situation normal).

[The Annoyed Man]

I think you would see a lot of things go electronic.

Would you want your mail box opened up to allow non-USMail to be dropped in it? I assume that is what would happen and advertising services would pop up to distribute that same junk mail.

Not necessarily. By law, bulk emailers are supposed to give you the opportunity to opt-out/opt-in to whatever emailing lists you are on. That's why spammers go to jail when they get caught — they do not have some kind of initial permission from you to send you solicitations, and they do not offer you any kind of opt-out from future mailings.

If you never give permission to send you solicitations, you won't get solicitations, at least not from lawful sources. And you're probably already getting all that crud from non-lawful sources... ...but that's what SPAM filters are for.

As to privatizing the system, no smart businessman/corporation is going to buy the postal service because of its union. Of course it could be turned around, but only by getting some significant concessions from labor to make it happen. We can pretty much guess what the union will do or not do. Plus, if it came down to it, the union would call in its markers and get the current administration involved, and we all know how that would go. So the system is going to go belly up sooner or later. The only way for it to restore viability is for it to base its pricing on the real costs of doing business, and then contain those costs wherever it can. I do believe, for more or less the same reasons that Ben Franklin believed, that we should have a vibrant postal system, but not at the cost of shoddy business practices.

[Oldgringo]

Shep Smith just told me that the USPS had a $5 billion shortfall last year...if I heard right. If that's the case, why did the Postmaster General get an $800,000 bonus for last year?

Where did I go wrong?