The economic downturn may have accelerated the Post Office's difficulties, but it hardly seems fair to make it the sole culprit:
The U.S. Postal Service may be forced to eliminate a day of mail service because the economic downturn has led to plummeting volume and revenue, the postmaster general said Wednesday.
Postmaster General John E. Potter, in testimony before a Senate subcommittee, warned of a possible worst-case scenario: eliminating the requirement to deliver mail six days a week to every address in America.
The Post Office's problem is that it has been trying to tweak its mission instead of drastically redefining it to acknowledge the new realities of the digital age (a failing of newspapers, too, I fear). And reducing the number of days of service will just further reduce demand for the service.
Don't think it would affect my life one bit if they went to five days of service, or even four. Does anybody ever look forward to getting the mail anymore? It's bills and junk.
Comments
Leo:
I could always do without the bills (but we do need to have electricty and water/sewer and natural gas, as well as pay for things we purchase ONLINE along with receiving said items to our mailbox, where practicable)
And the junk?
Every time I get something I didn't ASK for, they get a call from me saying to REMOVE me from their list(s).
That takes care of THAT.
But it's nice to get a card/letter from someone, or that package you've been expecting.
I can do without ONE day of service (maybe even two), in spite of the fact that they've (the USPS) steadily INCREASED their rates, laid people off, and mechanized damn near EVERY aspect of their services.
They "should" be MAKING money...didn't know they were a "non-profit" agency?
Perhaps it's time to consolidate their post offices from numerous small ones into larger ones covering greater areas?
I'd hate to see them go away entirely...
I DO so like the collector/commemorative stamps...lol!
".Does anybody ever look forward to getting the mail anymore?"
You absolutely bet they do. For older folks in particular, it's often like Christmas comes every day -- or at least it's like a friend or relative visits every day. I am convinced by experience that we all would be shocked by the extent to which older folks calendar, anticipate, routinize, surveille, and enjoy getting their daily mail.
Then there are the additional new millions who do life-sustaining business on sites like eBay.
I can see five days of reliable mail, but no less.