Your article definitely provided food for thought. And while I do get quite irratated by the insane influx of marketing advertisements that find its way into my mailbox. I do very much like to still receive my statements (bank statements, bills, etc.), via USPS, and no I do not live in a cave. I guess it is the "old school" in me, but I have also opted-in for some things to be delivered electronically. I do believe that there can be a solution for the slaughtering of trees, I mean heck, everything nowadays is made out of recycled materials, why not begin building out that industry more & come up with more sustainable solutions. I also do believe that our country (and really the whole world) has become so abundantly intertwined and too reliant on technology. Is it not possible that our entire network could experience major problems and/or attacks that could fracture our capacity and leave us defensless to operate?
While I agree that there may be a need to revamp the USPS, but to shutdown the service all together to me is unsettling. Would it mean that now instead of the majority of my mail coming from USPS, that I would then need to begin sifting through the barrrage of companies that will prop up. Not to mention the constant advertisements that I will have to deal with. And yes, there are an exhorbant amount of electronic adsthat we all get hit with too. Would stopping the paper advertisements stop the gauranteed increase of electronic ads from propping up everywhere?
The other issue I have with shutting down USPS, as you eluded to, are the employees. I don't believe there would be any arguement to the fact that anything can be interpreted in a way that fits one sense of thought or another, I mean even scriptures in the bible itself are up to interpretation. But to say that politicians on the Democratic/Progressive side of the aisle, oppose the shutting down of USPS simply because collectively the employees yield political power. Is to first is to say that the USPS is solely made up of employees who vote on the democratic side, really? More distressing is where would all of those employees go, what happens to those who are on the verge of retirement in the next 4-5 years, are their pensions affected; will these employees now be forced to learn different skills in order to even get back into the job market, would they even find wages/salaries that matched what they previously were paid? How does such a change and shock to the system affect our economy, and would the short term savings truly out weigh everything else? Lastly, how would such a change effect us on an international level, would other countries now be forced to completely revamp their system as well?
I just hope that, IF such a change as closing down USPS happens that deeper consideration is given to how it would or wouldn't truly affect us all...and not just simply through a political lens.
I enjoyed your article and appreciate the thought that went into it.
I agree the USPS should be out of the parcel business.
I don’t like the junk mail, but feel if it turns a profit to offset costs on letter delivery, so be it…. But the monopoly must go. Anyone should be able to be in that business.
I understand and use much of the electronic delivery of business mail, but also recognize we have people totally adverse to electronic delivery (like my wife) and would guess others do not have the ability to use e-delivery. Don’t know the numbers on this and would like to see them.
In short, I would cut it down to letter delivery only which must not lose money. If they can take along junk with that to defray costs fine. But the junk mail monopoly must go and they need to get out of the package business.
Thank you for this…. Good conversation and thought provoking.
Your article definitely provided food for thought. And while I do get quite irratated by the insane influx of marketing advertisements that find its way into my mailbox. I do very much like to still receive my statements (bank statements, bills, etc.), via USPS, and no I do not live in a cave. I guess it is the "old school" in me, but I have also opted-in for some things to be delivered electronically. I do believe that there can be a solution for the slaughtering of trees, I mean heck, everything nowadays is made out of recycled materials, why not begin building out that industry more & come up with more sustainable solutions. I also do believe that our country (and really the whole world) has become so abundantly intertwined and too reliant on technology. Is it not possible that our entire network could experience major problems and/or attacks that could fracture our capacity and leave us defensless to operate?
While I agree that there may be a need to revamp the USPS, but to shutdown the service all together to me is unsettling. Would it mean that now instead of the majority of my mail coming from USPS, that I would then need to begin sifting through the barrrage of companies that will prop up. Not to mention the constant advertisements that I will have to deal with. And yes, there are an exhorbant amount of electronic adsthat we all get hit with too. Would stopping the paper advertisements stop the gauranteed increase of electronic ads from propping up everywhere?
The other issue I have with shutting down USPS, as you eluded to, are the employees. I don't believe there would be any arguement to the fact that anything can be interpreted in a way that fits one sense of thought or another, I mean even scriptures in the bible itself are up to interpretation. But to say that politicians on the Democratic/Progressive side of the aisle, oppose the shutting down of USPS simply because collectively the employees yield political power. Is to first is to say that the USPS is solely made up of employees who vote on the democratic side, really? More distressing is where would all of those employees go, what happens to those who are on the verge of retirement in the next 4-5 years, are their pensions affected; will these employees now be forced to learn different skills in order to even get back into the job market, would they even find wages/salaries that matched what they previously were paid? How does such a change and shock to the system affect our economy, and would the short term savings truly out weigh everything else? Lastly, how would such a change effect us on an international level, would other countries now be forced to completely revamp their system as well?
I just hope that, IF such a change as closing down USPS happens that deeper consideration is given to how it would or wouldn't truly affect us all...and not just simply through a political lens.
I enjoyed your article and appreciate the thought that went into it.
I agree the USPS should be out of the parcel business.
I don’t like the junk mail, but feel if it turns a profit to offset costs on letter delivery, so be it…. But the monopoly must go. Anyone should be able to be in that business.
I understand and use much of the electronic delivery of business mail, but also recognize we have people totally adverse to electronic delivery (like my wife) and would guess others do not have the ability to use e-delivery. Don’t know the numbers on this and would like to see them.
In short, I would cut it down to letter delivery only which must not lose money. If they can take along junk with that to defray costs fine. But the junk mail monopoly must go and they need to get out of the package business.
Thank you for this…. Good conversation and thought provoking.
Thanks for adding your thoughts.