Is the Post Office next for the ax???

Oh dear, I guess I never thought about it that way. I pay most of my bills online too or just stop into the establishment and pay. I don't even hardly write letters anymore as it's just as easy to send an email. Although I do send silly cards out quiet often...just for the chuckle factor. I don't think we need to lose the post office, sometimes you need to mail things. If it goes private then up goes the price and 44 or 46 or what ever the price of stamp is now really won't look all that bad!

They have already talked of doing away with Saturday deliveries. I know in my town, the mail man, we only have one, takes every other Sat. off, and we get no delivery. I hate to think of getting all my Christmas cards via e-mail. Kinda takes the bloom off the rose, ya know?

Our mailman er woman said basically the very same thing !
She said " If it wasn't for junk mail, I'd be out of a job."

Hopefully it won't just go away. I can see where they could cut Saturdays though.

I heard of an anthropologist (I think that is what he was) that said e-mail is going to skew the view future generations will have of our world. Look at how many books of letters have been printed and the view of the world we get from those letters. I have to say I am guilty of this also. So much of our culture is getting more and more tied up in an electronic venue. Will it last? As for the post office, Hubby says he remembers when they used to have two deliveries a day. It would put alot of people out of work and seriously change our culture. It's kind of sad to think about.

I still pay the old fashion way if that's what you call it. I use the post office because it is less likely for your identity to be stolen if its with hundreds of other mail.
Some people target you online if you do many of the online bill paying and I'd like to give them the least amount of info... that I can I do not use pay pal nor do I buy stuff online..
Gather is about the only thing I do online other than the usual facebook , my space, twitter,
But that is mainly for family out of state or friends that I have in the military over seas or out of state bases.
I know no matter how careful you are someone is always watchin you on the net. I do understand the Government doing it. Weather you like it or not Gov. will do it even if you dont like it.

WoW, I had not heard this!

I do not think that is the case in my town..our mail gets delivered later and later all the time.
It used to come by 3 pm, now I am lucky if it is here by 5!

I know they talked about closing down on Tuesdays..anyone know anything about that?
I think it should be closed on Saturdays..ours is only open for 3 hours that day anyway, they close at 11 am

Hey, somebody used to pump my gas, deliver milk to my door, honk out front for fresh bakery, a neighbor kid delivered my paper, and a man even came by to sharpen my knives and garden tools as well. I miss the Fuller Brush man, LOL.
The Postman is on the way out too? I think they call it progress....

I don't pay anything online and rely on the postal service. I think what bugged me was finding out that the Postmaster General made over $800,000 last year. Wonder why Obama didn't try to liimit his income?

wow i hope not.

Netty B.: If you ask at the Post Office, they'll explain. The explanation will be (and it will be true), "We've consolidated some routes, and laid off or retired some carriers."

M.M.: Lessee now, $800.000 and no stock options to run onate of the largest 100 "corporations" in the world, and you think that's unreasonable?!? Obama obviously didn't, and in today's world I think it's a bargain.

Why are you so upset that Obama said that so long as the Wall Street companies that got us in this mess are operating on government money... no bonuses, no raises? Union members (contracts and all) are giving back money, contracts and all. Why shouldn't those jerks?

oh my i didnt know

Since many buy off the internet and the post office delivers some of it, I would think that would help some.

I think it is necessary for the post office to change how they do business, so they can remain relevant and competitive with other sources of mailing mail.

Our village has no home mail delivery. Every household is given a mail box at the PO - some free (standard size) but you pay for anything larger than the standard box. Going to the PO to pick up or drop off mail is a way of life for us and it is kind of fun, also, as we get to see friends and nod to acquaintances we don't otherwise see often.

Also, our PO is open only for about an hour on Saturday mornings. We all know if we want something to go out on Saturday's mail to have it there by 9 AM

The postmaster general made over $800,000 and the Post Office lost billions I think. Someething has to be done but I don't think that cutting out mail all together would be a good thing. I think it could be done smarter. They need to cut out Sat delivery and maybe another day if it's that light. A lot of jobs would be lost.

My husband works at the main post office here in Pittsburgh. He's an electronic technician and fixes the machines. They're talking about cutting back on delivery (Saturday) but I hadn't heard anything about a Tuesday.

Just a few months ago, they were SO busy, they called him in to work overtime every single Saturday. They process millions of pieces of mail (I'm sure a lot of it is junk mail). Things may change, but it's not going to go away completely any time soon. It's still the cheapest way for companies to reach a million households. Sometimes I even read my junk mail. Some of the local newspapers are stopping home delivery and you can have it mailed to your house.

My husband comes home almost every day with another tale of the horribly way the PO is run. The mail carriers, people who run the machines, and people who fix the machines are not to blame. There is an entrenched atmosphere of nepotism and graft in the management that is almost frightening. The nasty, cruel things some of the managers do ... just because they can ... to make the worker's lives miserable is insane. One woman was told she had to provide PROOF that she needed to go to the ladies' room. Rules are made up, designed not for efficiency but to screw with people, and enforced for a little while (at least until the union makes them stop). If it weren't for the union, the PO would be like a turn of the century sweat shop.

I've heard story after story after story of so-and-so's girlfriend being made manager. No training, no supervision, and you end up with petty dictators that ruin the whole thing for people who really do care about their jobs and what they do. There are jokes that equal the "casting couch" in the acting industry ... only more crude.

My husband comes home furious almost every day. The stupidity is legendary. Managers who are barely literate and totally clueless as to the whole point of what they're doing. Rules that contradict each other. Unsafe practices (the floor was collapsing due to inferior construction and the PO merely put sawhorses up to keep the forklifts from falling through the floor. What about the people manning the several-ton machines 6 inches away from the sawhorse? Then they decided that the sawhorses were slowing down the work, so they laid a piece of plywood over the part of the floor that was sinking and crumbling ... and told the forklifts to ignore what was under it.

When the whole Anthrax scare came, the Post office decided that they would install vacuums to suck in all the dust and potential anthrax that might be going through. They went to Sears and bought some shop vacs. When someone pointed out that the filters would NOT stop the Anthrax spores (and just spread it efficiently throughout the building), the vacuums were turned off ... and their use was forbidden. So now they get a LOT of breakdowns in the machinery because preventive maintenance (vacuuming paper dust) cannot be done.

One machine, commissioned by the PO, was found to have been insulated with foam that gives off deadly toxic fumes when heated. The machine was full of paper dust, got over heated, the paper dust ignited, and the foam started to give off fumes. The people in the immediate vicinity were evacuated, but not the rest of the building.

There are hundreds of stories just from OUR post office. What do you suppose is happening all over the country? It doesn't NEED to be like this, but some sick, twisted management cancer has spread to the point where they might have to kill the whole organization to get rid of it! It's insane.

My husband is trying to last as long as he can. He tries not to pay too much attention to the stupidity. I could write a lot of VERY interesting articles, but they're searchable (comments don't seem to be) and I don't want my husband being fired. We'd lose everything if that happened (including the ferret shelter that I run).

They *can* change for the better, but there is a heavy weight at the top resistant to any kind of change. Usually, the only things that change are for the workers and never for the better.

I sure hope they don't totally go away. I mean, so many legal papers have to come through U.S. Mail delivery by law. I was even told by a couple of credit card companies that, by law, they must send me a paper statement every month even though I didn't want it. I think they might start cutting back on delivery, but I don't think they're going to totally close down anytime soon.

I use the PO for things like NetFlix and ANY legal or medical things. I want a PHYSICAL copy of anything I pay to a medical facilitity.

The cost of stamps is going up again this month. The post office is becoming out-dated and less efficient at a higher price. Newspapers are also in trouble. The Boston Globe is the latest one in the news thinking of closing. Gannet is closing the afternoon paper in Tucson. John S, is right. This is called progress. The next generation won't know what a newspaper or letter is. Just like anyone under 40 has no clue what a wringer washer, 78 or 45 or 33 RPM is.

What is a check?

What is a stamp?

First the fax, then Fed Ex ripped the guts out of the USPS, but yeah the real grim reaper is

INTERNET.

It will be scaled down.

The USPS will be around for a while...

Dave works for the PO. It's true. Cut backs are happening everyday.

I don't care about saturday deliveries, usualy only junkmail only. Now if I can get a delivery person who can read an address that be nice. Ikeep getting mail for 18th street, umm...not me.

I think the PO will go the way of so many other enterprises due to the use of the internet.
I also think it's best because the government should not be involved in this type of business. Private companies would no doubt do a better job. But......I imagine it would cost quite a bit more for postage.

It's bound to close down, although it will probably take a good while.

We don't even use a whole book of stamps in a years time, anymore. Sll bill paying is done online, or at the place of business, like the feed store. I use cash or my debit card for purchases.