12/28: Why postal services are important
Moderated by Rick Badie
From Atlanta to South Georgia, post offices may be closed as the U.S. Postal Service tries to reduce costs and turn a profit.
Today, a New York University professor explains the importance of postal services.
I interview residents in the rural town of Perkins about the potential loss of a community anchor.
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74 comments Add your comment
drmondo
December 28th, 2011
12:33 pm
When they privatize the mail, do you think areas other than the big cities will get their mail in a timely manner? The private companies will focus on Atlanta, Savannah, etc because that’s where the money is. Those who live in a rural area might be lucky to get their mail twice a month. If they want to cut waste and streamline the service, start with management. Being a former postal worker, I can’t tell you how many supervisors regularly cost the Post Office money. If they couldn’t figure out a holiday schedule correctly, they’d just mandate everyone to work…at overtime rates while having employees sit with little to do. 3 guys in charge of a shift? Can’t one competent one do the job? People laugh when I tell them about supervisors I had that couldn’t read. It wasn’t a joke. It was upper management that made the decision back in the 90’s to farm out the packages to an independent company (while keeping it quiet) who regularly failed to deliver on time. One Christmas we had 6 tractor trailers full of mail dropped off at the GMF at 2 AM that they had missed their delivery time on. The public only saw that the USPS wasn’t doing the job and turned to the UPS’s, Fedex’s, DHL’s that popped up. If you’re going to cut waste, start at the top.
Pay it forward
December 28th, 2011
12:32 pm
Want to know why residential comes first and commercial mail you have to have a person stay after 5pm to accept your mail. The goverment messes up every thing they touch. Cant wait for the healthcare to start. Millions of people added but no doctors added to accept these people. Waiting for up to a year for a appt to a specialist when most would be dead before they get seen. Thats the point though. It saves money that way if you die why you wait.
Really?
December 28th, 2011
12:29 pm
@The Jay
Really? You call people stupid and you can’t spell damn correctly? Really?
shaggy
December 28th, 2011
12:23 pm
Fix the pension that is better than military retiree benefits, union bosses taking their pay like CEOs, and the Congress reelection voting block orgy, and the postal service instantly becomes very profitable.
Susan
December 28th, 2011
12:22 pm
wouldn’t miss it because I can’t even get my own mail. I get mail that does not belong to me. The people that deliveries it must not be able to read since I get mail that does not belong to me
Walter
December 28th, 2011
12:19 pm
I’m ok with the Postal Service stopping Saturday Delivery and just running deliveries 5 days per week. But we can’t afford to let it go completely because it’s an essential lifeline for so many residents and businesses alike. It’s going to be a shame if rural locations lose their post offices and have to drive quite far just to receive mail.
UPS / FedEx and other delivery companies do not deliver letters, they deliver packages. How many checks alone are mailed each week that the Postal Service handles. I think the Federal Government has to allow the Postal Service to expand their services outside of just postal delivery like other countries do.
The Jay
December 28th, 2011
12:09 pm
@Tex, Yes, most postal workers are slack, useless, and pretty darn stupid. However, could you explain “Its time to get rid of the non producers and non productive in this country.”
Where would they go? Where do you intend to ship them? What other groups do you assign this too?
Ya’ see Tex, the problem with the group think you subscribe to is the whole ‘consequences’ thing. Yes, I realize your tiny brain can’t think that far ahead. So let’s play out a scenario you may understand, okay?
Lets say we get rid of the postal folks in one large jetison of employees. Hmm, more unemployment (more tax money thrown away). And when the unemployment runs out, some of these people will turn to crime. (more tax money on enforcement and prisons). Some will attempt and fail at business (failed business loans impact interest rates). It’s the big picture Tex. Does you tiny brain get it?
The post office uses no tax money. Let them run their business how they’d like. I’d rather see an idiot deliver my junk mail than to have tax money support there non working rear end.
Mr. Phil
December 28th, 2011
12:07 pm
I don’t think people are realizing the legal ramifications of this problem. Several laws in Georgia and other states require the use of certified mail for certain correspondences. I work closely with a finance company. By law debtors have to be notified by certified mail when cars are repo’ed and put up for sale. If not, then by law the finance company CAN NOT collect any debts owed. No post office means a financial impact for lending institutions and thus a further freeze on lending. This financial impact will hurt the car industry and every American seeking credit.
Mind you, this is just one example. There are dozens of laws on the books in Georgia which are dependant on the existence of a US postal service.
crackbaby
December 28th, 2011
12:05 pm
Nobody (or perhaps almost nobody) is talking about eliminating mail service. Mail delivery is still essential but the postal service is a giant, wasteful behemoth. That professor is completely wrong when he says eliminating jobs won’t help the economy. In the long run, eliminating waste will help everyone by improving performance and reducing costs.
The article says there are 32,000 post offices. 32,000! Are you freaking kidding me! I don’t see anything wrong with postal counters at Wal-marts, etc.
Why don’t they charge more for “junk mail”? The amount of pollution caused by shipping billions of tons of unwanted material that ends up in landfills is staggering.
Joe Schmoe
December 28th, 2011
12:04 pm
Wouldnt miss it at all. Like land lines, old monopolized USPS is going to the way side. Who needs all the junk mail anyways?