Should postal service be shut down?

markbot · 09-14-2011, 04:12 PM

In the US, the post office is soon to be bankrupt. With its current cost and revenue structure, US postal service would need heavy government subsidization to survive going forward and it'll only get worse as electronic communication continues to make paper mail obsolete. Paper mail is extremely inefficient. It is far cheaper to send electronic mail.

I think we should ask the question of whether we still need a government operated postal service. If we do continue to have one to help connect the country (especially in rural areas), I think it should be restructured along the lines of UPS and Fedex (thus the marginal cost to send a letter would be much higher--the mailman would need to make far fewer stops and they can close many offices).

A few years ago, I thought that the US Post Office should have created a closed email system linked to someone's real identity for official government business and other important email. The system would be more secure and you could only send email within the system. They could charge a low fee per email over a certain threshold, thus it would eliminate most spam. People have physical addresses and this email system would be an e-address. Regular email or this official email system would essentially replace all paper letters.

mailman61953 · 09-14-2011, 04:44 PM

Best solution is to do away with the pre-funding of health care and retirement systems at levels prescribed in Bush era legislation that was meant to bankrupt the Post Office so it could be privatised.As bad as the economy has been the last two years if the PO had not been forced to make these payments, it would have been profitable. Independent auditors have stated that the Postal Service has overpaid 45 billion dollars to these funds. The Postal Service receives no government aid. It is entirely dependent on the revenue it generates.

Daithi · 09-14-2011, 04:48 PM

I'd rather just close it down. The VAST majority of the mail I receive is unsolicited junk mail. I'd rather my taxes weren't spent on subsidizing a corporations ability to send me paper based spam.

We now have email, phones, Fedx, and UPS. These serve my mailing purposes just fine.

allinhi/ · 09-14-2011, 10:12 PM

The real issue is due to political pressure the p.o. is not allowed to reduce delivery days, close unneeded offices, identify what services should end or be added. Of course services to rural areas are subsidized by urban areas which makes privitization a no go. True cost comparisons have shown no savings, since private buisness only wants the profitable areas rural subsidies would increase, which has a big downside.

View Poll Results: What should happen to postal service?
Status quo, continue current cost and revenue structure	7	35.00%
Restructure postal service along the lines of private carriers	11	55.00%
Cease operations of government run postal service	1	5.00%
Not sure	1	5.00%
Voters: 20. You may not vote on this poll

09-14-2011, 04:12 PM	#1
markbot Guru Posts: 612 Karma: 7511929 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2	Should postal service be shut down? In the US, the post office is soon to be bankrupt. With its current cost and revenue structure, US postal service would need heavy government subsidization to survive going forward and it'll only get worse as electronic communication continues to make paper mail obsolete. Paper mail is extremely inefficient. It is far cheaper to send electronic mail. I think we should ask the question of whether we still need a government operated postal service. If we do continue to have one to help connect the country (especially in rural areas), I think it should be restructured along the lines of UPS and Fedex (thus the marginal cost to send a letter would be much higher--the mailman would need to make far fewer stops and they can close many offices). A few years ago, I thought that the US Post Office should have created a closed email system linked to someone's real identity for official government business and other important email. The system would be more secure and you could only send email within the system. They could charge a low fee per email over a certain threshold, thus it would eliminate most spam. People have physical addresses and this email system would be an e-address. Regular email or this official email system would essentially replace all paper letters. Last edited by markbot; 09-14-2011 at 04:27 PM.

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09-14-2011, 04:44 PM	#2
mailman61953 Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 508 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle1,Kindle2, Kindle DX, Kindle 3, Sony505,Nokia,N810, Q7	Best solution is to do away with the pre-funding of health care and retirement systems at levels prescribed in Bush era legislation that was meant to bankrupt the Post Office so it could be privatised.As bad as the economy has been the last two years if the PO had not been forced to make these payments, it would have been profitable. Independent auditors have stated that the Postal Service has overpaid 45 billion dollars to these funds. The Postal Service receives no government aid. It is entirely dependent on the revenue it generates.

09-14-2011, 04:48 PM	#3
Daithi Publishers are evil! Posts: 2,418 Karma: 36205264 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Rhode Island Device: Various Kindles	I'd rather just close it down. The VAST majority of the mail I receive is unsolicited junk mail. I'd rather my taxes weren't spent on subsidizing a corporations ability to send me paper based spam. We now have email, phones, Fedx, and UPS. These serve my mailing purposes just fine.

09-14-2011, 10:12 PM	#4
allinhi/ Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 52080 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: nook color	The real issue is due to political pressure the p.o. is not allowed to reduce delivery days, close unneeded offices, identify what services should end or be added. Of course services to rural areas are subsidized by urban areas which makes privitization a no go. True cost comparisons have shown no savings, since private buisness only wants the profitable areas rural subsidies would increase, which has a big downside.

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