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10 seconds for research indicated that costs for package delivery are twice as expensive in the sticks.

https://www.prc.gov/sites/defa...

five more seconds

"The overall average per subscriber cost is $2,200. For the urban zone of the exchange the average cost is $800 and for the rural zone it is $6,000"

telecom service costs http://www.rural.org/workshops...

There is article after article after article, all indicating that costs per person are MASSIVLY higher in the sticks and the communities and their people are a net economic drain. The science is in, and has been for a while. The sticks are a huge albatrosses on American society

You seem to veer off the rails all over the place, but the main thing that mystified me is - why would a label NOT WORK the next day (a "confusion" you list more than once)? It's insane to think it would not.

From the USPS Report on PRC Rate and Service Inquiries for December 2011:

You must mail your item on the date that you selected for your Click-N-Ship label; this is known as the Ship Date. An electronic record is generated on that date indicating that your mailpiece has been mailed. Packages shipped with labels that have incorrect Ship Dates may be returned to the sender and will not be eligible for a refund. If you are unable to use the label, you should request a refund within ten (10) days of the printing date and create another label with the correct Ship Date.

That said, local postal offices apparently offer varying amounts of flexibility; but the policy is that you must ship on the Ship Date or cancel within ten days to get a refund. See also here.

Currently you can get shipping materials for free https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10001&categoryId=10000036&parent_category_rn=10000002&top_category=10000002 which is ludicrous. They need to stop giving away shipping materials and charge for it like everyone else does. Countless times I have known of folks to hoard the materials, and use them for shipping using other carriers, or for personal storage. This needs to stop NOW.

Raise the rates on the bulk mail, even if it requires congressional approval to do so. Bulk mail companies already pay way less than the general public to send their spam direct to your box, and at times they receive hefty discounts as well ( http://www.dmnews.com/usps-provides-more-details-on-summer-sale/article/131151/ ) which should be stopped. The First Class postage we pay subsidizes junk mail. It is high time they pay their own way. The ridiculous threat that bulk mail companies will stop using USPS if rates for them are increased is pure bullshit. Call their bluff, and raise their rates, for they can afford it. Do you really think they will start using FedEx or UPS to deliver their junk? The US mail is a government monopoly they must use, due to the cheapness of it when compared to other options. A friend of mine who works in the sorting of US mail told me that bulk mail has steadily increased every year.

Additionally, the Postal Regulatory Commission believes that bulk mailers do not pay their fair share, and that their rates should be increased roughly 22% overall. An audit found that the current rates bulk mailers pay run afoul of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act http://www.prc.gov/PRC-DOCS/UploadedDocuments/ACD%202010_1697.pdf , which is hotly contested by the lobbyists in the bulk mail industry. The current Postmaster General caters to the whims of the bulk mail industry, and needs to be gone.

Create a Do Not Mail registry, which works similar to the Do Not Call registry. Currently I have no way to stop all the loose-leaf flyers/advertisements from infiltrating my mailbox. The sorting and delivery of this bulk-junk takes up a considerable amount of time, including mine. The junk mail problem alone has me flirting with the idea of eliminating my mailbox entirely, for I can pay all my bills, and do all my banking electronically now. Granted, this may cost money initially, but I can dream, can't I?

Granted, there are many problems leading to the current crisis, and I have only touched the tip of the issue. We have to start somewhere.

80% 0f the USPS cost is labor.. FEDERAL-EXPRESS(FED-X) labor cost is 30%.. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE(UPS) labor cost is 40%.. Let USPS DIE, FOLD, GO UNDER.. FED-X and UPS can join-up and start a new POSTAL SERVICE.. Stamps would be about .35 or .40 cents and the mail will be on time.. They could call the new POST-OFFICE.. "FED-UP"... God Bless!

Currently you can get shipping materials for free https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10001&categoryId=10000036&parent_category_rn=10000002&top_category=10000002 which is ludicrous. They need to stop giving away shipping materials and charge for it like everyone else does. Countless times I have known of folks to hoard the materials, and use them for shipping using other carriers, or for personal storage. This needs to stop NOW.

Raise the rates on the bulk mail, even if it requires congressional approval to do so. Bulk mail companies already pay way less than the general public to send their spam direct to your box, and at times they receive hefty discounts as well ( http://www.dmnews.com/usps-provides-more-details-on-summer-sale/article/131151/ ) which should be stopped. The First Class postage we pay subsidizes junk mail. It is high time they pay their own way. The ridiculous threat that bulk mail companies will stop using USPS if rates for them are increased is pure bullshit. Call their bluff, and raise their rates, for they can afford it. Do you really think they will start using FedEx or UPS to deliver their junk? The US mail is a government monopoly they must use, due to the cheapness of it when compared to other options. A friend of mine who works in the sorting of US mail told me that bulk mail has steadily increased every year.

Additionally, the Postal Regulatory Commission believes that bulk mailers do not pay their fair share, and that their rates should be increased roughly 22% overall. An audit found that the current rates bulk mailers pay run afoul of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act http://www.prc.gov/PRC-DOCS/UploadedDocuments/ACD%202010_1697.pdf , which is hotly contested by the lobbyists in the bulk mail industry. The current Postmaster General caters to the whims of the bulk mail industry, and needs to be gone.

Create a Do Not Mail registry, which works similar to the Do Not Call registry. Currently I have no way to stop all the loose-leaf flyers/advertisements from infiltrating my mailbox. The sorting and delivery of this bulk-junk takes up a considerable amount of time, including mine. The junk mail problem alone has me flirting with the idea of eliminating my mailbox entirely, for I can pay all my bills, and do all my banking electronically now. Granted, this may cost money initially, but I can dream, can't I?

Granted, there are many problems leading to the current crisis, and I have only touched the tip of the issue. We have to start somewhere.

I've read the ruling, kinda prepared to find out that the Ars Technica article had misunderstood or misrepresented something important about the situation, but it doesn't.

Actually, it pretty much says "Netflix made business decisions that made it unsuitable for the carefully negotiated deal Blockbuster and Netflix got, didn't want to prepay the way they did, used heavier mailers, and in general was unwilling to make the USPS job easier like the other companies. The situations are not even remotely comparable. So obviously the USPS should completely alter their system so Gamefly gets the same deal Netflix and Blockbuster worked their ass off to get."

It get there by, as near as I can read it, simply overruling every objection by the postal service and happily ceding every objection Gamefly makes. USPS introduced signed dated letters showing they made these offers to Gamefly, the commission ignored them. Gamefly introduced unsubstantiated evidence, the USPS objected, the commission asked if the USPS could prove they were forged?

The whole thing reads like that. I can only assume the Gamefly attorney is damn sexy or something.

Pug

You mean that same USPS that is going to have a $7 BILLION deficit this year?

Don't you find the following facts to be a little odd when taken in combination:

• The infrastructure and business of the USPS is lusted over by "private investors" who see huge potential returns if they immediately cancel all of those pension and benefit plans after purchase
• The USPS is a quasi-governmental organization whose board has nine governors appointed by the President with Senate consent
• The Republicans gained control of the Congress and the Presidency - and that President believed in privatizing everything
• Under that regime, the USPS suddenly created and sold billions and billions of "Forever" stamps that locked out the ability to adjust income to account for rising costs...and then the cost of energy/cost of shipping took off like a rocket under the twin pressures of oil speculation and artificially-created oil scarcity
• The USPS' debt load soars to $7 billion, again primarily under the regime that claimed "Government should be run like a business!", making the thought of their sale more attractive when considered against the backdrop of war and other debt that same Republican President and Congress levied upon the taxpayer

I find it odd, indeed...

I think that last bunch in the WH was the most devious bunch the nation has ever had inflicted upon them. I mean, c'mon - under what business model to you fix income forevermore if you are not trying to go belly-up?

Interesting piece of paper at http://www.prc.gov/(S(ajpn4e45pbxy3u55drmkep45))/Docs/64/64174/Answers%20CIR.1.USPS.X.pdf.

Somehow, the USPS can go in debt even as they reduce services in chunks...I'd really like to see their "contractor expenses", and the year to year change in them.

For an answer to that question look to the US Postal Service's largest customers: The US Federal Government and bulk mailers.

Two points:

• Check out this site [prc.gov] and you will see that standard mail (the category that spam falls into comprised only about 23% of the USPS total revenues.
• The biggest single category is still first class mail (i.e., letters home to mom and bills the electric/gas/phone company send you), making up nearly 55% of the USPS revenue in FY2001.

So while 23% is a good chunk of their revenue it certainly does not qualify as most of the revenue. But, junk mail does make up 43% of the mail volume.

yesterday as i went through *35* pieces of junk mail from 3 days i was wondering if the USPS had an opt out from certain mailers form? i doubt it because spam is how they make most of their money.

Two points:

• Check out this site and you will see that standard mail (the category that spam falls into comprised only about 23% of the USPS total revenues.
• The biggest single category is still first class mail (i.e., letters home to mom and bills the electric/gas/phone company send you), making up nearly 55% of the USPS revenue in FY2001.

So while 23% is a good chunk of their revenue it certainly does not qualify as most of the revenue. But, junk mail does make up 43% of the mail volume.

every time you got a piece of spam you had to pay 32 cents for it?

Actually, $0.33, raising to $0.34 early next year.