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PDFs are great for printing, but who prints anymore?

I do. Better yet, I use PDF to print stamps so that I can send my printed PDF to someone else.

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!

I'm not sure where you got the idea that COD doesn't exist. I haven't seen it used since I was a kid - everyone has credit cards now, but it does appear to at least theoretically still exist.

Maybe your local PO doesn't want to deal with it?

http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?create=kb:USPSFAQ&view()=c%5Bc_usps6519%5D&varset(source)=sourceType:embedded

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.

Those materials are supposed to be used for mailing stuff by Priority or Express. They probably do it to encourage people to use those particular sizes instead of using their own boxes, because they're probably able to make things more efficient somehow by standardizing the boxes. Why else would they offer flat-rate shipping with those Priority Mail boxes (you can stuff a chunk of lead in there and it costs the same)?

This wouldn't help with people using them for personal storage, but they could simply pass a law banning other carriers from accepting those boxes.

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.

From everything I've read, it's the other way around. Junk mail subsidizes your first class mail. Junk mail is cheaper because it's so automated, whereas FC requires more human contact. The junk mail senders even pre-sort the junk mail for the USPS by carrier and route. Do you do that with your first class letters? Didn't think so.

The current Postmaster General caters to the whims of the bulk mail industry,

That's probably because, unfortunately, the USPS would not survive without junk mail, as there simply isn't enough volume aside from that to sustain them, at least without downsizing, which Congress won't allow.

Create a Do Not Mail registry, which works similar to the Do Not Call registry.

This would take away the USPS's main revenue stream, and cause them to collapse.

The sorting and delivery of this bulk-junk takes up a considerable amount of time, including mine.

That's the price of having your firstclass mail subsidized, and having a Congress that won't allow the USPS to manage themselves properly. If you really want to do something, start writing your Congresscritter. It's the Peoples' responsibility to hold government accountable.

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.

Ummm... mail is not free for non-profits and religions. http://pe.usps.com/businessmail101/rates/nonprofit.htm

Let's dissect this:
I haven't seen any news about a sudden hike in the cost of mail in the U.S. Yes, it's gone up over the last 20 years, but not since Netflix's last price increase about 7 months ago.

You haven't seen, or you haven't looked?

Netflix is the postal service's life support. Without Netflix, the USPS isn't financially viable because so much written communication now takes place online, so the USPS is going to do whatever it takes to ensure Netflix doesn't send fewer DVDs through the mail.

Pure conjecture.

I consider this part of the argument debunked -- the cost of mailing DVDs did not force this price increase.

Congratulations, you can pat yourself on the back AND be wrong at the same time. You should run for office!

Netflix has progressively tried to steer customers away from the mail service, presumably because they don't have to maintain distribution centers around the country to stream videos, and they're worried someone else will beat them to the on-demand streaming party first.

This has no merit unless the first half of your argument was true. Oops!

They want to own that party before the space gets crowded, and the easiest way for them to do that is to "convert" their huge base of snail mail customers to streaming. They started out by bundling it for free with your subscription, then offering it by itself, then disabling the ability to manage your DVD queue through the Netflix mobile apps...

The problem is that their streaming library is a fraction of the size of their DVD library. To fill in the gaps, they have to go back to the content owners and negotiate fees, and the content owners smell an opportunity to make a lot of money. Rather than use its size to convince the content owners that receiving a reasonable licensing fee for the content is better than receiving nothing at all and being left out, Netflix has decided it wants the content even if it has to overpay for it... Because it will just pass on the cost of its decision to the users. I'm sure someone at some high level meeting said, "wait, what if our customers realize this and flee?" and that's why they're providing the option to opt out of streaming altogether now. The customers who don't want to pay the increase can just opt out of streaming. The customers who are willing to pay the price for streaming will pad the pockets of the content owners.

You must have insider information to make all these statements. You know how much Netflix pays for each license? You know how much they *should* pay?

You also presume that Netflix has the size to stand up to the content managers. Without content, Netflix is nothing. Without Netflix, content managers will take their money from Amazon, Blockbuster, and the Cable Companies. You really think Netflix can just say no and "big content" will come whimpering back at a low price? If Netflix started dropping streaming content stating "we are sticking up for the customers", how long do you really think people would stick around for?

They've been talking about it for the last couple years... I haven't seen much press on it lately, but a bill was introduced to reduce delivery to 5 days.

‘(h) Nothing in this title or any other provision of law shall be considered to prevent the Postal Service from taking whatever actions may be necessary to provide for 5-day delivery of mail and a commensurate adjustment in rural delivery of mail, subject to the requirements of section 3661.’.

Excerpt from the bill (Title I, Subtitle B, section 111(h))
Read this as "allows USPS to move to 5-day delivery" not "mandates USPS to move to 5-day delivery"

- Washington Post article
- from the horse's mouth
- the bill....112th Congress H.R. 2309 (Postal Reform Act of 2011) sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa [R-CA]
- Press release on Rep. Issa's page with a decent summary

Yep, not like this has been done before:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/820758.stm

Shocking, just shocking. Next thing we'll hear that there is no Santa Clause and all those letters are answered by the USPS!
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2009/holiday/santa.htm

Lithium batteries are mailable, DMM 349.221 and 222.

Your high opinion of the USPS is actually shared by a lot of people. According to a 2006 report, customers reporting a 93% approval rating. Now, granted, that was internally produced, but that's a pretty darn good rating.

But they're doing 45 billion in business a year... 1 billion of that is under 3% markup. I don't think I'd call that "overpriced"?

Actually, they're loosing 4 to 8 Billion per year, so if you look at their $67B in revenue form 2010, then $8B in losses amounts to 12% operating loss. That kind of performance put GM into bankruptcy in less than 2 years. The post office hasn't turned a profit since congress semi-privatized it in 2006, and cut off its lifeline to the US budget.

The post office operated as a bureaucracy for so long, that the management there is incapable of surviving any real competition. Even in a market, where their monopoly is protected by law, the post office can't compete. That is a really good working definition of incompetent.

-=Geoskd

Yeah, the billion dollar profits over each of the last 5 years shows they've clearly overpriced themselves in the market, and won't survive long.

Personally, I think the fact you can get letters delivered up to 5,000 miles away for less than $.50 is pretty amazing, but if you want to think that's overpriced and they're screwing you, go right ahead.

For all of those out there who don't understand the post offices financial situation, They are regularly and routinely funded by congress to make up significant shortfalls in their operations. You can look at the USPS annual report for more information. Specifically, Page 86 where you can see that the USPS has had four solid years of 9 digit losses, and that the USPS currently owes the US treasury over 13 Billion in interest free loans. That is *after* the US congress voted in 2009 to forgive $4B in USPS debt to help fund their pension costs.

If that doesn't amount to the US tax payers subsidizing a failed business model, I don't know what does.

-=Geoskd

Not really. The PAEA (‘Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act‘) forced the USPS to pay 5.7 billion a year and not hold a surplus. They also make payments based on 800K employees as opposed to the actually umber of employees, 400,000.

So basically congress screwed the USPS over in 2006. It was a step towards privatization of the service. Another small step from people who don't know history.

http://www.usps.com/postallaw/_html/PostalAccountabilityAndEnhancementAct.htm

and how much does this piss you off:
Dec 8, 2006: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by voice vote. A record of each representative’s position was not kept.
Dec 9, 2006: This bill passed in the Senate by Unanimous Consent. A record of each senator’s position was not kept.

seriously, not kept?

Considering how much mail I get at my house belonging to previous tenants I don't think you can assume that all (or even most) people have their mail forwarded. Also, how much junk mail have you gotten with "Address Service Requested" on it? I don't think I have ever seen that, as there is a charge. See here.

And in the US we have the Forever Stamp.

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that you and the people modding you up having never worked in the magazine publishing business. It's been years since I've been professionally involved, but I'm sure per-copy printing costs still far exceed mailing costs. USPS periodical rates are $.131 to $.701 per pound, and labeling costs aren't going to add much more. But you can bet that a pound of standard magazines (with color on the covers and at least some of the guts) costs far more than that to print, especially thick, image-heavy ones like National Geographic, Playboy, anything in the fashion/home/architecture fields, etc.

Note that Form 1500 is still applicable, no matter what. (Also note that, while the form refers to offensive sexually oriented advertising, the law says that the definition of what is offensive is at the sole disecretion of the recipient, and the courts have ruled that the law means what it says. IIRC, the ruling said explicitly that if the homeowner found a dry goods catalog offensive, then for purposes of that law, it was offensive, and that was that.)

Create a (federal) government run site to manage sales-tax related data, and offer an API that can easily integrate with all major services. The coding required for individual vendors would be minimal - when the user clicks the "checkout" button, create a connection to the API requesting the most recent applicable tax rates for the customers address, and apply them to the total. Even a script kiddie could slap together the required code in about 5 minutes. Larger sites could store a local cache of the entire tax database to minimize latency and unneccessary overhead, while smaller vendors would use the simpler approach. For even easier integration, paypal and similar payment-sites could compute the taxes automatically if the vendor requests it.

I'm not saying that this is neccessarily the ideal solution, but it's certainly not an insurmountable problem.

Yeah that sounds like a good idea because everything else That the federal government has become involved in works so well.

This business solution is a service better provided by the private sector. If that isn't obvious to you, then you don't have a good grasp of history or government.

-=Geoskd

http://www.usps.com/postallaw/_pdf/USPSUSOReport.pdf#search='pes%20mailbox%20access%20rule%20comprise'

Page 2, Executive Summary:

"To ensure funding of the SO, Congress and the President established the Private Express Statutes (PES) and the mailbox access rule, which together comprise the postal monopoly"

The PES defines requirements 3rd party carriers must abide by to deliver a letter. The mailbox access rule is further defined on:

http://www.usps.com/receive/mailboxstandards.htm

"Our regulations cover what can and can’t be placed in a curbside mailbox or mailbox outside of your house, which generally includes only mail that has been sent through the USPS. However, our regulations don’t govern what can be placed in a mail slot on your door."

http://www.usps.com/postallaw/_pdf/USPSUSOReport.pdf#search='pes%20mailbox%20access%20rule%20comprise'

Page 2, Executive Summary:

"To ensure funding of the SO, Congress and the President established the Private Express Statutes (PES) and the mailbox access rule, which together comprise the postal monopoly"

The PES defines requirements 3rd party carriers must abide by to deliver a letter. The mailbox access rule is further defined on:

http://www.usps.com/receive/mailboxstandards.htm

"Our regulations cover what can and can’t be placed in a curbside mailbox or mailbox outside of your house, which generally includes only mail that has been sent through the USPS. However, our regulations don’t govern what can be placed in a mail slot on your door."

A couple of things: First, it's not your tax dollars, the USPS is not a full government agency, it's quasi-government. It's basically a private company that's wholly owned by the government, but receives no funding whatsoever and has to be self-sustaining.

Serious question: What's this? A lot of people say the USPS is totally self-funded but then why do they request funding from Congress every year? Is that considered a separate organization within the USPS or something?

It's good for bulk mail, and also for small packages, now that people are ordering more and more stuff online.

I think they should start accepting larger packages, if anything. They're becoming increasingly irrelevant, and they can't seem to compete on price for anything but letters (which I never send).

It's also the U.S. Postal Service abbreviation for California. But you already knew that.

Ah, sorry, I assumed you were in the US where it is universally possible to forward email FOR 6 months, from any address, and is legal so long as you aren't committing fraud (you are legitimately trying to forward your own mail, and not to steal that belonging to someone else).

Our USPS even maintains a convenient website to do it online. Mail service is really one place where the US excels!

https://moversguide.usps.com/icoa/flow.do?_flowExecutionKey=_c11DEE43C-6C68-755E-A47C-9A6E2C257FEB_k6593D190-6E19-1AD2-3B9F-E5C75C1AAD7C

How about postal services choosing not to allow people to post certain items?

Ummmmmm....I'm feeling kind of bad about breaking it to you, but they already do that.

http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c5_007.htm

US Postal Service - Great Domestic & International Service for Me

For selling all my stuff on eBay and shipping sold items to Europe I've been using USPS for the last few years since they offered their online service and I've never had a problem. I must have shipped around 100-packages of weights between 1-40 lbs to many states and also to Brazil, UK, Hungary, Germany, Romania, and other countries without any issues or damaged parts. Their tracking is a bit slow, maybe a day behind the actual package, but it is good enough for me. Their shipping rates undermine UPS and FedEx every single time, sometimes by 50-100% of the rate. I package my stuff very well reusing the packaging materials from Newegg and Amazon packages that I use, including peanuts, air padded bags, the little and big plastic bubble wrap, and even newspapers. I usually use Priority but I've used Express occasionally when required. I'm happy with their service and the folks who bought my various eBay things were all happy with the shipping prices and delivery times. The online label printing and filling out of the customs forms makes my shipping very easy and my interaction at the post office is very short when I just hand the people the packages at the counter after I tell them it's already pre-paid. Sometimes I get the skip the waiting line. I've requested refunds from USPS for the shipping labels on packages that couldn't make the weight or size restrictions for international packages and I've always received the refund on my postage after about a 7-day waiting period. So I highly recommend them.

US Postal Service - Print Shipping Labels

UPS Story #1 - Dropped Server & Refused Insurance Coverage
My one single shipping story with UPS was when I sold a 80 lb Compaq ProLiant 5500 Dual Pentium Pro server to a buyer in California. He received it damaged after it was dropped on it's corner so hard that the entire frame of the server was scewed and many of the parts inside were cracked or popped and broke out of their sockets. The server was DOA. UPS inspected the server and the package at his location and determined that the package was improperly packed and the refused the insurance coverage on it. I went back to the professional shipping center which packaged the server and they apologized to me, told me that UPS has screwed them before like that by refusing insurance coverage, and they refunded my shipping costs and the cost of the old server from the eBay sale. I refunded all the money back to the buyer. That's my personal story with UPS.

UPS Story #2 - Friends Working As UPS Inspectors And Their Anecdotes

My friend was hired by a third-party company to inspect UPS packages for size and weight mislabeling and then charging the shippers additional costs. He worked their for a year or more and told me the stories that took place on the unloading floor. When the conveyors would jam up or stop working the packages would be pushed as hard as possible and kicked through the bottlenecks. Some conveyors ran high and some low to meet up and a bunch of packages would fall off the high conveyors from a good 10-foot height just to be thrown back onto the low conveyors. If any package on the floor broke open it would be looked through for valuable goods and ransacked. Around the holiday seasons when the package volume would increase and a lot of temporary workers were hired any packages from known popular company brands like Oakley or Rayban sunglasses would be routinely opened and ransacked, any electronic packages were also likely to be opened. The metal detectors used for employee entrance and exists for the shippers would be easily bypassed by a reach-around to friends, or by stashing the stuff and hiding it just to pick it up later or have one of the regular works with a truck pick them up. When heavy boxes with ammunition were dropped on the floor and bullets would spill out they would just tape them up and ship them off,

USPS contracts priority, express, and even some first class mail to Fedex. Sending something priority more than a couple hundred miles? It's flying a Fedex cargo plane to get across the country (express mail too). Also, DHL is mostly dead in the US.

http://www.usps.com/news/2001/press/pr01_alliance0110.htm

So, Fedex and UPS, with the USPS picking up the last mile for first class mail.

There is no "street name" field. There is "address line #1" and "address line #2". Some input systems include a 3rd "unit #" field, and those that do append it to the first address line. The only time the unit # appears in "address line #2" is if you enter it into the "address line #2" field instead of entering it into the "unit #" or "address line #1" field.

Again, the USPS treats it as a unique field so that they can process it correctly: by appending it to the first address line. If it is too long, the USPS still places the unit # on the first address line, and places the rest (street # and name) on the line immediately preceding the "city state zip" line.

Postal addressing standards

Also your apartment number/letter (or suite or such) is NOT part of the street name

Except for when the USPS (United States Postal Service) address database includes your apt # on the address line. Then when you try to validate an address with the APT # on a different line or section, it gives you the standard format as "123 FAKE ST APT 1".

I'm glad you were good enough to mention the artists, since it seems they never get the recognition they deserve. Some of the artwork they produced for Atari is exceptional. Unfortunately, much of this work has disappeared, either thrown away or stolen by people at Atari. Among the creators of the "Atari look":

Cliff Spohn is a talented and sought after portraitist of real people, sports figures in particular.
http://www.artworkoriginals.com/JAAAAAOU.htm

Steve Hendricks also usually focused on portraiture and has created some of the most evocative and distinctive work to come out of Atari.
http://www.sundancecreative.com/

Rick Guidice often worked with NASA doing space illustration.
http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/view/search?q=Guidice&search=Search
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Rick_Guidice
http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/advart.html

James Kelly is not just an artist, he was one of Atari's art directors for many years.
http://www.orangecountyfineart.com/kelly.htm
http://www.slideshare.net/aditaciobanu/james-kelly-painting-nx-power-lite-presentation

Bob Flemate is someone I unfortunately haven't found much information on. He worked on Atari arcade cabinets and created the marvelous Atari 400/800 Space Invaders cover art.
http://thenewgamer.com/content/archives/gamephemera_space_invaders_atari_400_800

George Opperman was one of Atari's first artists and art director, and is notable for designing the original, iconic, and difficult to reproduce Atari "fuji" logo. The logo is meant to resemble the letter "A" and represents two players facing each other with the Pong "net" between them.
http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=person&name=George+Opperman
http://www.cooganphoto.com/gravitar/cabinets.html

Hiro Kimura has had the honor of creating three US postage stamps.
https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10052&productId=10001795&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=&parent_category_rn=10000003&categoryId=10000028&top_category=10000003
http://www.virtualstampclub.com/images/flagcity.jpg
http://www.virtualstampclub.com/images/99chalk.jpg

Warren Chang was a staff artist at Atari for two years, starting in 1981. His beautiful work can be described as classical realism and has garnered several awards.
http://warrenchang.com/

By the say USPS, I started to pay my bills electronically, even though I was leery of it, because keeping the fucking stamps current was so much of a hassle that I didn't want to deal with it anymore.

I find it very unlikely that you can't get these at your local Post Office.

You trying to be funny?

Fine.

Private Express Statutes

Understanding the Private Express Statutes

>the artificial monopoly congress created for the USPS making it so they are the only ones that can deliver first-class mail

The post office doesn't actually have such a monopoly. The post office is the only company that can deliver to your mailbox, but you are free to put up a mailbox outside your house for UPS, FedEx, or any other service you want. Other companies can deliver as much mail as they want, they just can't use the USPS mail boxes. Other companies are also free to deliver any amount of mail or packages to your door in any way they want, any time they want.

It's actually pretty easy to search the US Post Office website. Let's see the first hit for "monopoly" here: http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_106.htm

Obligations of the USO include uniform prices, quality of service, access to services, and six-day delivery to every part of the country. To assure financial support for these obligations, the postal monopoly provides the Postal Service the exclusive right to deliver letters and restricts mailbox access solely for mail. Therefore, the USO and postal monopoly are inextricably linked. The report supports that eliminating or reducing either aspect of the monopoly "would have a devastating impact on the ability ... to provide the affordable universal service that the country values so highly." Relaxing access to the mailbox would also pose security concerns, increase delivery costs, and hurt customer service.

Wait -- fluke! Two years old! Let's check another one (darn, a PDF): http://www.usps.com/postallaw/_pdf/UniversalServiceandPostalMonopolyHistory.pdf

Protecting postal revenue: the origins of the Private Express Statutes
The group of federal laws known collectively as the Private Express Statutes gives the United States Postal Service a monopoly over the carriage of letter-mail. This monopoly predates the United States Postal Service - it predates even the United States. It was carried over from the colonial postal system, established in North America by the British before the American Revolution. But whereas the British Crown Post hoped to profit by its mail monopoly and return its profit to Great Britain, the Founding Fathers hoped to protect postal revenues to fund and expand the mail system, which they deemed as essential to nationhood.

But wait, there is an exception!

In 1979, under pressure from mailers, competitors, and some members of Congress, the Postal Service suspended the prohibition of private delivery of extremely urgent letters. Letters were considered to be extremely urgent if they met strict delivery standards or if their postage cost the greater of either twice the United States Post Office going First-Class or "priority mail" rate or at least three dollars.67 The regulations were also amended to clarify the terms "letter," "packet," "person," and "identical printed letters."

In 1980, the regulations were amended as follows:
--by removing certain restrictions from the existing exemption for matter shipped by a printer to a person using such matter as his letters;
--by further defining "letter," "book" or "catalog" under the existing exemptions, as well as providing an exemption for advertisements accompanying addressed material or periodicals; and,
--by allowing private carriage of letters with prepaid postage other than by means previously established, provided that these alternative means were specified in a written agreement with the Postal Service.

The last major change came on September 19, 1986, when, at the urging of American businesses and at the direct request of President Ronald Reagan, the Postal Service exempted international remailing from the postal monopoly. The new rule allowed "the uninterrupted carriage of letters from a point with

>the artificial monopoly congress created for the USPS making it so they are the only ones that can deliver first-class mail

The post office doesn't actually have such a monopoly. The post office is the only company that can deliver to your mailbox, but you are free to put up a mailbox outside your house for UPS, FedEx, or any other service you want. Other companies can deliver as much mail as they want, they just can't use the USPS mail boxes. Other companies are also free to deliver any amount of mail or packages to your door in any way they want, any time they want.

It's actually pretty easy to search the US Post Office website. Let's see the first hit for "monopoly" here: http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008/pr08_106.htm

Obligations of the USO include uniform prices, quality of service, access to services, and six-day delivery to every part of the country. To assure financial support for these obligations, the postal monopoly provides the Postal Service the exclusive right to deliver letters and restricts mailbox access solely for mail. Therefore, the USO and postal monopoly are inextricably linked. The report supports that eliminating or reducing either aspect of the monopoly "would have a devastating impact on the ability ... to provide the affordable universal service that the country values so highly." Relaxing access to the mailbox would also pose security concerns, increase delivery costs, and hurt customer service.

Wait -- fluke! Two years old! Let's check another one (darn, a PDF): http://www.usps.com/postallaw/_pdf/UniversalServiceandPostalMonopolyHistory.pdf

Protecting postal revenue: the origins of the Private Express Statutes
The group of federal laws known collectively as the Private Express Statutes gives the United States Postal Service a monopoly over the carriage of letter-mail. This monopoly predates the United States Postal Service - it predates even the United States. It was carried over from the colonial postal system, established in North America by the British before the American Revolution. But whereas the British Crown Post hoped to profit by its mail monopoly and return its profit to Great Britain, the Founding Fathers hoped to protect postal revenues to fund and expand the mail system, which they deemed as essential to nationhood.

But wait, there is an exception!

In 1979, under pressure from mailers, competitors, and some members of Congress, the Postal Service suspended the prohibition of private delivery of extremely urgent letters. Letters were considered to be extremely urgent if they met strict delivery standards or if their postage cost the greater of either twice the United States Post Office going First-Class or "priority mail" rate or at least three dollars.67 The regulations were also amended to clarify the terms "letter," "packet," "person," and "identical printed letters."

In 1980, the regulations were amended as follows:
--by removing certain restrictions from the existing exemption for matter shipped by a printer to a person using such matter as his letters;
--by further defining "letter," "book" or "catalog" under the existing exemptions, as well as providing an exemption for advertisements accompanying addressed material or periodicals; and,
--by allowing private carriage of letters with prepaid postage other than by means previously established, provided that these alternative means were specified in a written agreement with the Postal Service.

The last major change came on September 19, 1986, when, at the urging of American businesses and at the direct request of President Ronald Reagan, the Postal Service exempted international remailing from the postal monopoly. The new rule allowed "the uninterrupted carriage of letters from a point with

Alot of people like to conveniently forget that prior to the economic collapse of the world's economy the USPS was not only sulf-sufficient but kept prices crazy low without taking tax payer dollars. http://www.nalc.org/postal/perform/selfsufficient.html#selfsufficient http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/postalfacts.htm

http://www.google.com/search?q=usps+tax+dollars

http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/postalfacts.htm

The United States Post Office is self-sufficient

The National Association of Letter Carriers union wouldn't be biased, would they?

Note that the numbers they give for the self-sufficiency claim is the total revenue and expenses from 1972 through 2007. So yeah, they approximately break even if you total everything over the past thirty-five years. But this doesn't really tell us anything about how the system has been operating recently, and how the system is likely to operate in the future.

For comparison, here (PDF) is the USPS's financial statement for 2009. Note that in the last quarter, they lost about $2.4 billion on $16 billion in revenue. Over three quarters, they lost about $4.6 billion on about $52 billion in revenue.

Any private company that posted such huge losses would try to restructure, renegotiate contracts, lay off workers, etc. to stop the money from hemorrhaging. But if you think GM had problems negotiating with the UAW, you should know that the federal union contracts are even more worker-friendly. So yes, of course the NALC wants you to believe the USPS is healthy. But the Government Accountability Office disagrees--they consider it "high-risk".

In case you think I'm just spouting conservative/libertarian propaganda, here's an article from that bastion of right-wing thought, the New York Times.

Uh, let's revisit that idea. From the section titled "The Postal Service is self-sufficient" -- there are two columns. One is for 1942-1971 and one is for 1972-2007. Several things wrong. The most grievous is that the numbers have convenient grouped 35 years of operating costs and revenue together. The second is that your stats still show a net loss of $600 million dollars for those 35 years.

But, addressing the more important point, the decline of demand for mail delivery services has happened in the age of the internet. Let's break those out by year instead of grouping them together in a three decade chunk. And instead of citing a website from the National Association of Letter Carriers, let's use the actual financial report from the USPS.

Financial Highlights -- FY2009

Observe net loss.

Not paid for by tax dollars sure, but it's hard to say self sufficient when they're losing money hand over fist.

Actually they are one of the most innovative organizations, and the other delivery services adopt what the USPS does to a lesser degree.

See this PDF: Postal Electric Vehicles

In December 1899, a letter carrier tested a Winton electric automobile for mail collection in Cleveland, Ohio. He collected mail from 126 boxes along a 22-mile route in two hours and 26 minutes, during a snowstorm. With a horse and wagon, it usually took six hours.

In 1901 gas were more useful.

In 1911, they used electric in New York.

As parcel post began and packages were heavier, more electric vehicles were needed.

However by 1917 nearly all commercial vehicles made in the US were gasoline powered.

I'm guessing you don't remember the 1960s, when they had some electric "mailsters".

Then again in the early 1970s, the Cupertino post office switched their entire fleet to electric until 1983.

I'll leave it to you to read the rest, as there's been a bunch of testing since then too, your preposterous criticism notwithstanding.

However, getting back to the topic at large, eliminating Saturday delivery reduces their relevance, as a primary reason to choose them for delivery IS Saturday. If they get rid of that advantage, the only reason to use them is reliability, and they'll lose even more business to competitors.

Except technically, your statement doesn't seem to be quite accurate?

I remember going to my local post office and trying to mail out small packages via "1st. class" instead of "Priority Mail", and depending on the size, both options were indeed offered to me (with 1st. class being slightly cheaper), as well as having the even cheaper "parcel post" rate (SLOW).

I agree that they've done a lot to blur the lines between the services (larger boxes don't really have a "First Class" option anymore, because they claim it wouldn't be any cheaper than Priority anyway).

But they do maintain both options as separate entities:

http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/senditwithintheus/firstclassmail.htm?from=home_mailandshipping&page=firstclassmail

Address Service Requested.

* Months 1 - 12: the mailpiece is forwarded; no charge; a separate notice of the new address is provided; an address correction fee is charged.
* Months 13 - 18: the mailpiece is returned with the new address attached; no charge.
* After month 18 or if undeliverable: the mailpiece is returned with reason for nondelivery attached; no charge.

Change Service Requested. Separate notice of new address or reason for nondelivery provided; in either case, address-correction fee is charged; mailpiece is not forwarded or returned but disposed of by the Postal Service. This endorsement option is available for First-Class Mail only when used in conjunction with electronic ACS(TM) Service.

it is important that anyone who is trying to avoid being found by private entities either not file a COA or do so to a PO box or other alternate mailing address. in particular if you are hiding from criminals / stalker/ abusive spouse

Not quite. Zip+4 narrows it down to no more than 100 possibilities, but you need to know the delivery point to get the exact address. The USPS represents every single deliverable address in the country with an eleven digit number. Five digits of zip code, four digits of +4 extension and two digits of delivery point. You can find your delivery point code by using the USPS zip code finder and clicking on "mailing industry information".

There are a few exceptions to this rule of course. Most PO boxes have a unique zip+4 code, so the delivery point is redundant for them.

So what you're saying is you are so bound up in your ideology you're incapable of reading what's actually there, and instead leap to an interpretation that reinforces your ideology.

If that were true, then you'd have a point. And here are more unsupported assertions.

Because the government does some things extremely well. I know that's a shock and against St. Reagan's decrees, but there's lots of history around the world of certain services being privatized and the quality of that service plummeting.

Argentina's water system is an example: when the government ran it, water was much cheaper, it had fewer contaminants, and the water system was more reliable. Once it was privatized, the price shot up, water quality went down and they skimped on maintenance resulting in more disruptions.

While your ideology demands that government-run utilities aren't run well, the reality is they are run extremely well.

The problem with the Argentina assertion is that government was extremely poorly run. They were going bankrupt. The quality of the water supply would have gone downhill anyway. Now maybe the government does run some things better than the private world would. National defense, for example, seems to be one of those things. A water supply does not.

All those companies can't legally compete with USPS's core business

[citation needed]

Wikipedia describes it here.

As to government funding of the postal service, there's a few examples (grabbed via Google) from recent years (here, here, and here). These show both federal funding of the USPS and the presence of remarkably large deficits in the USPS budget.

So, Citibank, BofA, GM, Chrysler, Goldman-Sachs, and JP Morgan are all government entities, then? Or in your mind is it only the monopoly that makes it a government entity, which would mean Verizon, Time Warner and my local power company are all government-run.

What do you think? I think any entity that can privatize profit and socialize risk, such as these organizations apparently can, blurs the boundaries between private world and government. Some other examples are the real estate companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which had a government commitment to honor their obligations.

I don't think your other examples have much merit. Verizon and Time Warner may have monopolies on their means of providing service (land lines, cable TV), but they don't have monopolies on the service (phones, those TV channels, internet, etc). A number of US locations have competitive power providers and hence are not monopolies. There are almost trivial monopolies associated with intellectual property, particularly copyright and trademarks. I wouldn't call Disney a government entity merely because they own the trademarks and copyrights associated with Mickey Mouse and his cartoons.

Most such organizations I would not consider proper government entities because they are privately owned and intended to be run for profit or other privately determined goals. The USPS fails those two tests since it is neither run for a privately determined purpose (the government selects the people who run it) and publicly owned (as far as I can tell, the US government owns completely the assets of the USPS).

I wonder how USPS CDs are packaged and how many are delivered intact compared to the others.

This is why (at least in the states), I always use an actual cardboard box, of at least 5cm thickness, lined with large cell bubble wrap. By listing the contents as "Media", a special shipping rate is given. ("Media" covers anything from printed books and photographs such as posters and what-not, to audio and video recordings. Digital data devices can also qualify as 'Media'. "Media" type packages usually ship FAR cheaper for their weight than traditional packages. USPS on Media Mail)

By using the "Large" box, the package gets sorted manually instead of through the envelope sorting machine. This can be further enhanced by stamping the box "Do not bend or fold."

Granted, this doesn't look nearly as "Sexy" as a thin, cardboard sleeve does when it arrives in the mail, but the disc is much more likely to arrive in a use-able condition.

(I have sent a disk from the Midwestern US *TO* Australia this way, and had it arrive safely.)

The USPS is in debt up to its eyeballs because electronic documents are causing a drop in volume. FedEx and USPS have adjusted their rates , fleets and staffing to accommodate this drop.

Additionally, one of the main USPS's main source of debt is that it has to prepay its health benefits premiums, something no other public or private entity does:
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/testimony/2009/pr09_pmg0128.htm

Searching Google for "usps prepay health benefits" turns up plenty of hits as well. That story doesn't resonate as much with the reading public as much as the stories of how "the internet is changing everything", though.

Your information is old... The USPS has been losing billions over the last three years, and the loss is only projected to grow:

http://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/annual_report_2009.pdf

The About.com article you link to refrences 2006 as though that was the future, and is giving a five year average profit. (Couldn't find an actual date for when the article was first published.)