Was it on purpose? I’m sure politician buddies hate that people still have job they can get a pension with, when instead they could be taking that tax payer money and buying children on islands
They have tried so very hard to defund the constitutionally mandated USPS so many times that they’re forced to take on the extra revenue delivering advertisements.
Forced to take on the extra revenue? There’s been political attacks on USPS but don’t blame junk mail on that. I don’t think USPS even has a choice on the junk mail, as long as it’s legal I don’t think they can refuse the service
They could start with charging junk mail the standard first class (or postcard) price. Then they could add a feature to the Informed Delivery service that let you return pieces to sender before they're even delivered.
This isn't meant as some bare indictment to contribute to the persistent political attacks against them. Rather it shows what could be done with a growth mindset and some resources, if they were perhaps lauded as a public service and directly funded, rather than constantly under attack by societal arsonists.
Given the senseless attacking of Iran (which doesn't seem to be enough in Russia's interest to have prompted it, oil prices notwithstanding), I think it's probably better modeled as countries with Epstein-style kompromat on Trump vs countries without kompromat on Trump. Not even deliberately attacking per se, but rather because Trump is an old man angry at the world and wanting to create some kind of legacy. And the countries that have kompromat are much better protected from his negative-sum "deals".
Of course it's not just Trump but all of the enablers and supporters who have themselves given up on our society, and work overtime to pull comforting signals out of the noise of his incoherent ramblings and actions. The best I can tell, the main draw seems to be something like if our country is going into the dustbin of history, then they're at least going to choose who gets to push it in. (in line with more specific narratives that at least some supporters would own up to, like a religious fundamentalist desire for an apocalyptic holy war)
The text of the Postal Clause in the constitution is just "The Congress shall have the power... To establish Post Offices and post Roads". I don't see how this bars the US congress from being able to privatize the post office - indeed, I don't think it even implies that the US must have a post office at all, just that Congress definitely has the constitutional authority to establish one.
I wrote this in response to a comment concerned about shutting down the USPS before midterm elections, but the comment I was responding to is now dead so I'm posting top-level:
I don't think Biden really undid the America-last saboteurs that Grump installed in his first term, so they've had plenty of time to make themselves at home. The obvious play is to selectively hold back ballots based on the prognostications of the Party's surveillance databases (including voter roll data extorted from states). Presumably even if they're caught, they'll claim federal immunity from state laws about election tampering - the same as they've done in every other instance where they've blatantly attacked states.
So it probably makes sense to show up to the polls in person. If you're worried about possibly facing intimidation from ICE (SS) and the Poor Boys (SA), it makes sense to send in your ballot and then show up in person to the polls anyway to make sure they've got you down as already having voted.
As far as the USPS's problem itself, the obvious answer is to repeal the legislation intended to strangle it with debt, and simply fund it like any other public infrastructure. We don't see articles about highways needing to shutdown because they're unable to take on more debt. Rather we recognize their existence generates diffuse hard-to-account-for value and fund them with public money.
They don't need more money. Mail volume is down 47% since 2000. Employees should be less than half, but its not even close. They keep employing people that are not needed and that don't do the job right. They constantly deliver the wrong mail and it happens all the time.
Trouble is that it takes approximately the same amount of labor for you to send me one letter as it does to send me ten. Mail volume being down 47% doesn't appreciably mean less work.
> ...that don't do the job right.
An understandable outcome when operations is forced to trim fat amid a declining customer base despite requiring approximately just as much work to be done. Meaning that fewer workers have to figure out how to do more, and cutting corners is how that gets done.
In my experience, and I receive packages all the time, I cannot remember a time in which USPS did not deliver a package to me. Only one time can I remember where the package was damaged. The main reason why mail gets sorted wrong sometimes is that because the Republicans have tried to kill off the USPS so many times, it forced the USPS to take on advertising revenue by passing around a bunch of spam mail bundled with real mail.
FedEx's tracking is completely and utterly broken. It's just wrong nearly 100% of the time. FedEx doesn't appear to damage packages much, but the tracking is basically an implementation of Zeno's paradox.
UPS tracking is better than FedEx, but it is very likely to damage your package. I got an Amazon package delivered by UPS today where they had damaged the box so bad it was being completely held up by tape that they had wrapped the box with.
FedEx and UPS are clear examples that the right-wing wanting to kill off USPS because it's "inefficient" is a lie. They want to kill it off because they want FedEx and UPS and other such corporations to make more money and become larger -opolies.
USPS does deliver packages. Before Amazon had their own trucks, they were mostly just USPS. Given the dominance of online shopping, how have they been consistently losing money? Were they subsidizing Amazon?
I find USPS still sometimes delivers Amazon packages, especially their Slow Spiteful Shipping or No Rush shipping (when they've relented and given you "Prime").
There is also UPS Surepost and Fedex Smartpost. AFAIK these are all charged at a lower rate for dropping pre-sorted packages off at the local PO for last-mile delivery. But of course such last-mile delivery is the expensive labor-intensive part.
Was it on purpose? I’m sure politician buddies hate that people still have job they can get a pension with, when instead they could be taking that tax payer money and buying children on islands
Please stop delivering mail on Saturday, heck even three times a week would be plenty.
the postal service’s main job seems to be delivering garbage to my mailbox which gets placed directly into my garbage
i don’t totally see a downside of it not existing
Thank republicans for that.
They have tried so very hard to defund the constitutionally mandated USPS so many times that they’re forced to take on the extra revenue delivering advertisements.
Forced to take on the extra revenue? There’s been political attacks on USPS but don’t blame junk mail on that. I don’t think USPS even has a choice on the junk mail, as long as it’s legal I don’t think they can refuse the service
They could start with charging junk mail the standard first class (or postcard) price. Then they could add a feature to the Informed Delivery service that let you return pieces to sender before they're even delivered.
This isn't meant as some bare indictment to contribute to the persistent political attacks against them. Rather it shows what could be done with a growth mindset and some resources, if they were perhaps lauded as a public service and directly funded, rather than constantly under attack by societal arsonists.
wild watching a republic getting dismembered in front of your eyes without a shot fired
putina is scum but this is the greatest intelligence coup in world history (so far)
Given the senseless attacking of Iran (which doesn't seem to be enough in Russia's interest to have prompted it, oil prices notwithstanding), I think it's probably better modeled as countries with Epstein-style kompromat on Trump vs countries without kompromat on Trump. Not even deliberately attacking per se, but rather because Trump is an old man angry at the world and wanting to create some kind of legacy. And the countries that have kompromat are much better protected from his negative-sum "deals".
Of course it's not just Trump but all of the enablers and supporters who have themselves given up on our society, and work overtime to pull comforting signals out of the noise of his incoherent ramblings and actions. The best I can tell, the main draw seems to be something like if our country is going into the dustbin of history, then they're at least going to choose who gets to push it in. (in line with more specific narratives that at least some supporters would own up to, like a religious fundamentalist desire for an apocalyptic holy war)
The GOP has wanted to privatize the Post Office for decades despite it being mandated by the constitution.
The text of the Postal Clause in the constitution is just "The Congress shall have the power... To establish Post Offices and post Roads". I don't see how this bars the US congress from being able to privatize the post office - indeed, I don't think it even implies that the US must have a post office at all, just that Congress definitely has the constitutional authority to establish one.
I wrote this in response to a comment concerned about shutting down the USPS before midterm elections, but the comment I was responding to is now dead so I'm posting top-level:
I don't think Biden really undid the America-last saboteurs that Grump installed in his first term, so they've had plenty of time to make themselves at home. The obvious play is to selectively hold back ballots based on the prognostications of the Party's surveillance databases (including voter roll data extorted from states). Presumably even if they're caught, they'll claim federal immunity from state laws about election tampering - the same as they've done in every other instance where they've blatantly attacked states.
So it probably makes sense to show up to the polls in person. If you're worried about possibly facing intimidation from ICE (SS) and the Poor Boys (SA), it makes sense to send in your ballot and then show up in person to the polls anyway to make sure they've got you down as already having voted.
As far as the USPS's problem itself, the obvious answer is to repeal the legislation intended to strangle it with debt, and simply fund it like any other public infrastructure. We don't see articles about highways needing to shutdown because they're unable to take on more debt. Rather we recognize their existence generates diffuse hard-to-account-for value and fund them with public money.
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They don't need more money. Mail volume is down 47% since 2000. Employees should be less than half, but its not even close. They keep employing people that are not needed and that don't do the job right. They constantly deliver the wrong mail and it happens all the time.
> Employees should be less than half
Trouble is that it takes approximately the same amount of labor for you to send me one letter as it does to send me ten. Mail volume being down 47% doesn't appreciably mean less work.
> ...that don't do the job right.
An understandable outcome when operations is forced to trim fat amid a declining customer base despite requiring approximately just as much work to be done. Meaning that fewer workers have to figure out how to do more, and cutting corners is how that gets done.
In my experience, and I receive packages all the time, I cannot remember a time in which USPS did not deliver a package to me. Only one time can I remember where the package was damaged. The main reason why mail gets sorted wrong sometimes is that because the Republicans have tried to kill off the USPS so many times, it forced the USPS to take on advertising revenue by passing around a bunch of spam mail bundled with real mail.
FedEx's tracking is completely and utterly broken. It's just wrong nearly 100% of the time. FedEx doesn't appear to damage packages much, but the tracking is basically an implementation of Zeno's paradox.
UPS tracking is better than FedEx, but it is very likely to damage your package. I got an Amazon package delivered by UPS today where they had damaged the box so bad it was being completely held up by tape that they had wrapped the box with.
FedEx and UPS are clear examples that the right-wing wanting to kill off USPS because it's "inefficient" is a lie. They want to kill it off because they want FedEx and UPS and other such corporations to make more money and become larger -opolies.
I send and receive between work and personal probably 1,200-1,500 packages a year.
I’ve stopped using UPS except when I absolutely have to. I would say 10-20% of UPS packages have some delivery issue from damaged to lost.
USPS is sitting at 0 packages lost.
USPS does deliver packages. Before Amazon had their own trucks, they were mostly just USPS. Given the dominance of online shopping, how have they been consistently losing money? Were they subsidizing Amazon?
I find USPS still sometimes delivers Amazon packages, especially their Slow Spiteful Shipping or No Rush shipping (when they've relented and given you "Prime").
There is also UPS Surepost and Fedex Smartpost. AFAIK these are all charged at a lower rate for dropping pre-sorted packages off at the local PO for last-mile delivery. But of course such last-mile delivery is the expensive labor-intensive part.