USPS loses $2 billion this spring...

[JL 0513]

It is a shame that the vast majority of mail is junk mail that gets immediately thrown away. Look at all those wasted resources just for the hope that someone actually buys something advertised in that junk.

 

[aiian]

Just imagine if the poor posties had to deliver those Restoration Hardware catalogs.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Just imagine if the poor posties had to deliver those Restoration Hardware catalogs.

3 billion in losses? :O

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

It is a shame that the vast majority of mail is junk mail that gets immediately thrown away. Look at all those wasted resources just for the hope that someone actually buys something advertised in that junk.

I feel bad when I dump my mail in the recycling bin while the carrier is still standing there.

 

[BigBeef42]

All my important stuff is done paperless.

All my junkmail arrives via USPS. If they got rid of junkmail they would work 1day a week and save a buttload of dollar bills

Less Runnin, More Stunnin

 

[JL 0513]

All my important stuff is done paperless.

All my junkmail arrives via USPS. If they got rid of junkmail they would work 1day a week and save a buttload of dollar bills

Less Runnin, More Stunnin

No junk mail = No USPS.

For the most part, the only people still mailing bill payments are the elderly. All bills can be received and paid electronically. Once the current elderly generation is gone, postal deliveries will be almost entirely junk besides their parcels.

 

[purplesky]

Supposedly Junk mail is actually pretty effective now. People don't read email anymore but people do look at coupon offers from stores like Lowes and best buy and great clips and att and cable companies. etc. that are in their mailbox. They target demographics very well in certain neighborhoods.

Effective TV advertising is way down because people watch Amazon prime and netflix and use media that is hard to advertise on.

Why do you think there is still so much junk mail? Because it works.

Obviously Junk mail won't save the post office, but its kind of ironic that email helped killed the post office and now people just don't use email like they use too.

If I get a catalogue from guitar center I will look through it. If I get a email from guitar center I just delete it and never look at it. Same with REI and stores like Best Buy and Costco.

 

[cooperjake]

Where are you from that you speak of villages ?

Sent using BrownCafe App

 

[aiian]

I check my mail once a week... on recycling day.

 

[The Other Side]

The Post Office will "right the ship" in about two years, in 2016, when the ridiculous pre-funding of their pension for the next 70 years that Congress is making them do will finally end. Then they'll go back to the billion-plus in profit that they were prior to the order.

{Personal attack edited out by a mod}

The projections alone for loses for this year will reach 19 billion dollars, and next year, the estimates increase another 2 billion dollars to 21 billion dollars.

You fail to understand what is the "real" problem with the USPS.

First class revenue continues to SHRINK each year. They cant "right the ship" while losing their only remaining revenue source.

Every other service level of the USPS is losing millions of dollars as well and they cant turn those around either.

Regardless of cuts, it will NEVER be able to regain control of the finances of the USPS without shutting it down completely and starting over.

TOS.

 

[Babagounj]

I love my junk mail .
I bundle it up all year long into tight piles.
They keep my stove & me warm all winter long .

 

[What'dyabringmetoday???]

I hope all competition goes out of business.

 

['Lord Brown's bidding']

TOS, one of the reasons losses are projected to grow is because the "loan" received by the Post Office - those funds for the pension they were "allowed" to keep - is to be repaid, thus exacerbating the problem.

While first class revenues are declining, people underestimate the size of the population who either choose not to go digital - mainly older or the less educated- or CAN'T go digital, such as in places with limited Internet access, or poor areas. In the city, I have friends who would love to have bank accounts with direct deposit, but due to problems are not allowed to have one (eg. they had an account closed due to being overdrawn; other banks and credit unions are made aware of this, and now they cannot open an account anywhere). Recently companies have begun targeting these people with products like Russell Simmons' 'Rush Card', or 'Open, from American Express', but these products are still relatively new and have not captured more of the market. There's also concerns with fees on these cards; granted, there are no fees, but that perception still exists, and in a couple cases has even been negatively reinforced. There was a case here recently where a McDonald's forced its employees to use a card issued by the franchisee if they didn't already have direct deposit. However, they were charging them 'processing fees' for using the cards they were forcing then to use! An employee sued, and they had to give them the option to receive checks, which many did; some of those inevitably may get mailed. And then there are those who do not receive regular pay, particularly those who are paid by commission, like consultants and artists. For many of them direct deposit is not an option, nor is going to an office to pick up a check.

This is just one example of why the Post Office isn't going anywhere; the demand will not go anywhere. As for the funding issue, in addition to the ridiculousness concerning the pensions, there's also the problem regarding postage. It costs 4x as much to send a letter from one side of Germany to the other as it would to send a letter from Florida to Louisiana, and yet that is about how wide Germany is. 44 cents to send a letter from NY to LA is grossly cheap, and yet it takes an act of Congress to do the simple thing and raise the rates to a more appropriate level for what's necessary to actually get a letter from one place to another. Will raising the rates drive away even more customers? Probably, but again, there is a sizable part of the population - and business world - that can't get their letters and even packages no other way, and aren't going anywhere, as well as others who could perhaps choose to go online, and be cheaper, but choose not to. Shoot, personally I have to mail my rent check every month; I once suggested the realty company perhaps switch to PayPal, and they told it would make things 'too complicated'!

So no, I do get why the Post Office is losing money, thank you very much, and it's not just because 'nobody uses them anymore'.

 

[Indecisi0n]

No junk mail = No USPS.

For the most part, the only people still mailing bill payments are the elderly. All bills can be received and paid electronically. Once the current elderly generation is gone, postal deliveries will be almost entirely junk besides their parcels.

When the elderly generation is gone we will be replacing them!

 

[oldngray]

When the elderly generation is gone we will be replacing them!

and by then you will be the elderly!