digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Efforts to Block Junk Mail Slowed by U.S. Postal Service

washingtonpost.com — Barred by law from lobbying, the Postal Service is nonetheless trying to make its case before a growing number of state legislatures that are weighing bills to create Do Not Mail registries, which are similar to the popular National Do Not Call Registry.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • Member148, on 03/20/2008, -7/+46Here is the clincher: "Then came the pushback from the postmasters, who told Pearson and other lawmakers that "standard" mail, the post office's name for junk mail, has become the lifeblood of the U.S. Postal Service and that jobs depend on it."
    Technology is rendering the post office irrelevant, yet the postmaster wishes to delay the inevitable demise as long as he can to maintain power in politics and to keep us paying for those $.41+ stamps. It's like the postal organization is telling us to go back to driving the Model-T Ford. The postal system is a dinosaur. What is wrong with reducing the junk mail so the post office can downsize and have fewer workers. Businesses do it all the time. When they do, they become more completive and a better service entity. With the post office, it is like the body is dead, but the brain just won't die. The postmaster may as well face it. The post office mail delivery is slowly dying, and they need to start downsizing now gradually to make way for new technologies, so that hundreds of thousands of jobs won't be lost abruptly and cause devastating affects to families.
    • obliviousfool, on 03/20/2008, -2/+16I got a chuckle from that bit of the article. The Post Office is now mostly supported by delivering mail that no one wants! Sure, they've "created jobs", but can't they create jobs that don't involve bulk advertising?
    • uptwolait, on 03/20/2008, -1/+16Sounds just like every other government-run "business"...keeping the system bloated and consuming funds is the ultimate objective, not serving the public or providing anything of value. Much like cancer.
      • TimDigg, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3The dilemma with govt is that its bad at shifting people to other areas of the economy.

        On a larger scale the problem with people is that its impossible for them to be as efficient as markets are. The govt tries to compensate by being inefficient.

        If the govt or the markets could figure out a way to redistribute people to other sectors of the economy, it would be brillant.

        USPS has a large group of military vets working for them.
    • BaronSamedi242, on 03/20/2008, -10/+5***** the postal service. The reason why they wanna keep their cushy jobs is because no other organisation would hire the vast majority of lazy, incompetent, and arrogant bastards that work at the Service.

      I get all my bills online and send paper and packages via UPS ground or FedEx ground. At the very least, if I get attitude and laziness from a FedEx employee, that employee is out of a job, which is why they don't take 12-2 off for lunch when everyone's trying to get their stuff done on a lunch hour.

      Never met a more arrogant and lazy bunch. GO UNION.

      Not only do I not frequent the post office, I'd advise everyone else to find alternatives too
      • crapmatic, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4I live in a large town (20,000 people) and the postal clerks are like extended family to us, even though we've lived here 3 years, and the mail carrier always brings boxes to the door and is super friendly. On the other hand my experience in all cities (50,000+ people) I've lived in has been ***** service from the carriers and stinky attitude by the postal clerks. It really does depend on what part of the organization you're talking about.
      • ericmac, on 03/20/2008, -0/+0Uh, not that I'm pro-union in any way, but UPS is organized by the Teamsters.
    • cvindustries, on 03/20/2008, -1/+8Get rid of junk mail, and your stamps will quickly go up in price.
      • BaronSamedi242, on 03/20/2008, -3/+2Get rid of mail, and their lazy, late and incompetent expensive service becomes irrelevant.
        • theutopian, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7Unfortunately we need the mail. Ever tried to send a letter via FedEx? It's substantially more than .41.
          • Gerz1219, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1When do you need to send a letter to anyone anymore? Send an e-mail and pay your bills online. If we eliminated the post office and let FedEx and UPS deliver our traditional snail mail, the slightly increased price of traditional mail delivery would be more than offset by our average tax savings, given how rarely anyone actually sends letters these days. It's time to call the post office what it is -- a welfare agency that gives pretend jobs to people.
          • dracostimpy, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1The price would come down if UPS and Fedex had to compete with one another for first-class mail instead of parcel delivery or overnight mail. Right now, they don't even bother since any company that challenges a government monopoly (like the Liberty Dollar folks) will inevitably end up getting raided and shut down by said government.

            If the USPS were abolished, they would pick up all that additional business and economies of scale along with market competition would force prices down, quite possibly to even less than we pay the USPS. Think about it; 4 pieces of junk/legit mail or so that people average each day comes out to $1.60ish. Don't you think UPS or Fedex could pay a guy less than that for the 12 seconds it takes him to open and close your mailbox each day?
          • dracostimpy, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1One more thing... I failed to mention that competition against the post office was in fact attempted long ago and was quite successful at undercutting USPS rates, right up until the point the government outlawed competition outright:

            http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm
          • theutopian, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2@Gerz, because that would discriminate against large segments of society that don't have access to a computer, are unable to use a computer. What do you think the bank does if they don't have a bill payment arrangement with wherever your trying to pay a bill? They mail it. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for a complelely electronic world. But it's not going to happen anytime soon. Besides I collect stamps. I like the IDEA of the postal service. It doesn't do you any harm.
      • Lythium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9I'm sort of okay with that. I honestly can't remember the last time I _personally_ had to send a letter - that's not counting the mail I send on behalf of my company. All my bills are paid online or over the phone; if I want to contact someone, I'll call or text or e-mail them. And I'm very, very tired of wading through twenty letters each day to pick out the one legitimate bill in the bunch.
      • willfe, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2That is a price I will gladly pay.
    • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -6/+9While technology has certainly reduced the needs for a Postal Service, it is still something that we need. The tech savvy are paying their bills and doing banking on line. Email and text messaging is the chosen form of personal communications.

      But there are still a lot of people who either chose to or do not have the means to conduct their personal buisness with computers. Small businesses don't have the hooks or infrastructure to support electronic payment. People still like to write a personal note or send a card. And the magazine still comes in handy for a read.

      Junk mail subsidizes the Postal Service. I'd rather have them funding the service than having to shell out higher postage rates.

      Is it really that hard to just chuck it into the recycling bin?



      • Lythium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+14Let private companies compete with the government for postal services, and you won't _have_ to pay the higher postage. Why the hell should we generate all this paper waste just to subsidize an increasingly obsolete organization? Allow people the option of choosing what they do and do not want in their mailbox, allow other companies to provide the same service, and you will go a very long way toward resolving this nonsense.

        No, it's not hard to "just chuck it in the recycling bin." But that's still ***** on the environment - you still have to produce the paper, ship it to the printer, print it, ship it to the recipients - JUST SO WE CAN TRASH IT. Think of the energy required for all of that; the electricity for production, the gasoline for shipping.... You want to talk about environmental waste? Start there. I know we fill 2-3 garbage cans EACH WEEK with this crap, and we are one household of millions. How about obviating the NEED for recycling, instead of just blowing it off with an "is it really that hard?" No, it's not - but it's revoltingly wasteful.
        • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4You miss the point on service. Think of all the rural areas where people may live 5 or 10 miles from their nearest neighbor. How do you ensure they're receiving the same level of service? What private enterprise is in the game for profit, not ensuring complete and equal coverage.

          It would be interesting to see what the ripple effect of suddenly eliminating "junk" mail would be. Both positive and negative. Sure we'd reduce paper consumption, but what would be the impact on the paper industry. Would we realize savings in fuel cost with less weight? What would be the overall people impacts across the economy.

          This issue is much more than a simple stamp.
          • Lythium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1So basically you're saying that we need to go out of our way to preserve the status quo just to avoid potential ripples, rather than trimming the fat on our conspicuous consumption where we can? That's the problem all environmental movements are running into - people are so afraid to rock the proverbial boat that no real lifestyle changes are being made, no real government changes are being made. We're still stewing in the same mess that we got into decades and decades ago, and for what? So our paper industry and postal service don't have to keep up with modernization along with everyone else?
          • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Think about what your trying to solve. Then think about how your trying to solve it.

            You want to avoid junk mail by taking away some farmers mail delivery service. Sounds a bit screwy, doesn't it?

            Junk mail is the problem, not the postal service. Eliminate the problem, not the carrier (pun intended).

            And how did you make the great leap to conspicuous consumption?
          • obliviousfool, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2If the best argument you can come up with to save junk mail is that it will hurt the paper industry, you need to really think about that.

            You're trying to argue that we should act against what the free market would do, and prop up another industry. Nobody wants junk mail. The future seems to be increasingly paperless. Paper production already puts unaccounted for burdens on the environment.

            Not to mention, I'd like to live out in the country, but it's not that convenient for a lot of reasons. Things will never be equal in that respect.
          • Lythium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1@unreq - I never suggested getting rid of the postal service - only the junk mail, just as you suggest. My recommendation to open it to private enterprise is in answer to the people who worry about ballooning cost of shipping. I never once said that we should kick the government out of it - only that it shouldn't have a monopoly on the mail service.
          • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Then perhaps the solution is to increase the cost of junk mailing. Let them pay a more proportional cost, I mean a piece of mail is a piece of mail.

            I'm sure in the face of rising costs, the junk mailers will cease their carpet bombing tactics and move towards a more targeted scenario.
    • fuhcough, on 03/20/2008, -2/+6"...junk mail, has become the lifeblood of the U.S. Postal Service and that jobs depend on it." Well hell yeah I bet it has. Most any LEGITIMATE mail people could possibly receive is available electronically as well.

      God forbid the Postal System (which keep in mind operates like a business - they even have an advertising budget and produce/air commercials) be forced to adapt to changing times like every other business entity in America.

      That said, any organization that employs a business model where prices INCREASE when demand DECREASES (ie stamps) deserves to fail.
      • cvindustries, on 03/20/2008, -2/+3Just like you obviously failed economics 101. Read the chapter on natural monopolies and the chapter on marginal cost, too.
    • sleepycoder, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2As an engineer I have to agree that the PO is inefficient. And when I was younger I would have been gung-ho about cutting the fat and eliminating waste. But as time has gone by, I've met a lot of decent people who really aren't suited to doing technical work. What happens to these people when we continue this blind drive for efficiency? When you replace a 10 person factory line with robots, you only need 1 tech to maintain the robots. What do you do with the other 9? In the grand scheme of things, I have my doubts that maximum efficiency will lead to a higher average standard of living.
      • ScottKeeler, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Improve education and pretty much anybody would be suited for doing technical work. There would also be a lot more technical work to be done.
    • Gerz1219, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2There are still businesses that don't accept electronic payments only because they have the benefit of an outdated government-subsidized delivery mechanism. If the postal service were eliminated, a huge market would open up for a cheap payment management service that catered to small businesses. It would be a boon to companies like Paypal. It all has to go online eventually anyway, so why not speed it up? For those people that aren't online yet, wouldn't they be better serviced by taxpayer-funded internet access rather than a taxpayer-funded paper-oriented dinsosaur? I suspect the funds that go to the post office could easily be used instead to give broadband internet to the poor, a much more useful, helpful, and practical public service.
      • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1So your advocating replacing one goverment subsidized entity with another?

        I think Hillary might have a place in her cabinet for you.
  • thechr0nic, on 03/20/2008, -1/+35I absolutely loath the fact that my mailbox fills up with 95% garbage that goes directly into the trash without even opening/reading it.
    The most exciting things in the article for me are:

    the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups have created Catalogue Choice, a program that asks retailers to voluntarily stop sending catalogues to anyone who signs up for the free online service at http://www.catalogchoice.org

    The Direct Marketing Association operates its own registry http://www.dmachoice.org
    • br0ck, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6I found out about another cool thing one a while ago on Digg. The FTC has a way to permanently opt out of credit prescreening which means that after a while you'll receive NO pre-approved credit card offers by mail. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/prescre ... Another thing to consider is calling all your credit cards and requesting that they don't send you those blank credit card checks. Both of these types of mail are worse than general bulk mail because they expose people to identity theft and require shredding.
    • morguth, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5WTF? Credit card # required to get off the dma list? Rat bastards...
    • TheSpook, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2You should recycle the paper junk mail...
      • twistymcgee, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I think he was referring to trash as anything that gets thrown out, whether it's via recycling or landfill.
    • xlar54, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I loath the fact that people can dump their trash in my mailbox to begin with. What if I went and dumped paper and trash at their property? They'd be a little miffed. I dont want their garbage coming to my house and I should have a right to stop them. As for the tag team with the postal service... they are quickly becoming outdated too.
  • sjl127, on 03/20/2008, -5/+17It's less business for the post office. That's why they're "slowing" it. This is the definition of organized crime, racketeering and conspiracy. But, hey, it's the government; they're allowed to do that.
    • reconflux, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3I agree but there is not system in place for this type of filtering. The way mail processing works would mean redoing the entire system (stopping the mail) to put a system which would take years.
    • MBDyer, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3The alternative, of course, is paying 2 or 3 dollars just to mail a standard letter. Bulk mail subsidizes the cheap price of stamps. A variable rate would also be involved, as the cost of shipping a letter from Florida to Alaska is much more than shipping one just to the other side of town.

      It's certainly true that the U.S. postal system is in need of reform. Killing it off entirely would be bad for lots of people, not just those who work there.

      Little known fact: The U.S. Postal Service is run as a non-funded branch of the government. No tax dollars are involved in the mail, only the money made from sending letters and packages.
      • HonestAbe, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1"The alternative, of course, is paying 2 or 3 dollars just to mail a standard letter. "

        I, for one, am perfectly fine with that.
    • diggduggjoe, on 03/20/2008, -5/+3But, what about post neutrality? I should be able to advertise to anyone of their clients. I should not be filtered by content. I can send a love letter to a neighbor, but not an ad for my business?

      I do not use bulk mail, anyway. However, the point is mail is a very important tool for businesses. I would prefer that a standard would arise that all junk mail had to be in fluorescent orange envelopes or as a post card. Then I could sort the stuff quickly, but still offer businesses the option to seek my patronage.
      • Lythium, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2There are hundreds of other advertising venues open to you. What makes you think that paper mailers are the most effective? I don't even look at the crap that I get in the mail, unless it's a catalog which I have REQUESTED. It all goes right in the trash. Way to get my attention, kid.
        • bmdt2000, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1If it wasn't effective, then companies would have stopped this a long time ago. Somebody's buying into it. Probably the same guy buying the penis enlargement pills.
          • Lythium, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Certainly some people buy into it, but I'm not at all sure that it's as effective as many businesses believe. I think a lot of it is just a matter of habit, or habitual expectation: "we've _always_ done it that way so why change now?"
          • sjl127, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1If a direct mail ad campaign works, you'll get 0.5% response. That's it.
      • ricksite, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1It's a free country and if someone wants to send bulk mail, they should be able to. I think a happy medium would be to require an "unsubscribe" feature on all bulk mail. It could be a website, phone number or address to contact when you want to be removed from a specific bulk mailers list.
  • liuite, on 03/20/2008, -3/+40I would like to stop the phonebook publishers from delievering door to door without request....who uses a phonebook any more?
    • david76, on 03/20/2008, -11/+2Get Vonage, no more phone books.
      • bigdoug2005, on 03/20/2008, -2/+10We have no phone service (only cellphones) and still get tons of phone books.
      • ObeseSnake, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10Fail! I've had VOIP over four years now and get TWO sets of phone books each year from two different competing companies. I said "sets" because they each deliver a full book plus a condensed one. What a waste of paper.
    • PimpinOnWelfare, on 03/20/2008, -2/+18you have to tear SOMETHING in half, how else would you impress the ladies?
    • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -7/+3Sometimes I like to look up a number. Sure I can go online, but the are cases when perhaps I'd like a listing of plumbers or something.

      The book doesn't cost you anything, if you don't want it, recycle it.
      • swoopdog, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5mine is still sitting in the bag from whenever they delivered it 3 months ago. What a waste I already have the ultimate phonebook its called google.
      • myranttoyou, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Oh Really? RTFA my local taxes pay to have all this ***** carted away and our environment cleaned because of it. Not to mention, paper would probably be more cheaper and plentiful. My city has special dumpsters and crews especially sort for this....
    • cheeseron, on 03/20/2008, -5/+2it's nice to have when your internet provider is flaky as hell and you need a number
    • TheSpook, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2I look up online when I want a number for a specific place. I do like using the yellow pages on occasion when I'm not sure who I want to call for a particular task, and want to see what each vendor claims to specialize in. Narrows the field a bit. I also prefer businesses that let me use my Discover card. Sometimes the ads list what credit cards they take.
    • ricksite, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I don't understand how they can get away with giving everyone phone books. Since I don't want it, it is like the publisher is just littering my doorstep. I would say the same goes for the free newspaper I get every Wednesday. How do I stop my subscription for something I don't subscribe to?
  • Coopjust, on 03/20/2008, -7/+18Like it or not, junk mail subsidizes the cost of mailing for the rest of us.If registries like this become popular, the cost of mailing a letter will go up.

    You can opt out of the Direct Mailing Association list for a $1 online (prevents bots), which will greatly cut down on your junk mail
    • mccune, on 03/20/2008, -2/+41I shouldn't have to pay anything to opt out of mail I never asked for in the first place.
      • Coopjust, on 03/20/2008, -0/+8I made an error. The DMA no longer charges a $1 if you register online (only by mail), they now just use the credit card to authorize that the person looking for removal is actually the person claimed.
        https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/mps_consumer_descrip ...
      • strafefire, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4True, but someone had to pay to send that to you. That is why I do not mind junk mail versus spam. SPAM is ***** free and you can literally get thousands of it.

        I get one junk mail letter per day. And many times, it has been something interesting to read.

        And if you are sick of credit card junk mail. goto FTC.gov and opt out of anything dealing with your credit report.
    • djcgmcse, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6it may subsidize the cost of mailing, but it also generates a ton of overhead. Think of how much less sorting the post office would have to do if there wasn't so much junk.

      I think the only loss from less sorting would be jobs.
    • aladrin, on 03/20/2008, -1/+17You know what? I'm okay with that. Guess how many letters I've sent in the past 5 years? 1. Why the -hell- do I have to be subjected to the 2-3 pieces of junk mail I get every single day so that my letter cost $.50 instead of $1.50? The -only- reason I have a box is that I have to have somewhere to receive bills and video games from GameFly. I'd drop the thing if it weren't for that.

      (Yes, the people that send me mail would have to pay more as well. I don't have a problem with that... It'd convince some of them (the bills) to bill me electronically and the rest would just increase their prices a bit. It'd be -much- better than dealing with the crap.)
      • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4Right, but as an issue, it would snowball - your gamefly membership would go up, b/c the burden of subsidizing would fall on companies like them and netflix... You wouldn't pay $.50 -$1.50 to mail something, you'd find another way, and prices would go up.

        And banks would no longer be able to offer "Free" bill pay b/c of the burden of mailing a check, which is often what happens with billpay unless it's a huge company - and then you'd either have to pay for your billpay, or mail a check (or maybe pay $3-8 to authorize a payment by phone).
        • TimDigg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Gamefly might be able to cut a deal with DHL or Fedex...
          • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1Not for under .25, which is (I speculate) about what they pay for each disc sent out (if not less) - especially when accounting for the pickup, and the fact that the customer would have to LET DHL/FEDEX KNOW when the pickup was ready rather than just tossing it in their mailbox "when they're done with it" b/c Fedex/DHL don't come out every day. Letting the company know online isn't SO MUCH extra work, but the easier a company can make it on the customer, the happier the customer is.

            and when fedex shows up for a pickup and the customer DIDN'T put the disc out, who pays for the trip (and yes, Fedex charges PER TRIP out to a pickup, whether the item is ready or not.)

            it'd be a *****.
    • HonestAbe, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3I have absolutely no problem with paying a few dollars to mail out my 5 letters per year if it means I don't have to spend 15 minutes every day sorting through my huge pile of junk mail to find the things I really wanted to receive. (And yes, I've already registered with the DMA.)

      Time is money.
      • petard, on 03/20/2008, -0/+115 minutes? ha! I can have my mail sorted in like 2-3
    • Noods, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Or maybe less mail = less workers needed = less cost?
  • wjlaw100, on 03/20/2008, -4/+5Yup, Standard Mail actually SAVES the customer money. Hey, why do you think TV is having problems with DVR's and people skipping commercials... No Advertising = No Subsidy (Insert Broadcast TV, Mail, Broadcast Radio etc. here)...... Please keep in mind, all those Tiger Direct Catalogs, Dell Direct Adds, and most any flyers delivered that you DO read are STD Class!
    • swr1ght, on 03/20/2008, -1/+7Not the issue, the issue is whether or not it saves us enough money to be (a) worth the hassle, and (b) worth the massive impact to the environment. Which I believe that it is not.
    • bigtallmofo, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Hey idiot - if you have a relationship with a company (i.e. you've ordered something from TigerDirect) they can still send you a catalog even with a Do-Not-Mail registry. What a doofus you are.

      Just like Tiger Direct can call you if you ordered something from them once (i.e. established business relationship) if you're on the Do-Not-Call registry.
  • keltin, on 03/20/2008, -7/+12So the reason we may not prevent junk mail from clogging our mailboxes, causing us to 'waste' hundreds of pounds of paper per year per person, is because of jobs!!!
    I'll tell you what, Let's get rid of the stuff - insist on it. With the PO contributing to those legislators that will prevent the 'No Junk Mail Lists' from being developed and implemented, this is more like heavy-handed unionism. It's the worst kind, because with fewer junk to carry, each delivery person can cover more area = fewer employees. Wouldn't it be great to be able to DECREASE the price of stamps to somethingmore reasonable, like a nickel or even 25 cents?
    So, if we do what the postal service says, we need to just keep paying people to do irrelevant things, and not free up people power to do more creative things that will make money? Talk about socialism!!
    • Steviebe21, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3Socialism? What the hell are you talking about?
      • MrSteamTank, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I don't think he knows what he's talking about.
        Only in the US is socialism a dirty word. Cold war propaganda at its finest.
  • mmd643, on 03/20/2008, -5/+5Exactly why we should open up the postal service for market competition.

    There is zero doubt in my mind that UPS, Fed Ex or somebody else could do their job faster, better and cheaper.

    Imagine the effect that would have on US based businesses who send out thousands of pieces of mail daily. That saved money could be invested creating new jobs and a million other things.
    • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -6/+2UPS, Fedex, etc don't want to be bothered with an envelope with one little piece of paper in it and going to every house on a block.
      • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1self-reply:

        I see people burying me, but no one replying with an argument to my statement.
      • TimDigg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2exactly, UPS, FEDEX, DHL etc...are FAR more interested in freight shipments than small letters.

        UPS is more interested in shipping refridgerators, furniture and big screen tvs to your house than love letters

        All the big companies want to move up the shipping food chain.......not down.

        More interested in Trucking, air and sea shipment....
      • ScottKeeler, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2All those companies would love to compete for delivery of your mail. Problem is it's illegal for anybody but the USPS to deliver mail.
      • mmd643, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Why don't we leave it up to those companies to make the call as to how to do business and not some geek on the Internet.
    • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3How would you ensure everyone receives service?

      A similar situation exists with air service to some of the more rural areas in the country. It is often impossible for commercial air service to operate profitably from smaller, regional airports, in which case the federal goverment steps in and provides subsidization.

      The situation would increase dramatically with the mail service.
      • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1and you would end up paying for the fed. gov't to step in out of your taxes - and we ALL know how much diggers love having their tax money misused when there's another way to pay for things.
      • HonestAbe, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Fedex can't be subsidized by the federal government to provide service to remote places?
        • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Fedex DOES provide service to remote places.

          You missed the analogy. The point is that they would need to be subsidized to offer DAILY SERVICE to EVERY household in the country.
          • mmd643, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Who says daily service is even necessary? If you live in the middle of nowhere, maybe the trade off is you get mail service every four days instead of daily.

            I don't understand why I have to subsidize some guy living in the middle of nowhere just so he can get his LL Bean catalog a few days earlier.
      • mmd643, on 03/20/2008, -0/+0If you live in the middle of nowhere, it would cost more per item to ship to your house. You make the choice to live in a sparsely populated area and because of that there are certain factors that you must accept. Maybe there is a central postal station that you could travel to daily to pick up your own mail if it is indeed urgent, of the office could provide that service as a nominal fee.

        The market itself would solve all these issues and competition would bring prices down and improve the service across the board.
  • MentalHazard, on 03/20/2008, -4/+2Tell me again why the Postal Service is barred from lobbying?
    It sure doesn't help stop them from having a monopoly on first class mail.
  • nastronomical, on 03/20/2008, -10/+7Postal Service = Socialism in all its glory.
    • theutopian, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5It's not Socialist. The USPS operates quasi-independently of the government and is completely self-funding. It receives no subsidies of any kind from the taxpayer. They are also not allowed to turn a profit, only break even.
      • rmtatum, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Congress determines the prices of the stamps, so yes it is still socialism. We need a constitutional amendment (Liberty Amendment) to do away with the post office.
        • theutopian, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Not true. From Wikipedia: The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered, and has a similar role to a corporate board of directors. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate (see 39 U.S.C. § 202). The nine appointed members then select the United States Postmaster General, who serves as the board's tenth member, and who oversees the day to day activities of the service as Chief Executive Officer (see 39 U.S.C. § 202–203). The ten-member board then nominates a Deputy Postmaster General, who acts as Chief Operating Officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat.
          The USPS is often mistaken for a government-owned corporation (e.g., Amtrak), but as noted above is legally defined as an "independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States," (39 U.S.C. § 201) as it is wholly owned by the government and controlled by the Presidential appointees and the Postmaster General. As a quasi-governmental agency, it has many special privileges, including sovereign immunity, eminent domain powers, powers to negotiate postal treaties with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail. Indeed, in 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the USPS was not a government-owned corporation and therefore could not be sued under the Sherman Antitrust Act.[2]
          • rmtatum, on 04/03/2008, -0/+1Article 1 Section 8,
            "Congress shall have Power...
            Clause 7, To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"

            The USPS is not private!
  • theghoul, on 03/20/2008, -1/+23The post office needs to find another source of revenue. The argument isn't valid.

    I'm sure the Horse and Buggy Whip makers wanted to slow down the automobile as well. Times evolve, needs change, learn to adjust to it USPS.

    How many trees must die to save jobs?
  • RedNeckerson, on 03/20/2008, -4/+2You can still stop a large amount of junk mail by registering your address with the Direct Marketing Association. The only junk mail I receive anymore is local sales flyers (sic?) and the garbage that's in the Sunday paper.

    Check it out here:
    https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/mps_consumer_descrip ...

    I've also gone to the credit companies websites (Transunion, Experian, Equifax) and disallowed them to let other companies to view my credit information. This completely stopped all the credit card offers.
  • vinnyvenus, on 03/20/2008, -3/+5Am I the only one who always seem to find good deal in the junk mail ? I am always looking for pizza coupons, deals on hardware products etc in my junk mail.
    • swr1ght, on 03/20/2008, -2/+6Yes.
    • HonestAbe, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4Coupons are so ridiculous. Ooooh save 50 cents on something I wasn't going to buy anyway. I have to buy it now BECAUSE IT'S ON SALE OMG
    • swoopdog, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2no that just means you're a tool. Coupons are worthless
    • rumorsofdemise, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2except if you want pizza coupons or sale circulars, there's this nifty new invention called the "internet".
  • Stone420, on 03/20/2008, -2/+7Sounds like they need to cut back and find a different way to earn revenue.
    I'm tired of the Post Office delivering the garbage to my house
  • McDivvy, on 03/20/2008, -3/+3The UK already has this and has had for 20 years or so - it's called the Mailing Preference Service
    http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/
    And the Royal Mail don't look like they're going out of business anytime soon - "In 2006 Royal Mail as a whole made £233m profit."

    • theutopian, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4At the expense of stopping afternoon delivery, some weekend delivery services, closing thousands of local post offices and on and on. Royal Mail is a travesty.
  • Alnztln, on 03/20/2008, -10/+2Do some research.....The junk mail you are getting is more or less supporting the entire postal system, so next time you mail a birthday card to Grandma (yes, internet junkies, not everyone uses email for everything....try getting that $20 for your birthday over Gmail) Even on top of that, the argument over trees is ridiculous, there are much much more wasteful uses of trees than printing Direct Marketing that you should all be getting angry about....the companies that print them recycle 99.9% of the waste/ink/even heat used in making them.

    You want a shocker, that junk mail that you seem to hate comes from one of the most green manufacturing processes on earth. look it up. How about you just take a look at the message they are sending you, if you don't like it, toss it in your recycle bin and let the process handle itself.

    Hell, Google running their massive server farms makes more waste in a day than this junk mail creates in a year. Maybe the interent itself should be cut off, right?
    • swr1ght, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4They "recycle 99.9% of the waste/ink/even heat used in making them". You know, you read some stupid ***** on forums. But man, that was special...
    • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -0/+8Teach Grandma to use PayPal...........

      • obliviousfool, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1That would open up Grandma's life to PayPal spam!
  • thepeacemaker, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4Can somebody find out the mailing address of this Postmaster. Let everyone on digg send him one letter each and that'll give him a good dose of his own medicine.
    • unreg, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Should we email him or use the postal service?
  • RodgerE1, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5They are increasing rates, again!

    http://www.postalreporter.com/news/2007/11/15/post ...
    • Import98, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3It goes in effect in May and it's a penny. It's not the end of the world.
  • beersnob, on 03/20/2008, -5/+0Duh! Do you think the USPS could stay in business when you're paying your bills online now instead of putting 41 cent stamps on all of them? Of course not. And do you really want the USPS to go out of business? Sure, a lot of correspondence is handled electronically, but do you really want to pay UPS or FedEx $5 per letter if you HAVE to mail something? That's what would happen without the USPS. They've got to keep sending junk mail to stay in business. What's the big deal anyway? I toss it all in the recycle bin as I walk in the door, or use it to start fires in my fireplace in the winter. Or, run it through the shredder and it makes great cover material for your compost pile.
    • BaronSamedi242, on 03/20/2008, -1/+6Yeah, I do want them to go out of business. I want the ***** that works at the nearby office to have to get her wrinkled ass a real job, rather than taking 2h lunch breaks, spending 20 minutes with her friends and telling everyone else to go line up at the back again (or have security called - cause she refuses to deal with anyone who won't OBEY her).

      She's unemployable otherwise, and I'd love to see her starving to death under a bridge or sucking ***** to stay alive.
      • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5blame unions for that one.
      • theutopian, on 03/20/2008, -3/+2Are you just jealous that they get a two hour lunch break?
    • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2and do you think your bank's "online bill pay" would be free in cases where they have to mail a check to a company with which they don't have a relationship if postal rates went up?
      • tremor_tj, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2If you're doing online bill pay, either you or the company you are dealing with are doing it wrong. Ever heard of electronic funds transfer?
        • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1If you pay through Bill Pay with your bank - and you pay a company that they DON'T have a relationship to do a transfer to (I have my student loans consolidated through an obscure company), then they MAIL A CHECK.
    • Nanite, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Yeah, ***** the post office. They need to be starved into a much leaner organization. Right now they are the very epitome of bloated government waste and overspending.
  • TrendyIdeology, on 03/20/2008, -1/+6[Woman] Please, stop harassing me!
    [USPS] But we have an entire industry supported by individuals who like to harass you!
    [Woman] But it's my right to not be harassed!!
    [USPS] PEOPLE WILL LOSE JOBS IF THEY CAN'T HARASS YOU
    [World] . . . . .
    • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1[USPS] We have an entire industry THAT PROVIDES YOU SERVICES YOU VALUE AT A VERY LOW PRICE supported by individuals who like to harass you.

      Fixed.
      • TrendyIdeology, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I value a service I hardly use? You're a fool.
        If I had my way the rest of the world would get with the times and I'd never have to receive another piece of physical mail.
        All my bills are handled online. All paperwork that can be done online is done online.
        The only things I get in the mail that are useful are government related things, because Big Brother refuses to move into the 21st Century.
        • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Are you sure that all the bills you pay through your banks billpay service are paid electronically? I know for mine, about 30% involve sending out a check.

          And for A LOT of people, services such as: Netflix, blockbuster online, gamefly ARE part of being in the 21st century - all of their rates would go up without USPS.

          Beyond that, b/c it's so easily faked, many digital communications DON'T hold up in court - hence, if you want something tracked for legal purposes, with dates of receipt, etc (such as disputes on your credit report), it's really preferable to send something out certified so you have PHYSICAL documentation.
  • HomerS1, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3The greatest freedom any society can offer to it citizens (and by extension businesses) is the freedom to fail (go out of business).
    If there is no fear of failure, then there is little motivation for improvement or innovation. The USPS needs to figure out how to join the 21st century and embrace new technologies as a revenue source.
  • chicoer2001, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1I dont mind the Best Buy flyers and Pizza coupons. It's the credit card letters that ***** me off
  • ChanM, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I think everyone needs to see that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer tried to cancel his mail......
  • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -3/+3This is going to be long, but I'm going to try to rebuttal every argument I've seen on this site - it's in the reply so as not to take up the whole page
    • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -3/+31: .41 is CHEAP to mail something - this is subsidized by people paying for bulk mail. If you want to send a "non-urgent" letter or small package across the country via UPS or Fedex, you're paying AT LEAST $5-10

      2: The recipients are not the "postal customer" in this case, much as the buyer on eBay is not the customer - the post office offers a service, junk mailers purchase this service - don't say "they need to find other ways to make money than ways people don't want". They have found a way, and they have customers - those are the junk mailers.

      3: To the person who "only uses their mailbox for GameFly" - the rates that the post office charges to gamefly will go up, and as a result gamefly prices will go up if junk mail goes away - probably to the point that you cancel the subscription, costing gamefly revenue as well

      4:One of the reasons many people on here DON'T use mail as much anymore is b/c they use online billpay - if you're paying through your bank, probably about HALF the payments they make to vendors are sent via mail (not sourced, guessing based on my own habits). If postal rates go up, banks are going to start CHARGING YOU for BillPay service. Now, in SOME cases you could just pay at the company's website, but many smaller company's don't offer that, so you would have to pay by phone (which there may be a fee for) or mail a check, which means you have to pay inflated postal rates. Plus, the convenience of paying EVERYTHING on your banks website is a luxury rather than jumping from site to site for each bill.

      5: There are parts of the world that only get mail once every couple days/weeks - do we really want to reduce the mail to that level of slow b/c they don't have enough business to pay for a carrier to walk your route every day. There goes Gamefly, netflix, blockbuster online - bills could be late, and if somethings important, you're going to have to pay an additional fee to get it faster.

      6: no one WANTS to try to compete with them, and setting it up nationwide all at once (which is what would be necessary to compete with the service the post office offers for letters) is virtually impossible. Businesses like high profit - a corporation would have likely raised the price of a letter MORE frequently and may even have phased out that portion of its business b/c it's "not profitable enough".
      • nonsequitor, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1They have competitors, the Post Office was privatized a few years back too. I would rather FedEx a letter than have to deal with the junk mail I get daily.
        • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1so you'd rather spend $5.00 whenever you need to send anything? and they're about 1/2 privatized, they're not REALLY privatized...
      • Sraza, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I can tell you first hand that billpay services are mailed from the big banks I know of. Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo send me checks daily since I work for a utility company that does not offer any alternative but snail mail.

        Maybe if it increased then the powers at be would find it cost effective to setup online or over the phone payments. I would welcome that. I really hate the USPS.
        • purzzzell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1"Your" powers that be (your employer) wouldn't care - they're not paying the postage, the other party (whether it's the customer directly or their bank) is.

          But thanks for backing me up, there're people on here who seem not to believe me.
  • ronin691, on 03/20/2008, -1/+7If it wasn't for the 8 pounds of junk mail, there'd be no reason fro me to ever go to my mail box. I do all my billing on line. I haven't written a paper letter in a decade. USPS = FAIL, USPS = obsolete.
  • sq2shooter, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6Unions are running out of industries to help destroy and bring to their knees.
  • lichme5000, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1http://www.greendimes.com/ also does a good job (at least it has for me) of reducing the amount of unwanted mail we get. The only junk we get now are the local flyers our postal workers supposedly have to give to everybody. So annoying.
    • HonestAbe, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Can't you do all those things yourself without paying a middleman?
      • nonsequitor, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1Sure, but they would probably do it better and with less effort AND they plant some trees. I've been pleading with the postman for years to stop delivering this crap and it's never worked. For $20 it seems like a bargain.
  • Bloodwine, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7I'd happily pay more for postage stamps if it meant I got no junk mail. Just imagine how many people fell victim to identity theft from all that junk mail sitting in the garbage bin outside, unprotected. Having to constantly shred junk mail is an annoyance.
  • JamesDiggem, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10Dude my mailman got extremely angry with me when I asked him if he could please not give my the ads and junk mail that everyone else gets. I said I was just gonna throw it into the already overflowing trash can next to the community mailbox. He got all ***** and said that the junk mail is what keeps him employed and it doesn't hurt me one bit to toss it in the trash. All we hear now days is green this, green that, yet we get stacks of paper in the mail that NOBODY wants.
  • elevatedms, on 03/20/2008, -4/+2I agree that most unions have long lost their intended purpose and are parasitic in nature. However, think about the following: Standard Mail accounts for 0.04% of the garbage in landfills, and there is just as much forest in the United States today than in 1920 because trees are replanted in tree farms. Who gives a ***** if a tree grown for papers dies if it is replaced? It's not the old oak tree in your front yard. Obviously, not everybody despises all "junk" mail, whether they think the do or not (probably the majority of people). If they did, this form of advertising would not be profitable for the companies AND NON-PROFITS sending solicitations for donations, catalogues, etc. It is free to you, unlike spam and telemarketing, is it that big of a deal to throw the ***** away if it's not really all that bad for the environment, can't you focus on alternative energy instead? If 18 states this year passed do-not-mail legislation, we would have no more USPS. They would begin the fiscal year $1B in the red, they would not be able to recover. The USPS would need significantly more time to go through all the red tape necessary to downsize their workforce. You can't dismantle a federal union overnight. They are in fact looking to expand their revenue generation into other areas, such as renting out unused portions of USPS-owned buildings (e.g. Starbucks, etc). Again, due to the red tape and legislation concerning federally owned anything, this is something that will not happen anytime soon.
  • TSCheredar, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4WRONG: "Like it or not, junk mail subsidizes the cost of mailing for the rest of us.If registries like this become popular, the cost of mailing a letter will go up."

    If it costs us more money to send a letter than its MORE likely that the government will shut the post office down and allow businesses like Fed-Ex and UPS to start sending single letters...cheaper and without that ***** bitch of a mail lady who doesn't deliver your mail for 5 days because the car is parked too close to the damn mail box.
    • mc_hambone, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1First of all, Fed-Ex or UPS would NOT decrease their prices for delivering a letter as opposed to a package, and they wouldn't have to answer to anyone (allowing them to charge whatever they feel, which would probably be MUCH more than the USPS considering the fact that UPS and FedEx employees are paid more and have better benefits). And second, the point of curbside delivery is to make it easier (faster = cheaper) to deliver everyone's mail. The more people that park in front of the mailbox, the more expensive the mail is going to be. Why is it so hard to realize that if you park in front of a curbside mailbox, it kind of defeats the purpose?
  • davidlow, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Since I moved into a house with a fireplace a few months ago I see junk mail in a whole new "light".
  • perot9296, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3Greed and captialism at its finest :/
    • MentalHazard, on 03/20/2008, -0/+0Quit whining. That's why capitalism is hated so much: The people who want to make things better aren't going out and doing things, so the free market is getting a bum rap.
  • esc27, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6Simple solution. The Postal Service should charge higher rates for junk mail. This could both decrease the volume of junk mail and possibly increase profits enough to lower the cost of sending an average letter.
    • kenplaysviola, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Or, the post office can do both - raise the price for junk mail AND raise the cost of postage.
  • HonestAbe, on 03/20/2008, -2/+1***** the USPS.
  • shuuy, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Are you surprised? A big chunk of any postal company's revenue comes from addressed and unaddressed admail...

    Other interesting stat for you - 1 in 7 addressed ad-mail pieces in Canada ends up undelivered!
  • rlabatt, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I bhave to imagine that the advent of online retail deliveries via USPS has been a good thing for them and that revenues have increased as a result. Inefficient as they may be the USPS needs to change with the times and to accept, perhaps try to thrive off of the moving demands of its users and the legislation that the voting public would like to have in place. Despite what one of the above posts said about junk mail being green, the greenest junkmail is no junk mail.
  • demonbaby, on 03/20/2008, -4/+2Some of the comments here are ridiculous. People getting all worked up that the postal service is trying to protect an important source of its revenue, like ANY company would do, and does do, every day. The postal service can't even lobby, which makes it a lot less effective at manipulating government policy than the corporations who spend billions in lobbying each year. The fact is, it's easy to be snobby about standard mail when you live on the internet. I've all but completely reduced paper transactions from my life, and mail - whether it's junk mail or bills or whatever - drives me crazy. But there is a vast, huge majority of people in our country who still use the postal service every day. Every time I go to the post office near my house, or any post office for that matter, there's a huge line of people waiting for service, and the employees are struggling all day just to catch up. Real people USE the postal service, and value its low-cost services. Take away junk mail, and that's gone. For the rest of us, we can keep using email, and paying an extra few bucks for UPS when we don't want to wait in line at the post office, and taking the extra two seconds out of our lives to put the junk mail in the recycling bin. And for those crying socialism, saying the free market would handle all this. No, it wouldn't. The free market wouldn't put a post office in a tiny rural town, because it wouldn't make a profit there. And the free market most certainly the ***** would not stop sending you junk mail - that's PROFIT, after all, and that's the whole point of the free market. Look around you - the free market is covering EVERY SURFACE with advertising. You think they'd magically grow some tact and stop sending it to your mailbox? Hey, my free market email is clogged all to hell with junk, and I spend a lot more time weeding through that than I do throwing out pizza coupons. If anything, I wish the government would focus less on stopping legitimate US business from marketing their products via mail, and more on cracking down on foreign criminals who try to scam people via email.
  • Otto, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1This sort of legislation won't be effective anyway. It only blocks directly addressed mail. The flyers and other crap stuffing your mailbox are non-targeted. They pay a flat rate to the USPS to stuff them into every box in a given area. There's no way to opt out of those because the individual carriers don't have a list to go by, they just put them in every box.
  • GQCarrick, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4I honestly like getting junk mail, it sounds weird but I do. I use the prepaid envelopes they send me and I mail junk back to them. That way the post office is getting postage money from them and if everyone did that maybe we could save the post office.
  • tremor_tj, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I keep seeing these arguments against a bill like this being passed, and it's all about losing jobs, it's not environmentally hurtful, it's going to make prices go up, etc.
    You people arguing against this realize they're trying to make an opt-out list, right? Not to disallow this type of marketing all together?
  • gemmakicn, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Rather than having a corporation that needs to generate profit, implement it as a government subsidy. There may come a time when real world deliveries are a thing of the past, at the moment, we still need certain important stuff (credit cards, legal paperwork, checkbooks) and useful stuff (internet deliveries, dvd rentals and the like) and occasionally nice stuff (birthday cards and the ilk).

    The point is while not everything is necessary, many businesses exist because of a cheap postal system, and we would find it difficult to function without it. UPS and FedEx work because they charge so much per delivery it becomes very profitable to send drivers on custom routes.

    This should be a government institution run for the benefit of the taxpayers who do not want or need junk mail.
  • CptnObvious, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Bah, screw snail mail we need a Do Not Email Registry..
  • mobling, on 03/20/2008, -1/+0There is nothing quite so refreshing than to stand in a line at your local post office for fifteen minutes, only to have the clerk pull the shutters down in front of your face. If this was a private business, how long do you suppose this would go one before they closed their doors for good. I have friends who work for the USPS and they do well for themselves. Very well indeed...very very very well indeed. The USPS has been successful in their operation by increasing automation and not on the sweat and toil of it's employees. I know this sounds harsh, but there are always going to be a handful of lousy employees who will ruin the reputation for all others. Sad thing at the USPS, bad employees don't fall down, rather they fall up. One the other hand, and I do want to be fair in my observation, have had good service from my delivery mail person. One of the other posters complained about the bitch not delivering his mail because his car was in the way. She could not possibly be spending that much time harassing him, simply because she was also busy slamming the transaction window down on me. I do indeed believe that unions still have a place in this country, but not in public service sector. Your post office, your local courthouse clerks are good examples of unions expanding into the public sector without any concern of consequence to the citizens who pay for their services. They ain't exactly mine workers, iron workers, welders, shipbuilders, construction workers and other HARD WORKING crafts that originated the necessity for unions in the first place. Unions were formed to protect the health, safety and livelihood or those workers who worked in the most demanding and dangerous job in the world. When your occupation is reduced to simply working with the public and you misuse the position simply because you are protected by a union, then your demise is certain. So the next time one of the local business agents starts screaming that wages and benefits must be increased, consider for a moment that Fed EX, UPS and others will be more than happy to step up to the plate. Now WAH WAH WAH, move your car or no mail for you Jerry Seinfeld for thirty day.
  • krc1, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Check out the associated graphic:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graph ...
    95.9 billion first class (letters, payments)
    12.8 billion "other"
    103.5 billion standard (advertising circulars, catalogs, fundraising appeals)

    Get rid of HALF the mail which is JUNK, you can get rid of approximately 30% of the employees.

    You can't tell me costs would have to increase to do this.
  • dankenstein, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I only check my mail once every few weeks and avoid even walking within proximity to the mailbox on my way inside because I loathe all of the direct mailers so much.
    • nonsequitor, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1They will stop my mail if a letter sits in the box for 10 days.
  • RodgerE1, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1"That said, any organization that employs a business model where prices INCREASE when demand DECREASES (ie stamps) deserves to fail."

    I agree with fuhcough, why would you raise the price of something that no one is buying.

    I mail out one bill a month and the only reason I do that is because my Gas company is in the dark ages and doesn't have online bill payment.
  • lohphat, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2What to stop unsolicited newspapers and phonebooks? Sue. There's precedent of success:

    http://www.nyls.edu/cmc/uscases/tillman.htm
  • ZeroSumDivide, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1So, if I'm reading this right, they want to continue to annoy the people that never respond to "standard mail" anyway for some irreverent fear of the remote possibility that there will be a one time they didn't directly throw away a pile of adverts. It's a waste of paper and my my time to have to sift through the crap and make sure nothing I actually want to get is accidentally thrown out. Evolve or die, USPS.
  • Hosalabad, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I think they should consider a few changes.

    1. Get rid of bulk rates. If people want to send five hundred thousand flyers per week advertising duct cleaning, they can do it at full price.

    2. Embrace opting out. They would save a heck of a lot on labor and fuel costs if they didn't have to have enough staff to stop at every single house every day to drop off the bulk rate duct cleaning ads.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 55 of 55 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.