Postal Letter

Should we still have the US Postal Service?

If the US Postal Service is drowning in debt, should just let them go and not have paper mail anymore? Do they still serve a purpose that internet cannot provide? Will we have to bail them out too?

Public Comments

1. bear in mind not every one uses or has access to the internet i still want snail mail as do many of our troops overseas we need the postal service
2. No. All they bring me is junk mail and bills. I do not need either of these.
3. If we didn't have them our world would go into a crazy pandemic. We need the mailing system or else we can't function as a country. Nothing could replace it.
4. Not everyone has a computer or internet service. We still need the postal service.
5. No...although they are not a government entity, I think they are going to close about 1,000 offices around the country. They have offered early retirement to the carriers but not enough have agreed to that option. Perhaps Obama's financial consultants can help them.
6. All you need to do is keep it away from the republicans hands, as in all government because if it works they will prove you wrong... It will take about 3 seconds for UPS and FedEx to sit and discuss how much they will increase their fare since the government is not competing, same case of single payer.
7. Private carriers could easily handle "snail mail", P.O. Boxes, deliveries etc. There is no point to the U.S. Postal Service anymore.
8. 1 days is enough for us to have mail delivered to our homes. why six days a week it's insane. most banks will mail your bills for you and you can get your bills in your email the most things i get in the mail are ads for the grocery stores etc and junk mail. we could provide internet to all those who do not have it for the price we pay for the salary of those who do not even get out of there trucks and walk the route anymore. I get more important mail from fedex or ups.
9. yes.I do not trust the internet with my debit bank card and never will. They have tried to hack into my account more than several times. And I am not even close to being rich. Although I do not mind using credit card to order something. Therefore I want the Post office even if they go up on stamps.
10. yes but deliver 3 days/week
11. Yes, we should but they should go to a four day service and look for other ways to cut costs. Businesses in the country depend on the post office do deliver the goods you order on line.
12. Article 1 section 8 of the US Constitution makes it clear one of the duties of the congress is to provide for a Post office. Unless we want to amend the US Constitution then yes we still need have a post office. Can you imagine the Precedent if we allow the Federal Government to blatantly ignore the Constitution. As it is they flaunt with violating it every day as it is
13. I'm not sure that the Postal Service needs to be so heavily subsidized. As it is, people who have no need or interest in this service are paying so that those who use it heavily don't have to pay as much. Pass on something closer to the real costs to those who make use of those services and parhaps they will find better ways of doing things, and likewise the Post Office itself might better be able to direct their own actions in conjuction with their customers.
14. Yes, we should. Even if the USPS is heavily in debt, they still provide a valuable service that private companies like DHL, Federal Express, or UPS couldn't cheaply provide: letter delivery. While it could be argued that these companies could deliver letters if there weren't a "federal letter monopoly," such arguments usually miss the point that many people don't live in major urban areas. It is far more expensive to travel way out in the country to deliver one letter to a farm (which the USPS does at a loss) than it is to deliver a large quantity of letters to a city. If UPS, for instance, were in charge of letter delivery, they most likely wouldn't deliver to rural areas because it eats into their profit margins too much to make it worth it for a small rural letter volume. The end result is that the cities would be the only places with letter delivery, which isn't fair to those in rural areas. Anyway, we should not switch to all electronic communications at this point because of several reasons: 1.) Like some said above, not everyone has internet access or email. What do you do about those people? 2.) How do you really verify that the person that is receiving a bill or a court document via email is really the person that the entity is looking for? You have the same problem with paper mail, but it is easier to fake an email address than to intercept physical mail. 3.) With email there is a lack of a paper trail. Email communications are also easier to falsify: just copy it into a text editor or into photoshop and alter it. Ironically, the rise of email is what has caused the Postal Service to operate at a larger loss. I'm not saying that that is a bad thing, but I imagine that we need to come up with a way to fix their problems too that doesn't involve privatizing letter delivery. Cheers! ©2009 SinisterMatt. All Rights Reserved.