I think you are right. 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.[10] The U.S. Supreme Court has also upheld the USPS's statutory monopoly on access to letterboxes against a First Amendment freedom of speech challenge; it thus remains illegal in the U.S. for anyone other than the employees and agents of the USPS to deliver mailpieces to letterboxes marked "U.S. Mail."[11] [edit] Universal Service Obligation and the Postal Monopoly The mission of the Postal Service is to provide the American public with trusted universal postal service at affordable prices. While not explicitly defined, the Postal Service’s universal service obligation (USO) is broadly outlined in statute and includes multiple dimensions: geographic scope, range of products, access to services and facilities, delivery frequency, affordable and uniform pricing, service quality, and security of the mail. While other carriers claim to voluntarily provide delivery on a universal basis, the Postal Service is the only carrier with the obligation to provide all the various aspects of universal service at affordable rates. Since any obligation must be matched by the financial capability to meet that obligation, the postal monopoly was put in place as a funding mechanism for the USO, and it has been in place for over a hundred years. It consists of two parts. One is the Private Express Statutes (PES), and the other is the mailbox access rule. The PES refers to the Postal Service’s monopoly on the delivery of letters, and the mailbox rule refers to the Postal Service’s exclusive access to customer mailboxes. Eliminating or reducing the PES or mailbox rule would have an impact on the ability of the Postal Service to provide affordable universal service. If, for example, the PES and the mailbox rule were to be eliminated, and the USO maintained, then either billions of dollars in tax revenues or some other source of funding would have to be found. As the operating environment of the Postal Service continues to change, additional flexibilities will likely be necessary to fulfill the USO http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Postal_Service#The_USPS_Today
The Postal Service is in trouble...in part (not discounting Fedex, UPS and the EMAIL), because of the Iraq War. All that spending GWB was doing to pay for that war, he had to take from other parts of government. He chose the postal service as a subsidy for government pensions. He divert money that normally goes to pensions to the Iraq war, while robbing the Postal Service to cover the shortfall. This was done UNDER THE RADAR. Postal Service is a stand-alone entity, that relies on its own revenue to provide service. So he was taking operating funds from the "Self-sufficient entity".
I check my PO Box twice a month (no home delivery except junk mail). I guess by that standard, we should only deliver mail twice a month. Who really cares?
I care about twice a month. I'll answer your question seriously, like I expected mine to be, rather than a smartass comment.
I figure email and digital documents cuts down on paper load for couriers. The more paperless companies become, the less they'll pay postal services to deliver mail.
I don't even care twice a month, except the poor postal worker who has to keep cramming junk in my box. Its hard enough for me to get it out, much less putting more in it. I answered it with the same tone as yours. Nobody cares how often you and I check our mail. The reality is some people use the postal service for important work and going two straight days could be a problem for some.
This is the real problem for the post office. The amount of personal and business communication done by fax and email has reduced the postal volume. But that doesn't cut their fixed expenses, so they struggle. I'm not sure there is a good solution without decreasing delivery days. But in long-term, mail flow is just going to keep dropping as more people use electronic bill paying and receiving, etc. I'm guessing the % of junk mail that people get is substantially higher today than 20 years ago.
I've yet to see someone who said they did care. I used myself as an example as someone that didn't care. UPS & Fedex both offer weekend service for those that need to receive packages on the weekend. You can even get Fedex on Sunday. Going a weekend means little, because businesses that are open Mon - Fri, are the people who primarily depend on the USPS.
They better figure something out soon. If I were them I would suspend services for 10 days immediately and I bet they get the funding they need.
The postal service is part of the Constitution. No private entity wants to do what the USPS does because they would lose money at the prices USPS charges to ship mail. Republicans have tried to pawn off those services to UPS and FedEx and both said "HELL NO". So, making it private and trying to get USPS to raise prices to make it profitable would raise prices so much.......that it would defeat the purpose of having a Postal Service mandated by law. If Bush and Republican in Congress didn't mandate USPS fund their pension to 75 years in advance (trying to force it to go private), USPS would be in MUCH better shape. Congress can fix this.........if they choose.
eBay depends a lot on USPS, if it stops, or have partial delivery- it is apocalypse. Amazon will start delivering for eBay, USPS will be dead.
Um, Amazon has stopped their 3rd party delivery service. eBay and Amazon are competitors. You ever wonder why you can’t use PayPal with Amazon? That is why. Amazon would never deliver for eBay. Matter of fact, Amazon uses USPS for small deliveries. That contract is what b****-ass Trump is complaining about when talking about USPS.
Trump shutting down the postal service will hurt rural residents. We do need to make improvements to the system but getting rid of the postal service would be a massive mistake.
I know the GOP has wanted to privatize the postal service for years but now they have another incentive...
