Not a particular advocate for either side of this, however, I did want to point out the cool I story of US Mail pilots. A good portion of modern air navigation

Not a particular advocate for either side of this, however, I did want to point out the cool I story of US Mail pilots. A good portion of modern air navigation comes from that legacy. Elrey Jeppesen was an airmail pilot for Boeing in the 1930s, and during his routes, he began taking detailed notes and that later become the business of Jeppesen —- one of the most important aviation charting companies on the planet. And, coming full-circle, Boeing bought Jeppesen in the year 2000 and a year or so ago, Jeppesen bought ForeFlight. The legacy of the postal service is extraordinary, especially in aviation. Town names on water towers for example, that was for the mail pilots. Light beacons (that later became radio beacons,) were also a result of the mail pilots. Jeppesen (along with Jimmy Doolittle) was a pioneer of Instrument Flight Rules. That being said, UPSP filling my mailbox with “to current resident” junk or pounds of unsolicited newsprint each week isn’t something I am sympathetic towards. I am ok paying $5 to mail a letter — I do it so infrequently as to make such an expense trivial. For poor people that still have to do things by post, it would be easy to provide a postal allowance tied to receipt of other government benefits (if you get food stamps, you also get actual stamps for example.) And the package side of USPS — they are profitable. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have 6 day per week letter service. If the argument is that USPS is subsidizing Amazon, I might argue they are subsidizing all of the junk mail senders as well. They shouldn’t be subsidizing anyone. The world isn’t going to stop turning with 5 day a week mail service and three day a week service to very rural areas. If a letter just has to get there quickly, normal mail isn’t the optimal way to do it anyway. It wasn’t until 1863 that mail was delivered daily so there is some historical precedence for less than daily service. Reducing service days, charging correct rates that reflect cost, and improving efficiencies in both labor and processes would make the USPS both solvent while still being relevant.