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Mail delivery slowdown: USPS to slow delivery starting October 1

28 points by elsewhen 5y ago

PenguinCoder 5y ago
Intentionally slow it down even MORE than it already is ? Christ we need better leadership at all levels that actually care about serving the people.
- jachee 5y ago
  I don’t understand why the stooge with conflicts of interest[0] that the former president put in charge in an attempt to subvert and hamstring the biggest vote-by-mail election ever is still the postmaster general. Shouldn’t the new administration have replaced him with someone competent? [0] https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/experts-agree-dejoy-s-conflicts-of-interest-should-have-disqualified-him-from https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/experts-agre...
- hedora 5y ago
  Here’s a petition to sign: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-usps https://www.change.org/p/save-the-usps
- m463 5y ago
  The thing is, they do serve the people - all of them, even the ones in prudhoe bay, alaska. Meanwhile amazon uses its own service for the most easily reached addresses, UPS for most other addresses, and grinds down the USPS serving the exceptional/hard addresses (which might not be cost effective for USPS).
DaveExeter 5y ago
Time to disband the post service. Let it be done by a private organization, for lower rates and faster arrival times.
- Something1234 5y ago
  Guess what most private organizations actually contract last mile to the postal service, because it is not profitable to do deliver in heavily rural areas. The postal service is a public good.
  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    That many organizations contract the USPS to make deliveres for them does not make it a public good. Many organizations contract out payroll or lawn care as well, because they can't profitably do it themselves as well as another business that can do it more cost effectively. A public good is by definition one that is non-excludable and non-rival. * non-rival means that if one person uses the good, it does not prevent another user from using it. An example would be someone listening to a radio broadcast does not prevent someone else from doing that. The USPS is not a non-rival good because as more people use the USPS, it requires more resources to deliver the mail. Mail delivery is a rival good. * non-excludable means that you cannot prevent someone from using the good. An example of this would be a park without a fence around it, or the air you breathe, or a road without a toll, or the view of a beautiful mountain. The USPS is most definately excludable, as if you don't have the postage stamp the mail is not delivered. Of course the above fall along a spectrum. It might be feasible to encrypt the broadcast, making it an excludable good. It might not be economically feasible to prevent someone from using the road or enjoying a scenic view. So whether something is a public good depends as much on technology and cost effictiveness as anything else, it's not a characteristic of the good in isolation of the economy. Thus the invention of encryption made the airwaves a rival good and set off a renaissance of broadcast products from Satellite TV and Internet to pay-per-view broadcasts, something that was not possible when the technology didn't allow broadcasts to be excludable. But in our current world, with the technology of postage stamps well understood, it's clear that the USPS is not a public good.
    - ddingus 5y ago
      It totally is. Fact is anti government interests have paid Congress to hobble the Post Office to encourage your point of view. Corruption, bribes, deliberate mismanagement and debt all have impacted the Post Office to make private carriers look better. It started with the Bush Administration and has gone on for decades.
TechBro8615 5y ago
In other news, “70% of the U.S. population now lives within 100 miles of an Amazon Air airport.” https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/04/map-of-amazon-air-locations-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/04/map-of-amazon-air-locations-...

28 points by elsewhen 5y ago

Intentionally slow it down even MORE than it already is ? Christ we need better leadership at all levels that actually care about serving the people.

jachee 5y ago
I don’t understand why the stooge with conflicts of interest[0] that the former president put in charge in an attempt to subvert and hamstring the biggest vote-by-mail election ever is still the postmaster general. Shouldn’t the new administration have replaced him with someone competent? [0] https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/experts-agree-dejoy-s-conflicts-of-interest-should-have-disqualified-him-from https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/experts-agre...
hedora 5y ago
Here’s a petition to sign: https://www.change.org/p/save-the-usps https://www.change.org/p/save-the-usps
m463 5y ago
The thing is, they do serve the people - all of them, even the ones in prudhoe bay, alaska. Meanwhile amazon uses its own service for the most easily reached addresses, UPS for most other addresses, and grinds down the USPS serving the exceptional/hard addresses (which might not be cost effective for USPS).

DaveExeter 5y ago

Time to disband the post service. Let it be done by a private organization, for lower rates and faster arrival times.

Something1234 5y ago
Guess what most private organizations actually contract last mile to the postal service, because it is not profitable to do deliver in heavily rural areas. The postal service is a public good.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  That many organizations contract the USPS to make deliveres for them does not make it a public good. Many organizations contract out payroll or lawn care as well, because they can't profitably do it themselves as well as another business that can do it more cost effectively. A public good is by definition one that is non-excludable and non-rival. * non-rival means that if one person uses the good, it does not prevent another user from using it. An example would be someone listening to a radio broadcast does not prevent someone else from doing that. The USPS is not a non-rival good because as more people use the USPS, it requires more resources to deliver the mail. Mail delivery is a rival good. * non-excludable means that you cannot prevent someone from using the good. An example of this would be a park without a fence around it, or the air you breathe, or a road without a toll, or the view of a beautiful mountain. The USPS is most definately excludable, as if you don't have the postage stamp the mail is not delivered. Of course the above fall along a spectrum. It might be feasible to encrypt the broadcast, making it an excludable good. It might not be economically feasible to prevent someone from using the road or enjoying a scenic view. So whether something is a public good depends as much on technology and cost effictiveness as anything else, it's not a characteristic of the good in isolation of the economy. Thus the invention of encryption made the airwaves a rival good and set off a renaissance of broadcast products from Satellite TV and Internet to pay-per-view broadcasts, something that was not possible when the technology didn't allow broadcasts to be excludable. But in our current world, with the technology of postage stamps well understood, it's clear that the USPS is not a public good.
  - ddingus 5y ago
    It totally is. Fact is anti government interests have paid Congress to hobble the Post Office to encourage your point of view. Corruption, bribes, deliberate mismanagement and debt all have impacted the Post Office to make private carriers look better. It started with the Bush Administration and has gone on for decades.

TechBro8615 5y ago

In other news, “70% of the U.S. population now lives within 100 miles of an Amazon Air airport.” https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/04/map-of-amazon-air-locations-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/04/map-of-amazon-air-locations-...