3 ms·

I've always found the concept of mailing a letter from your house really interesting. My understanding is that it's common in the US (which is why they have the

I've always found the concept of mailing a letter from your house really interesting. My understanding is that it's common in the US (which is why they have the little red thing on their mailboxes I think?), but I've never lived in a place where it's a thing. For such a capitalistic country, the way the US historically treated the USPS as a common civic good is really cool.

chrisco255 2mo ago
USPS is run as a federally owned business. It was traditionally self sustained by postage fees not by taxes, but it is nice that it was from our country's earliest days, a key piece of infrastructure. Nowadays mailing any letter is pretty rare as most people communicate via text, email, etc but it is still absolutely possible to do so. And yes the red flag is to indicate a letter needs to be picked up for delivery.
- rafabulsing 2mo ago
  Hah, that's very interesting to learn. I've always thought the little flag was lifted by the mailman, so that the homeowner could tell from a distance that they got mail. Cool that it's actually the other way around.
  - xeromal 2mo ago
    I think that's mainly because the mailman might not notice that the mail in your box is not your mail being left over from when he dropped it off the day before. The flag lets him know what's remaining in the box is to be delivered. He could read the addresses but they have very busy routes!
    - rafabulsing 2mo ago
      Yeah, that makes a lot of sense!
insane_dreamer 2mo ago
Nowadays the USPS is basically a spam delivery service. 95% of the “mail” I receive goes directly in the trash
adestefan 2mo ago
The Postal Service is one of the few entities directly authorized by the US Constitution. From Article 1, Section 8: > The Congress shall have Power… To establish Post Offices and post Roads With that one of the hallmarks of the USPS is they really strive to service every person in the country no matter how remote. The fact they’ve turned it into a “business” and not a public good is really a tragedy.
tsm 2mo ago
> which is why they have the little red thing on their mailboxes Yes. One of my surprises when moving from the US to the UK were that I couldn't mail a letter from my house (and also how expensive the postage is!)

chrisco255 2mo ago

USPS is run as a federally owned business. It was traditionally self sustained by postage fees not by taxes, but it is nice that it was from our country's earliest days, a key piece of infrastructure. Nowadays mailing any letter is pretty rare as most people communicate via text, email, etc but it is still absolutely possible to do so. And yes the red flag is to indicate a letter needs to be picked up for delivery.

rafabulsing 2mo ago
Hah, that's very interesting to learn. I've always thought the little flag was lifted by the mailman, so that the homeowner could tell from a distance that they got mail. Cool that it's actually the other way around.
- xeromal 2mo ago
  I think that's mainly because the mailman might not notice that the mail in your box is not your mail being left over from when he dropped it off the day before. The flag lets him know what's remaining in the box is to be delivered. He could read the addresses but they have very busy routes!
  - rafabulsing 2mo ago
    Yeah, that makes a lot of sense!

insane_dreamer 2mo ago

Nowadays the USPS is basically a spam delivery service. 95% of the “mail” I receive goes directly in the trash

adestefan 2mo ago

The Postal Service is one of the few entities directly authorized by the US Constitution. From Article 1, Section 8: > The Congress shall have Power… To establish Post Offices and post Roads With that one of the hallmarks of the USPS is they really strive to service every person in the country no matter how remote. The fact they’ve turned it into a “business” and not a public good is really a tragedy.

tsm 2mo ago

> which is why they have the little red thing on their mailboxes Yes. One of my surprises when moving from the US to the UK were that I couldn't mail a letter from my house (and also how expensive the postage is!)