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Yesterday my local blue drop box was removed and the local auxiliary Post Office has a sign that says it will be closing by the end of this month. Today I spoke to my local mail person who told me that the route workers received a directive that they will not be picking up mail from single family residences or rural routes. (Around here if you live rurally or are in a single family residence with an exterior mailbox, you can clip your outgoing mail and the mail person will pick it up.)
I still pay 2 bills by mail. That means I now have to drive almost 6 miles to post those bills. If the exterior drive up drop boxes are removed it means I will need to find parking before going inside to post my mail. What about the elderly or the disabled who need to post mail?
Anyway, have you considered how these changes will impact your life?
That would be fantastic. I get so much junk mail.
The only thing I ever send in the mail is mail-in rebates.
Most everyone I know now pays their bills online since it is cheaper, faster and more reliable and provides an easy record of payments made for up to 5-6 years. Likewise, cash is going to become a relic soon since no one wants to touch paper money or even have to sign a credit card receipt for health reasons. One of the positive outcome from the CV19 pandemic is to accelerate the trend to shift entirely form paper to digital transactions.
Gadol hatorah
You may be right that paying for your bills online is faster and more reliable but it comes with additional fees each time you make an online payment with these companies like your electric bill or gas bill etc…. There’s an additional credit card fee added to the Bill each month you pay AND IT ALL ADDS UP TO ALOT EXTRA then a check and a postage stamp etc….
The major impact will be on businesses that need to ship (which include many frum companies), since that will encourage the “competition” to raise rates. It also will hurt those who do not routinely use email , and especially those who lack broadband (which includes any frum families).
The USPS predates the constitution itself and was in later years was expressly granted a monopoly in order to provide for universal access to postal services for all citizens. So even if a a route is running at a loss, the postal service will provide for it’s services at a loss.
This service is a service as such. To say it is running at a loss and it needs to be privatized is like saying the armed forces run at a loss…
Trump’s appointee of US Postmaster Loius DeJoy is (unsurprisingly) a Republican Party donor and (again, unsurprisingly) a shareholder with $70 million of shares in companies that directly compete with the USPS.
Companies like UPS and XPO Logistics. It is within his interest for the USPS to fail.
And within Trump’s interest for people not to be able to mail in their votes.
Sammy: I checked my electric, gas, water, cable , landscaping and trash collection bills. NONE of them charge any service fee or adder for paying bills electronically. In fact, several offer a discount for signing up for regular epayments tied directly to your bank (which I won’t do). So there is NO additional cost and if you are being charged, you are being ripped off. A very few smaller businesses may charge a service fee for credit card use so I keep an old fashioned checking account for those vendors which I rarely encounter. Some vendors no longer take cash despite certain “progressive” jurisdictions passing legislation requiring them to do so on behalf of the “unbanked” portion of the population. The more hip/millennial oriented service providers only offer digital (paper free) payment options so you cannot even initiate service w/o giving them a credit card.
Quayboardwarrior: Postal service originally was limited to official mail, and did not include home delivery (that was added during the Civil War so women whose husbands were off fighting wouldn’t have to go to the post office, which often was run by the local inn, which often doubled as a “Beis Zenus”). Rural free delivery and parcel post were also late add-ons.
If you made internet access a entitlement (as was telephone service by the late 20th century), you could probably get rid of paper mail service.
@akuperma The internet may be a replacement for some mail but far from all.
I’d hardly be able to get my meds sent to me monthly via the internet.
And unfortunately the US is so far from making internet a universal entitlement, quite the contrary. Its far more expensive that much of Europe and Asia.
I use Bill Pay through my bank where the bank mails out the checks to companies and individuals whom I want to pay usually monthly and they cash it. It can also make a one time payment. This is a free service.
Quayboardwarrior: In the late 20th century they made phone service an entitlement (meaning that the welfare program would pay for basic phone service for welfare recipients). It wouldn’t cost that much to provide a similar level of internet, especially if it included very limited graphics (perhaps on the line of glorified texting, with someway to authenticate what you were receiving). At that point, the Post Office could drop first class mail, perhaps continuing parcel service and priority mail (especially with signature required) with higher fees,
AmilZola
I pay through my bank’s bill pay on line. I do not go to the vendor’s assorted websites as it takes too much time.
If a vendor is not set up to receive ACH transfers from my bank (and I have three like that). The bank issues a bank check and mails it paying the postage (no charge to me). I just know that when I pay bills, if I enter payment info by 7PM, vendors receive the payment the next business day. If a check has to be mailed, the bank BillPay will show me the day the payment will be received by the vendor.That said, as an attorney I use the USPS very often. Lots of documents that need to be delivered in hard copy, things requiring signed proof of delivery, etc. so much cheaper than UPS, FEDEX. etc.
@Gadolhadorah
here in CT if I go on the Electric or Gas company (both owned by the same holding company) website and want to pay my bill I have two choices:
#1 MUST only receive electronic bill and can pay on line by checking account only
#2 Get paper bills and can’t pay on line by checking account
Otherwise, you are transferred to a third party payer system (Western Union) who will handle your debit or credit card payment and collects a fee of $3.95.That’s why I use my bank’s billPay system which is free.
Gadol hatorah
What CTLAWYER wrote above of the 3 choices is exactly what I was talking about with these monthly online payments. $3.95 charge fee is alot compared to a check and a stamp mailing etc…. And repeatedly every month a few times adds up to alot of money just on billing fees and charges this is besides for the actual bill itself being paid.
Sam Klein,
Seems you have a selective reading problem.
CTLAWYER listed two simple methods to avoid paying fees. The bill pay option through the bank will work for any payee which will accept a check, and takes way less time than writing a check, etc. It is also often faster than sending a check (with many large companies they send the payments electronically rather than sending a physical check).
@Meno
What I suggested using Bill Pay for any vendor who will accept a check, works now. If the USPS closes down, the bank will not be able to issue and mail those checks to pay the bills.Will the eventual closure of the USPO impact you?
It will affect me is a way much different than most in the CR.
It is no secret that I and our family trusts have real estate holdings. In Fairfield County we own two commercial properties where the USPO leases space for retail branches. They pay handsomely and on tile with long term leases. They have helped to educate my children and grandchildren.
I am far from the only American who is a supplier to the USPO and would be affected. Even the local gas station around the corner from my home has a contract to maintain the non-electric jeep tyoe delivery vehicles used in our town and supply the fuel. Our area POs use local janatorial companies to do their cleaning, snow removal, etc.
Every day (prior to Covid) there would be long lines of people waiting to get Passports. The PO is the the processing arm of the Dept of State Passport Service. They process the applications, can take your passport photos for a fee, sell you a money order to enclose in the envelope, etc.
In the inner city there is a dearth of banks. Poor people use the USPO as their bank, they buy money orders there and mail them to pay their bills. They also can get cash back when using a debit card, as opposed to using a commercial ATM with a few dollar fee.
Both the homeless and those traveling can have mail sent to Genera Delivery, Anytown USA XXXXX and pick it up at the PO.CTLAWYER, you’re right, I hadn’t thought that through.
Either way, a vast majority of the mail delivered by the USPS is junk. At least 90% of the mail I receive goes straight in the trash. The other 10% mostly gets opened and then goes straight in the trash. I suspect that it’s the same for most people. It’s hard to justify operating a company at such a loss to deliver mostly junk.
For all that important mail, people will figure something out.
I am no logistics expert, but for those worried because they are reliant on the postal service, there are other companies that offer similar serviecs, such as FedEx, UPS or DHL.
IF the USPS would close, the cost of delivery to the boondocks would be astronomical. We would probably see the costs of all delivery services go up a lot. Which would be a blow to all the home delivery throughout the nation. Even Amazon could take a big hit. ‘Free’ economics, is never a vacuum.
@2cents
The Post Office will deliver a letter for 55 cents
I dare you to get a rate even TEN times that from UPS, FEDEX, DHL…………………………….(for an individual not a contract commercial user).Commercial carriers are NOT a replacement for the USPS
CTL
Maybe because the actual cost of delivering the parcel actually costs a lot. Hence the reason the USPS is losing billions of dollars on a yearly basis?
Dear Two,
You are getting closer. It is called optimizing public assets. Without it, all the private companies would have ten-fold expenses. And, marginal profits. The USPS could be closed when it is no longer needed. Not when it is no longer a cornerstone of the US economy.
I get it, the usps charges a fraction than non government shipping companies.
Yet, its coming at a massive monetary costs, something needs to be done so it can either break even or at least burn a few billion dollars less per year.
Dear Two,
The cost is covered by the amount of business the US economy generates, due to cheaper services and greater infrastructure.
I get medicines by USPS. I could afford to have FedEx ship them, but a lot of people can’t.
The entire problem is that the Republicans decided that USPS had to pre-fund all its pensions and health care costs for 75 years in the future. No government agency faces that requirement; no private sector business does. This was under Bush. If the USPS were permitted to follow generally accepted accounting principles, most of the problem goes away. But Trump would not have an excuse to shut it down.
Charlie,
I believe the idea is to reform the USPS, not shut it down.
I get three types of mail.
Give me
Pay me
Buy me
and I can do without all of the above.
CT LAWYER, I feel for you and I feel for most real estate people, but you average zlob working from paycheck to paycheck does not have real estate trusts, so be happy that you had the gravy train for all those years.
As to all ancillary services provided by USPS, the town and county clerks are passport acceptance agencies, most check cashers will give money orders for .50 to $1, and UPS stores have pick ups stations.Sorry if I sound crass but Taxi were hurt by Uber, Typesetters were hurt by graphics computer programing and the buggy whip manufacturers were hurt by cars, its called change.
@CommonSaychel
Contrary to your belief, MOST Town Clerks are not Passport acceptance/processing agencies. As for County Clerks, I have no clue. CT has not had any County Government since 1960.I just entered my Zip Code in Travel.State.Gov
The nearest 250 locations that are Passport acceptance agencies are ALL Post Offices. In Fact, the US Passport Agency run by the Dept of State in Stamford and NYC will only take applications from emergency last minute travelers leaving the country within a few days who present their airline ticket with the application in person.‘As for Check Cashers, you don;t find these in small towns, and the UPS stire could be 10 miles away.
You use the KEY WORD: “SERVICES” The USPS is a service, the same as Fire, Police EMS, Public Schools, Roads, Libraries…..it is NOT supposed to break even or turn a profit. It exists to serve the taxpaying public.
That’s why things such as books, or recordings for the blind ship at reduced rates
That;s why there was established Rural Free DeliveryCTL
Reforms are necessary and those services that people usually get from the post office should not be discontinued. There are a number of alternative options.
CTL,
The services that you listed are not funded on the federal level, and some of them actually do cover themselves financially as they get compensated by billing insurance companies for their services.
yet, if the expenses exceed the income, the local government will use tax-money that they collected, so the local communities can have access to these vital services.
@CTL, Just check rural CT. local town offices, Libraries and County clerks in NY all do passports, most money orders demand are from the unbanked and the check casher can fill the void.
Quit crying and be thankful for the many years you rode the gravy train.Dear Common,
You do not receive any invitations?@n0m, nope that bh stopped with corona, emails and calls only, i will show at your if I am invited
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