The USPS is good and necessary

[Spartanmack]

If you believe that, why even have a government? For profit corporations should own and run everything.

the purpose of government should be too establish and protect individual and property rights. the private sector should do a lot of what our massively oversized and overreaching government does, particularly when it comes to government institutions that are massive failures like the USPS.

 

[Spartanmack]

LOL okay, it you're so sure, give us the numbers.

how much does it cost the USPS to send a letter across the country?

because everything I've read says they've still managed to operate within their budget, even as squeezed as it is, and despite being sandbagged by a bullshit 2006 congressional rule that requires the USPS to fund their entire pension obligations up front.

and yeah, I'm fine with poor taxpayers funding my letterS. rich taxpayers do too, and I fund theirs as well. That's how it works, Einstein.

LOL, okay - I just read a piece that said the USPS had a $5.2B loss that was $3b over the loss budgeted by May of 2019 and that they were on pace to lose over $10B for the year - even if you weren't full of shit and they were operating within their budget, their budget has them operating at a loss of billions of dollars EVERY year. How dumb do you have to be to not understand that?

And no shithead, that's not how it works. That's why it's broken. People should pay for the services they use based on the cost of those services, we shouldn't be subsidizing each other's mail. No taxpayers and especially not poor taxpayers should be subsidizing the folks who hammer them with junk mail bilking them out of more of their money by selling them garbage they don't need. That's what you're supporting when you support subsidized mail - corporations, your arch nemesis and shysters ripping people off and wasting resources like paper, fuel, electricity, etc, all the things you decry as contributing to global warming or climate change or whatever nonsense you're convinced of. But hey, you can send grandpa a letter of $.55, so it's OK. You're such a hypocrite. Tell your grandpa to get an email account and you can write to him for free.

 

[Gulo Blue]

People should pay for the services they use based on the cost of those services

I knew you were one of those 'defund the police' crazies.

 

[Spartanmack]

I knew you were one of those 'defund the police' crazies.

Perhaps you missed this. Kinda makes your joke fall a little flat.

the purpose of government should be too establish and protect individual and property rights...

 

[Gulo Blue]

Perhaps you missed this. Kinda makes your joke fall a little flat.

Of course I saw it. Made me think of the Preamble to the Constitution.

 

[Spartanmack]

Of course I saw it. Made me think of the Preamble to the Constitution.

I admit, it was a pretty good attempt - definitely not your worst effort. And it got me thinking - should we make criminals pay for their arrest and incarceration? There are some obvious questions that pop up immediately like, what would we do about false arrest and mistaken ID cases? And then there's the problem of criminals needing to commit more crimes to pay their outstanding invoices. It also may give police the wrong kind of incentives. As good of an idea as it is, I just don't think it's very practical.

 

[kalinecountry]

What the actual Fuck is all this subsidized bullshit about the Post Office??
The PO is not subsidized by anyone, They are the only part of the government that is required by a GOP vote to prefund the health care. This is why they are in the red and easy for people and the republicans and the companies waiting to privatize by saying this that they are losing money and it's time to dismantle. 550 million pieces of mail every day. This shit has been going on since Reagan was president, every GOP president since tried to break it and now another wolf is in charge appointed by trump. Darrell Issa another in a long line of scum fucks kept trying to get rid of the post office.
Boil my blood and you will get burned.

 

[Gulo Blue]

What the actual Fuck is all this subsidized bullshit about the Post Office??
The PO is not subsidized by anyone

Good catch.

 

[Spartanmack]

Good catch.

yeah, good catch - they operate at a loss every year without the risk of ever going out of business because they're not subsidized by anyone.

 

[Gulo Blue]

USPS is pretty great, we should start subsidizing them.

 

[Gulo Blue]

 

[sggatecl]

USPS is pretty great, we should start subsidizing them.

Only if they start lobbying congressmen and offering kickbacks. I'm not quite sure how that would work.

 

[Spartanmack]

USPS is pretty great, we should start subsidizing them.

don't quit your day job, even if you don't work very hard, like MC. You do realize, people who don't know the difference between an expense and a liability saying the post office isn't subsidized doesn't make it true. Like climate change, it's not something determined by consensus.

 

[Gulo Blue]

don't quit your day job, even if you don't work very hard, like MC. You do realize, people who don't know the difference between an expense and a liability saying the post office isn't subsidized doesn't make it true. Like climate change, it's not something determined by consensus.

Sure. Tell me more about the meanings of these words you know. Like we haven't discussed such things enough already. These things aren't determined by consensus, they're determined by being the last one to assert correctness.

 

[tomdalton22]

I can't wait to spend an extra $12 per envelop to mail each of my monthly bills, and $12 to mail a letter to Grandpa Michchamp.

pay bills and send letters in the mail? Who does this anymore...is this 1980?

I don't pay a single bill using the mail. Every one is set up using auto pay. Every revolving bill I get is paperless. I send letters sometimes...it's called email. 99% of the mail we get is junk and gets put right in the trash.

 

[Mitchrapp]

pay bills and send letters in the mail? Who does this anymore...is this 1980?

I don't pay a single bill using the mail. Every one is set up using auto pay. Every revolving bill I get is paperless. I send letters sometimes...it's called email. 99% of the mail we get is junk and gets put right in the trash.

My mom still writes letters. My Aunt who doesn't own a computer or mobile phone I write her a letter. It happens.

Edit: And how about birthday or Christmas cards?

 

[tomdalton22]

My mom still writes letters. My Aunt who doesn't own a computer or mobile phone I write her a letter. It happens.

Edit: And how about birthday or Christmas cards?

I get it...I do think there is still a need for the postal service, but not the current model. They should start by delivering only 3x a week, M,W,F. Then, maybe go down to 2x a week.

Not too far down the line, everyone will have a smart phone and internet service.

Send E cards!

 

[Gulo Blue]

I get it...I do think there is still a need for the postal service, but not the current model. They should start by delivering only 3x a week, M,W,F. Then, maybe go down to 2x a week.

Not too far down the line, everyone will have a smart phone and internet service.

Send E cards!

Can't get rid of it until/unless internet gets cheaper in rural places. But mail 3x/week seems ok.

 

[byco42]

I write letters frequently. I still mail in a couple of bills. The demise of personal, hand-written communication is yet another sign of the de-humanization of mankind. If that option to mail communications is denied us, it will not, IMO, be accidental nor beneficial to humanity. There is information all over the internet on the benefits of hand-written letters. And writing a letter and scanning it is not comparable.

I will not be anymore dependent on the internet than necessary, which is already way too much. 3.8 billion people have "Smart" Phones. 254 million Americans estimated. They look at them an average of 47 times a day in the U.S.

 

[Michchamp]

pay bills and send letters in the mail? Who does this anymore...is this 1980?

I don't pay a single bill using the mail. Every one is set up using auto pay. Every revolving bill I get is paperless. I send letters sometimes...it's called email. 99% of the mail we get is junk and gets put right in the trash.

I don't like auto-pay, because I don't like being in the position of having to ask them for my money back when they over-bill me. I want to control when I pay and how much. And I like being able to read paper invoices.



I still get a couple print magazines, and send and receive birthday cards to relatives and they send them to me and my kids, and now send holiday cards every year (last year, I included a small bottle of Texas whiskey with each one).



I get a wad of coupons and other bullshit once a week. I don't know... but definitely less than 90% of what I get is junk mail.



I'm still not convinced that the USPS, a government agency required by the US Constitution, and unlike the Pentagon, one that operates effciently ("In 2016, the USPS had its fifth straight annual operating loss, in the amount of $5.59 billion, of which $5.8 billion was the accrual of unpaid mandatory retiree health payments." i.e. it would have been profitable (!!!) if it wasn't for the requirement enacted in 2006 that it pre-fund all retiree health benefits, something no other entity in America - public or private - has) is bad, and I would be better off paying UPS or Fedex $70-$100/month or over $1000 year to pay my bills, and the occasional letter or package I send. What a fucking great deal for me. And all other Americans like me.



Call me CRAZY for not wanting to spend an extra $1200 per year to send mail that the USPS would deliver for maybe $100 total.



How selfish of me - and other Americans - to think of saving money when a private corporation could profit more. I'm also going to donate a pint of blood to UPS. Never know when they might need it.