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Mail is declining and 3200 outlets out of 34,000 will be considered for closing their doors forever. One such Post office in HAWLEYVILLE, CT. is putting up a fight to save their office. I say bravo to them. (click here) I'm wondering if mine will be next? As the United States Postal Service, weighed down by a crippling multibillion-dollar deficit, shrinks its operations, post offices across the country are on the chopping block. Each year, hundreds of postal operations shutter, but this coming fall could be the single biggest consolidation in Postal Service history.
U.S. Postal Service: RIP
Posted Jun 15 2009, 06:05 AM by Douglas McIntyre
The U.S. Postal Service, which has been dying for years due to the advent of the fax, e-mail, and overnight delivery, may finally be close to its last act.
The agency lost nearly $2 billion in its last fiscal year and is faced with the serious consideration of cuts of up to 3,100 offices, potentially eliminating thousand of jobs. Media reports say that first class mail volumes are plunging.
What is killing and will probably eventually finish off the Post Office? In a word: “broadband,” the high-speed Internet system that the current Administration plans to build out in the next two years.
According to MarketWatch, the Postal Service is already looking at stopping Saturday delivery. The next moves will probably cut the number of weekdays the mail is dropped off, particularly outside urban areas where the cost of reaching homes and businesses spread over a wide geography is enormous.
Broadband has taken away the need for sending letters and may large documents. Broadband connections allow users to securely download encrypted files, some of which are the equivalent of thousands of pages of paper. The files can be sent and received in a few seconds compared with days to move them by mail.
Payment systems which wire transfer money have nearly eliminated the role of the check in paying bills. This will only increase as e-banking does.
Even the magazine and newspaper industries which relied on physical delivery systems for decades now use the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle as a way to get the printed word over the Internet and downloaded onto the device. Almost every major print product also has an Internet version. Sending magazines via mail is expensive. Cutting back on that form of delivery would be a blessing.
The modern postal system killed the pony express. The USPS could only last so long before it was itself replaced. That time has finally come.
Top Stocks blogger Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
Yeaaahhhh.... o.k. - Moderator for The Postal People Photo Blog
It's been a while since I posted on this blog. I was in the ongoing battle of transitioning from the fearless side of being a Mailhandler to crossing over to the darkside of customer services as a level 17 supervisor in southern California. Probably the most traumatic employment I've ever experienced in my life. Unfortunately I'm one of the good guys, and this new age of an undertime environment, I'm in between a rock in a hard place with upper management blasting me, employees adding to the drama, and the customers, who expect to recieve the highest level of customer service within the boundaries of excessing and no budget to make a difference. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) previously announced a loss for the quarter ending December 31, 2008, in an 8K filed on February 9, 2009. USPS discloses that its unaudited January 2009 financial results were an estimated $5.80 billion in revenue and $6.55 billion in expenses, resulting in an estimated net loss of $751 million. This loss compares to a loss of $44 million in January 2008, which resulted from total revenue of $6.58 billion and total expenses of $6.62 billion. Mail volumes declined by over 16% in January 2009 from January 2008. The January results continue to illustrate that the downward pressure on the Postal Service business continues into 2009. Did you get all that? Well, I figured now is the time to start posting again. Where is Captain America when we need him now? I look forward to your photos and comments. uspsblog@gmail.com
