Hat tip to my buddy, Word Salad for this latest USPS debacle…
Ah, the United States Post Office. The agency I love to loathe. Overpaid. Over-benefited. Bankrupt. Broken. Inefficient. Everything a Government agency is meant to be. A Government-endorsed, subsidized and protected monopoly; one of the largest and most costly monopolies to the U.S. taxpayer in United States history. Remember that “monopoly” is only a bad word in the private sector, when it happens in Government it is A-OKAY.
As if it wasn’t already hard enough trying to tear the reams of crap mail that my postal carrier somehow manages to ram down my metal mailbox, it now appears that in sheer desperation to make sure Government postal workers eat better and live longer than everyone else, the USPS has reduced what it charges to crap mail marketers to overload our mailboxes with recyclables.
Since the USPS is part of the Government, it has no “costs,” so it could theoretically charge a penny to deliver whatever it wanted because when you are a Government agency losing billions a year, you simply reach into your citizens paychecks every week to make ends meet.
Funny…UPS and FEDEX don’t have to reach into my paycheck.
More from Bloomberg…
Postal Service Plan: Kill Trees, Annoy People, Lose Money
(September 21, 2012) There has been one silver lining to the rise of Internet spam: It is easier to get rid of than old-fashioned junk mail. Unfortunately, the U.S. Postal Service wants to step up the assault on your real-world mailbox.
Desperate to escape its financial sinkhole, the Postal Service has begun offering discounts to companies and direct-mail marketers that step up their use of unsolicited letters, which last year amounted to 84 billion credit-card offers, Coldwater Creek catalogs and so forth. Its website has a handy new section called Every Door Direct Mail to make it easier for small business to send citizens a flood of solicitations. Postmaster General Bob Donohoe belittled online alternatives to the New York Times: “You can advertise on Facebook, but I don’t see how you can trace the number of ‘likes’ to return on investment.”
The Postal Service has plenty of problems: It failed to make a required $5.5 billion payment for retiree health benefits this summer, is on pace to lose $14.1 billion this year, and legislation that might give it more flexibility on its finances is stuck in Congress. With first-class mail volume cratering by 25 percent since 2006, a new focus on what it calls “regular mail” might seem sensible. According to the post office’s inspector general, Every Door Direct Mail could generate $1.2 billion in new revenue annually.
Don’t buy it. Junk mail is far less profitable than first-class letters. Increasing volume is at cross purposes with the vital goal, shared to some extent by Donohoe and Congress, of downsizing the work force and closing processing plants and low-traffic post offices.
And, of course, Americans hate junk mail — for good reason. It clutters not just our mailboxes but also our landfills: The Times reported in 2009 that less than half of regular mail is recycled, and 44 percent of it is discarded unopened.
Perhaps the Postal Service initiative will have some benefits: It might provide a little fiscal stimulus for services like Stop the Junk Mail and Catalog Choice, which can limit the amount unsolicited mail you receive. Even better would be if legislators passed laws creating anti-junk registries similar to those for unsolicited phone calls. Until then, be careful not to trip on the way out your front door. (Source: Bloomberg)
AWC – Don’t forget to load up on Forever Stamps. I bought enough to make sure the USPS delivers my mail at 2011 stamp prices for the next 30 years. The money I gave them for those stamps they spent long ago, so they’ll have to deliver my mail for FREE, forever and ever!
Categories: Gov't Workers & Unions, Government Failures
Angrywoodchuck's Blog 
One of my favorite tactics is to open the credit card applications and pack all the junk back into the free postage paid envelope and return it to the credit card company unfilled out. Not only does it provide me a few minutes of chuckles but I suppose it generates some small profit for the USPS. …or maybe not.
I think about doing that all the time. I really need to try that if for no other reason than the self-satisfaction like you said.