The Post Office General has reported an over $3 Billion loss for fiscal year 2009.
Look for more post office closings, a new drive to end Saturday delivery and an increase in postage rates.
We all know what the reaction was when the Postal Service announced Post Office closings last round but use a little common sense, the Post Office hasn't been runnung in the black for years, and it's reasonable that it reduce expenses by eleminating a number of its local branch offices, lay off more people, and raising its postal rates.
With more folks using the Internet to pay bills and keeping in touch with family and friends, fewer pieces of mail are going out.
I visit my branch perhaps twice a year, pay many of my bills and do my banking online so it makes little difference to me whether they close my branch or not, and as for Saturday deliveries, since 98% of the mail I get is junk mail, I wouldn't miss it one bit.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iXhtiVuunBy4xEMERtaujGPAUq7QD9C0S4NG0
I say cancel Saturday delivery before closing offices. Local post offices are convenient for people who can't get around as well as everyone else.
What about going back to having mail boxes put back out where folks can drop off their letters?
Place Mail boxes at heavily traffic areas as supermarkets and have once a day pickups.
Already supermarkets sell stamps.
In some supermarkets you can pay some of your utility bills (example: the Belmont Avenue Giant Eagle. Maby they could also be a dropoff for mailing packages.
This is a bit off-topic. When I first moved into my neighborhood, there was an old U.S. Mail box, that had been sealed, on my street. It was still green.
According to this site: http://www.nscalelimited.com/2009/03/21/mailbox-color-for-your-era/ mail boxes were green until 1955. It looked like this: http://www.nscalelimited.com/2009/03/21/mailbox-color-for-your-era/olive/
I don't think those are mailboxes. I think they are for mail storage. A postal carrier can only carry so much mail at one time, so these boxes would be set up so that all of the mail to be delivered would be put into the box, then the mail carrier would make several loops radiating outward from that box, taking the mail that would be delivered next with him. Nowadays even the carriers on foot normally have trucks in which they can store mail in, so these green boxes aren't as prevalent. Some may have started out as traditional mailboxes but I think most were built that way from the factory but given the traditional mailbox shape that would immediately e recognized by mail carriers.
Ever since the mail carriers started driving vans or trucks the storage boxes are no longer used, and there are only a hand full of mail boxes in town.