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| Home Front: Politix |
| Postal Service Eyes Closing Thousands of Post Offices |
| 2011-01-24 |
| The news is crushing in many remote communities where the post office is often the heart of the town and the closest link to the rest of the country. Shuttering them, critics say, also puts an enormous burden on people, particularly on the elderly, who find it difficult to travel out of town. Just makin' sure everyone suffers, even if it isn't right. So much for equal access. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #11 I dont really care about the stamps/postage mailing something after hours. It's going to the post office to pick up registered mail. Or when my mailbox gets too full and they take the lot back to the post office for me to pick up later. And now their hours are like 9-4:30 M-F and Sat 9-1pm. How am I going to get there with those stupid ass hours if I work 8-5. ( and am too hung over on Sat to get there reg hours :0 ) |
| Posted by: Mr. Bill 2011-01-24 22:45 |
| #10 btw AP - I'm waiting to get to the Santee PO when it's not a zoo to mail that book. I swear! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-24 22:03 |
| #9 We've got the automatic stuff in the Post Office here (central Virginia), though I haven't used it. The closest PO is right on my way to work, and it's no trouble to swing in and mail something that's too light to waste the Priority Mail rate on (i.e., anything under 13 ounces, or any Media Mail). I've got an account with the PO so I can print my own Priority Mail labels and just drop the package off at the local PO (it was great to walk to the front of the line around Christmas and just drop the package on the end of the counter ;-p) - works well for my part-time businesses on Etsy and Artfire. If I have to, I can also mail stuff from work and they'll take the charge out of my check. (Have I mentioned I LOVE my job?) Just about all the postal clerks around here are very friendly and helpful. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-01-24 22:00 |
| #8 I like the new kiosks in the USPO except that you can't buy just a few stamps anymore, the lowest amount is a full book. If the USPO gave up its first-class monopoly, it would probably have to shut down altogether, and many isolated areas would lose service. Just remember that postal service in the US has been worse. Back in the mid-1800s (?1830) a first class stamp was 25 cents when you could buy an acre of government land for $1.25. At other times there was no 'rural free delivery', sometimes you could get your mail delivered only by paying the mail man for his time in addition to the postage. There are probably a lot of opportunities for privatizing that have not even been considered, such as outsourcing deliveries to small communities, and applying surcharges. IIRC, UPS now charges extra to deliver to some remote areas, which is only fair. Privatizing / outsourcing would also increase the unemployment rate until displaced postal workers could find new employment (Ha! - as if...) or retired. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-24 20:40 |
| #7 Ditto for Cincinnati, Sgt. Mom. The nearby Hallmark card shop got themselves registered as a satellite post office about a decade ago, too -- they're open until 9 pm on weeknights, I believe. Only they won't cash checks, because periodically forgers come through; they send them down to the village post office, where the stupids get themselves arrested. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-01-24 20:13 |
| #6 I'm in Texas - and in the branch post offices (and even in the main city post office) they have installed the auto-mail kiosks, to stamp and mail packages, and dispense postage, charged to a debit or a credit card. I used to mail large envelopes of manuscripts and query letters, after hours, and I would still use it to mail my books to customers, except that the kiosk doesn't offer the media mail rate. Senior citizens often find the kiosk a bit daunting - but when they were first installed here in San Antonio, the clerks used to wait in ambush for customers with parcels during the slow times, and walk them through using it. (Weirdly enough, the post office employees here in SA are very friendly and helpful. So are the personnel at the county clerks' office, where you have to do to process paperwork to do with auto registration. The Bexar County office customer service is outstanding, and so is the service at the Main Post Office...) |
| Posted by: Sgt.Mom 2011-01-24 19:43 |
| #5 my bank's ATMs dispense stamps |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-24 17:22 |
| #4 Same here, boss. No stamp machines in the Post Office. Try buying stamps after closing time on Saturday. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2011-01-24 16:20 |
| #3 Unions. A couple of years ago they took out stamp machines from several locations in my neighborhood so that people would have to wait in line to buy from union Postal Clerks instead. |
| Posted by: Boss Omeamp8033 2011-01-24 13:07 |
| #2 "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop," - Herb Stein |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-01-24 11:47 |
| #1 Of course they'd never consider giving up the monopoly on doing first class mail particularly for those areas soon to be devoid of their presence, now would they? /rhet question. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-24 11:38 |