Ouch, that's terrible. I would check that guy's bank account for those missing pieces of mail. I woke up this past Sunday morning to notice all the mailboxes on my street (20 houses or so) were open. Not necessarily anything to do with the USPS, but people are getting desperate these days. If I need to send a check in the mail, I take it to a drop box even if it's out of my way.

I got a piece of mail the other day that had a “credit card” in it. Thankfully it wasn’t an actual credit card, just a piece of junkmail from a car dealer and the “credit card” as discount “coupon” because someone had rubbed the outside of the envelope with a pencil to “read” the numbers on the card.
People are getting desperate out there. They will be surprised when they try to use that number for anything.

Wow. That's messed up.

Yeah, because we all know that over 8M of the unemployed didn't lose their jobs under the Bush Admin.

It's Obama's fault. Sure it is old man.

Statist does work. The post office doesn't.

It should be shut down like so many other outdated and redundant government institutions.

Went to the post office on Mill today- the place is huge (relatively), prime real-estate filled with mostly empty space, what a waste.

How about melding the post office with the DMV? Then they can take turns being a holes and actually have enough work to look busy?

The real estate sell off from the USPS would be a boon for government even in a down market.

<How about melding the post office with the DMV? Then they can take turns being a holes and actually have enough work to look busy?>

What a pleasant place that would be ;o)

I went to a DMV in Scottsdale about 10 years ago. It was a modern facility with very nice people working there and no line. Slightly different from Manhattan, or even Palatine.

One of the best reasons to live in Arizona is you only have to get your licence once and only a second time when you turn 65.

<One of the best reasons to live in Arizona is you only have to get your licence once and only a second time when you turn 65. >

Yeah I always get a kick out of showing friends and family my license with an expiration date of 2047.

Pretty sweet eh?

The TSA guys give me an extra look over as my picture is a ten years younger version of me.

I would have closed the US Postal Service 10 years ago. But don't blame the workers. The whole concept is saddled with delivering paper mail on the cheap, to rural areas. Fedex and UPS took the cream and left the dregs. I pity all you people that hate the Postal Service, when you don't get your next VISA card junk mail offering or post card from Aunt Harriet in Dumbarton.

Even if you made all the changes that you listed, you would still have to close high overhead rural post offices, stop routine Saturday delivery, raise the price on 1st class mail and focus on package delivery between major markets. The Post Office is welfare for rural America.

Shut down the USPS and let a private company take over. You could cut down snail mail delivery to 2 or 3 times a week and make a profit, still covering rural districts.

Although I think the USPS needs to go the way of the Dodo bird, in their defense, for some reason Congress requires them to make rather large down payments on pension and healthcare obligations years in advance. I believe the USPS is the only organization in the Federal ranks that holds this pleasant honor. At least it might buy them some time, but I'm afraid that needed to be done about 5 years ago. Now, it would be like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound.

On the other hand, how much has the USPS lost in the last 5 years? Isn't it like 20 billion now? I think we could have connected every rural area in the US to the .com era for that amount. More government waste of precious resources.