I think the Post Office needs to STOP delivering 6 days/week

[serryjw]

Think about how much gas is used and WHAT is so important that mail can't be delivered 4-5 days/week. Every one KNOWS when their bills are due, they can check on line if they have, and bills give you 2-3 weeks notice anyway so WHAT is the urgency?

[Seansky]

1. I agree. Hate having to remember it on Sat. anyway.

[swag]

2. Internets need to be shut off too.

And cable TV.

Shopping malls still okay, though.

Usually better for people than churches, if not much different.

[niyad]

6. you can shut down your OWN computer, you know. it isn't any of YOUR

business if others choose to use their computers 24/7 or any other amount they choose.

pull the power cord if you cannot figure out how to shut it off.

[swag]

9. You're hilarious.

Thanks for playing.

[niyad]

15. gee, I wasn't aware this was a game. what is hilarious about suggesting

that YOUR preoccupation with the internet (NOT internets, as bush keeps saying) is not OUR problem?

MY computer comes with an on/off switch, and I am certain yours does, as well.

[niyad]

3. do you know that in england, mail was delivered twice a day?

[I_Will]

5. America, too.

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. I remember twice daily mail here, as recently as the 70s.

I think it was the first gas crisis that killed that.

[kath]

20. Heck, in London (and maybe in other parts of UK as well) they still have

twic-a-day delivery.

And their gas prices have been high for a long time...

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Are you sure?

They stopped the second delivery for most of the country a couple of years ago - I never heard that London got special treatment. What they have gone to is a two tier system - they deliver to business addresses before 9am, and then do the residential addresses (the exception being Saturday, which is normally the only day I get residential mail before 9am).

[July]

27. AFAIK, it's still twice a day in Spain.

Was when I lived there 13 years ago.

[Demonaut]

4. assuming everyone has a computer and net access

plus postal workers have plenty of national holidays..

[niyad]

7. do you know, not everything delivered by snail mail is a bill--some people

STILL write actual letters, send postcards, announcements, etc. nobody says you MUST retrieve your mail each day. if it is that much of a bother, just skip it.

[serryjw]

11. We better ALL decide the compromises that make sense

There just won't be the gas available and THERE are better places to use the gas...LIKE DELIVERING FOOD!
NOTHING you mention CAN'T wait ONE day!

[Occulus]

17. The vast majority of the mail we sort is presort standard.

If you see anything- anything at all- with "PRST STD" in the upper right hand corner, it is almost always safe to trash it, shred it, pee on it... whatever.

If you like, take those BRM envelopes you get, stuff them with propaganda that is anti-the-industry-you're-taking-action-against, and send it on back. It'll make us more money, as we charge extra for extra weight. :)

Ending six day delivery would likely result in me getting a third day off a week. The reason for this is because we already don't deliver on Sunday.

Bear with me here. When we sort mail, we're sorting for a targetd local overnight and nonlocal 2-3 day delivery for first class mail. What this means for me as a worker in a postal plant is, Saturday night, we do not dispatch mail to the local associate offices, as there's no delivery the next day.

On Sunday, it's usually very slow in our plant (I'm not sure about the bulk mail centers, though; something tells me they're busy all the time). This is because we don't have all the local mail to run on the machines or sort by hand or whatever needs to be done to the local mail; it's all been done and is already prepared to go out Sunday night. Mostly, on Sundays, we work the standard mail, not the first class.

I should add I work in the automation area, so I don't normally handle parcels or periodicals. I do know those areas are fairly slow on Sundays as well.

I can tell you if we eliminated Saturday delivery I would end up either having Saturday or Sunday off and could then have some form of a "normal" social life (I don't have either day off at the moment; my two are during the week). This would end up in my getting a four day weekend (maybe) every Federal holiday. Not that I'm complaining about that :) but it would dock my pay by more than $200 a paycheck. Ow.

To be honest, other than the money (IF I ended up not working that day), it doesn't matter to me as a postal worker either way, and I think I'd actually appreciate the extra day off- just please, please don't split up the days off I already have! Giving people split days off for years and years on end is a favorite postal management trick and I'd really rather not play.... but thanks. :)

As far as fuel goes, well- I think we'll be seeing a serious reduction on the amount of standard mail ("junk mail") that we sort, a sharp increase in postal rates across the board, or a mixture of the two. As with all other things in our modern society, oil keeps it all afloat. If that goes, if oil becomes so expensive that even the postal service can't afford it as easily anymore... fuel and electrical costs might (speculation!) make us have to go back to sorting it ALL by hand eventually.

And that would not. Be. Fun.

At all.

[Occulus]

22. In the above, I was speaking as an employee, not a customer.

As a customer, I agree, it would very much suck at time to only have 5 day delivery.

[TahitiNut]

8. People on fixed incomes would just LOVE that.

:eyes: A huge number receive their pension checks in the mail. NOT everyone uses direct deposit, and not every pension supports it. Then there's unemployment.

BAD idea.

[koopie57]

10. how many people would lose their jobs

thanks to this bright idea ...

[BigOlBritches]

12. Well, I carry in Grand Rapids, MI

3rd largest city in MI.

There is one relief person for every five routes. Each carrier gets Sunday, and a rotating day off. The relief is for that rotating day. We have roughly 300 routes in lil' ol' Grand Rapids. That would be 60 jobs lost JUST in Grand Rapids. You can only imagine the amount of jobs lost if you eliminate ONE day of delivery, let alone five. BAD idea.

[oasis]

23. Union yes. NALC all the way.

:woohoo:

[msrbly]

30. Welcome to DU BigOlBrtches!

Being from Grand Rapids (like me!) you should find DU very interesting.

[newyawker99]

31. Hi BigOlBritches!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[marbuc]

13. The USPS has actually suggested this

as a way to keep costs down, as well as the price of stamps. I could definitely go along with five day weeks for mail.

[Democrats_win]

14. Why do you hate America?

[LeftyMom]

16. I really don't want to wait that long for my packages

A whole lot of ebayers would lose business if people chose to spend more locally to get thier stuff in a reasonable period.

[girl gone mad]

19. It wouldn't help.

You would still have the same number of packages and letters needing to get delivered.

Mondays are already very busy days for the post office. They would be absolutely swamped if the weekend was extended.

My business would suffer. People already complain about slow delivery. A few weekends ago, I had to ship a textbook to a doctor who needed it before he could perform an emergency operation on a patient.

It's easy to pinpoint cuts to services when they aren't essential to your way of life.

[gauguin57]

21. One less day for my mail to get screwed up. I live in an apt. complex,

and the mail carriers (many different carriers over many years) put stuff in the wrong boxes all the time. I come home to find letters sticking up all over the postal boxes (misdelivered mail people have stuffed in the crevices in the cluster boxes). Last night, some poor schmuck's Netflix movie was crammed into the crevice.

It's Thursday, and I haven't gotten my Time Magazine for this week yet. Someone else in my complex is probably enjoying it. I get other people's CREDIT CARD and utility bills.

So, one less day of rage for me would be fine.

[uncle ray]

24. end result: you'd kill the USPS

and we'd end up paying more for the service. businesses and individuals would use UPS, FEDEX, DHL. etc. more and the post office less. once the federal government found it no longer reasonable to compete, they'd close the doors and privatize...prices skyrocket. ONE federal service that delivers twice a day, every day, including sunday would be more efficient than six different providers running basically the same route.

[mtnester]

28. My brother and sis in law work there

USPS is on its way out anyway, they are trying to prepare for it.

Brother in law had to take a $20,000.00 year paycut just to KEEP his job at USPS. They both know privatization is coming quick.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Post vans are prime candidates for being electric powered

In urban and suburban areas, anyway. They spend a lot of time idling, when an electric van would use no current, do not require a high top speed, because they typically don't have much room to accelerate much anyway, and, if the van had regenerative braking, their frequent stops wouldn't waste very much energy.

[halobeam]

29. great thought. I love seeing the mind at work to offer alternatives

to ways of helping our environment and our economy. I understand all the points here.. both sides, IMO are right. We must use less gas, at the same time, not lose what's vital to income for families and keep business in operation.