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Oh whither the postal service
The USPS says it will default on loans if the government doesn't step in by the end of the month. Turns out this whole "electric mail", also known as The E-Mail has really caught on. As has online banking and online news and online everything else.
It brings up a real philosophical quandary, of course: SHOULD the postal service continue in its present form? Should it be replaced by something very different where you pay more and maybe don't have daily delivery? We're killing trees and running this vast system to distribute what is often 80% junk mail as it is. Should Darwinism just allow this antiquated system to go extinct?
I mean, I like our mail carrier Bev but I think she's close to retirement.
Also, the city of Minneapolis has been trying a paperless postal system for a couple years now.
My father was a career postal employee and while he would have disagreed with me it is time to completely reform how paper is delivered to homes.
To start with cut the delivery to three days a week, as Canada currently does, and close all but the major city post offices and move the function to private businesses such as drug stores, services stations, etc.
And, of course, charge what it costs to deliver paper advertisements, which would probably eliminate that service.
The result would be a USPS about 25% of its current size.
I live in Anchorage, Alaska. And up here in Alaska, the USPS is critical to a lot of very rural communities. There are a lot of places here that UPS and FedEx just. don't. go.
Even in Anchorage, I rely on the USPS to stay in touch with non-emailey grandparents and send packages of Alaskan goodies to my nieces and nephews. It's by *far* the cheapest way to send package.
