Foo - The postal service...amazingly awesome

The I hate flying thread made me think about this for some reason.

A first class letter is a mind-bogglingly sweet deal.

I give you a piece of paper and $.42 and ask you to take it from Texas and drop it off at someone's home in Cleveland. You say "Sure. No problem" Then it shows up in Cleveland in 3 or 4 days. The correct answer should be "What the hell? Are you insane?" But it's not, that is a perfectly reasonable request.

Am I the only one who has considered just how absurd and beautiful this system is?

$.42 to pick up a piece of paper from my house and take it to pretty much any other house in the U.S., usually in less than a week.

$.42!!!

Agreed. Way better than the old horse/carrier days. Often in these times of email, text and instant messages, we let the personal effects of the handwritten word pass us by.

The I hate flying thread made me think about this for some reason.

A first class letter is a mind-bogglingly sweet deal.

I give you a piece of paper and $.42 and ask you to take it from Texas and drop it off at someone's home in Cleveland. You say "Sure. No problem" Then it shows up in Cleveland in 3 or 4 days. The correct answer should be "What the hell? Are you insane?" But it's not, that is a perfectly reasonable request.

Am I the only one who has considered just how absurd and beautiful this system is?

$.42 to pick up a piece of paper from my house and take it to pretty much any other house in the U.S., usually in less than a week.

$.42!!!

This message brought to you by the Postmaster General of the United States.

Don't ***** when we raise the price of a first-class stamp.

All that for $.42? Amazing. I guess I need to modernize and stop depending on hollow log drums and smoke signals. Oh, and I am going to have to learn to write too.

Whats absurd is that they spend about 80% of their revenue on payroll.
Think about that the next time they talk about raising rates.

All that for $.42? Amazing. I guess I need to modernize and stop depending on hollow log drums and smoke signals. Oh, and I am going to have to learn to write too.

I'm sure you know how to write. I was in north Texas back in January. Swore I saw your name written in the snow on the side of the road.

I'm sure you know how to write. I was in north Texas back in January. Swore I saw your name written in the snow on the side of the road.

My wife did that.

My wife did that.

There are so many ways to run with this, I don't even know where to begin.

Whats absurd is that they spend about 80% of their revenue on payroll.
Think about that the next time they talk about raising rates.

I wish they would get rid of Saturday deliveries. And then even pitch Wednesday deliveries. I get one bill a month via mail, the rest of it is junk mail. If the government (all forms) didn't use the mail as their way to contact me, I will consider doing a Kramer and no longer acknowledge the U.S. mail.

There are so many ways to run with this, I don't even know where to begin.

Go with the least sensitive/most offensive way.

I had my dad send car keys to me through the P.O. It was Thursday night when I realized I didn't have them. UPS and Fed-Ex do not deliver on Saturdays in that area, so we had to go with the P.O. Sent it out Friday to a tiny, isolated, rural town and they showed up on Saturday. It was great. I ended up thanking the P.O. people. I would've been screwed if it didn't happen. I think it was 11 bucks.

I receive coins from USPS all the time....and they haven't lost one yet.

I'm sure you know how to write. I was in north Texas back in January. Swore I saw your name written in the snow on the side of the road.


My wife did that.

The most impressive part is that it was printed, rather than in cursive.

The most impressive part is that it was printed, rather than in cursive.

You think that's impressive? It was in WingDings. Now THAT'S impressive....

You think that's impressive? It was in WingDings. Now THAT'S impressive....

She was using an HPee

leg-humping the USPS stops the second you have to stand in one of their lines. slowest lines, ever.

leg-humping the USPS stops the second you have to stand in one of their lines. slowest lines, ever.

No. WalMart

When I was section hiking parts of the AT, we'd use the USPS for shipping "bounce boxes" forward on the trail. You can ship things labeled "General Delivery: Hold for AT Thru Hiker <name>" and the Post Office will hold it for up to 30 days for you.
I don't think you can do anything like that with DHL or FedEx.

When I was section hiking parts of the AT, we'd use the USPS for shipping "bounce boxes" forward on the trail. You can ship things labeled "General Delivery: Hold for AT Thru Hiker <name>" and the Post Office will hold it for up to 30 days for you.
I don't think you can do anything like that with DHL or FedEx.

How cool is that?

Whats absurd is that they spend about 80% of their revenue on payroll.
Think about that the next time they talk about raising rates.

Sure, let's have someone physically walk (or drive) up to every mailbox in the country to pick up and deliver mail 6 days a week and do it without spending the bulk of the budget on labor. Easier said than done.

It doesn't sound very reasonable to me, but if percentage of cost going to payroll is the benchmark, then let's give every carrier a new Escalade to drive every year and a Segway scooter instead of making them walk part or all of their routes. Let's not forget to equip the Escalade with a refrigerator and microwave. That should boost capital and fuel expenses... We should be in the 60% range with just these couple of changes.

Or maybe we should pay carriers minimum wage to go out in the sweltering heat or bone chilling cold every day to deliver your mail and risk dog bites, robbery and other hazards, while ensuring the integrity of your mail is the highest in the world. Or maybe you wouldn't mind having a new kid delivering your mail every couple of weeks, and maybe keeping any interesting pieces for himself. Or maybe quitting in the middle of the route and leaving your mail sitting out on the curb when he decides that this crap isn't worth $5.50 per hour.

Or maybe 80% isn't as bad as it sounds for a service as opposed to a product.

Am I the only one who has considered just how absurd and beautiful this system is?

In my lifetime I think I've had 100% reliability with the USPS.



I guess I need to modernize and stop depending on hollow log drums and smoke signals. Oh, and I am going to have to learn to write too.

I've almost lost the ability to hand write. I can barely write in cursive anymore. It's a struggle to write more than a couple of sentences.



Whats absurd is that they spend about 80% of their revenue on payroll.

I have to admit I was annoyed that they sponsored the Tailwind (Lance's) team, seemed like a pointless waste of my money.

http://www.davidostroff.com/images/portfolio/lance.jpg

In high school I was a member of a penpal circle (we all wrote to one another in turn). I had several in the US, one in England, two also in Canada, and one in South Africa and we had a great time for a couple of years mailing cards, then seashells, photos, pebbles, leaves. One time I received a baseball from my Sacramento penpal, but he just wrapped the paper around it - no box. My postal office clerks thought it was a hoot. Yeah, the post office is really neat.

Yes...the team was awesome.

No. WalMart

Wrong kind of "slow"... ;)

leg-humping the USPS stops the second you have to stand in one of their lines. slowest lines, ever.


If you could provide a photo of yourself, I will do my best to ensure that you don't have to endure any slow lines.

Thanks, your friendly window clerk,

East Hill