Snail Mail going under?

[Bender]

the PO is crying about how people pay bills electronically now, and everybody sends email rather than snail mail. They will possibly close many post offices, and they also may want to go to a 5-day delivery week rather than 6 days.

I don't like usps, and don't use them anyway, so no biggie to me.

ABC story (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=8248335&page=1)

FOX story (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/04/pony-express-postal-service-slammed-lumbering-junk-mail-deliveries/)

What they need is a huge bailout. They are too big to go under :rolleyes

[boutons_deux]

they will downsize to meet lower demand, and continue.

USPS is essentially a spam network. It it weren't for spam mail, USPS would be long gone.

[jman3000]

their union is fighting the closing of even a handful of inefficient stores.

In my neighborhood there's 2 center's about 2 miles apart. Is that really necessary?

[hater]

the USPS used to be allright. now they are comparable to a 3rd world country mail system

[Spursmania]

They just reported a loss of 700 billion and that's after a 2 cent increase.

[Wild Cobra]

I don't like usps, and don't use them anyway, so no biggie to me.
Well, they are cheaper to send packages.

[Bender]

the USPS used to be allright. now they are comparable to a 3rd world country mail systemyep, it's still the Pony Express, except with trucks instead of horses.

I'd say 2 out of 3 packages I receive look like they've been trampled by horses though...

[Nbadan]

The USPS should be privatized.....it's time...

[Clandestino]

cool thing about the german mail system.. you could put a sticker on your mailbox that said no advertisements.. and guess fucking what??? you only got your mail!!! what a great idea!!!

[jman3000]

but what would we do without valpack?

[George Gervin's Afro]

I blame the liar barak obama..

[ploto]

In my neighborhood there's 2 center's about 2 miles apart. Is that really necessary?
http://media.mysanantonio.com/images/Local-post-office-closings-080409.jpg



Carlos Montelongo can find plenty to complain about at his local post office on South Hackberry Street — the long lines, a shortage of mail clerks and a small parking lot.

Still, he keeps going there because there's no other place he trusts to drop off his monthly bills.

But soon Montelongo may have to drive a little farther to drop those envelopes in the mail.

His is one of 10 San Antonio post offices facing possible closure, as the U.S. Postal Service attempts to slash its budget by $5.9 billion and struggles to make up for a sharp decline in both mail volume and revenue.

In total, nearly 700 post office branches across the country are being studied for potential closure or consolidation, according to a report presented to the Postal Regulatory Commission last week.

The USPS won't make any decisions regarding the closures until it holds public meetings in the communities around the branches, said Sam Bolen, spokesman for the USPS Rio Grande District. A final decision isn't expected until after the end of this fiscal year. San Antonio has more than 30 post offices.

The closure study is just the latest in a series of efforts by the USPS to account for budget shortfalls, strategies that have included route adjustments to account for lower volumes of mail and a 2-cent bump in stamp prices.

The country's postmaster general also has suggested potentially reducing the number of mail delivery days from six to five days a week.

The USPS ended the last fiscal year with a $2.8 billion revenue deficit; it predicts a shortfall more than twice that amount at the close of FY 2009.

“The financial problems in our economy have been felt by the Postal Service,” Bolen said. “We're not immune.”

In this latest cost-saving plan, several factors will be considered to determine which branches close, including the socioeconomic environment surrounding the location and who it serves, he said.

Among the stations on the potential chopping block in San Antonio, all but two — the Nimitz Finance and Nimitz annex, located next to each other — are inside Loop 410. They are on the line because they have the “highest potential for consolidation,” according to Bolen.

The effects of the sluggish economy have only added to the growing list of problems facing the postal service, including customers making more transactions online or communicating via e-mail, Bolen said.

But if local sites close, it will have a negative impact on customer service, said Alex Aleman, president of the American Postal Workers Union San Antonio Alamo Area Local.

“A lot of people in these communities, they rely on the post office on a daily basis,” said Aleman, who added that “once they close a station, that station will never reopen.”

Even now, he said, people complain about insufficient staffing at their local post office. Clerks retire, and “they're not being replaced.”

The line was long an hour before closing at the South Hackberry branch Monday afternoon. Every few minutes, another customer walked in, either to check for mail in a P.O. box, pop envelopes in a postal bin or wait to see a clerk.

Laura Romo, 37, had dropped by to pay monthly bills. She uses the post office because it's close to home and because she doesn't have a computer to pay online.

“If it closes, I'm gonna have to travel further to another side of town,” she said. Her mother, Bettie Stewart, joked about another potential problem: “I won't be able to get my love letters.”

But like many customers, Stewart and Romo both said they send personal letters only once in awhile.

In general, U.S. consumers not only have less to spend, but they have less to send. In 2008, there were 9.5 billion fewer pieces of mail delivered through the U.S. postal system than in the previous year, according to Bolen. That decline is expected to increase to 20 billion this year.

And already, Aleman said, local branches are feeling the budget squeeze.

The Station A branch on Frio Street, and the Wainwright location on Pierce Avenue, plan to reduce their operating schedule for “special summer” hours, according to a flier obtained by Aleman. From Aug. 10 through Sept. 28, both will close for lunch; the Station A branch will close for the day at 2 p.m. and Wainwright will shutter its doors at 3 p.m.

But whatever happens to his Hackberry branch, Montelongo figures he'll just visit a post office closer to his work to mail his bills.

“I have to put (them) in these blue things,” he said, tapping the top of a mail bin. “I know it's safe in here.”

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/10_post_offices_might_be_closed.html