by Chris Bodenner
A reader veers from the others:
The United States Postal Service has a MONOPOLY on mail delivery and still can't get it right. The only reason people stand in long lines at the post office is that it is illegal for other carriers to carry mail at comparable rates. The world would be far better off if the USPS were shut down tomorrow. The void would be filled almost immediately and service would be better and cheaper than what is currently available. FedEX and UPS clearly have the infrastructure in place to carry mail as well and would do it far more efficiently than the US Government.
Another differs:
State Representative Alan Dick (R-Stony River, Alaska) predicts severe impacts if proposed post office closures are implemented.
Rep. Dick's represents Alaska House District 6, which covers a huge swathe of the state. The USPS proposes to close half of the district's post offices, which are a lifeline to the villages, as described in Rep. Dick's August 19 opinion piece in the Anchorage Daily News. Here (pdf) is a map of District 6 after the 2000 census (may change with the new redistricting).
Another:
As a development director for a smallish, localized non-profit, we rely on snail mail solicitations for the vast majority of our membership income. We also send email solicitations, accept donations through our website, announce campaigns through our Facebook page and utilize QR codes to generate on-demand donations through smartphones, etc., but none of them come close to the amount we bring in with a hand-signed letter highlighting a specific need.
Furthermore, a large portion of our membership is aging and are not nearly as reachable through email, if they even have email. I’ve also worked at other, much larger non-profits, and know that many of them rely heavily on mail solicitations as well. The closing of USPS would force most non-profits to find new ways of generating income, but in the meantime would totally disrupt the way we raise money for our programs. It underscores the need to find new ways to connect with donors, but it scares the crap out of me at the same time, because there is little that is as personalized and effective as a hand-signed letter. Likewise, there is little that is as impersonal, and as easily ignored, as an email blast. Shudder.
Another:
I'm a bit surprised that no one has pointed this out, but what about absentee voting? Washington State has an "all absentee" voting system now. As you can see here, we had a voter turn out rate of 71.24% in an off-year election! Is there a state that is able to better this record for a better price per voter with a more conventional system?
This is the reason, more than anything else, that the Postal Service must be preserved. It simply increases access to our democracy. It means that those who are undecided can spend a quiet evening researching their decisions or avoid having to skip work or risk waiting in a line that is too long.
The Dish 