Got Mail? US Postal Service Hopes You Get Some
Pictured are three curbside mailboxes and clusters in California. Mailboxes are more than receptacles to collect mail. They are decorative icons that provide welcome messages, flash with holiday pizzazz in multi-colored lights guarded by Nutcrackers surrounded by beds of poinsettias, or are shaped like lighthouses, birds, bugs–you name it! What would happen if the mail delivery ended and mailboxes were no longer needed? What about the creed: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”? Here are some highlights from the history of U.S. Mail Delivery.
In 2012, the U.S. Postal Service Agency lost $16 billion, exhausted a $15 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury and defaulted on payments owed to the federal government to prefund retiree health care benefits totaling $11 billion. Postal officials say everything’s on the table when it comes to cost-cutting, including getting rid of home delivery. Earlier this year, USPS wanted to end Saturday mail delivery. That didn’t go through, but California Republican Darrell Issa lead the House effort to save the postal service by recommending doing away with doorstep delivery. He’s made that a key part of his bill, which would require everyone to get mail at a curbside box or from a cluster box–35 million residences and businesses currently get mail delivered to their doorstep.
- Mail volumes have dropped
- Consumers switching to electronic billing and e-mailing
- $30 billion is what it costs to deliver mail in the U.S.
- Ending door deliveries could save $4.5 billion a year
- $3 billion could be saved by ending Saturday mail service
- Elderly & disabled, especially in snowy climates, will be impacted the most if changes are made
