http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/24/news/economy/postal-service-stamp/index.html?iid=HP_LN
The U.S. Postal Service announced back in October that they would be hiking the prices on stamps. The price for sending first class mail has risen by one cent to forty-six cents and postcard postage stamps have also risen one cent to thirty-three cents. The article states, "Overall, prices for mailing and shipping services increase 4% on average, while priority mail prices rising 6.3%".
The increase in prices have been a result from the United States Postal Service borrowing billions of dollars from taxpayers to make up for there shortfalls in 2006, due to the new congressional mandate, under which it has to help fund healthcare for future retirees. With the widely growing technological advances today, many companies are using paperless bills, meaning the consumers can pay bills online. Bills being paid online leads to a reduction of mail being cycled through the postal system. Most postal services have cut their office hours to nearly two hours a day and have laid off thousands of employees. Could this be the last of the the United States Postal Service? Has technology such as e-mails taken over for postcards?
Great article that really shows how much trouble the U.S. postal service is in these days. I really do feel some sympathy for the postal service. They process billions of mail a week and transport it across one of the largest countries in the world all for 46 cents and can't even compete with UPS and FedEx who process about as much mail in one year as the USPS does in one week. They are getting little to no help at all from Congress who forced them to fund U.S. retirees in 2006 and have turned their back on them since. This article has much in common with my article about how online banking is causing large amounts of bank branch closures. New online technology is making many facets of our life obsolete, with the USPS and banking services being only the beginning. It is too hard for the USPS to compete with text messaging and email which takes seconds instead of days. I understand the USPS is required to serve all Americans legally, many of whom are not financially stable, but 46 cents seems ridiculously low for transporting mail thousands of miles. There is no way 46 cents covers wages and fuel prices. The USPS needs to raise their stamp prices substantially or go under.
ReplyDeleteAs disappointing that it may be that the postal service is going under, it is however very natural for dated resources to die out in a society that has so many technological advances. In order for the USPS not to enter structural unemployment, they must to start competing with package/shipping services like UPS and Fed-Ex.
ReplyDeleteThe postal service has been growing more and more irrelevant each year. Mail is cumbersome and also takes a while to send. The new standard is becoming e-mail. E-mail is almost instantaneous. The minute you send information the recipient can view it. Also other technological advances such as texting, facebook messaging, and skype have made it much easier to relay information in a shorter period of time. For USPS to keep their heads above water there must be a substantial increase in stamps and postage prices. I am familiar with the a new USPS initiative called "If it fits it ships." This new mode of shipping offered by the USPS allows people to ship at one low flat rate. I believe that USPS is too focused on being the cheapest in order to gain more business when they should be focusing on restructuring their business.
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