This article, published August 6, 2009, contains 513 words.

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Everything is temporary
It was bound to happen, People didn't like licking those nasty stamps and now the United States Postal Service (USPS) is going the way of the pay telephone. Admittedly, those early stamps were nasty tasting but it doesn't follow that the USPS is becoming extinct because of bad glue. There are other reasons.

Ah! Those were the days
As I scratch my head wondering why the USPS is falling out of favor, my childhood memories take over my thinking. Thinking of such things as:

• picking up the mail on my way home from school,

• hitching a ride with the "over the road mailman" to visit my grandparents 32 miles away,

• people complaining when the price of a postage stamp went all the way to 3¢,

• people complaining about the grumpy post office people,

• friends collecting and trading postage stamps while I read comic books,

• buying postal money orders and

• home delivery two times daily except Saturday.

And today
Is the USPS really shutting down? I think it will. I remember thinking around the turn of the century the USPS will be out of business by 2005. It didn’t turn out that way but I still think I’m on firm ground when I say it will close before too many more years.

Consistently declining profits is usually a formula for a going out of business. If true across the board, then why not the USPS? Taxpayer subsidies in addition to the price of services forever? Let’s hope not. We have more government subsidies now than I like.

MSNBC reported this week the USPS is facing a $7 billion loss this year and might close 700 locations. The same MSNBC reports states the Government Accountability Office (GAO) added the Postal Service to its list of troubled agencies, saying serious and significant structural financial challenges face the agency. The report quotes the GAO as saying:

Every major postal policy, from employee pay, to days of delivery, to the closing of postal facilities must be on the table. Without major change, the day will soon come when the Postal Service will be unable to pay its bills.

Technology and competition
Look at it this way. With email used in such large volume and with more people getting online daily, how much longer can the USPS charge more for stamps. We bank online. We order goods online. We sent photos online. All kind of business is conducted online.

And, we overnight letters via private carriers now, in addition to larger packages. So, how long will it be before private companies set up an infrastructure for more economical letter mailing than we have today? There are flies in the ointment, sure, but it all can be worked out.

An observation
I’ve noticed during the last 10 or so years the USPS employees seem more friendly and more customer service oriented. Its almost like they care! Could it be they have a glimpse of the future? Could it be the USPS employees are concerned about their job security.

Or, could it be that I’m nuts? Maybe so.

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