Should home delivery of mail be stopped

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   pagesvoiceposted 10 years ago

   The Republicans want to introduce a bill to stop home delivery of mail. Instead they propose the United States Postal Service set up "mail hubs" or in other words, designated areas with clusters of mail boxes for pickup. Apparently in the zest to streamline the postal service there seems to be little or no consideration of those with disabilities or the elderly. Furthermore, many people now receive their prescriptions through the mail. These people, who are on limited incomes certainly can't afford to pay someone to get their mail, so how are they supposed to receive their mail and prescription drugs?

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   GavNugentposted 10 years ago

   Isnt that the whole point of mail? To have it delivered to your house? Having to go and collect mail order prescriptions is essentially having to go shopping for them. Absurd idea.

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      pagesvoiceposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think this is just another attempt to break up the USPS and it's union. The GOP wants this to be a privately operated business and the end result will be a lose, lose for mail recipients.

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   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   They aren't trying to stop home delivery, they are trying to work out how to provide a service that is not being properly paid for.
   
   What they need to do is allow post offices to diversify to increase their income--like pretty much every other first world nation with a government-supported mail service does.

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   jenniferrpoveyposted 10 years ago

   Everyone is over-reacting to this.
   
   The proposal is to:
   
   1. Stop door to door delivery - i.e., make everyone have a curbside mailbox. This would shorten the amount of time on delivery runs.
   
   2. Have new developments put a cluster of mailboxes, again to save time.
   
   However, there will be consideration for the disabled in this. I personally am unsure about the "clusters" but in favor of going to 100% curbside mailboxes. That way postal workers don't enter people's property unless they have a package that won't fit in the mailbox.

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      JayeWisdomposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Both cluster and individual curbside mailboxes would make it difficult to impossible for someone with a disability or a frail elderly person to retrieve mail. Out of the current 316-plus million U.S. population, 13.5% are people over 65 years of age. The over-65 demographic is predicted to double by 2030, with the most rapid growth among the oldest of the elderly group. When you're young or even middle-aged, you don't consider what it will be like when it becomes difficult (or impossible) for you to walk down the driveway to the street and walk back to the house carrying something. That is the reality for many people, and falls are one of the major hazards for the elderly.
      
      I am a senior citizen with limited mobility, and either cluster or curbside mailboxes would create a big problem for me. Curbside boxes would also make it easier for thieves to steal mail. I receive a lot of large packages as a result of doing most shopping online because I'm unable to walk through bricks-and-mortar stores. And what about  the disabled and/or elderly getting their mail (including mailed prescriptions) when it storms for days, which it often does where I live and in many other parts of the country?
      
      The USPS delivers mail promptly and their record for delivering undamaged packages far exceeds that of private express and ground delivery services. Both UPS and FedEx routinely deliver packages that are crushed and torn open with the contents damaged. It costs more to use UPS or FedEx, yet their services are poor, particularly FedEx.  (FedEx employees, from the warehouse to delivery, are in such a mandated rush they regularly throw packages, even those containing FRAGILE stickers, and just try to get FedEx to reimburse you for damage!)
      
      Mail delivery should be the right of tax-paying citizens, just as police and fire services. The postal service should not have to be self-sufficient; the government should budget to pay for any shortfall. Too many billions of our taxes are funneled into projects which do not serve the U.S. people. When I think of how many billions of dollars are wasted on that Mars rover project that has no practical application, it makes my blood boil.
      
      So...my short answer to your question is NO, home delivery of mail should not be stopped!

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         pagesvoiceposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I currently have curbside mail delivery and many times (by accident) our mail is put in my neighbor's box. The problem is I have prescriptions that are sent through the mail and I worry about them going to someone else or someone stealing my prescriptions.

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            JayeWisdomposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I, too, use a mail-order pharmacy for economy and convenience. I share your worries about prescription delivery.
            
            I want to say that I think the US Postal Service is a wonderful service, in spite of the constraints placed on it by a government with the wrong priorities. There have already been postal staff layoffs, which means postal carriers now have routes of increased size, yet they still manage to provide very good service.
            
            Republicans in Congress want to take away anything and everything that might benefit those citizens less affluent and able-bodied than they are. You do not want to know what I think of these bought-and-paid-for-by-corporate-lobbyists politicians!
            
            And, to psycheskinner, I want to say that I bombard my Congressional representatives with requests and my views about legislation, only to receive ridiculous form letters, each one essentially (to borrow from Shakespeare and, later, William Faulkner), "...a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."  One of these corporate puppets occasionally writes me a real letter telling me, in essence, that I don't know what I'm talking about--as if HE does!  I live in a Republican-dominated state, and "my" representatives do not care about my opinions or wishes, nor do they care about any of their constituents whose preferences get in the way of corporate back-scratching.
            
            Well...there goes my blood pressure! That's why I usually avoid controversial forums, but I couldn't ignore this topic.
            
            Jaye

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               pagesvoiceposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               The Greed Over People Party (GOP) have stopped the smoke and mirrors and finally admit they are salivating to privatize every thing and destroy the union spirit all in making businesses wealthy at the expense of everyone else. It just amazes me why people don't wake up and see what the ulterior motives really are. Don't forget, when you go to bed tonight to set your clocks back 70 years because that is the regressive direction the GOP/Tea Party are sending us.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 10 years ago

   I live in a semi-rural area and my mailbox is at the curb at the end of my street.
   
   So if they end "door to door" delivery I won't notice a difference.

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   jenniferrpoveyposted 10 years ago

   Heck, my mother-in-law already has the cluster mailbox thing. Her mailbox is at the highway end of the unpaved street.
   
   She routinely gets in the car to pick up the mail because she often doesn't have time to walk that far...

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   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   It is a right of tax paying citizen only if they ask their representatives to properly fund the service, and remove the legal restrictions that are killing it.

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   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   I agree that writing to your rep is sometimes a bit like talking to the wall.

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   Wayne Brownposted 10 years ago

   ....and how much does that reduce the physical size and monetary loss of the post office?  In true government form, the service will diminish as a result of the legislation, the reduction in size or fiscal loss will continue.  The best move the government could make is to get completely out of the postal business by turning it over to a private entity capable of managing their workforce, their expenses, and their profit margins in the process.  The price of stamps might just go down.

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