Putting this important clock issue aside for a moment...

Does anyone else think the post office is slitting it's own throat?

Computers are cutting into the post offices business big time. Between email, online bill paying and efaxing I know in the last 15 years I've gone from purchasing a book of stamps every week or so down to buying one every few months at best. So how does the post office deal with this competition? They keep raising the price of stamps and this time around complicated the sending of mail with rules like it's now cheaper send a letter folded in half than to send it flat. Doh! All this will just encourage more and more people to use more and more email. Which will lead to the USPS raising prices, which will.... You get the idea. How long before the old email hoax becomes real as a post office fighting for it's life starts pushing for a tax on all electronic communication?

First, as Alex mentioned elsewhere, postage continues to lag behind inflation, so I'm not too concerned about them taking my .02. Second, they still do a brisk business in priority and parcel post. Third they offer some pretty good options for dealing with postage online. And fourth, they're still the only service that comes to your door on a regular daily basis without having to schedule an appointment. The USPS still has a lot going for it. It may still struggle, but it's not as simple an equation as, "The internet is hurting the USPS."

Letter delivery is declining for the post office but package and business delivery continues to rise (that is why some rates targetting those actually went down).

And over the last decade while I no longer ever send mail I have directly increased the amount of mail caused to be send over what would have been sent otherwise (so on top of the junk mail I'd say that the Netflix, Amazon, etc. deliveries far outpace the loss of several outgoing bills per month).

Most of the pressure for price increases has little to do with total demand but with increased cost of doing business (how much do you think a 40% increase in the price of gas affects them with all their delivery vehicles, for example). And the size thing is related to automation. If mail comes through in predefined sizes and addressing formats it can be handled with near zero human intervention. If it doesn't more expensive handling is required.

The post office will deliver an unwrapped bowling ball if you attach stamps and an address but it'll cost them a lot more to do it.

Has anyone actually put this to the test? :)

If you deal with any large organization long enough, you will be angry at the incompetence you encounter.

Yes, though I don't know if since 9/11 when certain things were tightened. If the correct money is paid the post office will go to great lengths to successfully make the delivery. Of course, as with anything that requires extra work a lot will come down to the individual people who end up involved.

I believe it was the Journal of Irreproducible Results than ran an about 10+ years ago where they mailed various things in various ways and tracked to see if they were delivered. Most were if I recall correctly.

Ah, found the old article. It was the Annals of Improbable Research, not JIR. Here is a link to a copy.

I misremembered and many of the unwrapped items were blocked by a counter clerk noting that deliveries must be wrapped.

But a $20 bill in a clear envelope was delivered in 4 days.
An unwrapped snow ski with postage and mailing label attached was delivered in 11 days. (Though recipient was warned that packaged must be wrapped)

Closest to a bowling ball: a fresh coconut. Received from Hawaii in 10 days.

An unwrapped street sign - 9 days.

An unwrapped deer tibia - 9 days.

before and since 9/11
I have shipped/mailed with postage on them directly, an inflatble ball, inflated; and a stuffed Mickey Mouse.

And used paint cans, milk cartons, and plastic fish as outside packaging.

:rolleyes: I'm wierd, I know.

:D Ay photos to back this up, inquiring minds want to see!

:snap: to you Ponine!

Hey buddy, that's a four letter word where I come from. It Direct Mail Marketing.

Interesting that you bring up fuel costs and usage. Even with as large of a fleet of vehicles that the USPS has, they do not do any consumption/usage tracking and are unable to forecast needs. In this current fuel market, strategic planning is a tremendous money saver on this significant cost factor. Southwest Airlines for example uses this to their benefit.

That is just randomly odd. So naturally, I love it!