Maybe the costs of short-distance mailing are so miniscule that they offset the costs of sending to Hawaii.
And if I'm not mistaken, you can even mail a letter to Guam for 44 cents.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
Less for me because I'm still working through my first roll of Forever stamps.
― pplains, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
leaving the junk mail thing out of this, that pre-funding thing in the OP is just staggering to me. that seems like basically transparent "we will destroy you" legislation and should be treated as such and 86ed, thus solving some/all of the problems for USPS.
this assumes that there is a political party that would shitcan such nonsense ... oh wait, we don't have that anymore in the age of Change We Can Believe In!
― Nu Metal is the best music there is, the rest is pussy shit. (Eisbaer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
This may be the case. If so, it's not a unique idea to the public sector either. Plenty of private businesses offset higher-cost/lower-margin items or services, or even money-losing items or services, with lower-cost/higher-margin ones. A private bulk mail service could very well make the determination that it makes more economic sense to offer "direct advertising in all 50 states!" and take a little loss on the hawaii/alaska mail to bring in the business.
― i don't believe in zimmerman (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
weight of a letter = 3 grams
weight of an adult male = 80 kg
number of letters that add up to weight of scott seward = about 26,000
26,000 letters * 44 cents = $11,400
that's a lot more expensive than a plane ticket to hawaii
― the late great, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
there are not very many good arguments against it if you plan on being around in 2050 or have kids
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
haha whoops a letter is 30 grams
$1400, actually about the same as a plane ticket to hawaii
― the late great, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:26 (twelve years ago) link
i think iatee is arguing from ideology instead of economics
― the late great, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
Letters don't need seats, meals, flight attendants, etc.
― i don't believe in zimmerman (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:28 (twelve years ago) link
carry-ons, luggage, gates, blankets, pillows, air-masks, shall I go on?
They do get movies, oddly enough.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:28 (twelve years ago) link
letters may occasionally add up to that much, but you don't have 26000 letters going to Hawaii on every flightOTOH, as I understand it, a lot of mail piggybacks onto flights to Hawaii that are already heading there
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
Yep, as I suspected:
The speed of mail traveling between Guam and the states varies depending on size and time of year. Light, first-class items generally take less than a week to or from the mainland, but larger first-class or Priority items can take a week or two. Fourth-class mail, such as magazines, are transported by sea after reaching Hawaii. Most residents use post office boxes or private mail boxes, although residential delivery is becoming increasingly available. Incoming mail not from the Americas should be addressed to "Guam" instead of "USA" to avoid being routed the long way through the U.S. mainland and possibly charged a higher rate (especially from Asia).
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
and
Because Guam is also part of the U.S. Postal System (postal abbreviation: GU, ZIP code range: 96910–96932), mail to Guam from the U.S. mainland is considered domestic and no additional charges are required. Private shipping companies, such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL, however, have no obligation to and do not regard Guam as domestic.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:39 (twelve years ago) link
you guys there are lots of ways to make the transportation of cheap physical crap more expensive
yeah, sure, i agree with you on an ideological, goal-oriented level. everyone here probably does. but the solution is not destroying the USPS, privatizing all mail delivery, making rural people pay a "fair rate", and taxing bulk mail. pragmatically speaking, that might reduce bulk mail volume somewhat, but would merely set up a system guaranteeing its perpetuation. and it could be accomplished without destroying the USPS.
― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
sure
― iatee, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:42 (twelve years ago) link
wait only 'sure'ing the last part, 'would set up a system guaranteeing its perpetuation' is nonsense
― iatee, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
if the government got tax revenue from every pizza coupon and crate & barrel catalog sent, you can bet they'd do whatever they could to keep the paper flowing
― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
that might be hyperbole. hmmm... let's just say that it would reduce their incentive to stop junk mail.
― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 21:16 (twelve years ago) link
In a country where we can't even get a gas tax that even approaches the true cost of driving, and where people will pay Amazon.com $70 a year just to get free shipping on all their $15 DVD orders,I wish iatee great success running for office on his "make cheap crap more expensive to transport" platform. (Not to mention his glib dismissal of how far we are from a paperless/everything online society when I can't even get decent cable internet speeds or non-throttled 4G wireless data in a major city, let alone In Buttfuck, Montana.)
― i love the large auns pictures! (Phil D.), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
'cheap crap for all forever and always' platform is pretty hard to run against I agree, I do not think I will run for office
― iatee, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 23:42 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, one or the other of the two major "cheap crap for all forever and always" parties has won almost every major american election in the last few decades
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 23:46 (twelve years ago) link
everyone is invited to the cheap crap for all forever and always party
― iatee, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 23:47 (twelve years ago) link
the great gasby
― dharunravir (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 23:49 (twelve years ago) link
Alls I'm saying is we're all fucked anyway so please do not take away my first class mail in the meantime. My Aunt Lottie has sent me a birthday card every year for 42 years and I kinda enjoy it.
― i love the large auns pictures! (Phil D.), Thursday, 3 May 2012 01:26 (eleven years ago) link
Netflix will take over USPS. Subscription based model.
― Jeff, Thursday, 3 May 2012 01:40 (eleven years ago) link
anyway countries that offer postal banking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_savings_systems
france! germany! brazil! korea! japan! america until 1967!
it's not a super crazy idea
and we have a country filled w/ amazingly shitty banks
― iatee, Thursday, 3 May 2012 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
They should put banks in Waffle Houses since they only accept cash anyway.
Chik-fil-A was another good idea. After all, them and the post office are already shut down on Sundays.
― pplains, Thursday, 3 May 2012 02:20 (eleven years ago) link
Waffle House takes credit.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 3 May 2012 02:36 (eleven years ago) link
If I could get a Waffle House Visa, though, that would be the only card I ever used.
Big move on their part. I guess they figured out that keeping an ATM on the premises wasn't the wisest thing to do.
― pplains, Thursday, 3 May 2012 03:50 (eleven years ago) link
But the Waffle House atm only put out credit vouchers (or at least that's how it went here.)
― Leslie Mann: Boner Machine (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:00 (eleven years ago) link
Ours were the same skinny machines you see at the gas station and handed out twenties only.
― pplains, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:10 (eleven years ago) link
is iatee gabbneb?
― balls, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:19 (eleven years ago) link
no gabbneb loved heartland america
― iatee, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:20 (eleven years ago) link
he would always give people vacation tips
― iatee, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:22 (eleven years ago) link
i haven't read enough of yr posts to get that joke sorry, not sure i'd noticed you until ppl above pointed there's this guy and he's got this schtick and i thought 'o hey, gabbneb'. but apparently gabbneb went beyond insider baseball centrist mystery pollster stuff to full on loathing and trolling, which doesn't settle it (if dude or you snapped a username change would make sense right?), and responding in the negative doesn't clear it up either (which begs the question why'd i bother to ask...). anyhow better luck next time you try to buy stamps or whatever the fuck happened.
― balls, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:26 (eleven years ago) link
there's this colin cowherd commercial where you just pay for yr postage and print it on yr computer or some shit maybe try that.
― balls, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:27 (eleven years ago) link
wait a minute.
JESUS CHRIST.
― balls, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:28 (eleven years ago) link
are you colin cowherd?
you should read ilx more I guess
― iatee, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:31 (eleven years ago) link
YES DEFINITELY
― balls, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:32 (eleven years ago) link
CLEARLY
even after reading colin cowherd's wikipedia I am not sure how offended to be
― iatee, Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:32 (eleven years ago) link
he's named "cowherd", so...
― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 04:57 (eleven years ago) link
Colin Cowherd is the worst person in America, no joke. So worshipful of power and prestige, he'd eagerly man a gas chamber just to please his substitute daddy.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 3 May 2012 07:49 (eleven years ago) link
I've seen iatee shit up some threads before but this is really a bravura performance. "flag post" deeply unsatisfying in situations like these imo
― cosi fan whitford (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 3 May 2012 10:45 (eleven years ago) link
i dunno, i think iatee was arguing in good faith here and wasn't trying to be a pest or a troll.
― Nu Metal is the best music there is, the rest is pussy shit. (Eisbaer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 10:57 (eleven years ago) link
'first-class mail, which is the post office's most important and profitable service, is in an inevitable decline, this is true even before you factor in the health care mandate'
'we're already at a point where the majority of what the post office handles is paper trash and there is no reason to expect that ratio to ever get better'
'a shift to flexible pricing and non-postal services could not only save the post office, but could provide the country w/ a massive, trustworthy banking system, that's actually a fantastic opportunity'
I prob said something trolly somewhere but none of those statements is particularly controversial:
http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_124.htm
first class mail dying, flexile business, hey wow postmaster general has some good ideas
― iatee, Thursday, 3 May 2012 12:31 (eleven years ago) link