Should the USPS Hold Junk Mail During This Crisis?

[76-1]

Personally, I'd rather only receive "critical" information (1st class mail) and Priorty Mail, Special Delivery, Express Mail...

Cutting half their volume should dovetail with the manpower hit they are bound to experience soon...

They say it's not on the mail but why take the chance. They could cut that risk in half if they treated this as a serious problem

 

[Circlejoe]

Good thing you're not the one making economic decisions. The USPS makes their living off "junk" mail.

 

[76-1]

Good thing you're not the one making economic decisions. The USPS makes their living off "junk" mail.

It's not an economic decision. It's a health decision for both their employees and their customers.

Good thing you're not in charge of this health crisis!

 

[76-1]

Just spoke to a former postal worker who said he couldn't understand why they aren't doing it (not processing junk mail) for at least the next month. He said they did virtually that every Christmas season that he worked there...

 

[Sope Creek]

Personally, I'd rather only receive "critical" information (1st class mail) and Priorty Mail, Special Delivery, Express Mail...

Cutting half their volume should dovetail with the manpower hit they are bound to experience soon...

They say it's not on the mail but why take the chance. They could cut that risk in half if they treated this as a serious problem

I would be in favor of this move, on a permanent basis. Junk mail just exacerbates our trash/recycling problem . . . it's a burden to the economy . . .

. . . if the USPS can't make it financially based on providing value to the country, then we ought to consider whether it's had its time, or whether "cheap" mail is worth the subsidization provided by junk mail. If it's a cost issue, then sending snail mail perhaps should just cost more . . . .

 

[UncleMark]

. . . if the USPS can't make it financially based on providing value to the country, then we ought to consider whether it's had its time, or whether "cheap" mail is worth the subsidization provided by junk mail. If it's a cost issue, then sending snail mail perhaps should just cost more . . . .

It's not a simple matter, though. IIUC, providing mail is the only constitutionally mandated service. So it's not like you can just close up shop.

Their best bet is getting further involved in the "last mile" service they provide in conjunction with UPS and FedEx.

 

[Cream&Crimson]

Hey man, any excuse to get rid of the junk mail works for me. I'm on board with an coronavirus moratorium on junk mail. Bring it.

 

[13thman]

Personally, I'd rather only receive "critical" information (1st class mail) and Priorty Mail, Special Delivery, Express Mail...

Cutting half their volume should dovetail with the manpower hit they are bound to experience soon...

They say it's not on the mail but why take the chance. They could cut that risk in half if they treated this as a serious problem

They could hold all my bills.

 

[iubud]

Personally, I'd rather only receive "critical" information (1st class mail) and Priorty Mail, Special Delivery, Express Mail...

Cutting half their volume should dovetail with the manpower hit they are bound to experience soon...

They say it's not on the mail but why take the chance. They could cut that risk in half if they treated this as a serious problem

My friend is a letter carrier. They told everyone at first the mail was safe. Then they seemed to be less confident and supplied hand sanitizer. They quickly ran out.

 

[76-1]

My friend is a letter carrier. They told everyone at first the mail was safe. Then they seemed to be less confident and supplied hand sanitizer. They quickly ran out.

If they only did it for three weeks it would be similar to what they do near Christmas and may just save a customers life... (according to my retired friend they don't worry much about their employees health and safety)...

If a customer gets sick from just mail contact they'll be villified (and that would be easy to track and prove in rural areas)...

Why would they want to risk that?

 

[76-1]

My friend is a letter carrier. They told everyone at first the mail was safe. Then they seemed to be less confident and supplied hand sanitizer. They quickly ran out.

Yikes!!!

 

[Sope Creek]

. . . providing mail is the only constitutionally mandated service. So it's not like you can just close up shop.

Damned details . . . .

 

[hookyIU1990]

Me: We should privatize the postal service

Sister in law: FedEx can't deliver letters for less than $3, let alone the cost of a stamp!

Me: Neither can the post office.

 

[76-1]

Me: We should privatize the postal service

Sister in law: FedEx can't deliver letters for less than $3, let alone the cost of a stamp!

Me: Neither can the post office.

Doubt Congress would go for that.

Not many private operations would give Congress "franking privileges" (free correspondence with their constituents)..., and give basically half pennies on the dollar deals ((at the corporations expense)) to a billion and one "Non-Profit" outfits..., not to mention what a private company would attempt to charge to deliver to Alaska and Hawaii, along with the kind of exorbitant prices every poor family living out in rural America would have to deal with...

The post office is here to stay, in my opinion.

That said..., I still would Very much appreciate it if their HQ had enough freaking sense to declare the next month whatever they call an emergency and hold up delivery of anything other than Priority and First Class mail...

Common Sense would dictate that (in my opinion)...

 

[crossfire74]

Personally, I'd rather only receive "critical" information (1st class mail) and Priorty Mail, Special Delivery, Express Mail...

Cutting half their volume should dovetail with the manpower hit they are bound to experience soon...

They say it's not on the mail but why take the chance. They could cut that risk in half if they treated this as a serious problem

What is interesting, and something that I think will be a focus of change once the pandemic subsides is what to actually do with people receiving mail. "IF" the experts are correct and this virus does indeed live on cardboard and paper for two to three days, then anyone receiving mail, quarantined or not, is potentially exposing themselves and potentially introducing it into their personal environments and it's a source of spreading the virus. I'll note that this isn't something that is being discussed openly in the media, but it something that I've seen discussed in stopping the spread meetings.

In the past, I've done side work in area prisons, and over the past year or so, they stopped allowing mail to coming inside to offenders and staff. Now they did this mainly because people were sending letters soaked in meth or spice and the offenders would tear off pieces of the letter and smoke it. But it brings back an interesting thought, in today's technology world, should mailings go completely digital? Scanning and email makes it extremely easy to accomplish.

The other issue of course is cardboard. People order so many items and practically everything is shipped using cardboard. Again if the 2 to 3 day numbers are accurate, how do we solve this problem for the next outbreak? Because I can guarentee there will be another one at some point down the road.

 

[76-1]

What is interesting, and something that I think will be a focus of change once the pandemic subsides is what to actually do with people receiving mail. "IF" the experts are correct and this virus does indeed live on cardboard and paper for two to three days, then anyone receiving mail, quarantined or not, is potentially exposing themselves and potentially introducing it into their personal environments and it's a source of spreading the virus. I'll note that this isn't something that is being discussed openly in the media, but it something that I've seen discussed in stopping the spread meetings.

In the past, I've done side work in area prisons, and over the past year or so, they stopped allowing mail to coming inside to offenders and staff. Now they did this mainly because people were sending letters soaked in meth or spice and the offenders would tear off pieces of the letter and smoke it. But it brings back an interesting thought, in today's technology world, should mailings go completely digital? Scanning and email makes it extremely easy to accomplish.

The other issue of course is cardboard. People order so many items and practically everything is shipped using cardboard. Again if the 2 to 3 day numbers are accurate, how do we solve this problem for the next outbreak? Because I can guarentee there will be another one at some point down the road.

I read 24 hours for cardboard... **(Edit* originally wrote12, Johns Hopkins says 24, ((damn Brits- where I got the #12))

Still haven't seen a number for paper but it's not too difficult (in my mind at least) to extrapolate that if lives for a day on cardboard it most likely does close to the same on paper...

Then you have the variable of the last two individuals who touched it... Were they asymptotic carriers????

Could the post office be full of "Typhoid Mary's" and neither the "Mary's" nor the post office be aware of it...?

Then you have the mailbox variable... Thought I read somewhere that COVID-19 lives up to 3 days on plastic and 5 days on steel...

The USPS could cut some of this exposure by holding up anything but Priority and First Class mail effective immediately. It's damn near criminal of them not to do so... (in my opinion)...