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US Post Office no longer delivering on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by HandsomeHarley, Feb 7, 2013.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    I would say that only a tiny percentage of movies you'd actually want to watch are streaming, particularly new ones.

    As far as Saturday delivery goes, I like the move. The rest of the world is on a Monday through Friday schedule. Why should the Post Office be any different? I don't see how this really affects any individuals in any way that they can't easily work around.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    It doesn't effect me at all... Since SI arrives on Wednesday and EW arrives on Friday, those are usually the only days I even bother picking up the mail. And if they're late, I can download the issue to my iPad...

    I'll bet it's down to three days a week within five years...
     
  3. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    Gotcha. Although I thought they were making more and more movies available via streaming? Maybe it's a slow process.

    Also, how soon does Netflix get movies compared to RedBox or OnDemand?

    Sorry for the threadjack.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    It depends on the movie. Sometimes the same time. But frequently a couple weeks afterward. I rent a lot of current movies from RedBox and a lot of older or independent ones from Netflix.

    You've got to really stay on top of new releases elsewhere, though, when you subscribe to Netflix. They bury them. They don't even promote the newest releases at all, so you don't know that they're out unless you already have it in your queue, or you see it advertised elsewhere.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 1, 2015
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    Netflix by mail gets new movies pretty quickly. Streaming is a completely different story. If the streaming had a better selection, I would get it in a second, but the selection is horrible if you want to see anything that's come out in the last six months.

    I like RedBox because it cost all of a dollar or so and at most stuff arrives a couple weeks later than to the other places...
     
  6. Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    My Netflix movies by mail used to be much quicker, like a two-days; Mail it out Monday, new one in my mailbox Wednesday. Now it's four.

    And yeah, the streaming movie selection is nothing spectacular.
     
  7. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    The issue with the US Postal Service is essentially the same issue with most government workers... They're paying more for people who have retired than the ones who actually are still working...

    It's also interesting that UPS and FedEx make billions of dollars while the post office hemmorhages money.

    How often do you mail things through the USPS? For my family, it's limited to birthday cards and Christmas cards. If they delivered mail once a week, I'd be fine with it...
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    The USPS does make money on the same things that FedEx and UPS make money on: Packages and priority mail. It's first-class that breaks the bank.

    And I'm with you. Maybe not one day a week. But maybe two. Tuesday and Friday or something.
     
  9. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    Bulk mail (catalogs, etc.,) makes money, too. But the Post Office isn't SUPPOSED to make money, any more than the Defense Department is. It's supposed to provide a public service, a Constitutionally mandated one I might add. Only one Post Office in American history ever turned a profit. That would be the Post Office of the Confederate States of America. Fat lot of good it did THAT government.
     
  10. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    I always laugh when people bitch about the price of stamps going up. I think stamps should cost either $1 across the board, or be based on where you're sending the item. In-state? 50 cents. Out of state? $1. Out of the country? A few bucks...
     
  11. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    One of many things that needs to be updated in the constitution... :D
     
  12. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Re: US Post Office closing on Saturdays ... does it affect you?

    What exactly is the public service? People largely use e-mail to do what a mailed letter once did. And there is a private marketplace all-too-happy to provide package delivery -- and more cost efficiently than the USPS does.

    Our national defense is a public good. If you leave it people to provide on their own, it won't get provided, because there is a "free rider" problem. Why should I voluntarily kick in money to fund the army, when I know that if everyone else picks up the cost, I still benefit?

    You can argue about what specifically is necessary to provide for our national defense (a completely different discussion -- just want to head it off before someone goes there), but there is legitimate reason for government providing public goods -- they don't get provided WITHOUT government.

    What does the USPS do today that can't be provided more efficiently without government and the debt the USPS creates?
     
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