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I don't care for the USPS. I think they are the poster child of inefficiency and waste. Yet, they're a necessary evil. My grandmother does not have a computer. She has typed and mailed me letters since I moved away from home 23 years ago. Her letters kept my spirits up when I was stationed overseas in the Navy and all throughout the years. She's the only one I really write letters to. I do have other friends and relatives to whom I send postcards every once in a while and they get a kick out of that, because so few people write anymore. Yet, I wouldn't be sad if the post office went by the waste side. 42 cents to send a stupid letter already.
Junk mail, however you may dislike it is how many small businesses are able to operate... it is their way of advertising because they don't have the big bucks or large corporations. I support junk mail because it keeps jobs alive... the reason the post office isn't doing so well is mainly because we move from an "analog" society to a "digital" society... bills can be sent and paid online, catalogs can be surfed online, junk mail is now junk email (albeit the junk email is even worse), letters and notices can be sent online... the loss of these revenues add up quite a bit... however there is still a necessity for the post office that we cannot move away from at the present time (i.e. you signature for certain forms are required and cannot be digitally accepted)... a good invention for people is the "digital signature" where a person can use an electronic pen to sign electronically (much like grocery stores after you use a credit card) that is linked to everyone's computer... however, not everybody has a computer to do this... the computer will one day replace the post office and the only ones sending packages and such will be a company like UPS or FedEx... I don't feel sorry for the post office, I just hope we can create new jobs (jobs that require VERY LITTLE skill for the same amount of pay) for the people who are losing theirs...
Well, being in marketing, I can say that direct mail has become much more expensive than other mediums per impression. For me to suggest DM to my clients, I either have to put them into some bundled delivery such as ValPak or really have a super-targeted list that pays attention to spending patterns, household income, and that ilk. Just blanketing the zip codes with flyers just isn't a good use of my client's money anymore.
It's an antiquated business model. Workers receive fat compensation packages for a service that fewer and fewer people value. While other businesses have been forced to become leaner and meaner, the USPS keeps cranking out the COLAs and doling out the bennies. We just don't live in that kind of world anymore... and the companies that think we do are forced to keep raising prices until they price themselves right out of business.
More and more people are paying bills and sending correspondence electronically. It's faster, cheaper and more reliable. The USPS needs to join the new millennium, where cost-efficiency is the key to survival. I would think that postal workers would rather have reduced compensation than no compensation at all. But maybe not...
It's an antiquated business model. Workers receive fat compensation packages for a service that fewer and fewer people value. While other businesses have been forced to become leaner and meaner, the USPS keeps cranking out the COLAs and doling out the bennies. We just don't live in that kind of world anymore... and the companies that think we do are forced to keep raising prices until they price themselves right out of business.
More and more people are paying bills and sending correspondence electronically. It's faster, cheaper and more reliable. The USPS needs to join the new millennium, where cost-efficiency is the key to survival. I would think that postal workers would rather have reduced compensation than no compensation at all. But maybe not...
Interest Cliff Claven fact (You know, the idiot guy from Cheers): At the height of the Victorian era, there were up to 7 postal deliveries a day in London. Pretty amazing efficiency if you think about it.
With the exception of a birthday card, a thank you note, or a party/wedding invitation, when's the last time you mailed a bit of personal correspondence?
And, on the business side, I e-mail all my invoices to my clients. Personally, I'm now toying with the idea of PayPal for my receivables, just so I can speed up collections.
In fact, I bought a roll of stamps two years ago. I haven't used it up yet.
Very true, I don't even have any stamps and don't need any. I really can't recall the last thing I had to mail. It's been a LONG time.
In fact, almost all of the things I receive in the mail that I don't immediately recycle could have been delivered electronically -- bills and magazines (as PDFs) for instance. I would say I could pretty much do without mail service myself!
"eliminating Saturday home delivery" I thought it used to be like this. I never saw why it was needed personally.
And DM done correctly is a very effective and cost efficient way to advertise with a good targeted list you will get decent response rates. I have worked with direct mail for years. I am one of the few that likes the direct mail. Although now it is being superceded by computer email blasts.There is a big pr campaign right now in which ads state the usps rates are lower than other carriers.
I work at a mid size law firm and the volume of mail we send and receive has significantly decreased. We scan and email and fax from our computers now almost everything we do. There are some days where we don't get a single piece of snail mail. I can understand a downsizing.
Plus with all the online bill paying people are doing fewer paper bills are sent to their houses. Magazine subscriptions are also down and I am not getting the daily credit card applications anymore. They come maybe one a week now.
There just isn't as much mail anymore. And once the election is over that will cut my home mail in half. Political mail is 75% of my home mail now.
Considering how many times USPS has lost my mail, including packages of items I've ordered...considering how many times I get mail intended for others and don't get things people send me...considering I mailed an important, "priority, certified" letter earlier this month and it took 18 days to be delivered to someone in the next state...USPS can be eliminated as far as I'm concerned.
Junk mail, however you may dislike it is how many small businesses are able to operate
ANY business sending junk mail to my address is a business that does not EVER get any business from me.
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