Why I hate the Post Office

This might sound a little strange, but I hate the Post Office.  As far as I'm concerned they offer no service I want and I wish I could stop receiving mail completely.

Why do I dislike the Post Office so much you ask?  Simple, most of the mail I get I don't want.  Most of the mail I get is "spam" or junk mail, which no one wants.  This comes in two forms.  The first is mail addressed to me.  Magazines, brochures, ads, etc. from companies I've purchased from.  These aren't so bad because you can usually contact the sending party and request they remove you from their mailing list.  This takes time and it's a hassle, but it can be done.  The second, and most common, is mail that was not addressed to me or anyone.  Basically some company paid the Post Office to drop this mail into everyone's mailbox.  What I hate the most about this mail is there's no way to "opt out."

All of this junk mail, whether addressed to me or not, is such a huge waste.  I get sick when I think about how much time, energy, and resources were wasted to print and deliver this mail just so I can throw it away and fill up the landfill.  I mean, how many trees a year are cut down to send out junk mail and catalogs?

Any information that I want/need doesn't come by mail anymore.  Everything like bills, statements, letters from friends and family, etc. is sent electronically.  Yes, there are times you need to send something physical, and that's what package shipping companies like UPS and FedEx are for.  I don't mind the Post Office when they are delivering a package, but mail needs to stop.  In my opinion the Post Office has made only 2 good decisions in the last two decades.  First is flat-rate boxes.  Shipping a box without having to worry about the size or weight is convenient and nice.  The second is forever stamps.  Until such time as letters are a thing of the past, stamps will continue.  And never having to worry about rate increases is nice.

So when people talk about the Post Office having financial difficulties, closing offices, reducing services, cutting delivery days, etc.  I welcome these.  To me this is good news!  Whatever it takes to force the Post Office to realize their future is in direct competition with UPS and FedEx and not as a letter carrier is a good thing.

You might point out that the USPS is the second largest employer in the US (behind WalMart) and as such their downfall would result in millions of lost jobs.  As far as I'm concerned that's no reason to keep the Post Office around in it's current form.  One hundred years ago you didn't dial anyone's phone number.  Instead you merely picked up the phone and an operator picked up the other end.  You told him/her who you wanted to call and they literally "patched" you to the other person's line.  But with the advent of phone dialing tens of thousands of operators lost their jobs.  Should we still have operators to dial for us given a better way was inverted to call someone?  No.  By the same token, should the Post Office employ millions of people to deliver letters when a better way to communicate has already been invented?  No!

Really, the Post Office is in a downward spiral that will not end for a long time.  As mail volume drops, they have no choice but to increase postage rates.  But as postage rates increase, people will increasingly turn to electronic ways of sending information.  This death-spiral will continue until, as I said, the Post Office is reduced to only delivering packages.  So the sooner the Post Office gets to that goal, the better.