Have you ever heard of a business losing $16 billion dollars per year? If so, you probably wouldn’t expect that business to survive very long, now would you? Well, the U.S. Postal Service is losing exactly that amount and unless forced emergency changes are implemented almost immediately, the U.S. Postal Service could go the way of the 8-Track tape and the Black & White floor model console TV.
In a previous attempt to salvage the old tradition of mail delivery, lawmakers tried to do away with Saturday delivery and save the dying agency a few billion per year. However, Americans who have grown accustomed to the old way and were unwilling to change, balked at the idea. But with the Postal Service continuing to hemorrhage money, a new plan is now in the works.
Instead of providing door-to-door mail delivery, the Postal Service is looking at a brand new model: cluster boxes. If approved, a homeowner will no longer enjoy the luxury of simply retrieving mail from their front door or driveway. Instead, they will be required to go to a neighborhood “cluster station” and collect their own mail, along with each of their neighbors. The postal service would then be able to cut their delivery force in half (since carriers would be delivering mail to neighborhoods instead of individual doors), thereby saving themselves billions.
Many apartment communities around the country already support cluster boxes. Now, new and even existing communities could be forced to play along. With the popularity of email, pay online eBills and a stamp costing a mere 46 cents per letter, the postal service has simply run out of options to stay afloat.
Today, postal carriers brave the rain, heat and snow to deliver mail door-to-door 6 days a week. However, how will ordinary Americans feel when they are forced to brave the rain, heat and snow to collect their own mail — or to discover the mail courier hasn’t arrived yet — or that their box is filled with junk mail or nothing at all?
