Postal Service Plans More Junk Mail Delivery

New ad push aimed at bringing in more money

Sick of the leaflets and useless coupons clogging up your mail box? Tough luck. In fact, get used to more junk mail - the latest plan by the Postal Service to make up lost revenue. The Postal Service is cutting deals with businesses and direct mail marketers to increase the number of sales pitches sent by mail, The New York Times reports.

The move comes shortly after the Postal Service announced that it plans to default on a $5.6 billion payment. This will be the second time in as many months that the agency has defaulted on a billion-dollar obligation. Revenues are still falling from decades of technological broadsides from email and the web.

But the junk mail gambit doesn't impress some observers. "An insolvent organization delivering stuff people don't want while seeking subsidies we can't afford: a fairly typical example of late stage blue hard at 'work,'" writes Walter Russell Mead on his American Interest blog.

Via The New York Times and The American Interest.

Should the Postal Service raise money by allowing more junk mail?

[Jack-Black]

They need to put the out of work managers of solyndra in charge of the USPS. They know how to run a business.

[Jeff_Woehrle]

HAHA! Government business expertise...coming soon to your health care!

[Thunderchicken]

First off, I think it's environmentally irresponsible to encourage junk mail.

Secondly, the Post Office has hit congress with reforms but congress won't let them be enacted. The Post Office is supposed to be an independent portion of the Federal Government. This situation illustrates quite well what happens when government tries to run a business.

[mimi57]

The government cannot run anything efficiently. Most of the junk mail I get has
a shiny coating on it and you can't even tear it up or burn it in the fireplace.
What a waste, my husband works for an environmental company and has
talked about the tons of needless "garbage" we already have too much of,
and we need more? I'm by no means a tree hugger, but this is definitely not
being "environmentally friendly".

[ACTSmom]

A waste of trees...almost all of us stop by a trash can after picking up our mail. They even have a big one in the post office we're using at the moment.

The USPS is a dichotomy in itself...agency or business? It has changed drastically over time. They have to again make some major changes when they're losing billions of $$ every quarter. I don't think junk mail is the answer to such losses.

[ibcingu]

The Postal Service needs to face reality --- their time done came & went.

[Thunderchicken]

The Post Office isn't the entire problem. A big part is congress forcing the Post Office to be as inefficient as it is. The little town of High Ridge MO has two branches. The Post Office would like to close the older, smaller and obsolete branch but by law they can't.

The postal service isn't outdated however the way it's being run is.

[Lpguy]

I hate junk mail sooo much! This is such bad news

[cru1se]

The need is still there for mail delivery. Rural delivery is important as is the delivery of medicine by the mail to be so antigoverment is not the solution.

[marine1]

Antigoverment IS the answer to half the problems in this world. Everything they touch is a cluster flub and the truth of ANYthing they do is never complete and above board. A large part of the reason for being so big is that it is SO easy to muddy the waters to confuse a issue and treat the people like mushrooms.

[Denizen_Kate]

My mail slot is behind my townhouse, near the garage door. I find it very convenient to place my recycle bin right next to my IN basket.

[tomincali]

its a good thing,keep those citizens working,with all the e-stuff kicking folks out of work the old ways keep people working.

as for it being wasted recources thats why we recycle that to puts citizens to work .

[Vermonter]

They need to be released from the 1.5 BILLION dollar monthly payment that must be forked over for retirement benefits that Congress spends the day they get it.

Like every other private company they must reign in the pension costs. The Postmaster General has said time and again they would be solvent if they discontinued the forced payouts.

Have the new employeed go on a 401K.

[rickv]

Delivering mail is what they do so delivering more of it will create more revenue however this is not going to raise the kind of revenue that congress is trying to extort from them. Their problem is Congress.
1. The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution.
2. Congress mandates that the Postal Service operate without taxpayer funds.
3. Congress mandates that the Postal Service break even.(not allowed to make a profit.)
4. In 2006 Congress mandated that this break even entity generate $5.5 billion a year for ten years to pre-fund health and retirement benefits for employees who are not yet born even though these accounts are billions of dollars over funded.
5. The Postal Service is being denied access to these over payments to pay the now $11.0 billion owed for the last two years.
Hence a manufactured crisis.
It seems to me that congress is setting us up for another tax increase. They created this deficit and will tell us that the Postal Service must be saved and needs a bail out.(A tax increase). Brilliant?