David, et al If a small tax were levied on email and text messages -- and it wouldn't have to be very large either - the revenues could be used to support snail mail 6 days a week for everybody. And it would help to control spam and frivolous email as well.
When J Crew, L.L. Bean, Williams-Sonoma, Lands End and all these other good folks have to hand off that catalog delivery business to UPS, then we'll hear a caterwauling for sure. Personally, I really dislike UPS. Here in Austin they simply will leave a 12 thousand dollar package on your porch whether a signature is required or not. Either they just don't care or their drivers are intentionally ignoring it. FED EX is, of course, quite good where speed is necessary. But the insurance things with them is not applicable to film posters. I've posted about this in the past. If you "insure" a film poster with FED EX and it gets lost, they are not required to pay you. Because works of art, collectibles, jewelry and furs are distinctly excepted from liability in their service manual. Kirby www.movieart.net On Dec 12, 2011, at 3:20 PM, David Kusumoto wrote: > I'm a moderate conservative who swings left socially and right fiscally - yet > I agree completely with what Kirby, Franc, Rich and others have said about > how critical it is to preserve our beleaguered USPS. Free markets cannot > apply to a service that by law, goes EVERYWHERE. Most people don't know the > post office gets its revenue almost ENTIRELY through the sale of postage, NOT > tax dollars. If the post office raised its first class rate for a one-ounce > letter to $1, I would still pay it. The idea that strangers in USPS uniforms > will carry a letter for you for less than 50 cents - and deliver it to a > rural location with a high degree of reliability - is amazing to me. > > I'm also a sucker for the "neither rain, nor sleet nor snow," slogan long > associated with the USPS. That's what the USPS is all about. I've been all > over the world and in terms of reliability of delivery, we've got one of the > best postal systems anywhere. This is corny but what Franc wrote about the > USPS as part of our nation's heritage rings true for me. I try my best to > greet my postal carrier every day. Just last week, in the black of night, a > different carrier, a younger woman, came to my door carrying a large box on > her shoulder. She had one of those those beamed LED lights attached to the > front of her cap so she wouldn't fall. She was late but determined to get > through that day's deliveries that had turned quickly into night. I assessed > her situation in a few seconds and was in awe. And the next day she no doubt > went through the same thing all over again, elsewhere. > > Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:31:22 -0800 > From: sa...@comic-art.com > Subject: Re: Another fleabay Moron > To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU > > Kirby is so right about this: > > > At 08:49 AM 12/12/2011, Kirby McDaniel wrote: > > * Don't get me started on this. The postal services are NOT a business. > They were never intended to be a business. They are a government service. > We still need them, despite > what some who worship the "free" markets think. > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.