My FedEx driver puts items in my mailbox if the label says to deliver the items to the back door. Frustrated Since most packages don`t even fit in mailboxes, this whole idea can be a contentious point. To quote this famous phrase from Zoolander: “How can we expect children to learn to read if they don`t even fit into the building?” A FedEx spokesman declined to comment on NPR. David Abney, CEO of UPS, said he is ready to investigate mailbox access as more details become available. By law, only you and the U.S. Postal Service are allowed to put things in your mailbox. But what if companies like FedEx and UPS could do that too? These companies currently leave small packages at your door instead of your mailbox because USPS has a mailbox monopoly – and has done so for decades. To put it simply, it`s just the law. In 1934, Congress passed a law prohibiting anyone from getting their hands in mailboxes, except for the USPS and the customer who receives the mail. They passed this law to crack down on people who don`t pay shipping costs and don`t deliver letters themselves, and it`s still in effect today. Others, such as Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, argue that franchising the mailbox would actually take money from the postal service.
A White House task force said in December that the USPS “should investigate mailbox franchising as a means of generating revenue.” Everyone knows that the U.S. Postal Service`s postal delivery system is a monopoly product. This means that USPS is legally the only carrier that can deliver mail to our mailboxes. In fact, only two parties can legally touch a private mailbox: USPS and the customer receiving the mail. However, the Trump administration recently released a report in December 2018 stating that “the USPS should investigate license access to the mailbox” to generate new revenue. What does this mean exactly? Basically, the Trump administration is suggesting that USPS should allow private carriers like FedEx and UPS to deliver to your mailbox. for a fee that they would of course pay to USPS. (So yes, even throwing a note in your neighbor`s mailbox is technically a crime.) If the Trump administration`s recommendation is implemented, it would be “a new way the postal service exercises its exclusive control over everyone`s mailboxes — without a doubt,” said Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Robert Taub. Transportation analysts said access to mailboxes for companies like UPS and FedEx would allow them to serve their customers faster — by simply reducing the time it takes for a courier service to get to the front door, especially in rural areas. Technically, this law means that even for you, putting a letter in someone else`s mailbox is a crime! So think twice the next time you decide to put a note in your neighbor`s mailbox.
In 1934, during the Great Depression, Congress passed a law prohibiting anyone from getting their hands on mailboxes — except for the postal service and the customer to whom it delivered the mail. The law, which aims to crack down on people who save on shipping costs, has been in place ever since. “Why? Because they can`t make money by going where this package goes,” he says. “When you move, the post office will find you and bring you your letters and give you your package. And FedEx and UPS won`t,” says Cassey Francis, an Iowa hairdresser. She grew up as the daughter of two postmen. The extent of the mailbox monopoly has been tested from time to time. The Supreme Court even heard a 1981 case on the matter and upheld its constitutionality. While we respect the Trump administration`s initiative to generate more revenue for USPS, we don`t think this solution makes sense.
Why, you ask? Well, first of all: UPS and FedEx don`t touch the post office at first. The majority of the products they ship are packaging, large and small. and if you think about it, these packages don`t fit into ordinary mailboxes! This is one of the main reasons why these carriers leave packages at your door, and it is of course illegal for them to touch your mailbox. There are many other ways to increase sales, such as reducing the “unfair burden” of pre-financing the retirement of future employees, he says. “Some of these future employees aren`t even born yet.” Or the postal service could be allowed to offer a wider range of financial services, such as.B. expanding money orders and cheque cashing services, Dimondstein says. It has been losing money for years, including a loss of $3.9 billion in fiscal 2018. People are sending fewer letters – first-class volume dropped by 2.1 billion coins last year. To offset this decline, the USPS raised stamp prices by 5 cents in January – the largest increase on record. . “Even though it may seem from time to time that the post office isn`t the most efficient,” Francis says, “they really do an amazing thing.” And the postal service is still struggling to pay $5.5 billion in future benefits for retirees each year.
. “While we`d have to review the details as long as we could settle for the conditions, we`d consider this a positive step” to boost sales, Taub says. If the administration wants to have a say in postal matters, President Trump could appoint some members to the Post Office Board of Governors. They have the real power to implement changes in the agency – and there are seven vacancies. Taub, a Trump-appointed official who heads the independent agency that oversees the Postal Service, says the recommendation would not have been made if the agency had not been in such a catastrophic financial situation. But Dimondstein, whose union represents more than 200,000 USPS workers and retirees, says customers could start choosing private carriers to deliver small packages instead of the postal service because they think their services have become faster. By accessing private companies for a fee, the agency could make money without making changes to its current products, according to the task force. The proposal did not name specific companies, but it is reminiscent of companies like FedEx and United Parcel Service. . This could happen on the recommendation of the Trump administration.
. And places as rural and isolated as the Anaktuvuk Pass are difficult to reach for UPS or FedEx fleets. Dimondstein says these companies pay for the mail to send their own packages “millions and millions” a week, rather than taking care of the logistics themselves. But some say the postal service and other businesses are second to none. A majority of Americans trust the agency more than anyone else. On the one hand, postmen are loved by the communities they serve. As part of its universal service obligation, the postal service serves more than 157 million addresses in the United States. Unlike other airlines, USPS delivers everywhere – such as the Anaktuvuk Pass to the more remote areas of northern Alaska. Each station is flown in and out of the remote city. For its approximately 300 inhabitants, Swiss Post is a crucial link with the outside world.
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