So - why do companies who proliferate junk mail benefit from the lowest postage rates? Why not reverse the priority.Why can't my legitmate mail (correspondence, payments, - even incoming bills) cost say 20 cents per ounce and the bulk mail, unsolicited catalogues, advertisements, credit card applications, etc.) cost 40 cents?If the USPS is having trouble making ends meet, have the bulk/junk - i.e. bunk mail senders take up the slack instead of penalizing us old-fashioned letter writers. It's apparent E-mail and Internet access has put a significant dent in the USPS profit margin yet the premium is being placed on valid mail and the discount given to drivel. A true non-profit window (allowing my church to mail to parishioners only) can be included and perhaps a middle ground category for companies like LLBean can be created (if there were strick limitations on who can use it).
(Note to sysop - please place in appropriate idea category)
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The low mail rate is a subsidy to business. The current US administration would view a raise in postal business rates as a tax on business and this would be extremely unpopular with the Republican business orientated administration.
I'm not sure it is so simple as a subsidy to business. Bulk mailers are required to provide their mail pre-sorted which eliminates a lot of the workload on the post office so they get a cut in price. Also, most all businesses give bulk discounts. No reason the Post Office shouldn't be the same. Especially since they are basically a business and are no longer propped up by the government if they don't break even or make a profit.
Also, there is the trickle down effect. For politicians in States that host the paper, printing, marketing and sales industries that live off the production of bulk mail, it doesn't matter if they are Republican or Democrat or Independent. They are not going to support something that reduces the productivity that fills their State tax coffers.
And nowadays everyone is complaining about the loss of jobs in the US. I'm sure it's not a small number of people who would be put out of work if Bulk Mail was more expensive. And not low paying burger flipping jobs. We're talking about marketing, graphic design and production, printing, not to mention catalog phone sales people and warehouse/shipping jobs as well as delivery services such as FedEx and UPS.
It is somewhat ironic that a nuisance is justified on the basis that it provides jobs.Perhaps if advertisers employed graffiti artists to mark up all blank architectural spaces that would provide justification for the mess.
Taking bulk mailing as a business -that correlates to a business whose purpose is to turn trees into landfill. I'm not in favor of that.Are higher postage rates a penalty, or an increased cost of doing business? If it costs a company more money to process their product, wouldn't that company then find more economic methods? Perhaps hiring consultants to define markets, increasing use of recycled materials, or sending smaller targeted mailings, all making their return on cost more profitable.
I'm in favor of receiving those things in my mail box that I am willing to be responsible for - i.e. magazines and correspondence.
How about this, When I go on Vacation for Two or Three Weeks I have the post office hold my mail. So when I go to the post office to get my Mail I never have any Junk Mail. So if the UNITED STATES POST OFFICE can pitch the Junk mail when they are holding you Mail why do deliver the stuff to my house. I ask and they only say they have to Deliver all Mail. Has anyone ever noticed this?
I was going to post the same thing, but you beat me to it.
The key to making this work is to make it palitable to all the current beneficiearies.
Make the change gradual and give them time to adjust.
Everyone would benefit from less junk mail, less wasted resources. (even the direct mail companies!)
The marketing mail business plan would have to change. Instead of a 1% hit rate (just a guess) being profitable, they would need a 10% (another guess) hit rate. That would force them to be more targeted and know there customers better. In today's market, that should be possible.
If it hurts the UPS business (if they make less $) I would be willing to pay more for my first class mail to make up for the difference they lose in bulk mail. If mail is reduced, there may have to be some layoffs too. So, some ways to make that more paletable might have to be addressed.