Now is the time to draw inspiration from wherever we can, and stand with workers while they fight the employer-led race to the bottom.
Now is the time to draw inspiration from wherever we can, and stand with workers while they fight the employer-led race to the bottom.
It is a luxury, but I don’t think we’re wrong to want luxuries. I think the frequency issue is intentionally disregarded. And it shouldn’t be. I’d rather have weekly delivery to my door than daily to a community mailbox. But what I’d really like is choice. What if we had both a community mailbox and weekly door-to-door delivery? Need something urgently, pick it up at the community mailbox where it gets dropped off daily, but if you’re not religiously emptying your community mailbox, a postman still comes by once a week to deliver any mail from your community mailbox to your home?
I suspect this could potentially save a lot of money AND provide actually better service to the significant majority of people. To the point that we could even start expanding door-to-door delivery again instead of removing it, we’d just expand it to areas that currently only have community mailboxes but do it on a reduced frequency, like garbage and recycling services. If they can do it weekly in most places, why can’t the postal service?
Most people don’t even get door to door delivery it is a luxury for a small percentage of people. Why does a small percentage get special treatment? Because they have always had it? That’s not a valid reason.
Not to mention the people who have it are generally wealthier because it’s mostly for detached homes at this point.
Did you miss the part where I suggested expanding it? You know, being progressive instead of regressive? Instead of taking away the luxury, let’s find a way to give more people the luxury? So that it’s not special treatment, it’s everyone’s treatment?
The postal workers would absolutely reject a plan for weekly door to door delivery because it would mean laying off tons of postal workers.
And how do you even make that work financially? Door to door delivery is insanely expensive, especially in rural areas. That means driving many km from farm to farm to deliver all the mail instead of just taking it to the town post office.
How is it possible to both lay off a ton of postal workers but be even less financially viable? It’s the per-letter costs. Door to door raises the per-letter costs and weekly delivery reduces the volume (because businesses who need daily delivery go elsewhere) and so you lay off a ton of postal workers but your volume falls off a cliff and you still lose money.
People who live in the country are already vehicle dependent anyway (no one’s living in the country ordering Uber Eats every day and paying a fortune on long distance delivery fees). It doesn’t hurt them to drive to the post office once a week (or even once a month) to get their mail.