No more valentine cards??? No more birthday cards?  No more catalogs and magazines?  How sad.....internet is great, and paying bills online is very convenient, but what about the personal touch....opening a card or letter and feeling special!!!  Oh my goodness....does everything about the "good ole days" have to disappear!

Its all GW's fault.  Blame the Republicans.  LOL, I mean after isn't it all his fault?

Inept postal managers led to the USPS loosing the Parcel business back in the late 60's.  FEDEX and UPS would not exist except for the ineptitude of the USPS. The USPS started going downhill from there.  Mail has the potential of reaching every single sole in the USA - no other business form has that availability.  If innovative USPS mgmt looked at ideas instead of their Exec pay, the USPS could be reformed to serve the public at large, not counting on just first class and junk mail.  Also, let the Postal Inspectors go after real crime - not what their audit mentality mgmt actually assigns them.  The Private Express Statutes are all that are keeping the innovative corporations at bay.  When Congress finally sees the light, and realizes the need to reduce subsidies, private corporations (like FEDEX & UPS) will step in and deliver the mail.  The USPS will go the way of flavor straws.......

Everybody complains and has every right to but don'y cry when you're waitiing for ...   your meds , your social security check , that cool toy your kid could only get from ebay , something important a relative sent to you etc .

I say they are no better then any other "businees". Start with mass layoffs, file for bankruptcy, stop 401k and health benefits and buyouts just like everyone other company has had to do in this economy.

It sounds like Dave has had a bad experience with a few people and is branding everyone in the post office with poor attitude and service.  I have had dealings with a lot of postal employees and most were very helpful, friendly and willing to go the extra mile to help me out.  Management could be better but isn't that true at any company, especially government agencies.  As to the postal service going away I say think again.  The postal service that we know may change but it won't go away.  Not everyone can afford a computer, internet access or do they desire to use the internet to conduct personal business.  So until everyone inAmerica has a computer I am sure that the USPS will be around.  

If there were no credit card solicitations, sale flyers and other junk mail - my service could be cut to 1 day a week. With the exception of a card or letter every now and again, or an internet purchase,  almost everything I do  - banking to facebook - is electronic. The current postal system is antiquated:  too many branch locations, delivery every day, too many employees. Recently bought stamps at a local branch and there were 4 counters staffed (I was the only one there).  It's not what it used to be. USPS needs to cut costs, re-evaluate services and take a look at the calender - its 2009 not 1969.

The current post office is just an image of GM and typical government big business. Try to get something done as simple as moving a mailbox and its pathetic cuz its goes through channels of middle management who can't make a decision. The local well paid postmaster can't make a simple decision. They have lots of folks retired getting pd with full benefits, when will these big companies figure out you can't be successful when your paying the help for 30-40 yrs after retired and you getting nothing in return. Americans need to learn to save for themselves and be responsible. The post office is never going to make it, they operate so poorly and can't solve the simpliest of small problems. It appears most of their employees work for them for benefits and retirement, not to do a great job or to create better ways to deliver. Its so easy to solve the financial problems of the post office, they just have no leadership to make a change and get into the current times. No sympathy for this business, they can lay in their own mess.

I am as traditional of a guy as you will find but you have to be a realist. The casual letters, cards and social mail are gone with the advent of e-mail, cell phones, etc.  There is no getting around it and the costs for "snail" mail escalates while the pressure to keep the costs of stamps inexpensive to be competitive is not keeping up. FedEx, UPS, etc is killing overnight and special deliveries so how can anyone be surprised at this? The govt can't keep subsidizing the postal service. It is time to raise the prices, cut deliveries to Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, And Friday (yes, four days) And if it can't survive, let a new business with no affilations to the govt pop up to handle the "demand". Personally, this is but another example of myopic unions and big business execs not being forward thinking enough.

Even in this age of "broadband," there are children and adults that love to send and receive physical letters. A pen-pal hobby gives children good communication skills practice in a format other than texting and chatting. Plus, it permits them to practice their penmanship, a survival skill I greatly fear is also going extinct.  My formative years were in the "pen pal and 'zine generations" of the 1960s-1990s. Nothing made many people happier than opening their mailboxes everyday to find items other than bills, junk mail, and circulars. Sure, the postal service can cut back all they want, but I encounter people every day that would truly mourn the loss of physical, hand-written pieces of mail. If you look around the web well enough, you will find many pen-pal chat groups of people wanting to send and recieve snail-mail regularly. Sure, it's a costly hobby/endeavor. But for too many of the un-internet savvy, they truly love to send and receive physical pieces of mail. Reality check: There are many people in this great land of ours that do not and cannot afford computers and internet service provider bills. More people than you think that lost their jobs this year had to cut off their internet/cell phone provider service and don't want to fight crowds of people over using the local library computers. Many small towns and rural areas have no "cybercafes" and it's a long distance to the local library for many people. Some people even have no interest in computers whatsoever. Why should these people be "lesser" citizens because they have no interest in technology, but wish to communicate in manners of worthiness? Many seniors and even younger adults want no part of this. They still find their local banks, retailers, and yes, even the post office of more community value than the internet. Snail-mail still has worthiness, even in the "broadband" era.