The Postal Service is a mess. They're hemorrhaging cash, people are transferring their bills, payments, and correspondences online and it turns out that jacking the cost of postage 2 cents every year isn't going to provide enough new revenue to cover costs. Below is a little more detail:
From the NY Times:
Although your mailbox may be overflowing with catalogs and a few holiday cards may have started to appear, the United States Postal Service is in crisis. For fiscal year 2009, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $3.8 billion, despite more than $6 billion in cost cuts. Meanwhile, total mail volume fell by nearly 26 billion pieces, or 13 percent.
We still need the Postal Service for now...too many people still don't have computers, consistent access to the internet, or the online savvy to move their finances, etc. online. But do we need it in ten years? I doubt it. I'm not calling the full demise of the Postal Service, but certainly a reduction in services and service days offered and a significant downsizing of employees and benefits.
In a world where print media outlets are being shuttered almost daily, can we really picture a long life for the ultimate paper-based business?
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