"Going postal" at the post office

[ChEAr$]

Clasps

There must be a way to remove those metal clasps preparatory to mailing.

Someone above quoted 1.47 for a three ounce "package"; I had to pay 1.48 today!

[jainen]

a problem with this

>>must override an anticipated veto by a two-thirds majority<<

I don't see a problem with this. I know my representative will be voting for it as soon as his earmark to build a swimming pool for a local supporter is added.

[JohnH]

I don't like this at all

Several years ago I read that most auto accidents happen within 25 miles of home, so I moved just to avoid that risk. Darned if I want the address following me around - it defeats the purpose of getting out of the danger zone.

[Davc]

Late last year, the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, ruled that phone customers would soon be able to keep their telephone numbers with them when they changed carriers. That made it possible for a person to retain a familiar number even when switching, say from Sprint to MCI, and even from traditional phone service to cell phone service.

At the time, no one anticipated the cascading effect this would have. Now the concept has spilled over onto another branch of the federal government. NPR's Andrea Seabrook reports on the latest expansion of portability.

If you were sitting far in the back of the packed conference room you may have missed the smile that broke across the faces of the 15 Post Service employees on the rostrum. But smiles they were indeed -- as the afternoon's surprise announcement was read at the end of the usual daily briefing to reporters by the Assistant Postmaster General Lester Crandall.

"I'm pleased to announce a new feature of our on-going "Go Postal" campaign," said Crandall. "It's yet another step to modernize our postal system and satisfy our customers.

"Every year millions of Americans are on the go: People who must relocate for work or other reasons. Those people may have been quite attached to their original homes or an adopted town or city of residence. For them this innovative measure will serve as an umbilical cord to the place they love best.

"So it is with great pride and pleasure I tell you that starting next month, the national Portable Zip Codes program will commence. With it, American citizens can keep their present zip codes wherever they chose to live, across the country or across town."

Crandall said that while the plan would at first take some getting used to, the kinks could easily be worked out. He's expected to meet with representatives of the nation's mail carriers next week to work on details.

While the portable zip code bid is subject to approval by the joint House-Senate congressional oversight committee, it's expected to face stiff opposition in the Senate Select Committee on Communications Technologies.

"This is like Kinko's expanding its reproductive services to include gynecology," said Sen. Phil Spigel of Arkansas.

He spoke with NPR by satellite phone from south Sudan, where he is on a fact-finding mission with the singer, Cher.

"Call me old-fashioned, but zip codes were meant to stay put," he said. "They serve a clear, unambiguous purpose: They tell the postal worker on his or her rounds where you live. When I return to Washington at the end of the year -- to zip code 20016, to be exact -- I'm certain I'll be thinking long and hard of maybe voting against it. Possibly."

But many people feel otherwise. A modern, mobile society -- they argue -- can no longer afford to remain grounded in locale-specific zip codes. Proponents of portability say a zip code is a badge of honor, an emblem symbolizing a citizen's place in the demographic, rather than geographic, landscape.

Ricky Jenoffer, a stockbroker, supports the new program.

"I was born and bred in Kenosha, Wis.," Jenoffer said. "I use to spend my winters ice-fishing with friends. But my company moved me to New York City, which was hard enough. But then the post office said I had to change zip codes. I couldn't be 53142 anymore. And that hurt. It was like I was out on the lake fishing you know, and suddenly like the ice wasn't here."

The stationary system of zip codes has been in place for decades, and in that time those five numbers evolved from just a series of digits to a status symbol -- like an expensive watch or a handsome hairpiece.

For years critics of the post office insisted that opposition to mobility of zip codes was a ploy by the Postal Service to further exert control over people's lives. Rex Morgan heads Citizens for Retention of All Postal Services.

"They just didn't get it," said Morgan. "They didn't understand that people work hard to get a 90091 zip -- moving shouldn't disconnect them from that part of their lives. Number are no different than names. You wouldn't want the government to tell you you had to change your name when you moved to El Paso, would you? So why should you be shamed by being stripped of the number you may have grown up with when you move? I applaud this new plan."

The new vanity zip code feature is only the latest addition to the Go Postal program, which began last April 1. USPS officials say Go Postal has already been a success, with millions of dollars of new revenue coming from the introduction of pop-up ads on postage stamps. They are hoping to issue the first portable zip codes by April 1, 2005. But first the House subcommittee must override an anticipated veto by a two-thirds majority of dissenting members. If that passes, the full Senate will have to take up the three riders attached to the bill by the postal subcommittee. If that fails, then only a 4-5 measure in both houses can pass. Only time will tell where this all stands.

Written by All Things Considered producer Art Silverman.

[JohnH]

Pull them off

The clasps are easy to pull off - the post office machinery has been efficiently ripping them off the envelopes for years now.

If you slightly raise the clasp in a butterfly position you can give it a little twist and off it comes, since you're just reversing the process by which is is installed. Then you can use tape, which is what you should have been doing even when the clasps didn't carry a surcharge anyhow.

[George Boutwell]

You could always cut the clasps off the envelope and continue taping them as you already do (because, as we all know, the clasps are useless anyway and we have to wonder about people who would buy them).

[Zee]

>>I also have a few boxes of clasp-envelopes<<

Again, the envelopes! I don't get it. If they are so important to you, then pay what it costs to mail them. Otherwise find another use or take them back to Office Max.

You want efficient mail delivery that doesn't damage your package, don't you? Give up on last century's technology. You should be using self-seal Tyvek that slides through the big optical reader machines without a problem.

Tyvek isn't "new" technology. I've also used Tyvek envelopes for many years. Guess what? My elderly clients have a very difficult time opening Tyvek envelopes. I use both. My experience with the USPO, is simple. "It stinks". I've had so many bad experiences, they are too numerous to mention here. Sure, I can toss the envelopes (and probably will). But, why waste them when a simple communication with advance notice to use them up could have saved our landfills a lot of garbage?

[vitkus]

Postage Problems

I have a client that has a franchise to AIM Mail Centers (I know there are serveral other names and businesses that do a similar operation). They can send anything via USPS; UPS; FEDEX; DHL etc. They can tell you which is the least expensive or the fastest way. Rarely is there a line, and I have an account with them so that they bill me monthly -so if necessary I can send an employee or a family memeber. I also use Stamps.com and am currently looking into a similar service which may be less expensive.

[jainen]

the envelopes

>>I also have a few boxes of clasp-envelopes<<

Again, the envelopes! I don't get it. If they are so important to you, then pay what it costs to mail them. Otherwise find another use or take them back to Office Max.

You want efficient mail delivery that doesn't damage your package, don't you? Give up on last century's technology. You should be using self-seal Tyvek that slides through the big optical reader machines without a problem.

[Zee]

It's in the mail!

LOL! It probably is.

[Jiggers]

Clasp Envelopes

I also have a few boxes of clasp-envelopes. It "miffs" me there's a surcharge to use them. There should have been notification to the public and a period to use them up before the surcharge began. If there was one, I didn't read about it.

It's in the mail!

[Zee]

>>Is the geezer factor finally kicking in for me, or has anyone else noticed these non-user-friendly roadblocks thrown up by the postal "service"?<<

You are being unreasonable and inconsistent, FE. The only non-user-friendly service issue you mentioned is that you can't put stamped packages into a mailbox. That is easy to resolve--simply let your mail person pick it up, or use a postage meter, or drop it off at the FedEx or UPS box.

The rest of your complaints are all about fees but you object to the simplest ways of reducing costs, such as using a different envelope.

Personally I am glad that USPS has put so much thought into upgrading their delivery service because more than 3/4 of my clients are mail-ins. Postage and shipping is still only two or three percent of my billing, a fabulous bargain.

We've moved...lots...USPO service varies greatly. We're now in Florida. What upsets me is when there are 6-8 stations and only 1-2 open during the busiest time of the day. I might add that's the rule...not the exception. Also, a trip to the post office for many Senior's here is a social experience. They'll sit and BS about their grandchildren and the postal worker will attentively listen and respond, rather than politiely discontinuing this practice. I've waited in line for over an hour many times sending a parcel. It isn't worth it. I agree it's better to use UPS if you can, but their drop-off locations can also have long lines.

I also have a few boxes of clasp-envelopes. It "miffs" me there's a surcharge to use them. There should have been notification to the public and a period to use them up before the surcharge began. If there was one, I didn't read about it.

[George Boutwell]

Alternatives to Postage Meters

I still have mine, but it probably won't be too long until I switch to buying postage online and printing mailing labels with postage that includes (where available) free or low-cost Delivery Confirmation.

[jainen]

a fabulous bargain

>>Is the geezer factor finally kicking in for me, or has anyone else noticed these non-user-friendly roadblocks thrown up by the postal "service"?<<

You are being unreasonable and inconsistent, FE. The only non-user-friendly service issue you mentioned is that you can't put stamped packages into a mailbox. That is easy to resolve--simply let your mail person pick it up, or use a postage meter, or drop it off at the FedEx or UPS box.

The rest of your complaints are all about fees but you object to the simplest ways of reducing costs, such as using a different envelope.

Personally I am glad that USPS has put so much thought into upgrading their delivery service because more than 3/4 of my clients are mail-ins. Postage and shipping is still only two or three percent of my billing, a fabulous bargain.

[George Boutwell]

People Resist Change

Maybe your mail "costs less" but here are the facts:

1 - A 3-ounce letter now costs $0.75 . . .

And two weeks ago it cost 97 cents.

I don't mail too many 3-ounce tax returns, but many of them come in at 10 ounces, and they are packaged so they qualify as "flats." (If you can operate a computer, you can figure out whether something is flexible enough to bend an inch.) The old rate for 10 ounces was $2.99. The new rate is $2.33.