Another Reason To Go Paperless: USPS Cutting 7,500 Jobs

One of the last bastions of purity concerning job security was the US Postal Service. Working for the USPS was in a way like working for the state govt., federal govt. or the military in the respect that employees stayed there (usually happily) for decades. Well, you can scratch the USPS off the job security list as they’re cutting out 7,500 jobs, which includes the closure of seven district offices and 2,000 post offices.

It’s said the USPS is cutting costs due to competition from UPS and FedEx, but I think the real issue here is that more people are choosing to go paperless and simply don’t need the USPS as much as they used to.

The most common type of mail people receive are bills, and the most common type of mail sent is a payment for a bill. Given the fact that more people these days are receiving bills paperless in email, and using electronic payment to pay bills, it’s easy to understand why people are sending far less mail than they used to.

My experience with a paperless environment

I made the decision long ago that if any company who bills me has an electronic means of receiving bills/handling payments, I opt to use that. My apartment rent, cell phone, natural gas, electricity, vehicle registration renewal and everything else is handled online. The only things I actually need the USPS for are physical items, such as the registration sticker for the license tag on my car, AAA membership cards, car insurance cards and so on.

I use online means of billing so much that whenever I encounter a business that uses recurring billing and doesn’t offer online means of payment, they usually don’t get my business. One-time payments where online billing isn’t offered I can deal with, but for recurring, my thought is, "I have to mail a check? Every month? Are you serious?"

Where the USPS missed the boat (but may recover)

The USPS has been very, very slow to modernize, particularly with digital technology. They were last on the list with something even as simple as tracking numbers, and they’re not even that great ("Delivery Confirmation" only tells you if your letter/package got to the destination and doesn’t provide in-route information).

I’m also surprised the USPS never offered any kind of secure digital email service, because in all seriousness it would make total sense if they did; their business is mail, after all. At present nobody uses digitally signed email because it’s too much of an inconvenience to be useful. Digitally signed email via a postal carrier however would a good low-cost certified mail option however (ex: Login to usps.com site, pay small fee to deliver ‘certified digital mail’ to recipient of your choosing, recipient receives email stating to login to usps.com to retrieve message, on read of message @ usps.com site, you are sent receipt they read it).

Expect things to change with the USPS, and soon.

I’d also recommend that if you haven’t switched to online billing with your existing billers, you may want to consider it.

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http://davidrisley.com David Risley
Evernote. Makes an awesome paperless filing system.
David M
It would be nice if we saw more competition between government and the private sector to see who could do the job more efficiently. We would see a lot less government. And no, the USPS is not a private entity. It’s not even close to that.

Rich
The USPS is an odd duck because while it is technically an independent agency of the US Govt., they act like a private organization in that they have a civilian workforce and make money using no taxpayer dollars since the 1980s (what is used is for overseas voters and disabled assistance subsidies, but not for bottom line). In addition they also act like a private in that they advertise on television routinely to promote product, further adding to the odd nature of the USPS because other government agencies simply don’t do that.
You’ll see the USPS compete better in the very near future, and you can count on that. The RIF they’re doing now is so they can stabilize, stop banging on the Treasury’s door for help and step into the 21st century like they should have done 4 years ago when they started losing money hand over fist.

Katie
I recently sent a package through the post office with tracking (which I think only cost $.70!) and when I checked the status it showed me everywhere it had been and at what time.
Seemed to be up to par with UPS and FedEx from what I could tell.