The USPS is a big joke...

[daredtowork]

55. USPS under siege

I think we need to shore it up instead.

Possible ways to make USPS CENTRAL to our way of life again:

1) USPS banking. No more extortionate fees for paycheck cashing.

2) USPS to run basic telecommunications. AT&T is always threatening to get out of the landline business. I say we let them! We need to put at least one means of national telecommunications in the public hands. By putting the landline infrastructure in the hands of the USPS we could create a "public option" for both phone service AND DSL to maintain competive prices in both phone and Internet service! We could fully subsidize "lifeline" phone service for the poor instead of that wacky discount service we have going now. ("discounts" for people who have no income? Sense it makes not.). Telecommunications services are a natural partner for mail services. In Europe post offices maintain phone services. I believe post offices used to host telegraph services at the turn of the century.

3) Post offices could co-locate with other public services that travelers need like currency exchange, visitor information centers, hostel reservations, etc.

Over the years our sense of public institutions and public service centers have almost totally collapsed. The post office, like the public library, could play a role in rebuilding local civic spirit by re-asserting itself as a vital public space.