You Got Spam!

Three days before the U.S. Postal Service raised the price of a first-class letter and most other mail by three cents to 49 cents, the agency and the mail industry filed competing appeals of the rate increase in federal court. The USPS has been in trouble for a long time. Technology has changed the world, and for too many reasons to list here (political mostly) the Postal Service has been getting kicked around since 1946 (The Postman Always Rings Twice). The Postal Service has had one arm tied behind its back, not allowed to fight a fair fight.

Email and the Internet killed the Postage Stamp

Would you pay 1/10th of a penny to send and receive spam free email via the USPS? If you paid to send or receive email hosted and maintained by the USPS:

• Spam would cease to exist. Period.
• Malware and Viruses would never make it to your inbox. It would be safe, always.
• If you send and receive 1000 emails per day, it would cost you $0.001 x 1000 x 365 = $1 per day to have spam-less, guaranteed delivery email. You can do your own math.
• You could have “certified email” which would stand up in court, or via other legal venues. You could prove delivery of emails, with a receipt.
• We trust the USPS with checks, with contracts, with everything. It makes sense that you would trust them with your email.
• Tampering with the delivery of the US mail in any fashion is a big Bozo no-no. A Federal Crime. Why not extend that to USPS delivered email? [ See http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/#  Chapter 83 - Postal Service]
• All of the laws that cover your postal mail could cover your USPS email. Porn, online scams, all the nonsense.  No more emails from Nigerian Royalty.
• You don’t have to force anyone to use the USPS for email. You can keep using Gmail, or Yahoo or any other service. But why would you? What is your time worth? Maybe use Gmail for the goofy stuff, but use the USPS email for things that matter.
• Email via the USPS would make the USPS profitable. Very profitable.
• You decide who you use to send a package overnight (FedEx, UPS, USPS). Why not have the same choice for your email provider?
• If you buy Stamps online, you save money. They give you a discount. What if you used USPS for your email, and received an additional discount on other USPS services? Example: sign up for USPS email service, and get 10% off all other USPS services, like your PO Box fee or Stamps.

Personally, I love our local post office. I have a PO Box and they now accept FedEx and UPS, not just postal mail. They email me when there is new mail ready for me to pick up. I can take a trip, and never worry about my mail or deliveries. They hold my mail and packages. I feel that the level of service that I receive is outstanding, compared to the costs. I don’t want to see my USPS service go away or have them reduce any of their services due to a lack of funds.

Why not let the USPS compete fairly against FedEx and UPS? Why not let the USPS compete against Gmail and other “free” services? Again, if you send and receive 1000 emails per day, it would cost you $1 per day. I would gladly pay that to have a perfect, dependable, safe and secure business grade email account. 

And, it would save the Postal Service. What’s wrong with my logic?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_Jenny  

A single inverted Jenny was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction

in November 2007 for US $977,500.