Quoted Text

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Americans would no longer get mail delivered to their door but would have to go to communal or curbside boxes instead under a proposal advancing through Congress.

The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on an 18-13 party-line vote, approved a bill Wednesday to direct the U.S. Postal Service to convert 15 million addresses over the next decade to the less costly, but also less convenient delivery method.

Democrats objected to the plan, and efforts in recent years to win its adoption have failed.

"I think it's a lousy idea," Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said. Other lawmakers said it wouldn't work in urban areas where there's no place on city streets to put banks of "cluster boxes" with separate compartments for each address. People with disabilities who have difficulty leaving their homes could get waivers, and people who still want delivery to their door could pay extra for it — something Lynch derided as "a delivery tax."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/proposal-stop-door-door-mail-millions-23812545

It will be more efficient and save money.  Many parts of the country already have cluster mail boxes.  
The only people who really oppose this are Postal Carriers Union, and that isn't a strong enough argument against doing this.

The other thing we need to get approved is a system like they have in some European countries where people can actually look up on line what pieces of mail have been scanned through the Post Office and reject those pieces of mail -- Junk Mail, mail from politicians, etc. -- that they don't want delivered to them.
In fact, I think Congress should pass a law forbidding our Congress members from doing bulk mail during an election year.  As it is now, EVERY piece of mail from our federal and state legislators goes UNOPEN - IMMEDIATELY into the shredder at home.  Same goes for the endless pile of campaign mailings from ANY candidate -- UNOPEN and IMMEDIATELY through the shredder.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

It will be more efficient and save money.  Many parts of the country already have cluster mail boxes.  
The only people who really oppose this are Postal Carriers Union, and that isn't a strong enough argument against doing this.

The other thing we need to get approved is a system like they have in some European countries where people can actually look up on line what pieces of mail have been scanned through the Post Office and reject those pieces of mail -- Junk Mail, mail from politicians, etc. -- that they don't want delivered to them.
In fact, I think Congress should pass a law forbidding our Congress members from doing bulk mail during an election year.  As it is now, EVERY piece of mail from our federal and state legislators goes UNOPEN - IMMEDIATELY into the shredder at home.  Same goes for the endless pile of campaign mailings from ANY candidate -- UNOPEN and IMMEDIATELY through the shredder.

Shows just how clueless you are about the issues surrounding discussions about things like this.
Did you ignore the handicapped or health issues of people and inability to walk down the block to get mail?
Do you realize not everyone has or is capable of internet access?
Do you ignore the challenges this could impose during winter storms or bad weather conditions for seniors
or impaired individuals?

If they want to reduce costs and improve efficiency, then they need to look in their own house first.
Their operation is inefficient and allows for improvements to counteract the problems.
Many mail carriers (not all) use the system to avoid working efficiently.
The mail path is antiquated and needs to be updated. A pkg mailed from Syracuse to Schdy goes to Rochester,
then through Binghamton, then down to NYC, then up to Albany. A pkg mailed from Schdy to Syr goes direct.
There are many improvements that could reduce costs, but they don't know how to make it happen!
Privatize the service or hire someone from FedEx or UPS upper management to fix it.

Quoted from joebxr

Did you ignore the handicapped or health issues of people and inability to walk down the block to get mail?
Do you realize not everyone has or is capable of internet access?
Do you ignore the challenges this could impose during winter storms or bad weather conditions for seniors
or impaired individuals?

I

Shows how clueless YOU are on the topic.
Under the proposal elderly, disabled, etc. canstill choose to get delivery to their homes.  In FACT, there are already a large number of areas in the country that have cluster boxes (have had them for many years) and the elderly and disabled have always been able to get their mail delivered to their door.
The internet access argument that you raise is just plain ignorant.  That is like saying that just because their are some parts of America without access to electric power or cell phone service that we shouldn't pass any laws regulating anything that uses electric power or that the cell phone companies shouldn't have any regulations placed on them.

If ignorance is bliss than you must be in a constant state total euphoria.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Shows how clueless YOU are on the topic.
Under the proposal elderly, disabled, etc. canstill choose to get delivery to their homes.  In FACT, there are already a large number of areas in the country that have cluster boxes (have had them for many years) and the elderly and disabled have always been able to get their mail delivered to their door.
The internet access argument that you raise is just plain ignorant.  That is like saying that just because their are some parts of America without access to electric power or cell phone service that we shouldn't pass any laws regulating anything that uses electric power or that the cell phone companies shouldn't have any regulations placed on them.

If ignorance is bliss than you must be in a constant state total euphoria.

If you had half a brain it should be out searching for the other half.....
The proposal does include delivery options for elderly/impaired, but it is part of the bill and not a done deal.
Just like your beloved Rottendam politics on brush removal, they also would offer opt out for A FEE.
Oh, and so you are saying that if people do not have internet access, then TO BAD!!!!  You are really ignorant.
Of course you never did listen to the needs of the people and still don't...you probably think internet was
created by Al Gore and Globally available everywhere...WAKE UP GOATBOY.  They need to reform the process
and fix the issues...they haven't improved their processes in years....they are behind the times.

Post Office Wants You to Walk Farther to the Mailbox
A move toward a different mail delivery system is worth a try
By Marc Bastow, InvestorPlace Assistant Editor  |  Jul 26, 2013, 11:39 am EDT


“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” is inscribed on the James Farley Post Office Building in New York City.

Perhaps its time to add “nor cluster boxes” to those words.

In an effort to save the bleeding-cash-as we speak operation money, the U.S. Postal Service, backed enthusiastically by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), has proposed to eliminate door-to-door mail delivery to homes in new housing developments. Instead, the USPS will use a central “cluster box” model.

First things first: anything that helps save money for the Postal Service is worth considering. The service has been losing money hand over fist for years, including a $16 billion loss in 2012. Delivery service models like FedEx (FDX) and United Parcel Service (UPS) have chipped away (if not cleaved away) business over the last 2-3 decades, and more recently the growth in email has cut into mail volume.

The fallout in the mail service ecosystem is broad, with the struggles of Pitney Bowes (PBI) its prime example. PBI stock is down 55% in the last five years and 62% in the last decade.

Earlier, this year the elimination of Saturday delivery was introduced as a cost-cutting measure, and … well, it went nowhere. Nobody could really pinpoint with any accuracy how much might be saved, and of course employees faced possible furloughs or layoffs.

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So the Postal Service is back to square one on trying to find ways to save money, and this cluster box idea is one of the USPS proposals being considered.

Watching my mailman drive from mailbox to mailbox in the neighborhood, occasionally weaving his way around basketball hoops and parked cars seems to validate the idea. Providing mail carriers with one central repository for mail within a community or development will save gas money and time, and I guess that’s a start.

It might also save money on USPS staff that is needed as Post Office routes can be shortened. I suspect that won’t make the National Association of Letter Carriers particularly happy, however.

But can you get people to walk to a central location in their development to pick up the mail? Or will they complain loudly enough to doom the effort before it even gets off the ground?

I say get up off your duff and go to the cluster mailbox. We can complain all we want about the mail service and how stamp prices always seem to go up. So if the Postal Service can save millions of dollars on gas by delivering millions of items to one spot, it’s worth the try.

Cluster box delivery might not save it, but it’s certainly worth at least serious consideration.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. The opinions contained in this column are solely those of his own, and as of this writing he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

U.S. Post Office founded in 1770's.

Didn't deliver direct to houses IN CITIES until 1863.  
(And this was quite inefficient because the mail person had to knock on the door and could only leave the mail with a resident of the house.)   By 1916, mailboxes and mail slots on city houses came into common usage.

Rural Free Delivery didn't start until the 1890's and took a while to ramp up.  It wasn't until 1923 that the Post Office mandated that every house have a mail box or mail slot in order to get to the door delivery.

Parcel Post delivery (newspapers, magazines and packages) didn't start until 1913.

Another fact:   The annual cost of delivering mail to cluster boxes is less than 1/3rd the cost of delivering mail to the door.

It works for apartment complexes but this shouldn't target homeowners who wouldn't see a drop in prices any which way. If taxpayers could see actual savings then a voluntary service might work.

Quoted from Henry

It works for apartment complexes but this shouldn't target homeowners who wouldn't see a drop in prices any which way. If taxpayers could see actual savings then a voluntary service might work.

The fact is that in many parts of the country cluster boxes are already the norm. This has been the case for years -- at least 32 years in some suburbs in the western US.  It works quite well in those suburbs.

From what I understand, even if this bill doesn't pass both chambers of Congress, well MORE than half of all Americans will be receiving mail in cluster boxes anyway.  And the cost to deliver to cluster boxes is LESS THAN ONE THIRD the cost of delivering to every door.  It makes the most sense to approve this bill and make ALL mail deliveries to cluster boxes while maintaining the already existing right for seniors and the disabled to still receive  direct to door delivery if they prefer it.

They will soon abandon paper mail altogether.

They can just open all the mail that people drop off and scan it, then deliver it electronically.

It's just a matter of time before they actually do open, scan and delivery electronically.

But for a dollar they will deliver actual unopened mail.

It will be to keep everyone safe and honest.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The fact is that in many parts of the country cluster boxes are already the norm. This has been the case for years -- at least 32 years in some suburbs in the western US.  It works quite well in those suburbs.

From what I understand, even if this bill doesn't pass both chambers of Congress, well MORE than half of all Americans will be receiving mail in cluster boxes anyway.  And the cost to deliver to cluster boxes is LESS THAN ONE THIRD the cost of delivering to every door.  It makes the most sense to approve this bill and make ALL mail deliveries to cluster boxes while maintaining the already existing right for seniors and the disabled to still receive  direct to door delivery if they prefer it.

Here is the problem what savings will the taxpayers receive, you know just as I the answer is zero, so why would we once again pay more for less. I would be for a voluntary service if there was a savings to take part in it, you stated the savings would be 1/3, shouldn't that be savings for the taxpayers, would stamps cost 1/3 of the price of today, of course they wouldn't and prices would continue to climb.

Quoted from Henry

Here is the problem what savings will the taxpayers receive, you know just as I the answer is zero, so why would we once again pay more for less. I would be for a voluntary service if there was a savings to take part in it, you stated the savings would be 1/3, shouldn't that be savings for the taxpayers, would stamps cost 1/3 of the price of today, of course they wouldn't and prices would continue to climb.

The Postal Service has to adopt changes - cluster boxes is just one of them - and new technology to SURVIVE.  We have the LEAST EXPENSIVE postal system in the world -- postage rate wise.  I don't expect postage rates to drop if the change is adopted  HOWEVER I think it will keep the rates from rising sharply and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, will allow the US Postal Service to survive.

Also -- there are MANY parts of America where cluster boxes have been used for, at least 30 years or more, and it was NOT voluntary.   Pretty soon most households will be using cluster boxes anyway -- it is no big deal to just speed up the process and put ALL households (except seniors and disabled who choose to keep to the door delivery)  on cluster boxes.

There will be no savings for the taxpayer.
There will be no improvement in the delivery process.
Taxpayers will see no advantage.
Postal service costs will continue to rise, regardless.

How is it that UPS, FEDEX and DHL can manage everything so much
more efficiently and at comparable or lower cost in most cases? I ship through
FEDEX at costs lower and quicker delivery times than the postal service.
Why can they do it and USPS can't?
PS - They don't use cluster box delivery and seem to be perfectly fine AND PROFITABLE!!!!!!!

If the Govt didn't force them to PREfund the pension / retirement fund for years in advance, maybe they wouldn't be in such "debt"

Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under PAEA, USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten-year time span” — meaning that it had to put aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees it hasn’t even hired yet, something “that no other government or private corporation is required to do.”

As consumer advocate Ralph Nader noted, if PAEA was never enacted, USPS would actually be facing a $1.5 billion surplus today:

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

  I don't expect postage rates to drop if the change is adopted  HOWEVER I think it will keep the rates from rising sharply and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, will allow the US Postal Service to survive.

.

You said it will save 1/3, so where is that money going if not back to the taxpayers, you are saying it will get pissed away somewhere else which is probably true. We both know the rates will continue to climb either way and the service will be less, why would you pay the same for a crappier service. It would be like going to a 5 star restaurant one day and they cook and serve you your food, excellent quality and service and no complaints, the next day you go but now they want you to cook your meal and bring it back to your own table, you get the bill and it is the same as yesterday, you wouldn't be happy about the quality and service then.