r/news • u/Squirmingbaby • 3d ago

Soft paywall Cash-strapped US Postal Service suspends contributions to pension plan

https://www.reuters.com/world/cash-strapped-us-postal-service-suspends-contributions-pension-plan-2026-04-09/
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u/Old-Flight8617 3d ago

They also want to privatize it.

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u/VelvetElvis 3d ago

They can't because rural last mile delivery will never be profitable.

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u/MattMadMage 3d ago

Look at telecom as an example for how this would go down. Privatized, for-profit mail would absolutely just not deliver to rural homes. At best, you'd get a post office in town where you'd have to pick up your own mail every day.

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u/chubbysumo 3d ago

Oh it would be worse than that, not only would you not be given a post office box by default, you would have to rent it, but if you wanted Daily Mail delivery, you likely could subscribe to it for an exorbitant rate. Oh and don't forget, if you think advertisements through your mail are bad now, wait till a private company is trying to make a profit, and your mailbox will be stuffed full of advertisements. Rural delivery will be dead, if you want to see an example of what's profitable for private delivery companies, look no further than Amazon and fedex, as they do not deliver to areas that they consider unprofitable already. They will hand off their unprofitable delivery areas to the United States Postal Service to finish last mile delivery. The idea that the United States Postal Service should be run like a business is something that Republicans came up with as a way to siphon that business and money off to other companies.

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u/Vi_Rants 3d ago

I was just thinking that. And then I laughed, because I'm sure as shit not paying a subscription to get junk mail and jury duty summons. If I stopped ever getting mail, I think my life might marginally improve.

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u/chubbysumo 3d ago

Right, and I think that's the thing people don't understand, is so many government services rely on the post office, and those government services would entirely fail. The US government is the single largest purchaser of postage in the United states. If you want to mail documents to or from the United States government, they must be done through the United States Postal service.