Well I just experienced first hand what it will be like without the US Postal Service.
I ordered an item online. It turns out the company decided to use FEDEX. I was asleep when the delivery was attempted. So the driver left me a “door tag” with an option to get the delivery the next day (with no delivery time). OR simply sign the door tag to say that it could be delivered without my signature—and therefore removing FEDEX’s liability to keep it safe. I tried calling them to find out my options for pickup or delivery without allowing them to simply “drop” my expensive package off at my door for just anybody to pick up. I called two times and spent a total of nearly a half hour waiting for a live person to assist me. So later that day, I went to their web site to ask to have it held for my pick up. They responded by telling me that my package was not eligible for pick up. I then tried to “schedule” a time for delivery to my place: only to have the web site tell me I would get a “verification” of my “signup for this service” in 3-5 days. Yet they said they would only keep the package 5 days before returning it to the vendor!
I did finally get a verification that I was “signed up” for additional services but I struggled for awhile to schedule a delivery as a “registered user.” I could not get my request to work. The FEDEX site is one of the most difficult sites I have used in a long time.
So it looks like my only alternative is to sign the door tag that relieves FEDEX of liability and hope my package is not stolen when it arrives at my house when I am not there. This item is valued at nearly $200 and I am not a “six figure income” person!
I am not a fan of Amazon (they treat their workers so poorly!) but at least they use the post office! I could have ordered this item through them. Guess I will have to start using Amazon when faced with this choice (having it shipped using FEDEX) in the future.
The US post office has no problem simply holding a package for pickup if they cannot deliver it personally to the addressee. They simply leave a notice and then that person just goes to their local post office and picks it up.
Hopefully this story will remind us all that our lives will be less civilized without the US Postal Service. We already live in a third world country when it comes to Medical Care. We already lag behind most first world nations when it comes to infrastructure and a comprehensive social safety net. Maybe losing the US Postal Service will finally send an effective message to all of us that we are not living in the first world country that we had in the Sixties (of course the Sixites were far from acceptable for minorities ….but at least (unlike today) there was an economy that created a robust middle class. At least we had an economy in place that had the potential to give those minorities similar opportunities. Maybe losing the US Postal Service will cause the 99% to bury their differences and unite to restore our country back to the first world—a restoration that—of course-- also enhances civil rights and addresses climate change.