USPS gets into the SPAM business | Hacker News Reader

USPS gets into the SPAM business

usps.com

32 pointschrsstrm17 comments

If we didn't want them to do the most obvious thing they could to monetize their business, then we shouldn't have practically cut them off from public funding. Frankly, I'm on the USPS's side on this one.

I think we should just privatize it.

We did. USPS doesn't receive any public funds, but it's still technically owned by the United States government. It also has near-crushing prepaid pension debt.

~100 million is not a lot compared to other government program, but it is still public funds. (Postal Service Fund)

> It also has near-crushing prepaid pension debt.

Prepaid is the only way to do pensions.

If you don't pay pension obligations as you incur them, you're going to run into trouble if there's any biz contraction. And, if it's a long-lived organization, you don't actually reduce your cash-outflow by not paying when you incur.

Run a scenario where you under pay by X%. When folks start collecting, you have to come up with the difference out of then-current revenues. Steady-state with stable revenues, you end up paying exactly the same amount, but you've got debt. Now cut the revenue (and current expenses) by 25% because the world changed. Your revenue can't pay the debt.

That's funny, sounds familiar.

How do we finance social security again?

If anything, this is healthier for people's personal information.

Companies seeking such a service typically resort to purchasing homeowner information in bulk from other services. With such a USPS service, it decreases the demand for such databases, and with it the incentive to create such databases.

It is unlikely that the USPS will overwhelm homeowners. Presumably the USPS will limit received promotions to one per day. That can potentially give the USPS an additional $60/year in revenue per household, at marginal cost.

This is a pretty good product actually for those that have small businesses. Wouldn't you rather receive a flyer in the mail than have a dodgy flyer guy putting it under your car windshield? Royal Mail (UK) has offered this for years and it's certainly less irritating than the flyering of takeaway menus and such I'd get all the time in SF.

The only problem with the UK system is that there are multiple routes for opt-out.

Mail Preference Service deals with addressed mail.

Royal Mail deals with "Door to Door" unaddressed mail delivered by Royal Mail.

Nothing stops people just shoving junk mail through your door.

(http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/)

(http://www.royalmail.com/you-home/controlling-your-mail)

Is there such thing as a "do not mail" list? If it is possible to opt-out of private (tele)marketing and block spam, then logically it should be possible to opt out of this service too.

There is: https://www.dmachoice.org/. It took quite a while (several months) until I noticed any changes, but my (very subjective) impression is that the (spam) mail volume decreased over time.

Another thing I'd suggest is https://donotcall.gov/. Registering there seems to have had a positive impact on the number of spam calls I receive.

USPS has been in the spam business for decades.

I already get tons of fliers from nearby restaurants stuck in my door every week. Might as well be in my mailbox.

It should be a very effective marketing tool for local businesses and it helps the USPS stay in business. If they would just add opt-out there would be nothing to complain about IMHO.

In the UK the Royal Mail works similarly:

http://www.royalmail.com/marketing-services

This is just like receiving grocery store ads in the mail, is it?

Why not hire out us gov and DOD ip ranges to the highest bidder?

it's like mailbait round two.

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