Going Postal

It doesn't surprise me that the US postal system is in debt. If you've waited in a long line to be "greeted" by a cranky postal employee, you would also have a good idea why this is not working.  Hate to date myself, but when I was a child, stamps were 3-cents.  Now a first class stamp is 48-cents and they still can't make it work.  All I'm saying is that if FedEx and UPS can make a profit delivering mail, why can't the government?  Oh yeah, because it IS the government and they tend not to do things efficiently.
The smartest move the US postal group  made was introducing the online post office.  No surly employees and no lines. You can set up an account and pay by credit card or Paypal.  Your postage and shipping information prints out and you leave your package for the regular postal carrier to pick up...you can even schedule a pickup if you don't have regular mail service. Stamps can be ordered online and they will deliver FREE boxes to your door.  I love it, but no wonder they are going broke.  Did UPS ever give you a free box?
I do get quite a bit of mail...one day over 40 pounds of letters and catalogs...but I also get a lot of junk.  I don't want: a "free" vacation, siding or windows or an opportunity to invest in a franchise.  The past three months I have received more mail from Mitt Romney than from all my relatives. It could only be worse if he started emailing me. There are just days where freedom of speech overrides my desire for freedom from speech.
I'm lucky to live in a neighborhood where we still have front door delivery of mail.  My mail carrier is the nicest of men and never complains about incoming hordes of mail or piles of outgoing packages.  I guess it would be pushing the limit to request that he dispose of my junk mail.  Actually, I think it is probably illegal for him to do so.
When my children were teenagers, we had the hunkiest UPS delivery guy. There would be a stampede to the front door when he rang the bell. He always waited for us to answer the door and personally hand us the package. Amazingly, all his packages arrived clean and undamaged.  His series of replacement drivers have been less competent. They all manage to be driving off by the time I reach the door...and I know why.  I have not received one item from UPS that the package hasn't been covered in dirt.  I mean enough dirt that I have to wash off the counter after I open it...not to mention the black dust on my clothes if I come in contact with the offending object. I assume that after they finish smearing them with dirt, then they take turns standing on the corners of the boxes to crush them. I figure that if even the ill-run post office can get a box to you without it being covered in dirt and my FedEx delivery lady manages to keep it clean, UPS could clean the inside of their trucks once in a while.
Hey, do I sound cranky?  Well, certainly not enough enough to pass the "Surly and Obnoxious" part of the civil service exam, but maybe my December I will have worked up to it

This driver will be lingering.