Guys,
Most of you know, that I ship all my trades USPS Priority mail. A great deal, and usually much faster than the other guys. If you are online, you can buy your postage, print your shipping labels, and set up a pickup, by your friendly postal delivery person. Man I miss the term Mailman, damn pc crap. I digress.
I live in a rural area of Arkansas. I know many of you guys are residents of rural areas as well. This message is not for you city guys, mainly us country folk, but you can read it if you want to.
Your local PO needs your help to survive. That survival, of the small town PO, is dependant on postage sales. Right now, I split my postage, or shipping, between to rural Post offices. The one In Oark Arkansas, and the one in Ozone Arkansas. The Ozone PO is staffed by the Postmaster, and two rural route drivers, which also service the Oark PO, with their outgoing mail. I could go to the Clarksville PO, but it is right in the middle of town, and parking might be a hassel. I would have to stand in line, talk to my exgirlfriends Dad (he's the local postmaster) and baiscally having to deal with traffic.
But here is the meat and potatos. If you enjoy a local PO, where you are known by the staff, and are helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable about all the forms you need to ship a package to an overseas APO, and live in the community. BUY YOUR POSTAGE FROM YOUR LOCAL PO not online.
OK
That rant is over.
Later
Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)
P.S. Yes in a way this is political, you city folks help subsidize my local PO, but I really appreciate that support, and my local PO.

agreed, I print all my labels online but pay for postage at the PO 80% of the time.

Hey Homie,
If I send you cash, will you buy a bunch of $3.85 Priority Stamps for me, and ship them to me? I end up buying them from a machine anyways, so why not let your PO get the revenues? I'd be more than happy to help save your PO. I'd hate for you to go into the city, heheheeee.

Anytme Keith,
LOL
Have a great day
Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

. . . . . thanks for the plug Dave. . . .

. . . I'm a Postmaster of a small town office, and believe me, the beancounters will cut workhours at the slightest sniff of a revenue decrease, and once they're gone, we can never get them back. . . .

. . . I always encourage people to come into the office, but, pc postage is credited to the customer's home office. . . . . there are sources of outside revenue that roll into our reports at the end of the month. . . . . grocery stores, vending machines, postage meters and pc postage are all sources of this revenue. . . . so even though the money is not physically transferred into the office, the office does get credit for the sale. . . . .


. . . . and Keith, I'm not gonna steal Homie's sale. . . but next time, think of me too!

Anyone using/used the flat rate boxes?

I haven't tried them yet,
But I'll let you know when I do.
Dave (A.K.A. Homebrew)

The flat rate boxes are great for smaller packages that are over one pound!!!

I have major issues with the USPS. The only reason I continue to support them on occasion is for the employees that work there. It's a tough situation as I know ther people working at the post office have nothing to do with the issues that anger me. I don't want to support the Postal Service, but I want to support the Postal Workers. Life is tough.

My big issue is that the Postal Service is that it's the only industry that does not conform to simple supply vs demand economics. When people are not buying a product or service, most businesses lower prices to intice people into using the product or service. But not the PS. Oh no. People started using email more, so what does the PS do? No, they don't lower prices to make the service more inticing and usbale. They raise the freaking postage! Boy, that makes me want to send snail mail much more then email!

However, I still toss them a bone once in a while to keep people like Seth in a job. And I tip the mailman $20 every Christmas because God knows, they don't get paid enough to put up with the crap that I'm sure they have to. If I were a mailman, I don't think people would like me very much. Is your car parked in front of your mailbox? Oh, I'm sorry. NO MAIL FOR YOU TODAY!

I would use USPS for everything if they were open at an hour that I could get there. The only reason I use UPS is because they receive up until 8PM for deliveries the next day. My local P.O. closes at 3:30. I don't get home from work until 6.