Pathetic Post Office Commercial Urges Americans To Go Low-Tech
By Mark Finkelstein | October 02, 2011 | 09:39
"A refrigerator has never been hacked. An on-line virus has never attacked a cork board." -- from United States Postal Service TV commercial urging people to use mail.
Right. And a buggy whip has never had a broken transmission--so why don't we junk our cars? Really, that was the kind of pathetic logic on display in the USPS TV commercial that aired during today's Fox News Sunday. Video after the jump.
The Post Office was trying to make the argument that snail mail is safer and more appealing to people in general and customers in particular. You might call it trying to sweep back the internet age with a soggy envelope. With thinking like this, no wonder a USPS in financial crisis has had to go begging to President Obama.
TRANSCRIPT OF USPS TV COMMERCIAL: A refrigerator has never been hacked. An on-line virus has never attacked a cork board. Give your customers the added feeling of security a printed statement or receipt provides--with mail. It's good for business, and even better for your customers. For safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit USPS.com/mail.
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Comments
Oddly enough
Submitted by pockets64 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 9:43am.
The only place I've seen this commercial is on line.
Funny how that works.
The Internet
Submitted by Anneke9 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 9:46am.
The Internet has never delivered anthrax to my door.
Speaking of buggy whips
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:18am.
The USPS also used to ride horses.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
The advertisement says 'an
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 9:51am.
The advertisement says 'an online virus has NEVER attacked a cork board' = that line had me confused when I read the article. I don't have anything against the Postal Service, other than they don't seem to be able to operate 'in the black'...........so the 'red' is being paid for by our tax dollars, just like AMTRAC and Fannie and Freddie and any number of other government-run operations.
Seems like I remember Boy Blahblah making some snide comments about UPS (or some other private carrier) 'making a profit' a year or two ago, when he was flapping his pathetic purple lips about some business statements.
Sorry to come up under you, Pocket - I can't seem to get a 'box' to make a comment in.
Thanks, Killa
Submitted by Mark Finkelstein on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 9:55am.
for pointing out my omission of "never" in the ad's line about on-line viruses attacking cork boards! Fixed now.
OK Mark, I'll trade
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:09am.
OK Mark, I'll trade ya..................how can I post a comment??? I press the 'add new comment' button , and it goes to the subject box , without the comment box - so I' haven't been able to write my own idiotic comments for about 3 days allready,
Hmm, Killa. Now you're
Submitted by Mark Finkelstein on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:15am.
Hmm, Killa. Now you're making me feel low-tech! If you were able to post the two comments you have on the thread, what additional problem are you experiencing?
The problem only crops up
Submitted by Reaver on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:16am.
The problem only crops up when posting new comments. Replying to other posts works normally. Seems to be an IE problem, I don’t have the problem when I use chrome.
confirming killa and Reaver's comments - it's an IE issue
Submitted by mom_rox on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:30am.
Normally I use IE (version 9). If I try to make a new post I can type in the Subject line field, but there is no comment box field - just blank space. Nothing happens if I click the 'Switch to plain text editor' link.
If I make a reply to someone else's post, the comment box appears - I can make a comment, but my arrow keys are disabled. (I posted this problem in the Forum section in reply to kingfish's post.)
I have to switch to Firefox to make a new comment.
Yeah, mom-rox - this is
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:04pm.
Yeah, mom-rox - this is exactly what I'm talking about. And, seriously, I'm really a techno-dummy, so when you or others are talking about these other procedures that they do to make something work - I get totally lost!! I mean, I had a girlfriend who was pretty much a Firefox.....................
You're one up on me
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:20am.
You're one up one me. I don't even get the "add new comment" button.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
"Add Comment"
Submitted by kata on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:17am.
Is a text link (not a button) on the corner opposite from the bloggers name at the bottom of the blog entry. Just above the print icon and below Share/Save widget.
No box for me either, Killa.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:14am.
Do you think we've been cut off?
I love the ad implying that nobody has ever had the mail stolen from their mailbox. Apparently they think that criminals are so technically savvy that they have forgotten how to just walk or ride down the street and take the mail out of your box.
I seem to remember an ad run by none other than the federal government not too long ago which said to get your social security checks and other government payments directly deposited to the bank so that they wouldn't be stolen.
Has good old fashioned low tech theft gone out of style?
Scroll happy web designers here on NB. Send a letter.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 1:07pm.
After one reads the comments, the (now old) comment box is missing.
Well well just start scrolling. Not so long ago we all needed to scroll up to read the comments. Now it's scroll up to leave a comment.
Just scroll up to the bottom of the blog post. and there it is .."Add new comment".
The first time I arrived at the bottom and tring to scroll down.... no box anywhere around here at the bottom, whaaaat??
The reply (function to other posters) still works GREAT.
Shoots I need to send a card to my mom....
Hawaii makes out like a bandit with the PO.
What is the real freight bill on a catalog sent via junk mail?
Come on a 2 lb. box sent via PO(book rate) 3 BUCKS.
Sent via UPS 40 bucks. (Extra fees N' fines for flying in and over international (Intercontinental) waters. It's a profit killer when a company ships from five different warehouses, one 50 cent part has a $16 freight bill.
So yea I love the PO. Well not really, I got a new street address, and I didn't move.
A fellow Democrat when Reagan was one.
OT alert - good old fashioned low tech PO fun...
Submitted by Rackie on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:19pm.
After HS graduation the country bumpkins around here drive around at night swinging baseball bats at mailboxes. Now most rural mailboxes are "armored". One fed-up homeowner filled his mail box with concrete. The batter got quite a surprise and, of course, homeowner got sued.
My mailbox just..fell over
Submitted by StarAZ on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 3:58pm.
High wind--here in AZ, the haboob--mailbox down! I called--can you put the mail in it until I can find someone who can fix it (I am disabled, two women here, few mailbox righting skill sets). No! And he tried to get my address so he could confiscate my mail until I fixed it. Which I guess they did--although I finally found a man on Craigs who drove over, fixed it in about 10 minutes--measured, sawed, dug...in! Off the back of his truck. He didn't charge me---I bartered some proofreading of his website--one hand washes the other. But the PO was no help--now I say let them go to 3 days a week--I have to watch for them anyhow bec there are so many thefts from mailboxes here. They come from 1 PM tro 6 PM--long wait.
Hey, USPS, why not raise
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 9:49am.
Hey, USPS, why not raise rates (enormously) on commercial mail?
That would:
Call it the Go Green! incentive and ask companies to embrace it.
How long before holder
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 9:53am.
How long before holder attacks FEDEX and UPS?
I am so onboard.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:00am.
The state of Illinois has never knocked my computer into a snowbank when it was clearing the streets of snow.
Here is the real reason the
Submitted by muddleoftheroad on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:10am.
Here is the real reason the USPS is losing money. The 2006 congressional mandate that the USPS pre-fund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years, and do so within a decade, an obligation no other public agency or private firm faces. The roughly $5.5 billion annual payments since 2007 — $21 billion total — are the difference between a positive and negative ledger.
Gee, it's almost like the 2006 Congress WANTED to kill off the USPS......for the Republican answer to everything, PRIVATIZE IT.
It started long before 2006
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:11am.
The USPS started losing money LONG before 2006. 2006, by the way, was when the Democrats took control of Congress.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Its Not Payments To The Retirement Fund
Submitted by packman on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:50pm.
that's making the USPS go broke.
I worked part-time as a rural mail carrier in Florida for about 3 1/2 years. Got to see the inside of it all pretty well. And like I said, its not payments to the retirement fund that's breaking the Postal Service. Try these on for size:
When I went through training I was told that the USPS has a 1.7 Billion (that's Billion with a "B") dollar payroll to meet - every two weeks!
They operate over 100,000 vehicles every day with a philosophy that all First Class Mail will be delivered - every letter, every day. I was often sent to deliver something that easily could have waited 'til the next day. Time, money, and fuel, that is the name of the game.
Like GM, the unions have not helped as over the years postal leaders acquiesced repeatedly to their demands. Little known to the public, the postal service uses an "Evaluated Pay" system to pay each carrier. What that means is that each route is evaluated - distance, number of boxes, mail counts, etc. to come up with a formulaic pay rate for each route. The route I was on for the majority of time was evaluated at just over 9 hours. So that means that I got paid 9+ hours pay each day for that route regardless of how much time it took me to deliver the route. Many days I finished in just 5 hours or so, but guess what? I still got paid for the 9+ hours. Many weeks I took home twice or three times the pay than the actual number of hours that I worked. Multiply this by all the mail routes in the country and you tell me...is it contributions to the retirement fund, or ridiculous rules like this that are plunging the USPS into bankruptcy?
In the early days of the Pony Express and continuing through the early part of the 20th century, the mail system in this country was truly a thing to behold. With the advent of technology however, the postal service remains fixed in a system that no longer serves today's technological world. And how about this- I can mail a letter to an address only 1 mile away and pay the same postage as a letter I send to Hawaii or Alaska - thousands of miles away. A basic postage stamp can deliver a letter anywhere in the 50 states, all for the same price. Is that a good strategy? It is practices like these that are sending the USPS down the toilet. To say that changes are needed would be a classic understatement.
"...Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread..." ~Thomas Jefferson
correction
Submitted by Dave the mailman on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:17pm.
Little known to the public, the postal service uses an "Evaluated Pay" system to pay each carrier.
That is true only for RURAL carriers. City carriers still punch a time clock....at least I do everyday.
They have a point, actually.
Submitted by Pinetree3 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 10:47am.
They have a point, actually. It`s very easy for hackers to break into someones bank accounts, steal passwords, credit card numbers, etc, despite so-called "precautions." Quite amazing how hackers always stay one step ahead of the precautions. Then the barn doors are closed after the horses have already gotten out.
E-mail Servers don't steal your mail.
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:15am.
E-mail servers don't steal your mail. Postal workers, on the other hand, have been known to do this, and quite often. That's why every USPS regional distribution center has not only cameras, but live "supervisors" who watch the employees behind "one way mirrors" and "catwalks" to make sure nothing is being stolen. It's also why you aren't supposed to be mailing cash. Go on a tour and you'll see the anti-thief precautions that the postal service is forced to employ on a daily bases.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
"Safe and secure..."
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:20am.
"For safe and secure ways to stay connected..." Visit someone personally. That is the only was to ensure that anything you say, or deliver, will be safe and secure. Every other method involves risk, USPS included.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
USPS New Ad Slogan
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:40am.
"Just Keep Paying Us....Please?"
_______________________
Don't Give Up The Ship!
Post Office has no tech skills -
Submitted by Gary Hall on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:48am.
The only mail, in my experience which seems to be plagued with inefficiencies, theft, and absolute "in your face - we don't give a s--t," is the United States Post Office.
Federal Express and UPS, in my experience have seldom messed up. Well OK, there was one odd ball package with UPS - but at least we could always track where it was on any given day during it's bizarre dance around the country from one city to another to here, then back across the country to somewhere, then back to here.
The Post Office, on the other hand, is plagued. We mailed out big packages of second hand stuff - charity - disappeared. Asked a Post Master acquaintance about it - he said, "yea our guys take a lot of packages home with them, when there's no tracking on them. I thought, "who insures 2nd hand crap?"
At home, witnessing my post lady, drop my mail on the sidewalk, forget to pick up the mail, forever delivering my checks and bills to my neighbors, etc., finally got to me - so I complained to the post office, after finding her disinterested. Well, every since - it's been much worse.
And last week when we sent cards to our daughter at for her birthday - they came back. Her grandparents got their cards to her back, as well.
The package we sent via UPS - got there just fine.
(;~/ gary
I work for the USPS
Submitted by Dave the mailman on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 11:51am.
Even if they didn't have to pre-fund retiree benefits, they would find some other way to waste the money. They operate under the goal of not turning a profit; they do not run it like a business....
It is rife with incompetence, bloated with too much management (the motto is "if you screw up, you move up" -they never demote or fire management) and has to abide by union rules that ensure bloat labor costs.
Pathetic Post Office
Submitted by Radical1979 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 12:02pm.
I mailed my daughter a package in September, and the next day another one, with insurance on the second. She recieved the second but not the first. When I called a week later I was told that the first package wasn't lost, sometimes it just goes to the wrong place. I had quite an argument with the guy about the fact that if it goes to the wrong place it is indeed, lost. He disagreed. He also told me that if I don't request a tracking slip (for a fee) then they can't tell me where my package is.
Yeah, this is an organization I can get behind.
It wasn't lost, Rad.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 4:01pm.
They just didn't know where the hell it was!
Irony
Submitted by Model850 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 12:46pm.
It's a little ironic that after 25 seconds of telling me to avoid online transactions and deal instead with the "safety and security" of mail the ad then advises me to go online to learn more.
oops!
Submitted by kata on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:51pm.
replied to incorrect post. Drive through please ;)
In defense of snail mail
Submitted by mandrake on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 1:49pm.
It's rather hard to scrapbook email. Let's say a personal letter from Lenny Breau. (well, you probably have no idea who that is so never mind).
In defense of snowbilly canuck loons.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 3:03pm.
Kill a tree. Keep sending all your bills on paper. Kill a tree. Keep shopping with catalogs. Kill a tree. Use mail for all your communicaitons. Kill a tree. Send all your payments via the mail. Kill a tree. For laughs. Kill a tree.
Why is the canuck snowbilly loons pushing the use of mail?
Why snowbilly can you not make an honest post on an American website?
It is estimated that the full range of forestry activities—from logging, through manufacturing, to trade in wood products—generates 1 in 15 Canadian jobs. The industry accounted for 2.9 percent of Canada’s GDP in 1995 and 14.1 percent of goods exported
What a dishonest greasy little sack of snail poop you are snowbilly. Every single time you post, it is because you have a hidden agenda to push.
Yeah, Vet.........but in all
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 3:44pm.
Yeah, Vet.........but in all fairness, the pulp industry is a self-continuing one, as far as I can tell..........just like the lumber industry. I've taken some heat from lib/greenies that I know for being in the construction business (of course, THEY live in houses too!!!), because they mistakenly think that the trees are just cut down without any rhyme or reason or plan. I know it wasn't like that back in the old days, but that is long behind us now.
And you know that this whole online process DOES generate a LOT Of power usage, so that has to come from somewhere also.
aloha,
Killa
Oh ya spoiled it.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 3:52pm.
I was just squeezin' the snowbilly. You know his eyes and ears pop out just like one of those stress dolls when you squeeze him.
Ahhhhhhhhh Vet, the Duck
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 4:58pm.
Ahhhhhhhhh Vet, the Duck seems to be OK, compared to some of the whackos we see around here. At least the Duck will laugh at himself - some of these other guys have NO sense of humor whatsoever!!!
But he expects it Sir.
Submitted by The Vet on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 5:06pm.
His gums get all bleedy and stuff if I don't squeeze him now and then and he will have to go see the doctor about them again. You know how bad a driver he is. You know he was denied insurance after his *wink* *wink* parked car *wink* *wink* backed into the neighbor's living room.
Isn't that Mrs. Breau's---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 5:22pm.
little boy Lenny?
MD
mandrake
Submitted by Radical1979 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 5:27pm.
Scrapbooking. You've now entered my area of expertise. You pull up the file, and hit Control P, or whatever else let's you print the email. Presto, you've got a hard copy for the scrapbook.
'Cause scrapbooking is not worth the price of the U.S. Post Office.
What is the average
Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:30pm.
carbon footprint of the local post office?
Government agencies,
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:49pm.
Government agencies, Hollywood, and select government-friendly businesses and corporations are NOT subject to the 'carbon footprint' comparisons that everybody else is - U NO DAT!!! And seriously, what is the Obama's 'carbon footprint' - between the two of them??? I've got over one acre of Hawaiian valley here that is very green and sucking up a LOT of CO2 - I'm thinking maybe Boy Barry should pay me a nice sum of money to be used for his 'carbon credit' account!!!
just remember
Submitted by kata on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 2:59pm.
you asked.
Some eco group equivocated the carbon footprint of junk mail each year to about 480K cars... I have no idea how valid that is.
kata, Hawaiian airfreight for a junk catalog 2,500 miles one way
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 3:31pm.
Ok most junk mail arrives by ship. 480,000 cars, maybe covers freight to Hawaii and Alaska. maybe it's cars per hour?
Then it's recycled, shipped back to mainland.... hows that... just a touch fuelish, don't you think.
A fellow Democrat when Reagan was one.
I don't think they figured in
Submitted by bkeyser on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 3:59pm.
itree harvesting in their calculations. All that mail is printed on and delivered in something, and it's usually a derivative of paper.
La does its part to go green*
Submitted by cajun2 on Sun, 10/02/2011 - 4:39pm.
We re-cycle and we always show how inventive we are with left overs
nothing goes to waste
Can't go postal in medical practice.
Submitted by drsamherman on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 12:01am.
It is all electronic per contract. Either submit using the agreed-upon electronic interchange system or wait 6 months for payment. No practice manager in their right mind will do that.