Why is the United States Post Office in Danger of Bankruptcy?

Dawn Hawkins
Generation after generation of people in the United States relied on the United States Post Office to communicate with other people and to pay their bills. Things have drastically changed for the post office since it's inception in 1792. In today's age, we have computers and many other forms of communication that have nearly made the United States Post Office obsolete. Though the post office hasn't closed it's doors yet, it is struggling to stay alive. Recent reports state that the post office may have to file for bankruptcy if things don't change soon. The problem with this is that many of us still do use the post office for many things. Not everyone has changed everything over to their computers. The other problem is that people are prone to take things for granted. This may be a case where we don't know what we have until it is gone. It is hard to imagine that the post office would actually close it's doors. The truth is, it is very possible that it could happen.

The United States Post Office may well be a thing of the past if it keeps going in the direction that it has been going. There was a report that they may attempt to convince card companies, which produce Christmas and other birthday cards to offer already stamped envelopes to their customers. This, they feel may boost business for them. This might be a good idea to some extent. People are all for making things easier and this would definitely do that. The drawback of this method is that people often buy Christmas cards after Christmas is over because they can get them at discounted prices. The other issue is that people don't always use every single card in the box and have some left over for the following year. That usually means that the postage for these cards are outdated because postage seems to go up at a constant rate these days. That is one thought that consumers will keep in mind when purchasing Christmas cards.

There isn't really anyway for the post office to get more people to send letters through regular mail. People rely very heavily on emails and the like instead of regular letters because it is faster and allows us to keep up on a daily basis. Response time is much faster as well. There are ways to keep the post office moving though. It just takes one genius idea that will draw people back to it a little bit. It isn't likely that it will ever be the booming business that was many years ago, but it can thrive quite well if they adjust some things and come up with thoughts that will bring in business. One of the main issues people have with sending things through the post office is that it is far too expensive to bother with when they can easily do it for free.

Services that could be promoted more within the post office are money orders, copy services and fax services to name a few. It might even do the post office good to offer some type of computer services that will make life easier for it's customers. Although it might be a little difficult coming up with an idea, once tapped into, it could open a whole new world for the post office. Regular mail services aren't required too often by people anymore. Sending packages is one that can't be avoided by using a computer, but the competition is tough with services like UPS and FedEx out there. The post office does offer services for a bit cheaper than those two services do, but they don't offer service that is quite as fast when the customer needs it to be. This post office will have to come up with a major plan change and they will need to do it soon to keep their heads afloat. It is always possible to breathe new life into something if you have people innovative enough to come up with new ideas. Don't stretch by using an idea that will likely fail right out of the gate. Come up with a long term solution to the problem so that people will feel more comfortable and have a good reason to use your services.

The post office has become somewhat outdated because they have not kept up with the times well. Every business has to grow with the times or it will inevitably fail miserably. Take the one thing that will grab peoples attention and build the idea around that. In this case, the biggest competition for the post office is the internet. If the post office ties themselves more to the internet, it may find that it can pull out of the slump that it is in. It would be a shame to see this institution go away like we have seen so many other businesses go under. There is a way to save it. It just takes a creative mind and the foresight to see it through.

Published by Dawn Hawkins

I am a freelance writer who has been working from home for two years writing for online communities. I previously worked in the accounting department in a corporate office. It was a very long commute and the...  View profile

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