I'm a genius!

The Post Office is going bankrupt. Politicians still send campaign junk mail through the Post Office for free. Birds...meet Stone!


Jeremy is thinking outside the box again. This is usually disastrous. This time, he's thinking outside the Mailbox.


So I ready an article not long ago about how the US Postal Service is about to default on some of its financial commitments or something. It didn't seem especially memorable at the time because the Postal Service is a lot like newspapers these days. They both are holding on to the fact that they were once relevant, and aren't entirely sure how to function in today's society.

The end result is pretty much the same in both cases. Lower quality, layoffs, whining about the shortsightedness of paying into pension plans...the usual management party lines. Before long, we won't have Mail delivery on Saturday, stamps will be over 50 cents by the end of June, and keep rising, more letter carriers will be laid off and have fewer hours, and more people will still opt to send emails instead of letters. Also, people will read the internets instead of buying a newspaper...and the newspaper industry will still not find a solution to the paper making your hands all black when you pick up the stupid thing.

During all of this, one thing will remain the same. Politicians will still want, and get, stuff for free. This includes mail. Through the magic of "Congressional Franking", members of congress don't pay a cent to mail you whatever they deem "Official Business." And since 6 months out of every 2 years, that "Official Business" is nothing more than re-election, they mail out all kinds of garbage. You get postcards, and pamphlets, newsletters, advertisements, and manifestos from your favorite elected officials that you promptly ignore and throw directly into the trash. The closer it gets to election day, the more likely you are to toss this crap in the shredder out of spite.

Let's solve both problems! Start charging elected officials for postage on all of this propagandist nonsense. Either the post office will no longer have to deliver this junk for free, and they make more money and don't have to lay people off, or conversely, less crap gets sent through the mail, lowering the operating expenses of the post office, and less of my time and waste management resources get spent dealing with the excess garbage. Win-Win-Win! Jeremy Is A Genius!