USPS: It Doesn't Care, It Doesn't Have To
WASHINGTON POST -- Postage stamps can be purchased by mail, at the supermarket, even from many bank cash machines. But there's one place you won't be able to get them in a few years - vending machines at the post office. The U.S. Postal Service plans to eliminate its 23,000 vending machines by 2010, the agency said in a recent internal memo.
"The heart of the matter is a lot of these machines are up to 20 years old," she said, meaning breakdowns are increasing and replacement parts are costly or impossible to get. The removals are expected to begin next year with about 5,900 machines eliminated annually.
MP: The stamp vending machine at the downtown Flint Post Office no longer sells stamps, it sits there empty. Right next to the dark, empty vending machine for stamps sit two fully operational, bright and shiny vending machines, one for soft drinks and one for snacks, presumably owned and operated by a private, for-profit vending machine company (see photo above).
Old machines, breakdowns, and replacement parts apparently are not overwhelming problems for a for-profit vending machine company, so couldn't the Post Office outsource its stamp vending machines to the private company that is providing soft drinks and snacks in the Post Office lobby?
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At 8/12/2009 8:57 AM, geoih said...
I can't wait to go to the Post Office for my heart attack.
At 8/12/2009 9:33 AM, bob wright said...
Obamacare [for the unwashed masses] will go something like this:
"Your heart surgery will be in 1 to 3 days. Call us if no one shows up in 4 days."
Fedex-care [for U.S. Congressmen and other public officials deemed to important to fail] would go something like this:
"Your heart surgery will be tomorrow at 7:00am. Here's a tracking code that will allow your family to follow your surgery on-line."
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