oh no please say it isn't so

[mountaintree16]

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstock...system-rip.aspx

Ugh. I hope that this never ever happens.

[exile360]

Honestly, the only reason I use snail mail is because that's how I receive bills. I pay everything either online, in person or over the phone. I send email rarely, usually I just IM (only 2 or 3 people for that as I'm pretty anti-social ) and I call my friends and family members on my cell phone which is pretty rare as well as I keep it turned off most of the time and have no home phone. It does make sense though, especially as far as packages are concerned. Companies like FedEx and UPS do the same job as fast, if not faster and at a lower cost to themselves and the consumer because of better efficiency. That's the trouble with most government agencies, they aren't efficient enough with their resources to compete with alternatives in the private sector.

[mountaintree16]

Exile:

Sounds like you've got it all set there

I just prefer the mail for almost everything.

I just hope the postal service doesn't go under. I dunno if it really could, but I guess its possible. I mean think of all the bills that are sent in the mail and paid that way, and other things that are always sent through the mail... not everyone has or wants a computer, and if they do, not everyone wants or can even afford the internet, and many others don't know how to use a computer or whatever, you know? I just really hope it doesn't happen. That would really be bad for sooo many people. I mean wow :/

[yardbird]

Theres nothing on TV !

[mountaintree16]

Yardbird:

Huh?

Uhh. Watch a movie? OR do you mean something else that I am totally missing because its late and I am out of it?

[yardbird]

I seldom have time for TV... I don't know why I have DirectTV with all the pay channels and there is nothing to watch? just 1 of those nights....

[YoKenny1]

Canada Post is good and you can have it in French as well:

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/default.jsf?LOCALE=en

CBC news is on in the background:

http://www.cbc.ca/news

I like Heather Hiscox:

http://www.cbc.ca/morning/heather_hiscox.html

My bank is only a 10 minute walk.

The Winters are too long though.

[yardbird]

The winters are long! someone said: 9 months of roadwork 3 months of summer... thats why I'm in AZ. I used to drive thru Canada from Buffalo to get thru Port Huron into Michigan. (gas was 26cents a gallon then)

[mountaintree16]

Yardbird:

Oh, okay. I think I totally missed what you meant before, sometimes I don't really get things very well.

hmm. So are you saying hat you have a lot of channels (and a lot of paid channels) that you aren't able to watch or?

Hmm. Are there any other providers in your area that might be more suited to your needs that isn't as expensive?

I seldom have time for TV... I don't know why I have DirectTV with all the pay channels and there is nothing to watch? just 1 of those nights....

[yardbird]

No, I have all the HBO's, Showtimes, Cinmax, Encore, ect... and there all re-runs from 60's 70's ect... Maybe DirecTV will sare us 1 new show on Saturday night? the last 2 where with Ben Stiller... I put on the music channels. JAZZ [the blue note years]

[bjt133]

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstock...system-rip.aspx

Ugh.

I hope that this never ever happens.

This will also affect so many other things, card companies, packages, etc...

I do not want to do online banking or pay my bills online.

and I'd rather send a real card than an e-card (which oftentimes can be infested with crap anyway...)

:/ rawrgh

Thoughts?

*waving hi to the beautiful kitty in the photo*

Welll, except for the occasional card/letter or something that has to be mailed definitely, I do everything online: pay bills, send e-cards (personalized, I assure you, personalized), the whole ball of wax.

I bought some Forever Stamps 'bout a year ago. I may have most of them forever at the rate I'm using them.

I also got the startle of my life a few months back when I took a walk to the mail box just a block from my home....it was gone. It had been there for as long as I could remember.

By doing some digging around ONLINE (ahem), I found that standalone mail boxes were being removed if they did not have over a certain number of items deposited in them per week. Oddly enough, new lofts and other developments have sprung up on the very block where that vintage blue box used to live. But people are either taking important items directly to the Post Office (I, for one, would not put anything with my SS # in a mail box overnight, period!) or doing more work online.

Things do change, and quickly....

The USPS will survive and even thrive IF it starts to reinvent itself now. Strictly anecdotal observation and conjecture on my part, but it seemed that they took a long while to figure out that FAX, email and online services weren't going to go away any time soon.

So my guess is that we will see cutbacks even closures of certain branch offices in certain areas down the road. But the USPS will be around in some form or the other, I'd bet on it.

[mountaintree16]

Yo Kenny:

Can anyone use that post link you gave me? Or is it just for Canadians? I've never heard of it before.

Is it winter where you live now? Just a little confused...

[mountaintree16]

yardbird:

Oh, okay.

I love Ben Stiller, he's awesome.

[mountaintree16]

bjt:

He thanks you! He is SO soft, like a kitten.

Oh wow! That's really interesting about the mailboxes being removed. Do you know if that was just for your area/certain areas or if that is applicable around the country?

I hope the USPS will be around! I would find it a great tragedy if it went away. Eh.

[YoKenny1]

Yo Kenny:

Can anyone use that post link you gave me? Or is it just for Canadians? I've never heard of it before.

Is it winter where you live now? Just a little confused...

Y'all come on up now and we can throw snowballs at each other and I'll be sure to throw a log on the fire to warm up the cabin so that you can take off your Winter Wear.

I switched it to Fahrenheit as it makes it look warmer:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php...&switchto=f

Check out Heather Hiscox:

http://www.cbc.ca/morning/heather_hiscox.html

We arange for the mailman to come by 4:00pm Monday-Friday to pick up mail from the box right outside my building so we shovel the snow before he comes.

[YoKenny1]

The winters are long! someone said: 9 months of roadwork 3 months of summer... thats why I'm in AZ. I used to drive thru Canada from Buffalo to get thru Port Huron into Michigan. (gas was 26cents a gallon then)

Buffalo gets way more snow than where I live as it gets the west wind from Lake Erie and the last time I remember gas being 26cents a gallon I was about 15.

[bjt133]

bjt:

Tigger thanks you! He is SO soft, like a kitten. He grooms himself very well. I love petting him. He's such a sweet cat. Very calm. Did you read my little blurb about him in my signature?

Oh wow! That's really interesting about the mailboxes being removed. Do you know if that was just for your area/certain areas or if that is applicable around the country?

I agree, I am not comfortable with things that contain my personal info just sitting in the mailbox. That's why I have a PO Box. My husband things I am kind of nutty. He thinks I should just use the mailbox. I tell him that anything with a check should be mailed from the post office box, and anything with personal info on it should be mailed from the post office (which I can do on the way to work!) but if its before the time when the post person gets there, he just wants it in the mailbox. Thankfully, there is usually someone home when the mail arrives and the mail is generally retrieved within a half hour of being delivered, usually sooner.

I hope the USPS will be around! I would find it a great tragedy if it went away. Eh.

Yes, I read Tigger's blurb. He is a handsome fellow. I have two handsome tomcats myself.

According to the USPS, they've been slowly removing the stand alone blue boxes through the country over the last several years. The general guidelines state that if 25 pieces of mail or less are deposited each day, the box is tagged for review. So I guess my ancient depository had fewer and fewer drops in it, so out it went.

[yardbird]

Buffalo gets way more snow than where I live as it gets the west wind from Lake Erie and the last time I remember gas being 26cents a gallon I was about 15.

thats why I didn't stay, snow!! I could be in error it was 1974, I just did 4 yrs. in the Army. could be my memory? let me know? thought it was 26cents a gal?

I posted some pic's in the pvt. forum, under your thread -- remember D Day.. check it out...

cya later

[mountaintree16]

bjt:

Well thank you! What kind of cats do you have?

Oh!!! For some reason I thought you meant actual MAILboxes, like the ones people get their mail in.

That's still very weird/interesting/not good about the blue ones. Now I know what you mean. Sorry for the mix up.

I hope they MAILED anything in them before hauling them off... :/ Hmm wow. I wonder if any near me have ever been hauled off? I almost ALWAYS use the indoor mailing slot... unless I know the mail is getting picked up that day anyway. I would NEVER drop anything in it after hours... I'd just wait till the next day when I know the mail would be getting picked up.

[mountaintree16]

YoKenny:

So I take it that its still snowing there? I am HORRIBLE with Geography, so please forgive me.

Good plan with your mail

[bjt133]

bjt:

Well thank you! What kind of cats do you have?

Oh!!! For some reason I thought you meant actual MAILboxes, like the ones people get their mail in.

That's still very weird/interesting/not good about the blue ones. Now I know what you mean. Sorry for the mix up.

I hope they MAILED anything in them before hauling them off... :/ Hmm wow. I wonder if any near me have ever been hauled off? I almost ALWAYS use the indoor mailing slot... unless I know the mail is getting picked up that day anyway. I would NEVER drop anything in it after hours... I'd just wait till the next day when I know the mail would be getting picked up.

The boys are a domestic short hair/Siamese mix. They'll be 15 this year, the scamps.

Oh yes, it's those big blue standalone on the street corner mail boxes that are being removed as the USPS reevaluates their needs versus consumer wants and needs.

It was a genuine "whaaaat?" moment since I now live just a few blocks from where I grew up. That mail box had been there since Beatlmania at least.

[mountaintree16]

bjt:

They are very sweet Thanks for sharing their picture with me.

wow 15! And looks like they're still going strong

hmm. The mailbox could have been considered a historical landmark then if its been around since the 60's lol well maybe not, but its possible. Did you ever use it?

[bjt133]

bjt:

They are very sweet Thanks for sharing their picture with me.

wow 15! And looks like they're still going strong

hmm. The mailbox could have been considered a historical landmark then if its been around since the 60's lol well maybe not, but its possible. Did you ever use it?

The boys are healthy and happy and big pests.

Funnily enough, I found I used the Big Blue Mail Box just one block away less and less as time went on. But no matter what it is, whether it's a humble post office receptacle or the local KFC, if it's been there forever and is now gone (the KFC and the Burger King were torn down to make way for commercial/real estate developments that were never built thanks to the RE meltdown in SoCali), it takes you aback.

Maybe I'll be designated a landmark and saved from being razed down the road.

[mountaintree16]

bjt:

good to hear

I know what you mean. It's something that you're so used to seeing, even if you seldom use it, and then one day its just... gone and it is a weird feeling and you miss it.

[Bobc11]

They can't close! How will I get my exotic seeds?!?