U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by Loughla on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:27PM (#22860238)

>It's easier to keep a phone number or email address active for many years, but an address for a large percentage of the population is temporary.

Working with low-income folks daily, this is not true in total. We have to check phone numbers and e-mail addresses every time we interact with our clients, because they cycle through them almost monthly. Physical addresses tend to change annually.

>And public libraries provide internet access for those who don't have it otherwise.

There is no public library with internet access within 100 miles of my current address.

>How is an essential government service entirely ad-supported like USPS is?

They're not entirely ad supported?

>I just think all these arguments about how essential it is to the fabric of modern society are bit outdated.

And this is my take - your view is of a young, middle- to upper-middle-class person with no problems accessing the modern world today. For poor people, for rural people, the mail is essential. I receive all of my bills via mail, because the internet is so bad here. My bank does not offer bill-payment, and I don't want to link my bank account to a third party site, outside of using my bank to auto bill pay, if that's even an option.

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Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by cactus2093 on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:36PM (#22860358)

> I don't want to link my bank account to a third party site anyway.

And this is just my take, but this last sentence really weakens the rest of your argument. Your view seems to be that of someone who's uncomfortable with modern technology. At some point, we'll need to accept that being uncomfortable with the status quo of antiquated, painfully slow, inefficient non-tech solutions is just as valid of a viewpoint as being uncomfortable with technology.

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Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by Loughla on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:42PM (#22860422)

Sorry, I wasn't as clear as I should've been. I updated the comment to clarify. It's not that I don't want to pay bills electronically. It's that my bank won't let me. So I assume the only other option is some kind of third party, similar to paypal, if that even exists for this kind of thing.

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