The fall of U.S. mailbox and the rise of online communication and payments
As
more people send e-mails and pay bills online, the U.S. Postal Service
first-class mail is declining and so does the blue mailboxes from city
streets, writes
Baltimoresun. On a brighter side, IInternet retailers and online DVD
rental services are a boon to the mail industry. The U.S. Postal Service
owns a copyright on the box design.
- Since 1999, the Postal Service has removed more than 42,000 collection boxes and as of 2005, about 295,000 mailboxes remained in use.
- In the past five years the postal staff was reduced by more than 80,000 employees and the current postal work force stands at about 700,000.
- A reduction of about 3 billion pieces of first-class mail is expected in 2007 from 2006 levels of about 98 billion pieces of first-class mail delivered.
Local post offices conduct quarterly surveys of mailbox use and remove those that collect fewer than 25 pieces of mail per day while the post office tries to leave at least one mailbox per square mile in residential areas.
