Does that Segway come with snow chains?

CNNMoney.com Feb. 9th 2011. Postal Service warns of default as losses mount.

Ever since Al Gore invented the internet and email became the way of communication we have been hearing the USPS is losing money. I personally never mailed that many letters/cards/bills but with the new bill pay and online payments being options, I'm really just too cheap to increase my amount owed by another 44cents. I am, however, a big fan of handwriting and mailing thank you cards. So, for that, the USPS has got me.

After Christmas, we got the nicest thank you card from some friends. It said something like "Friends know you have an interest in guns, good friends know what kind of ammo you use." Yeah, I give ammunition as gifts. It was the best thank you card we ever got, and it was mailed. We were lucky the USPS didn't lose it on the way.

When I mailed my payment for my epidural last summer, the USPS lost my check. Here's the thing that just baffles me: it went from our mail box to a PO box in our same SMALL town. That takes some kind of special.

I can totally understand people not mailing as many letters, but I don't understand why the postal service hasn't seen an increase in packages being mailed. We order stuff all the time that is sent USPS, much to our disappointment. And ebay...really? A loss? I've bought and sold stuff of ebay with costs adding up far beyond those of first class stamps that I used before the web became a way of life. Maybe their losses are due to Unions and Pensions. MAYBE. Haven't we seen this in other industries? Automobiles or Wisconsin, perhaps?

I like our mail carrier. She's very nice. She would stop and admire Abby and Remy when I was walking them. I know that she had a hard time delivering the mail with all our snow this year, so I bought her some chocolate truffles and wrote her a note and left it the mailbox. She left us a thank you note that same day. It lifted her spirits that week and I felt good. She drives a 4 wheel drive Chevy Blazer. As a past owner of one of these vehicles, I understand how bad the gas mileage is. As the USPS claims they are becoming more green, I'm wondering how. Petroleum based vehicles are still used, probably as the most common form of delivery. They complain that we aren't mailing as many letters... made out of paper... from trees, so I'm calling it, the USPS is environmentally unfriendly, they are jealous because they didn't come up with the idea of email. I want to see my mail being delivered in the snow on a Segway. Now that's saving the environment.

Matt says: Or how about we let them get some snazzy Predator Drone planes and air-drop the mail with some fun laser precision.