SF Weekly -- Will Proposed S.F. Anti-Junk Mail Measure Be Death Knell of Post Office? Environmental Group Says USPS Is Already Dead.
,March 24th, 2009
As anticipated, San Francisco's City Operations & Neighborhood
Services Committee yesterday approved of a proposed "Do Not Mail"
registry that would, in theory, spare city dwellers from the acres of
junk mail that clog our post boxes yearly. And, when you look at the
jaw-dropping statistics presented by the antipaper-waste organization ForestEthics, it's hard to argue otherwise.
Will
Craven, a San Francisco spokesman for the organization -- which penned
the legislation sponsored by several S.F. supes -- notes that the
United States Postal Service itself admits that 30 percent of all the
mail delivered in the world is American junk mail -- 104 billion pieces
at its 2007 high (or nadir, if you see things differently).
When
asked how the USPS -- already on shaky legs -- could handle yet more
reductions in mail volume, Craven notes that the postal service
consciously made the decision to lash itself to junk mail as securely
as Ahab was tied to the White Whale. The USPS lost $2.8 billion last
year -- but anticipated losing $1 billion: "When you have a
for-profit business -- and the postal service is a for-profit business
-- and you don't anticipate being within $1 billion of profitability,
maybe you need to re-examine your business plan."