Once again the Post Office is going under. While some might think this is because they aren't charging e-retailers enough for package delivery the truth is more about the structure of legislation the US Congress put in place for governing USPS operation. For instance, it has been implied that the service loses money on every package due to favorable pricing, but the rules they operate under don't allow them to sell below cost. So that's unlikely. There's also something I don't really understand about the funding of pensions that requires USPS to operate like no other company and frequently contributes to operating deficits.
Since USPS has to make much more money than it makes sending mail in order to satisfy their operating requirements they frequently get into ancillary businesses. The primary way they try to increase earnings is by selling stamps to collectors. If they can sell a stamp that will never be used for sending a letter they get to bank the extra margin. This kind of thing is part of the reason the Post Office advertises, I mean, why would they have to advertise - everyone knows about the Post Office. The advertising is about maximizing revenue. Apparently there was once even a short lived fast casual USPS clothing line. Not every idea is the best.
In that spirit I have had a notion.
I present to you The Annual Postal Code Games.
The thought is that every summer the USPS would host an Olympics type sports competition featuring amateur athletes. The hook is that the only people eligible to compete in a given year would be people from locations having the current year in their zip code. Next year's games would feature:
02021 Canton, MAIt actually looks like USPS doesn't use 52021 and 82021, so the 2021 USPS Games would have 8 teams, good number for a double elimination tournament. I guess if we wanted more teams we could include zips where 2021 is the plus-four (I wasn't exactly sure how to look that up). That also gives an opportunity to communities not having a "2" as the second digit of their zip code.
12021 Collier County, FL
22021 Chantilly, VA
32021 Daytona Beach, FL
42021 Arlington, KY
52021
62021 Dorsey, IL
72021 Brinkley, AR
82021
92021 El Cajon, CA
This would be a super opportunity to bolster the profile of the Postal Service while at the same time providing a showcase for communities all over the country - real Americans having fun. There would also be sponsorships and inevitably TV money and licensing. All things that could help to deal with those onerous operational rules.
Once we're allowed to have a few people in the same room maybe this couldbe something to think about.
2 comments:
Don't forget zipcodes 20210 through 20219 (which all happen to be D.C.).
I read somewhere that while congress imposed these extreme pension-funding requirements essentially forcing the USPS to find side hustles, they also explicitly barred the USPS from going into postal banking, which could be a side hustle that would greatly benefit both consumers (undercutting predatory private pay-day lenders and money transfer services) and the USPS bottom line. I expect there were some lobbyists involved somewhere in that decision.
Maybe one or all of those zips could host the games.
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