Let's start by eliminated the Art Dept. and go back to ONE stamp per class. Sorry you stamp collectors but I doubt you're carrying your weight. Any day I expect to see my neighbors face on a stamp. We don't need another Disney Studios. George Washingto will do nicely.

"...the management consultants give ...conclusions that a precocious eighth-grader would reach..." / ---My BCG consultant friend once told me when a CEO would deride their business advice by saying, "We paid you for that? Why everybody knows that!" She'd simply reply "Then why aren't you doing it?" (Zing!) / ---As for the USPS and their capacity for change: I had a client who was in the private post office box renting business. His market research? Go to the USPS Office and ask to rent a PO box. If the wait was more than six months, (often) he'd open a post box storefront nearby, confident that the USPS would never think to add more mail boxes.

I love that the USPS can offer letter and packaging handling at reasonable price. The automated centers offer a great convenience (unless some customer jams an oversized box into the bin, rendering it useless until a USPS worker can clear it on the next business day). My issue with the USPS that their availability face-to-face interaction with customers has diminished. Their branch office hours don't accommodate working folks, who can't get there in the 8:30 - 4:45 timeframe. Why can't they have extended hours on certain days as other businesses do? If I receive a pickup notice on a Monday, I have to wait until Saturday to pick it up, and wait in a long line. My local carrier, who delivers by a vehicle, will not stop at my residence to deliver a package that requires a signture. Instead, they place a pickup slip in the mailbox that says "Delivery attempted", when in fact, it wasn't. Again, another delay until I get to the post office to pick it up on Saturday. Now, if I order something online, and have multiple retailer options, I will choose the one that does NOT use the USPS as its shipper. Lastly, the USPS website offers some advanced features that are aimed at customer convenience. Yet, their branch personnel are not always aware of them, and do not seem to care to investigate. They just refuse my request to invoke the special service, because "it doesn't exist". I know that everyone wants superior service everywhere, be it public transit, or mail delivery, without increasing costs, but would a nickel increase for first class mail really break the bank for anyone, and would it help the USPS get with the times and improve customer service?

Montclair's comment reminded me of a visit I made to a USPS branch in the Metrowest area. It was lunchtime, so it was packed. There was one clerk working the counter. As I shifted from one foot to the other in a line that snaked almost out the door, I watched an exchange at the counter, as a woman was wrapping up her transaction and about to step away. Then the clerk asked if she'd like to see some of the new stamps that were just released. "Oh yes, of course!" she replied. So he hauled out a binder and the two of them casually browsed the new selections. After she oohed and ahhhed, she left empty-handed. By then the other customers were so fed up they walked out. Maybe some only had a few minutes if they were on a strict lunch time period.

I remember my mom (now deceased) telling me a story about her post office in the Lower Mills of Milton. My father was stationed in Korea and my mother had not received any letters from him for quire a while. Worried, she checked with the post office every day. One morning around 4 am, my mother received a call from the post office telling her that a bundle of letters from my father had just come in. I love this story because it says something about the human spirit and the compassion of that particular post office. I live in St. Louis Missouri and I still enjoy going to the post office especially around Christmas and major holidays. My post office always puts a place of Christmas cookies on the counter for the waiting customers.