No post office = no coupon trading... Right?

[Gertie2u]

So how far apart are these little towns? I'm not at all familiar with Kansas. If, for instance, they incorporated 5 towns po's to a central one in the middle, how far would the outlying towns have to drive to get there?

I'm sorry, my first reaction to this was to laugh. Then I saw you live in a place with a different reality. If you could get these 5 little towns to agree to go together on much of anything...they'd already be incorporated into one town. As soon as you suggest combining for one post office, the fighting is gonna start. Which five towns? Why not this other five towns so my town gets to be the one with the post office? Why are we doing it on that basis anyway, shouldn't the towns who's post office makes the most be the ones that get to keep their post office? And it would just get revved up from there..

Up until I started trading coupons, I just didn't mail anything anymore. I had bought an $8.80 book of stamps the day they went to $0.44 and had used 2 of them. Recently, I did a "Mail in rebate" and didn't even have to mail anything in. You sent them pictures with your cell phone. I am all for more of this. Much better on the environment.

[Mothernature]

I have to write and mail a few checks a month. One, for example, is for my home payment. No online bill payment is available and I can not get to the office when opened. I purchase and sell a few things on Ebay. I think Amazon is utilizing the USPS. The last package that arrived was an automatic reorder I forgot to stop.The invoice said "free shipping" and it arrived via USPS.

The USPS is typical of how the US handles it bureaucracies.

A number of years ago Posten, the Swedish postal agency, decided to restructure its work. Instead of having post offices, similar to the ones that exist in many countries, they have created a system whereby local supermarkets, news agents, gas stations and other similar shops act as postal service agents.The EU minimum standard calls for 85 percent of domestic letter mail to be delivered overnight. Posten far exceeds that standard, with about 95 percent of its mail arriving the next day.

In 1990, Posten AB maintained 1,934 traditional post offices. Beginning in 2001, Posten began closing many of these traditional post offices, replacing them with a new network of privatized and contracted counter services.

The new network consists of three main levels. The lowest are roughly 2,000 stamp agents who are mostly proprietors of small shops, stands and kiosks authorized to offer the most basic stamp and mail services.

The second level of contracted service consists of about 1,600 postal outlets located within larger grocery stores and the like. They are staffed by regular store clerks, are typically open late, and offer more services -- including mail registration and package pickup (in Sweden parcels are not delivered to the door).

The top level are 381 Business Centers located in commercial areas. These centers are staffed and managed directly by Posten AB. They provide complete post office services, including the processing of business mail and insurance for parcels. Business Centers can be used by individuals and businesses alike and are open weekdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Additionally, rural areas are served by 2,500 rural postmen who bring their “post offices on wheels” directly to the doors of more isolated users. Post office boxes are easy to find at places like the train stations or near centrum (downtown).