Well, on the anecdotal side of things, I recently recieved a piece of mail from Europe addressed to Tom P.... Bourbon, MO, no zip....

Burbon, Missouri...
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 1,348 people, 548 households, and 355 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,135.9 people per square mile (437.4/km²). There were 600 housing units at an average density of 505.6/sq mi (194.7/km²).

I also live in a small town, where similar things have happened through the USPS. Good for the conscientious people in small towns that work at the USPS.

Just don't keep your hopes up and don't move to St. Louis or Kansas city.

Aunt Bertha was one lucky woman...

Well, on the anecdotal side of things, I recently recieved a piece of mail from Europe addressed to Tom P.... Bourbon, MO, no zip....

Not saying the system is perfect, just that continueing w/in the constraints of the system as it was set up 200 yrs ago, it is amazing how much they accomplish to this day.

You know, I always wondered about peoples desire to kick around the good old USPS. One can stick a letter in the mail in Bangor ME, addressed to "Aunt Bertha, Calumet City IL" and know (with reasonable certainty) that she will get it.

Aunt Bertha was one lucky woman...
I used to live and mail correspondence from: Dunwoody Georgia to Norcross Georgia.
The average delivery time was 10 to 14 days. That was about a mile or less a day. It was consistently that way for 3 to 4 years. It was recognized as being the worst Post Office in Georgia.

There is no one in management at the USPS that would understand a 'business model" if it was licked and pasted on their ass.

Ya know, I always wondered about peoples desire to kick around the good old USPS. One can stick a letter in the mail in Bangor ME, addressed to "Aunt Bertha, Calumet City IL" and know (with reasonable certainty) that she will get it.

A buddy of mine works at the USPS, and most of you can not imagine the "horror" stories he has told me. But for all of that, they still deliver something like 99% of first class mail with in 3 days.

Not to mix metaphors but, what they do, with what they have, strikes me as considerably more difficult than hitting a 98 mph fastball 450 feet to right of center.

(and by the by, as one who has more than a little experience with the "freight forwarding business", use USPS for all your over night or 2 day packages... anything else is a waste of money)

So, the fact that the USPS business model seems not to be working well may or may not be a reflection on how good a job Potter’s doing.

There is no one in management at the USPS that would understand a 'business model" if it was licked and pasted on their ass.

To me, this is one of the worst run organizations in the FEDERAL government. And excesses abound; I lived in a third rate city of about 250,000. In the late 1990's, an assistant Postmaster, recently promoted to this city's Postmaster from Chicago came in, spent over $250,000 dollars in re-modeling the Postmaster's office. Mail service was no better, the inadequate and surly attitudes did not get better, and the postal rates kept increasing.

My favorite post office joke, compliments of Jay Leno:
"Postal rates are going to increase next month.
The USPS is going to be charged more for storage."

I've been to Arab. It's pronounced (roughly) Ay-rab, with the 'a' in the second syllable much like the 'a' in 'apple'.

Pronounced correctly, there are actually THREE syllables. Roughly A Raa ub.

And let's not even talk about Cairo, Georgia which is pronounced like the syrup. (KAY ro)

Arab, Alabama

I've been to Arab. It's pronounced (roughly) Ay-rab, with the 'a' in the second syllable much like the 'a' in 'apple'.