dang, that sucks. the $43 is closer to the rates around here for a 6-month rental. also, i've never heard of a post office renting building space. they're part of the federal government, i would think the gov't could buy their own building.

No, the post office is not funded by the government, hasn't really been since the 70's. They lease/rent/buy/etc property, same as any other business. The only 'gimme' they get from the government is they don't have to pay federal taxes (but they DO pay state/local taxes!) and they are not allowed to make a profit (I.E. they must stay revenue-neutral) but there's no protection to prevent them from going under for example.

And Wolf's mom works for the post office, so he'd know the way they work.
(Postmaster for Avalon, on Catalina island, isn't it?)


-Badger-

Retired as of July 31st! Though might end up as a contractor for the USPS at the same time...

Long story there... basically they were overpaying into their pension fund (by nearly double) and filed paperwork to reduce the payments appropriately. Same adjustment they do periodically all the time, right?

Thomas Davis found a drum to beat and press releases to make based on "the USPS is asking to cut their pension fund payments by BILLIONS!" so he wrote and sponsored the Postal ACcountability and Enhancement Act which basically said "Nope! We're changing the law so you have to pre-pay for DECADES of future retiree's benefits _NOW_ so your payments can't be reduced this time!"

So... they're flush-retiring EVERYONE they can, to get them ON those pensions now to start draining that fund instead, and then turning around and re-hiring many of them as contractors as moderate wages so they keep drawing a pension from the USPS AND getting payed by the USPS, so they'll end up getting payed a bit more than before but most of it'll come from the pension fund, and it's a great chance to flush out everyone they want gone to boot by simply not re-hiring them as a contractor.

So, yeah, blame a specific politician for most of their nasty financial mess. I've kept quiet on it because if I'd blabbed and it got traced back my mom could've been fired in theory, but now they can't do anything do her, so game on! Her last day at work's gonna be fun, she'll be filing paperwork to fire several bad apples, and the disputes/union grievances? Won't be her head on the chopping block, since she'll have retired.

Holy hannah, my PO box is $60 per year. o.O

Well, it was an oversized box that a friend got back in '88.

I inherited it as the result of a long line of various friends taking it over as they lived in the area and moved away, in the somewhat nomadic nature of fandom.

So it was held by one or the other of the old gaming group in Anaheim until I got it in '95, and I maintained it until now.

Theres serious nostalgia attached to that box...But not $400 a year's worth....



The postal station thats right around the corner from me now has size 2 boxes that run $84 or so a year, and I no longer really need a size 4 box because I no longer receive several large fanzines a month.

Keeping a PO box is incredibly convenient for me, as no packages get dumped on the doorstep where the local high school kids across the street can see them and steal them...

So I'll get another one in a while.

-Badger-

My parents have maintained the same PO Box for 30 years here in town, and they don't use it anymore but they've had it so long they don't want to close it. XD

I have one because I live in a rough neighborhood full of delinquent teenagers and crackheads that roam the neighborhood all day long, poking around in people's trash and mailboxes, and jiggling door handles. :|

I used to live in a neighborhood like that, in Tucson...

I don't miss it.

-Badger-

This is why I consider myself super fortunate: My work lets me ship stuff direct to them.

Mine too, if I need it (like if they don't do PO box delivery), but I wouldn't enjoy having my porn subscriptions and credit card bills coming to the office. :P