To save the post office, send beer?
One provision of the latest effort to shore up the flagging U.S. Postal Service would allow you to receive alcohol in the mail.
In addition to opening the door to ending Saturday mail delivery in two years, the latest proposal to save the post office includes a provision that would let the U.S. Postal Service begin shipping alcohol across the country.
The ban on shipping beer and wine via the U.S. mail dates back to 1909, 10 years before Prohibition.
The law grew from statutes that prohibited the Postal Service from shipping "poisons, explosives, harmful items, and 'all spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors of any kind,'" Josh Sanburn wrote at Time, citing Section 217 of 18 U.S.C. 1716(f) of the Act of March 4, 1909, ch. 321, 35 Stat. 1131.
Private carriers have been shipping beer and wine for years, but the Postal Service hasn't been able to get in on that action thanks to the federal law. Note: Individuals are not legally allowed to ship alcohol to one another via either UPS or FedEx (so no sending one of your favorite wines to Mom for Mother's Day). Those who are licensed to ship wine can apply to either carrier to send it to individuals or businesses, but beer can be sent only between licensed companies, not to individuals -- and shipment of all alcohol is subject to state laws, which vary widely. (Post continues below video.)
Getting into the alcohol shipping business could prove lucrative for the post office, once it's able to establish procedures to ensure that alcohol is not shipped to anyone younger than 21 (requiring a signature for delivery, for example) or to any of the states that prohibit alcohol shipments from out-of-state retailers.
"With the onslaught of e-commerce, as long as (beer and wine) ship legally in terms of states that we're allowed to ship, I think you're going to see it take off," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told Time.
According to Time:
Donahoe says he doesn't believe that getting a federal agency like the post office involved in shipping alcohol across state lines is in any way disreputable. In fact, he already has some shipping ideas if it passes: 2-, 4- and 6-bottle wine boxes for one flat rate that would ship anywhere in the country.
The bill including the beer and wine provision passed the Senate last week.
The issue now moves to the House, which is considering its own bill, and Donahoe has given Congress a May 15 deadline before he says the U.S. Postal Service will pursue its own plan, which includes closing some postal service facilities and possibly hundreds of rural post offices.
More from MSN Money:
Good.
Let the USPS compete.
No government bailouts to either the USPS or their union.
Let them set their own rates and don't give them any favorable treatment.
If a first class stamp rises to $1, then that's the going rate. No whining about the elderly, the poor or rural folks and stepping in with a handout or price fixing.
Does that mean that FedEx and UPS will ship less alcohol, now FedEx and UPS will make less money. Let the private shipping companies contine shipping alcohol they are doing a great job.
The United States Post Office need to find a better solution to their budget problems, not take away profits from the private sector.
required. It has asked for the funds to be returned to it. The USPS also has justified its recent
decision to suspend FERS contributions on the basis that it has overpaid and needs to conserve
cash.
The OPMIG has found merit in the USPS’s contention but noted that a statute would need to be
enacted to authorize the OPM the refund the money."
there's at least one source that'd bring more money back to them.
taken from: www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41024.pdf
If the government has a problem running something like the current, privatized yet government controlled mail delivery system, do you really think they can efficiently administer something far more complicated such as healthcare? And considering those, are they even able to efficiently operate our own government?
For decades it's been high time for the USPS to act more like the business it should be than the buracracy it is. Either open up the ENTIRE mail system to independent delivery systems, or find a way for the USPS to compete on equal ground with other delivery services... and dropping the union would be a grand first step.
pay their own bills!! look it up.RELATED ARTICLES
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