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The Internet may kill the mailman

The General Accounting Office (GAO) is warning that dramatic drops in first-class mail due to electronic bill paying over the Internet may force reduction in U.S. Postal Service deliveries by 2003. Already the Postal Service can only make a profit of $200 million on revenue of $62 billion or just a 0.32% profit margin. The reduction of first-class mail could cost the Postal service as much as $17 billion in reduced income, most of which could come right off their bottom line. As someone who has just started electronic bill paying, I would say that to try it is to like it and the postal service is indeed in deep doo-doo. But perhaps the rise in demand for same-day and next-day local delivery for Internet businesses such as grocery delivery may prove to be the Postal Service's salvation. Imagine ordering you groceries in the morning and having them delivered by your mail truck in the afternoon. Pundits are now saying that local same-day delivery is the wave of the future. Perhaps soon your Postal Service could become your Grocery Delivery Service too.

Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:35:03 -0800