Just like record stores, video stores, and other retail outlets are facing competition from, and going under because of, online transactions – do you think that the U.S. postal service will eventually suffer because of the Internet as well?

I think that there will be a lot of post offices closed but not extinct.

Eventually, perhaps but I’d be surprised if it happened in my life time although I’ve tried to lighten their burden by going “paperless” when I can. When you consider what the bulk of what you receive in your mailbox is these days, it doesn’t make much sense to have it delivered manually when it could get to you much more efficiently electronically. Still, I would miss getting birthday and Christmas cards that I can hold in my hand.

I'm not sure about extinct but I do think it will be significantly downsized. They say they're losing money because of email & the internet but then they continue to pass the cost off onto the consumer. Stamps have gotten ridiculous & as they keep asking for & getting increases I think people will turn more to their computers. I see the post office taking on a role similar to UPS & FedEx. Fewer cards & letters & more package delivery. Those things being ordered online have to be delivered by someone. But I don't think they will ever be what they were at one time.

We're one of those people who relies HEAVILY on the post office and the daily mail, we don't bank online, we don't send email cards to people, and we take all our packages to the post office to mail out. If they would ever close, I don't know what we'd do.

CeCe wrote:

I'm not sure about extinct but I do think it will be significantly downsized. They say they're losing money because of email & the internet but then they continue to pass the cost off onto the consumer. Stamps have gotten ridiculous & as they keep asking for & getting increases I think people will turn more to their computers. I see the post office taking on a role similar to UPS & FedEx. Fewer cards & letters & more package delivery. Those things being ordered online have to be delivered by someone. But I don't think they will ever be what they were at one time.

. I know I personally still use the post office on a regular basis. I send packages and stuff to my mom and sister all the time.

I don't think the Postal Service is going to be extinct anytime soon. Maybe eventually, but not anytime soon.

I don't think they'll ever be extinct, because companies love to send out invoices and bills too much....but like everything the Internet has made more convenient to do at home, post offices too will become less important with time.

More post offices may close but for as long as packages need to be shipped, the postal service will keep its relevance.

I doubt it will ever be extinct, but it will change. I think that it won't be too many years and it will be just as costly to mail a package via USPS as it is FedEx or UPS. Stamps keep going up and so it is going to force companies to cease snail mail invoices without charging the invoice recipients to pay a surcharge for the service. It is not cheap to snail mail an invoice. It takes postage and man hours. Companies are not going to eat that cost forever as stamps rise in cost.

I am a big believer in the need to cut a day (Wednesday) from postal service. They need to cut costs and that is an obvious choice. The world isn't going to cease to exist if we end one more day of mail service.

No matter how common the Internet becomes, there's always gonna be some who don't have it. I think the postal service will always be relevant in some way.