Whaaattt?

Perhaps just drop Politicians instead of custard then - not quite as tasty tho.

 

They'd compost better tho.

 

The amount of hot air would certainly be useful for more efficient composting but you'd have to be careful of the likely toxic contents tho.

 

Think this postal delivery has to do with location of your home/house. Over here in communities with a bunch of townhouses there is a big steel box with lots of little boxes in it and a key hole, seen at different spots at the beginning of the streets, seems the post man then only stops at those big steel boxes to put mail in it.

My house is on a big circle thing, each of us has about 2 acres to 3 acres, post man stops at my mailbox for my individual delivery. On occasion my post person will zoom up my driveway when an object is too big for the mailbox and leave it at the door, or we might be home.

So perhaps in rural areas of Canada it is house delivered.

picture of my mailbox

 

I always keep a few cans of evaporated milk on hand, its good for Mac and cheese. Made Yorkshire pudding the other day with it, turned out great.

 

I did post a parcel to my friend in Toronto in late October - it arrived back here after 3 weeks apparently having only got as far as Bristol - about 50 miles. Reason given by Royal Mail was that Canada Post was on strike. Tried again a few days later but was advised to leave and try again in 10 days. Did that and it arrived 7 days later. Interestingly enough, friend said she had received a package from China during the strike.

 

I've actually had a postal delivery today, sunday, must be to do with the Christmas rush.
I doubt that Canadian mailbox idea would work around here, I'm sure the kids would squirt super glue in all the key holes or completely destroy the boxes.

As soon as they put new glass in a bus shelters they smash it the next day, came past one today that had been vandalised last night.

 

I'm a little astonished by just how ignorant some are regarding my country particularly those only a bit south of me. It's like some of you only read rag mag news rather than the real deal. We had a full on postal strike OVER A YEAR AGO! And I know some of you received my Christmas cards just fine in spite of it. So really?

Delivering door to door, particularly in rural areas is not profitable for any postal service but I'm sure they were trying to "average" the overall costs to justify remote service. And now we are looking to put the same multi-boxes in those areas too. Why should my taxes subsidize those who choose to live in the boonies? They pick positions central to those rural customers for multi-box placement.

"The US Postal Service (USPS) is not profitable; it reported a net loss of $9.5 billion in fiscal year 2024. This loss is influenced by various factors, including a 2006 law that required prefunding of retiree health benefits, though some of those costs were reversed in 2022 due to a reform.

• Losses in recent years: The USPS has a consistent history of financial losses, reporting a net loss of $9.5 billion in 2024 and $6.48 billion in 2023.

• Controllable losses: While the net loss is large, a separate "controllable loss" figure is used to account for factors like retiree health benefit pre-funding. In 2024, this figure was $1.83 billion, and in 2023, it was $2.26 billion. "

I'm sure people can make up articles to say the opposite but in no way does this one imply that the U.S. is broke. It just points out that USPS is subsidized with tax dollars to keep operating. It is a service just as the police and fire departments. It was only ever hoped to operate on a break even basis through stamp revenues.

And if people need the junk mail every single day, I respect their opinions. I won't mind if I only got my mail (junk and bills) a couple of times a week. Each of these boxes has a couple of large "lockers" which are for parcels. If there is a parcel waiting for you, you will find a key in your box to use to get to it and then simply drop the key into the outgoing mail section after. Yes, they pick up the mail there too. If something is too big for that parcel compartment, you instead receive a notice that the parcel is waiting at the Post Office. My post office is 1.1 kilometers from me - much less than a mile so certainly not a hardship to walk. To be more accurate, I just paced it out, it is 50 meters to my multi-box to either pick up or mail a letter.

This year a single domestic stamp is $1.44 and I still have some left on my roll that I bought two years ago. There is no amount on the face of the stamp. Their value is for the delivery of one letter, no matter how many years old the stamp is or how much less you paid for it back then. They don't become obsolete or invalid. I think I like that very much

 

All national postal services are struggling @CanadianLori and, as in Canada, the French have individual postboxes outside their houses but where new builds are grouped, they have had a communal pile of post boxes for some years now. Everyone can opt out of junk mail.

It may be an indication of social responsibility to have a decent mail service but it is not a guage of national financial probity. From everything I see reported about Canadian economics and diplomacy recently it looks to me as tho Canada is making some very astute moves to bolster its home economy thru investments and trade treaties but also its influence on the international stage thru new trade and defence agreements. It's proving to be a solid ally and a stable partner which can be trusted, unlike its flighty, fickle neighbour to the south.