EDITOR:
I read once of a man who heated his New England home all winter with logs rolled from junk mail. Although possibly annoying, without bulk mail our postal system would not exist in its current affordable form. Without the revenue gained from advertisers mailing third class mail, to send a payment to your credit card company or mail a Christmas card to a loved one would require several stamps with a dollar sign rather than one with a cent sign.
Free broadcast TV is paid by advertising. Commercial free cable channels are only possible by the paid subscriber fees. There is no free lunch. With the cream of the crop postal profit centers being taken by the private carriers which can limit where they deliver, the U.S. Postal Service will attempt to deliver every piece regardless of destination and do it affordably. The U.S. Postal system may not be perfect, but it is definitely a government agency we all depend upon because it is reliable. Yes, the check really is in the mail.
Junk mail may be annoying but it pays the tariff so that we can enjoy an affordable and ubiquitous postal system. Next time you get a piece of third-class mail which you may consider annoying, just imagine your ire at paying $3 to mail a letter across town. Dollar stamps anyone?
David James
Gardnerville
