S07.E11: The United States Postal Service

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic: The United States Postal Service and the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006

Also: Michael Flynn

Original air date 2020.05.10

[Annber03]

"One thing has been consistent: he's never used protection, and he's never not been an asshole about it." Nice. 

I can't believe we live in a world where Axl Rose and Steve Mnuchin are in a Twtter fight. What a time to be alive. Can't argue with Rose's reply, though, textspeak aside. Seriously, it's like the Democrats don't have to actually do any of the leg work here for their upcoming political ads. Just play all the clips of Trump and his administration thus far and their job's already mostly done for them. 

"If animals can still get groomed, this is a slap in the face to humans." I...what? 

Laughed way too hard at that postal service guy's story. Oh, my god. As for Stossel, he was mentioned in a recent "Dark Side of the Ring" episode that I watched. It was about how he got slapped in the face by a wrestler.

(Also, I thought people wanted the government to be run like a business. Isn't that part of why Trump supposedly got elected?)

Anywho, I'm definitely gonna look at getting some of those stamps. I hope they're able to implement some of the other ideas that can help them, too. 

[formerlyfreedom]

John was sure proud of his 'greener under my wiener' rock!

And of course, Stamps.com is overloaded now. BUT I WANT AND NOW...A STAMP!

[Annber03]

Just now, saoirse said:

John was sure proud of his 'greener under my wiener' rock!

Of course he brought one of those rocks. Of course :D. 

[Gothish520]

Got my order in. 😀

[Lantern7]

I got frustrated over the USPS recently when I felt that something was late getting to me. But I use this rule of thumb: if the current president hates something, it must be doing something good. For instance, I got two sets of packing envelopes from USPS. You know how much they cost? Nothing. If they charged a fee, I'd understand. With that said, the president and his usual friends are myopic about the service. I'm surprised they didn't get into "hostile postman shooting stuff up" jokes. Thank you, John.

I should get the stamps, huh? It's not that I wouldn't find a use, but that I'd want to save at least one of each design. I'm hoping that if John does this again, we could vote on what makes the stamp. Granted, changes would have to be made. If we saw a friendly cowboy, we'd all know that he caths, and nobody outside the fandom would be outraged. Or the Dog Supreme Court. At least John (like Sam Bee) is having fun with it.

[swanpride]

Just for the record: Our various companies over here in Germany have changed the rules for delivering packages. Instead of the receiver signing for it, the delivery man signs himself, and they can put the package on the doorstep, ring the door bell and then keep their distance. Organising the distance in the sorting stations was more complicated, though. But they are doing the best to protect their people.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

buy Chiijohn stamps here!

(note that stamps.com charges an additional $3 fee for custom designed stamps, so if you'd like to support the post office without the extra fee, there are plenty of designs available at the USPS website)

[cpcathy]

49 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

buy Chiijohn stamps here!

(note that stamps.com charges an additional $3 fee for custom designed stamps, so if you'd like to support the post office without the extra fee, there are plenty of designs available at the USPS website)

Thanks, I ordered. Just had to have And Now...A Stamp.

[swanpride]

Those stamps a really cute...if I were living in the US, I would be tempted.

[Robert Lynch]

That Fox News host reading the comments looks like the twin version of the preacher guy who blew air, only younger. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Robert Lynch

[peeayebee]

I ordered the stamps immediately after watching the program.

I knew about the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, but I don't understand WHY it was enacted? It really seems like Congress was setting the USPS up to fail. The whole thing makes me so mad, esp now that Trump has appointed a big donor of his to be Postmaster General. 

Loved when John described Trump as playing Six Degrees of How Is This About ME. 😄

[Sharpie66]

The Republicans have wanted to privatize the US mail for decades. What I don’t understand is why the vote for that bill was bipartisan.

I ordered my sheet of stamps just for the And Now..A Stamp one.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Sharpie66

[andromeda331]

Axl Rose and Mnunchin end up in a twitter war in real life and not some weird dream. That was an awesome burn. Munchin apparently doesn't even know what our flag looks like? I probably should be more surprised by that then I am.

Trump hates the post office. Of course he does. Oh, and so he thinks businesses can't lose billions? Really Trump? Come on you know you've lost way more then that among all your businesses. I love how all his insults are always the exact same thing that could be said about him.

I do like that John Oliver pointed out that the USPO is the only one usually delivering to rural places. He's exactly right. From mailing to relatives in rural places and working at the factory shipping to rural that was them. I'm also glad he pointed out when that one moron made a comment about email that not everyone has the internet. One of the problems with teaching via the internet the past month is that not everyone has that especially in rural places and small towns. Also glad it was pointed out that VA mails people their medication so without it people wouldn't be getting their medication including my dad.

[TexasGal]

 I really want to order the stamps, but I use stamps so rarely that I wish they were forever stamps.  I get that the point is to support USPS regardless of using them but my cheap gene is kicking in, lol!

[peeayebee]

I was wondering if they were Forever stamps. Oh well. I don't mail very many things. Basically just bday cards. 

[Gulftastic]

How long has John been turning into a silver fox? It's the first time I've noticed how grey he's going.

[TexasGal]

15 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I was wondering if they were Forever stamps. Oh well. I don't mail very many things. Basically just bday cards. 

I ordered 2 patterns of forever stamps to support them since I couldn't get over my cheapness to order the non-forevers that I will likely never use.  It will probably be 10 years before I use them all!

[Brandi Maxxxx]

On 5/12/2020 at 9:41 AM, TexasGal said:

 I really want to order the stamps, but I use stamps so rarely that I wish they were forever stamps.  I get that the point is to support USPS regardless of using them but my cheap gene is kicking in, lol!

"Forever stamps are a lie, because the Earth will eventually be swallowed by the sun." - Jake Peralta

[ElectricBoogaloo]

That 1989 commercial encouraging kids to collect stamps cracked me up. Can you imagine a 13 year old kid saying to his or her friends, "Let's go to the post office and start a stamp collection!"?

[Gothish520]

I had just used the last of my stamps on Mother's Day cards (I remembered, John!), so this was perfect timing. Even if I end up having to use two stamps on envelopes eventually, it will be totally worth it, lol.

[iMonrey]

Quote

The Republicans have wanted to privatize the US mail for decades. What I don’t understand is why the vote for that bill was bipartisan.

I wondered this as well and John just glossed right over it. I wonder if maybe they thought the Post Office was going to cut pensions for retired workers and they just didn't want them to. Back then maybe they figured they could get the money somewhere else.

[izabella]

There are often bills that get passed as "bipartisan" because they have a boatload of stuff in them.  Like, one party really wants to pass a coronavirus stimulus bill to provide money for individual Americans, but they can only do that if they also agree to the $50B bailout of the airline industry that the other party is pushing for.  So the USPS act could have been one of those where there was some other pressing issue that seemed to be just as if not more important.

[Ceindreadh]

On 5/12/2020 at 8:13 AM, Gulftastic said:

How long has John been turning into a silver fox? It's the first time I've noticed how grey he's going.

I’d say there’s going to be a lot of people embracing their inner silver fox until the lockdown is over. (I’m eventually going to see what my natural hair colour is!)

[paigow]

On 5/13/2020 at 5:03 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

That 1989 commercial encouraging kids to collect stamps cracked me up. Can you imagine a 13 year old kid saying to his or her friends, "Let's go to the post office and start a stamp collection!"?

Sell Fortnite and other game stamps to get those kids collecting!!!

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, Ceindreadh said:

I’d say there’s going to be a lot of people embracing their inner silver fox until the lockdown is over. (I’m eventually going to see what my natural hair colour is!)

I've said in the past that I'm curious what I'd look like with grey hair, but actually I'm finding out what I look like with white hair.

[swanpride]

Grey hair is just white hair if you still have dark coloured hair left.

[peeayebee]

Got my stamps! I'll use some and save some.

Oh, and my son opened the package and said excitedly, "Stickers!" I snapped, "Leave them alone!"

Edited May 17, 2020 by peeayebee

[Gothish520]

Still waiting on mine 😶

[ElectricBoogaloo]

FYI - the USPS has discontinued the personalized stamp program so if you want some more Chiijohn stamps or if you have ever considered getting stamps with your face or your pet or whatever on them, you have until June 10 (yes, that's one more day) to get your orders in.

https://photostamps.com/

Edited June 9, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[MSterling]

36 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

FYI - the USPS has discontinued the personalized stamp program so if you want some more Chiijohn stamps or if you have ever considered getting stamps with your face or your pet or whatever on them, you have until June 10 (yes, that's one more day) to get your orders in.

https://photostamps.com/

The website says the Last Week Tonight stamps will be available until June 15th or while supplies last. All others end June 10th.

I'm happy I got my Mr. Nutterbutter stamps already.

[peeayebee]

I used one of my stamps yesterday. Since I've been using Forever stamps a long time (practically forever), I didn't know what the cost of each stamp was. I saw that these stamps were .55, but I thought maybe they were more ... for some reason. Duh.

[Kromm]

On 6/9/2020 at 5:20 AM, MSterling said:

I'm happy I got my Mr. Nutterbutter stamps already.

I haven't bought any, but I just like that we live in a world where Mr. Nutterbutter and what he represents (telling Bob Murray to go fuck himself) exists.

[swanpride]

Today, I voted per letter for the first time in my life. Being German, I always had the option, but there is just something very "right" about taking a stroll and doing your cross on election day (hey, we are properly organised over here, I never had to wait in line for longer than a minute or two).

It was an interesting experience, since there were multiple elections happening, so I had to fill out four different ballots (voting for three different parties in the process, btw), put them all in an envelope, then I had to fill out another form to confirm that this is my vote, and then I had to put both the envelope and the confirmation form in another envelope which was already paid for and had a different colour so that the post could recognize immediately that this is an important election letter. I only had to put into the next post box, the request was done online btw. More complicated than I am used to, but I guess as easy as it can be.

I am wondering how high the percentage of postal vote will be in two weeks. For sure higher than usual. Which actually might lead to the votes being counted earlier this time around, not later like it will be the case in the US.  

Ironically I had a YouTube video about what is currently going on in the US Post office running in the background, one which was even more detailed than John Olivers. For example, I didn't know that the post office is actually part of the US constitution, and that it wasn't even meant to make a revenue in the first place. Really fascinating.