Nobody gives the US Postal
Nobody gives the US Postal Service its due. Americans complain about stamp prices (which are still astoundingly less than just about anyplace else in the world), slow delivery (which is still astoundingly quicker than just about anyplace else in the world), and lack of competition (which is astoundingly increasing from companies like FedEx and UPS) . . . but the US Postal Service still manages to be the only branches of government (except the IRS, I guess) that brings in more cash that it spends.
And while the rest of the Federal government just talks about getting online, the US Postal Service is leading the public sector with online stamps, online bill paying, and now (according to MSNBC) the US Postal Service will provide a free email address for every physical address in the US.
You’ll receive a free email address, you can have it forwarded for free to another email address, you can retreive your email for free at a post office near you, and you can even have it printed and delivered to you (for a fee) via snail mail. It doesn’t seem like much to those of us who use the ‘net 8 hours a day, but I think this is a remarkable possibility for the huge percentage of the population that doesn’t have net access. The USPS is the one of the only sections of the government that has really embraced technology and is implementing it in ways somewhat useful to citizens.
The drawback to the USPS plan, though, is that your email address is now tied to your physical address — suddenly spam might be showing up in the mail box at the end of your driveway, not just the mailbox at the end of your T1.