I’m in favor of removing the first-class monopoly the government has on mail and opening it up to other players. You would see even basic mail significantly improve in ship times.
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Winner, winner. Chicken dinner.
maybe. maybe not. either way that’s a whole different tangent i don’t care to get into personally
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Not sure that’s the case. It’s effectively gone now - it’s called “email” 
USPS would be out of business if all it did was first-class mail. With the move to electronic bill payment & receipts, it’s only a matter of time before first-class is virtually eliminated altogether. Future is in package & junk delivery.
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Take a look at how much is shipped to you via first-class mail, either wanted or unwanted. I don’t think that category is going anywhere anytime soon, unfortunately.
I was merely saying a company like UPS or FedEx would take it and greatly improve the efficiency.
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Fair enough.
Just wondering what the ratio of international orders to US orders was – particularly up to the current point in shipping?
The real issue is that USPS has dual mandates dictated by congress. Compete and make money but also serve far flung rural areas. These are in conflict. Of course UPS would do it better, but they’ll probably kill mail service to tiny towns across the country too.
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nooooooo nope steer away from the political repercussions pls
also curious, even roughly, but i’ll blindly guess US orders are probably double or more, for a number of reasons.
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I think 20% was mentioned. If so I think they we are under represented in this forum.
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that seems like a good number. i’m not sure, i feel like half the people i deal with here on a daily basis aren’t american.
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A quick manual count of the spreadsheet gives 11%.
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yes, but that’s the spreadsheet, not the forum (ps thanks for counting i was way too lazy) .
I thought it was $20 per month from Dec 16. I only received $40 credit. When I asked about it customer service said that the credits accrued from March 2017 not Dec 16.
Jan 2017 is the first $20 month for those who were part of the crowdfunding campaign and that pre-ordered up to a certain date (that would have been scheduled for a December 2016 delivery).
Those that were to have a February delivery date, their $20 monthly starts March 2017.
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great explanation, thanks.
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Lol no politics here – I was meaning now as in working on day 8 of basic deliveries and day 1 of pro’s. I’d guess the international contingent would have hesitated a bit compared to the Americans.
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Hmm – if those numbers are right, quick back of the napkin calculations put us at 1200-1400 basics up to day 8? So there are maybe 200-300 international basic glowforgers to this point? I wonder how many countries that represents?
I agree with you…the dual mandate makes it nearly impossible for them. I don’t think UPS would kill mail service to tiny towns, but they would HAVE to raise rates and not have a “forever” stamp. That is one of the biggest reasons that the USPS struggles to make money…they’re mandated to serve all and at the same rate. The market would say, if they use a ton more gas to get out there, it will cost a little more.
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