What about the Post Office?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I've heard very little about the condition and preparedness of the US Postal Service. I suspect it will fall into the Black Hole of unprepared government agencies. When I hear people talking about paying their bills by "just mailing in a check," I really have to wonder why no one has thought about this aspect of the problem. I can see that local mail might be more or less available, but wonder what the status of this is. Does anyone have any knowledge on this, or guesses, or speculation?

-- Liz pavek (lizpav@frontiernet.net), November 29, 1998

Answers

Liz,

This is all I could find...

Link:-

http://www.ups.com/about/y2k.html

Comment:

No postal service is compliant. So, if UPS can't make it, kiss the mail order world goodbye.

Will UPS make it? It's Web site's brief, stock, lawyer-approved statement does not inspiure confidence.

* * * * * * * * *

. . . UPS has been contacting suppliers who provide both critical IT assets and non-IT assets to (1) evaluate their Year 2000 compliance plans and state of readiness and (2) determine whether a Year 2000- related event will impede the ability of such suppliers to continue to provide such goods and services as the Year 2000 is approached and reached. In addition, however, UPS relies, both domestically and internationally, upon government agencies (including the Federal Aviation Administration), utility companies, telecommunication service companies and other third parties outside of UPS's control who provide goods or services that are critical to UPS's business activities. There is no assurance that such suppliers, governmental agencies, or other third parties will not suffer a Year 2000 business disruption. . . . P.S.

Ever seen the Kevin Costner movie "The Postman":)

-- Andy (andy_rowland@msn.com), November 29, 1998.


I work for these clowns. As far as I can see, the equipment which processes the mail(The stuff I work on) should not see a problem. BUT, when your get in the area of moving it from point A to point B, I have a lot of reservations. A lot of the older systems use(so I hear) computers which will die. See the PDP-11 posts above.I'm not a nerd, I am an industrial maintenance technician( this means I can look at your gear, see whats broke and replace it so you have no down time).What it does inside it's self, I don't care. As long as it goes when I'm around.But based on the internal memos and such I've been seeing about nonremediation (doublespeak for we won't/can't fix it) I feel there might be something not given.I'd like to say more but they don't tell me anything and most of the important stuff I find, I pull from the trash.Other than that I'm in the dark.

-- nine (ninefingers@hotmail.com), November 29, 1998.

Andy, horses may well become a popular Y2K preparation alternative. Tho they do eat a lot also make a wonderful by-product for the home garden.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 29, 1998.

Diane -- horses do have many advantages in a "power"-less society. They're also edible. Any one who has horses has to think about keeping them secure from hungry rustlers.

Also there really aren't very many horses left, compared to the potential requirements for drayage and farming. If Infomagic isn't quite right, and LAWWDI (life as we will discover it) endures, breeding stock will be priceless.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), November 29, 1998.


This makes me think that the USPS may want to change their moto to "neither rain nor snow nor dark of night (except y2k) will prevent...."

-- Bill S. (Bill_S3@juno.com), November 29, 1998.


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