WEBVTT - Bloomberg's Leonard on New Book, 'Neither Snow Nor Rain'(Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Broadcasting live to New York, Bloomberg eleven Brio to Washington,

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<v Speaker 1>d C, Bloomberg to Boston, Bloomberg twelve hundred to San Francisco,

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg nine to the countries general one and around the

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<v Speaker 1>globe the Bloomberg Radio plus SAP and Bloomberg dot Com.

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<v Speaker 1>This is taking stock the US Postals Service. They deliver

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<v Speaker 1>five hundred and thirteen million pieces of mail a day.

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<v Speaker 1>That's more than forty of the world's total volume. They

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<v Speaker 1>have the largest fleet of trucks more post offices in

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<v Speaker 1>the combined retail outlets of McDonald's, Starbucks, and Walmart. We're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna talk to the author of a new book neither

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<v Speaker 1>snow now a rain, Devin Leonard. He'll be joining us

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<v Speaker 1>right now. Let's go to Catherine Cowdy in the Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>newsroom for a Bloomberg business flash. Thank you, Pam and Bloomberg.

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<v Speaker 1>Taking Stock is brought to you by s c I.

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<v Speaker 1>Slash imagine well. The stock market is clawing back some

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<v Speaker 1>of the ground at lost last week. The benchmarks are advancing,

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<v Speaker 1>helped by games and banks and consumer discretionary companies. Traders

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<v Speaker 1>have lowered their expectations for higher interest rates in June

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<v Speaker 1>after day to show manufacturing slowed last month. Tom lee

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<v Speaker 1>Had of research at fund Strat Global Advisor says the

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<v Speaker 1>SMP five foundered can still post double digit games this year.

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<v Speaker 1>Click economic data has improved um. The technicals are certainly

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<v Speaker 1>a lot stronger, but I think the hyably the single

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<v Speaker 1>easiest thing to focus on is is how good conditions

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<v Speaker 1>are in credit markets. Uh, you know, high yields on

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<v Speaker 1>track to have a double duty here, and I think

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<v Speaker 1>that's all equity investors need to know. Stocks basically followed.

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<v Speaker 1>We tag the markets every fifteen minutes throughout the trading day.

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<v Speaker 1>Down industrial average is up one points the game of

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<v Speaker 1>six ten seven percent, trading at seventeen thousand, eight D

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<v Speaker 1>two smps I found it up fourteen point seven tenths

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<v Speaker 1>of a percent to two thousand seventy nine. The Nazak

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<v Speaker 1>is up thirty two points two thirds of a percent,

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<v Speaker 1>trading at forty eight oh seven less Texas in do

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<v Speaker 1>we need of crude oil? Down a dollar eighteen a

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<v Speaker 1>barrel two point six percent to forty four seventy four.

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<v Speaker 1>SPI gold is up sixty cents announced to twelve nine,

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<v Speaker 1>and the Tenure Treasury is down eight thirty seconds, with

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<v Speaker 1>the YELD at one point eight six percent. Among today's

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<v Speaker 1>top business stories, constructions spending increased in March to its

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<v Speaker 1>highest level in more than eight years. Games in home

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<v Speaker 1>building and non residential construction offset a drop in government projects.

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<v Speaker 1>The Commerce Department reported construction spending increased three tens of

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<v Speaker 1>a percent in March after a one percent increase in February.

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<v Speaker 1>And now let's get an update of some of the

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<v Speaker 1>other stories were following today on Bloomberg Radio. Catherine, thank

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<v Speaker 1>you from the Bloomberg News roommin Mark Crumpton. This news

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<v Speaker 1>update is brought to you by Mercedes Ben's outstanding offers

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<v Speaker 1>on select models this spring season. Visit m b usa

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<v Speaker 1>dot com for details. Today, campaigning in Indiana ahead of

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<v Speaker 1>tomorrow's primary, Democrat Bernie Sanders is making it clear he's

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<v Speaker 1>trying to persuade the party's so called super delegates to

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<v Speaker 1>switch allegiances. He told supporters in Evansville, Beating the Republican

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<v Speaker 1>Party has to be the priority. The point that we're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna make to the super delegates in an area where

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<v Speaker 1>Hillary Clinton and I agree, and that is, it will

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<v Speaker 1>be a tragedy for this country if we end up

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<v Speaker 1>with a Donald Trump or some other Republican of the

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<v Speaker 1>White House. Mr Trump is once again leveling charges that

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<v Speaker 1>his party is working to block his nomination. The bosses

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<v Speaker 1>are trying to run it. You know, it's a Ridge party.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a whole rigs situation. The bosses like an Arizona

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<v Speaker 1>the busses. I win Arizona in a landslot. I beat

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<v Speaker 1>Pruce so badly it's almost ridiculous. And then the bosses

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<v Speaker 1>have delegates to have a delicate, a crooked delegate system

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<v Speaker 1>where the going and may try and get delegate so

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<v Speaker 1>they can play games. New York Senator Chuck Schumer is

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<v Speaker 1>calling for federal probe into an outdoor advertising company's latest

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<v Speaker 1>effort to target billboard ads to specific consumers. Schumer is

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<v Speaker 1>dubbed Clear Channel outdoor Americans so called radar programs spying

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<v Speaker 1>billboards wanting the service may violate privacy rights. Global News

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<v Speaker 1>twenty four hours a day, powered by our two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>journalists in more than one hundred fifty news bureaus around

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<v Speaker 1>the world from the Bloomberg News Room by Mark Crumpton. Katherine,

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you. Now, let's get a quick update of the

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<v Speaker 1>equity benchmark Stale Industrial averages up one hundred three points

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<v Speaker 1>at seventeen thousand, eight hundred seventy six. Smp F I

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<v Speaker 1>founded up fourteen points to two thousand, seventy nine. NASDAC

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<v Speaker 1>higher by thirty points, is trading at forty eight oh five.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's a Bloomberg Business flash. You're listening to taking

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<v Speaker 1>stock with pim Box at Kathleen Hayes on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>The US Postal Service, it is much maligned, but yet

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<v Speaker 1>it does deliver of the world's total mail volume. And

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<v Speaker 1>if you rely on Amazon to purchase your goods, chances

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<v Speaker 1>are the US Postal Service has a hand in getting

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<v Speaker 1>them to your door. Here to tell us everything about

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<v Speaker 1>the US Postal Services Devin Leonard, reporter for Bloomberg Business Week,

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<v Speaker 1>and he's here to tell us about his new book

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<v Speaker 1>entitled Neither Snow nor Rain. A landmark century spanning social, political,

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<v Speaker 1>and economic history of the United States Post Office. Devin,

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<v Speaker 1>always a pleasure. Thanks for coming out, Thank you, and

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<v Speaker 1>congratulations on the book. Thanks well, well, you know, it

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<v Speaker 1>came out of an article that I wrote for bloomber

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<v Speaker 1>Business Week in two thousand and eleven. It was a

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<v Speaker 1>cover story called the End of Mail, and that got

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<v Speaker 1>a ton of response, and it led led to doing

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<v Speaker 1>this book, which is, I guess, not just the end

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<v Speaker 1>of mail, but the beginning of mail too. It goes

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<v Speaker 1>on the way back to the ancient Abyssinians and uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, two thousand BCS. So I was gonna make

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<v Speaker 1>you say a motto, I guess of letter carriers everywhere,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, neither ring nor snow, nor gloom of night

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<v Speaker 1>and so on. But tell us a little bit about

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<v Speaker 1>your researches for the book, and then we'll get into

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<v Speaker 1>some of the things you found out. Well, it was really,

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<v Speaker 1>really fascinating. I I and I spent a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>time talking to former postmaster generals um and I spent

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of time in Washington. I went out to

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<v Speaker 1>Detroit and looked at the archives with the National Letter

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<v Speaker 1>Carriers Association, you know, the union for the letter carriers

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<v Speaker 1>and also the postal workers side the clerks union. I

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<v Speaker 1>guess they have a big archive in New York too

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<v Speaker 1>that I sent her researcher too was actually my son

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<v Speaker 1>who did a lot of work on this too. But

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<v Speaker 1>it's just there's a lot of reading, a lot of talking,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of studying, and the whole thing is pretty fascinating.

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<v Speaker 1>And you went into the back rooms of a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of the postal service operations. Correct, yes, I have. I

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<v Speaker 1>wish I could go to go to even more, but

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<v Speaker 1>I've been to a bunch of them in New York

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<v Speaker 1>and it's and and it's just really interesting because what

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<v Speaker 1>everybody tells you it is, you know, is that you

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<v Speaker 1>have all these letter carriers pointing to these stacks of mail,

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<v Speaker 1>and they're just saying they used to be three or

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<v Speaker 1>four or five times is higher, and and everybody's walking

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<v Speaker 1>around with much less mail in their bags, and and

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<v Speaker 1>it's you know, it's it's it's disappearing, even though there's

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<v Speaker 1>they're still they still delivered. I guess a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>fifty four billion pieces. That's down from uh two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and thirteen billion just a decade ago. So um, so

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the future of the postal services kind of uh,

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<v Speaker 1>in in doubt, in jeopardy. So now there are people

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know any of them, but I do know

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<v Speaker 1>people that they love to sort of heap abuse on

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<v Speaker 1>the US Postal Service. Tell us a little bit about this.

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<v Speaker 1>In some words, just lumbering bureaucracy. But you say it's not,

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's efficient. Well, it depends on how you want

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<v Speaker 1>to look at it. I mean, clearly, clearly they are

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<v Speaker 1>lumbering sometimes, but they deliver more mail per employee than

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<v Speaker 1>any other postals, you know, postal service in the world.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you just look at efficiency, you know, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>measured in in that way, there by far and away

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<v Speaker 1>the most efficient postal service in the world are and

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<v Speaker 1>in history, paying for your mail to be delivered has

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<v Speaker 1>changed since the postal service began. Tell us a little

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<v Speaker 1>history about the stamps and the postal service. No, I

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<v Speaker 1>think that's one of the things that that I was

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<v Speaker 1>fascinated by. You know what sort of led me want

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<v Speaker 1>to write the book was that Pete, there was no

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<v Speaker 1>home delivery for a long time. Everybody had to go

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<v Speaker 1>to the post office to get them. Imagine what the

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<v Speaker 1>lines were like then. I mean they're not so that,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, they're pretty long now. But there's no home delivery,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess, are very limited home delivery until the Civil

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<v Speaker 1>War when Abraham Lincoln's Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair, he saw

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<v Speaker 1>all these women, wives and girlfriends of soldiers just waiting

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<v Speaker 1>and waiting for the post office for letters to come,

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<v Speaker 1>and he just thought that that was wrong. So he

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<v Speaker 1>started city delivery. And then and then John Wanamaker towards

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<v Speaker 1>the end of the nineteenth century started pushing for rural

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<v Speaker 1>free delivery, and and and that that uh that passed

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<v Speaker 1>about a decade after you left. But but I guess

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<v Speaker 1>all of those things are are relatively new, especially especially

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<v Speaker 1>free rural delivery. For the longest time, people in uralaries

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<v Speaker 1>still had to go to the post office even when

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<v Speaker 1>there was home delivery in cities now, postal carriers used

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<v Speaker 1>to make multiple deliveries a day. You say that in

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<v Speaker 1>some places seven times a day, well, and there was

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<v Speaker 1>there was at least twice a day delivery until uh nine,

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<v Speaker 1>So for so from for most of the postal service

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<v Speaker 1>history there were multiple deliveries a day. And in places

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<v Speaker 1>like New York that you know there were as many

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<v Speaker 1>as as seven deliveries. So no, it's just incredible. You

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<v Speaker 1>just saw your your your mailman all the time, and

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<v Speaker 1>you could send a letter in the morning and get

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<v Speaker 1>a response in the afternoon. So who need the email?

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<v Speaker 1>By law? You say, the US Postal Service has to

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<v Speaker 1>visit every address in the country six days a week.

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<v Speaker 1>Is that under threat? Well, it's under threat. It's sort

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<v Speaker 1>of unsustainable because the problem is that the amount of

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<v Speaker 1>mail is going down, but the number of addresses goes up.

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<v Speaker 1>There are a million new addresses every year every time

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<v Speaker 1>there's another housing development, and you know, that's a bunch

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<v Speaker 1>of new mailboxes. So that's that's going to kill the

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<v Speaker 1>Postal Service unless they unless they change they changed their

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<v Speaker 1>business model, and they've been trying to do it, but

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<v Speaker 1>Congressman left and so I just stand also that people

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<v Speaker 1>trusted the postal Service so much that they actually sent

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<v Speaker 1>their children through the postal system. I know that blows

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<v Speaker 1>everybody's mind. No, I mean this was after after the

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<v Speaker 1>Postal Service began delivering parcels, and that was in Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>People just started sending all sorts of things to the

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<v Speaker 1>mail just to see sort of you know, what they

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<v Speaker 1>get away with. And there's some famous cases. A famous

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<v Speaker 1>case in Idaho where the family sent there their young

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<v Speaker 1>daughter May May Piersdorff was it was her name. Rather

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<v Speaker 1>than buying a train ticket for it to go visit

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<v Speaker 1>her grandmother, they went to the post office and paid

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<v Speaker 1>fifty three cents uh to send her to sender in

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<v Speaker 1>the mail the post the postmaster actually put the put

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<v Speaker 1>the stance on her coat. They put on the train,

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<v Speaker 1>and they took her to see her grandmother. And there

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<v Speaker 1>you go, there you go. Devin Leonard, the author of

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<v Speaker 1>the new book Neither Snow nor Rain, a History of

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<v Speaker 1>the United States Postal Service. Bloomber Taking stock is brought

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<v Speaker 1>to you by Sector spider ets. Why by a single

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<v Speaker 1>stock when you could invest in the entire sector. Visit

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<v Speaker 1>sector spdrs dot com or call one eight six six

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<v Speaker 1>sector et f