Are you an Ebay shopper or an online banker? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, you are partially responsible for the effects the Postal System is undergoing. But these effects may not be all bad.

Before the internet was available, stores would order bulk merchandise from their suppliers and stock their shelves. This was the main form of product sales besides the less used mail catalog type systems. Consumers would take a ride in their car, pick up their products, and drive right home.  Since the store ordered bulk orders from the supplier, most times freight trucks were (and are) used which totally eliminated the Postal Service in the process. The only revenue USPS would collect was from the smaller mail order catalog types of businesses. This was until Ebay and online merchants started popping up.

Ebay and other online merchant websites sold items online and shipped them with the Postal Service, UPS, or Fedex mainly. This opened the door for all sorts of revenue for the Postal System that wasn't seen before. Now they got their hands on the consumer goods market by providing a valuable service that was needed. Shipping!

But on the down side came online banking, online credit statements, online bill pay, and online Email. This turn of events may have totally destroyed the Postal System if the consumer product market didn't come in to even out the score a bit People no longer needed to send a card in the mail, they could simply send off an email for no additional charge other than what they were already paying for. No need to buy as many stamps to mail those pesky credit card bills, no more mailing mortgage payments, and even the banks themselves can offer incentives for users to receive online statements which saves them postal bills. The Postal Service had to eat the brunt of this one.

As of now the Postal System is still needed and I can not see them going under. Even if they are forced to downsize there will still be birthday cards, bills that can not be paid online, signature required documents, advertisements, and much more. The Postal System should be thankful that this new era brought along that "business saving" consumer market their way because it really kept them afloat.

About The Author: