Glad to hear that it is all a hoax. The only part of it that I have heard recently, relative to something that could be real, was that there is some consideration on how to make spammers pay for the email that they send to users who really don't want to be receiving all the spam. Some ISPs have expressed interest in billing spammers for the traffic that goes through their servers. The problem, again, is enforcement. It will just drive many of the spammers into the business of stealing individual email names and accounts, ie. passwords etc. so that they can disseminate their messages without paying for any of it. You and I, effectively, would get bills for all the spam when our screen names, email addresses etc. get stolen. Then, we would have the mess and inconvenience of convincining AOL that we didn't send the spam mails.

I have never heard of this in relation to giving a tax or fee to the USPS for their lost mail as the result of email. That would be rediculous. While writing this I do seem to recall some talk, about 10 years ago maybe, about similar taxes on Fax Machines and phone lines utilizing fax machines that would make up for all the mail that was being lost to that technology. When I was working, at the time, for a law firm, I was amazed at how much mail was routinely sent and received via the office fax in a given day. Multiply that by all the businesses in a city like Chicago that use fax routinely and that is a lot of lost revenue to USPS. Add to that the added routine correspondance being sent by FedX or UPS because they were more efficient and faster and it is staggering. Why pay the USPS for services that become less and less in demand because technology advances making the former services somewhat obsolete. They should be encouraged to keep up with technology and maintain efficiency rather than be rewarded for doing nothing. They also, reportedly, tried to fine people for using FedX and UPS for routine mail (ie. Document and small letter) services. It may have been false info but I seem to recall there is a law regarding the sending of mail having to go through the post office and how much mail through FedX and UPS would legally be defined as routine mail because it didn't require urgent delivery or special handling..... You might say, giving a nickel for every email or fax or FedX or UPS package would be like putting a tax on every car sold to be turned over to the buggy whip manufacturers for the lost business that motorized vehicles have caused to the horse and buggy businesses. Only difference is that the USPS is a government entity rather than a private industry.

The reality though is that the USPS has found ways to compete with these new services and technologies rather than institute rediculous unenforcable and probably illegal taxes. For example I have used FedX and USPS for sending urgent legal documents in the past. When working for an attorney that practiced in Chicago but lived in Rural Central Illinois I would routinely have to send documents for his signature etc. I would send FedX but they wouldn't deliver to his place on Saturdays. Or, they would only have certain delivery times which would sometimes be later in the day. He would often have to have the package held at the nearest FedX facility,(Burlington, IA I seem to recall), for him to drive out and pick it up. USPS on the other hand turned out to be cheaper for one and with Express Mail or Priority Mail it would be delivered to his local post office and delivered out to his farm. Priority Mail is also much less expensive and I have found, from my experiences, fairly quick and secure. I have never had any problem receiving things through these services. Some may not have taken hold but others have. Ie. Express and Priority Mail. I don't know what the current status is but I seem to recall how the post office was trying to devise a way to send and receive faxes and relay them through your mail and PO Boxes and would provide email services as well. They could receive faxes and emails through your local post office and deliver them in the next days mail or via special or expedited delivery at an extra fee. I get calls from Walgreens all the time that a prescription is ready at my local store. The USPS could also utilize similar service to registered users of a Fax/Email service to have an automated system notify you that a fax or email is waiting at your local post office to be picked up.