If the USPS ends its service, what will you do?

[tommyfro21]

Personally I do not think they will close shop this year as some have speculated. In the event they shut the USPS down one day, will it affect your collecting habits meaning:

1. Can you afford to ship other ways like FED EX, UPS?
2. Is there another shipping option near by you can use?
3. Will this cause an escalation in prices on eBay and other card sites?

I'm curious as to what some of you will do and whether some of you will stop collecting due to such a reliance on the postal service.

 

[JzWand]

Well I am Canadian but IMO it would force me to use a site like COMC more than ebay since.

 

[cmnkb8]

I'll continue to buy and sell, but as a seller, will have to turn my low dollar single items into big lots, as buyers will likely factor the cost of shipping into the price. It'll eat into my earnings for sure, and I may stop selling lower priced items, or...ship it all to COMC or some place (assuming they can sustain their business if USPS goes under), since there will not be anymore $1.75 FCM, but rather $5 ground packages via Fedex/UPS being the cheapest option. For higher end, it'll eat into profits - but not as severely, and I'll have to modify my sale price margins accordingly. I can live without USPS, but I'd prefer for them to stick around.

 

[matchpenalty]

It will never shut down. It is still best deal on planet and they do an amazing job with volume of stuff they deliver. In a way I wish it would, just so all the usps haters can see just how good a service they do and at a cheap price. Let them go bitch and moan and pay more somewhere else.

 

[ideal0024]

Where are you getting this "speculation"?? Do you understand the impact on the economy if the USPS were to just "shut down" one day?

That isn't happening.

 

[phillyfan0417]

USPS will go private, its probably the most logical solution so it can be run like an actual business and not a government money pit.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Its a government agency directly authorized by the Constitution and so will never shut down, nor would it ever go completely private.

 

[cmnkb8]

If it goes private, prices will likely increase since it will become a for-profit venture, however I'd expect competency and customer service to get better, along with the removal of certain ridiculous union clauses that hemorrhage money from the agency.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to charge more for shipping to compensate, since that would just get me banned from ebay

 

[olerud363]

We just went through a similiar thing with Canada Post being completely shut down earlier this year for a few weeks. People argue that with e-commerce nobody needs bills and cheques mailed to them anymore, and nobody pays by mail or sends snail mail either. What I'd argue is that there's more business being done via the internet than ever, and people need to have the things they're buying and selling shipped somehow so there will always be demand for the postal service.

It might get privatized, which may increase the rates, but I highly doubt it's ever get shut down.

- Rod

 

[phillyfan0417]

If it goes private, prices will likely increase since it will become a for-profit venture, however I'd expect competency and customer service to get better, along with the removal of certain ridiculous union clauses that hemorrhage money from the agency.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to charge more for shipping to compensate, since that would just get me banned from ebay

Even if it was to be run privately, it would be done through a government RFP and they would still have some control in terms of pricing and certain rules like stamps. It would still be a government program but run by a private organization.

 

[cmnkb8]

If it goes private, prices will likely increase since it will become a for-profit venture, however I'd expect competency and customer service to get better, along with the removal of certain ridiculous union clauses that hemorrhage money from the agency.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to charge more for shipping to compensate, since that would just get me banned from ebay

Even if it was to be run privately, it would be done through a government RFP and they would still have some control in terms of pricing and certain rules like stamps. It would still be a government program but run by a private organization.

True, but the main goal of privatization would be to make USPS sustainable (or at least break even, if not turn a profit). That would require rate increases at the least, and other internal changes with regards to the labor force and operations.

 

[phillyfan0417]

If it goes private, prices will likely increase since it will become a for-profit venture, however I'd expect competency and customer service to get better, along with the removal of certain ridiculous union clauses that hemorrhage money from the agency.

Of course, I wouldn't be able to charge more for shipping to compensate, since that would just get me banned from ebay

Even if it was to be run privately, it would be done through a government RFP and they would still have some control in terms of pricing and certain rules like stamps. It would still be a government program but run by a private organization.

True, but the main goal of privatization would be to make USPS sustainable (or at least break even, if not turn a profit). That would require rate increases at the least, and other internal changes with regards to the labor force and operations.

USPS i'm sure wouldnt care how they are staffed and the union would be a thing of the past for those workers. Once its private, how they staff and run the operation, as long as it meets the contractual requirements, will be up to the private company.

 

[A_Pharis]

I believe they (the government) are currently pushing for change to allow the USPS to have more freedom in setting their own standards. For example - they will be able to decide what days to deliver, pricing for services and other decisions you commonly see in business. I was listening to a lot of conservative talk saying that it would still be a "deal" for the USPS to go to $1 First Class stamps.

 

[Lifelongfan]

I have had my issues with USPS in the past-- but must admit they do a good job overall. And if business is so bad--why is there a line out the door everytime I go?--lol.

 

[RiceLynnEvans75]

I have had my issues with USPS in the past-- but must admit they do a good job overall. And if business is so bad--why is there a line out the door everytime I go?--lol.

I chalk that up to the, what seems like, multiple people who go there completely unprepared and expect the workers at the counter to package up their mail for them. That, or they wait until getting to the counter (after they've been waiting in line for 5 minutes) to pack, tape, and address their item. ::facepalm::

 

[Musial Collector]

Here is the biggest issue with the USPS:
"The Postal Service is also hampered by high personnel costs and contractual promises made to unionized workers, including a no-layoff clause and the prefunding of retiree health benefits. In fact, wages and benefits for its 571,566 full-time employees account for 80 percent of the Postal Service's operating budget, compared with 53 percent of UPS's and 32 percent of FedEx's, two of its biggest private competitors."


Couple of Stories out there, this is not new news.
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USPS Broke : to Gets Help from Uncle Sam

USPS Broke The U.S. Postal Service is running out of time to address its fiscal crisis, as the agency’s top official expects to be $10 billion in the red by the end of the month.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told lawmakers on Tuesday that the agency will default on its obligation to prepay its retiree health benefits account and reach its statutory borrowing limit by the end of September unless it receives immediate relief.

After paying $1.3 billion in workers’ compensation liabilities in October, the agency will have just one week’s worth of cash to cover operational expenses. USPS expects $9 billion in losses next year. By September 2012, the Postal Service likely will be unable to pay its employees and contractors, according to Donahoe.

“Short-term stop gap proposals will not help,” Donahoe said during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. “We’re trying to get profitable by 2013… and eventually get to the position to make some very important investments, like vehicles, but more important than that, we want to stabilize our finances, which is critical for the American economy.”

The Postal Service already has asked Congress for legislative changes such as the flexibility to cut Saturday delivery, adjust the size of the workforce, receive a refund from its retiree accounts and end an obligation to prefund retiree health benefits. Officials in August announced they would seek flexibility to allow the agency to create its own health and retiree benefits programs. Postal workers currently are covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, Civil Service Retirement System or Federal Employees Retirement System.

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry said President Obama is planning to release a strategy in the coming weeks for addressing the Postal Service’s fiscal crisis in conjunction with the deficit reduction package. The administration also is calling on Congress to delay USPS’ retiree health payment by 90 days, he said.

According to Berry, USPS’ withdrawal from FEHBP would have a limited impact on the program and its costs, though the elimination of plans that cater to postal employees could reduce competition within the plan. Moving to a separate retirement system could also place at risk the agency’s ability to pay benefits, he said.

USPS also wants to cut 120,000 jobs by 2015, a move that will require changes in rules governing the use of layoffs. The agency cut 8,000 jobs in the third quarter of this fiscal year through attrition and early out options. Without active cuts, the Postal Service expects to lose just 100,000 employees in the next three years, less than half of the reductions it needs, Donahoe said.

Cliff Guffey, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said he feels betrayed by USPS proposals to change collective bargaining agreements. USPS signed a new contract with the union this spring and recently began negotiations with the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union. To repeal the no-layoff protection and alter employee benefits is “outrageous, illegal and despicable,” Guffey said.

House lawmakers rallied in support of union members. In a letter sent on Tuesday to Donahoe, Reps. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wrote that nullifying contract provisions is unfair to employees and hurts the agency’s credibility in future negotiations.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking member of the committee, expressed frustration that the administration has yet to produce a concrete postal reform plan given the number of legislative proposals already are in play to bring the agency back to fiscal health. The bills contain disparate provisions regarding delivery day flexibility and retiree benefit obligations, among other things.

“We need to focus on the areas of agreement and set the Postal Service on a road to stability and profitability,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said.

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US Postal Service seeks reprieve from Congress to avert 'default'

In a Senate hearing that once again rang an alarm bell on the dire straits the US Postal Service is in, US Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the institution is on "the brink of default." He also told Congress that without legislation by Sept. 30, the Postal Service would default on a mandated $5.5 billion retiree health benefit payment due this month.

Mr. Donahoe told Congress that unless lawmakers enact emergency measures, the Postal Service (USPS) could shut down entirely this winter and completely run out of money to pay salaries and contractors by August or September of next year.

"We are at a critical juncture," Donahoe said Tuesday afternoon in testimony prepared for a hearing before the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. "Action from Congress is sorely needed by the close of this fiscal year."

He urged Congress to approve measures that would loosen regulations by which the Postal Service must currently abide, and allow it to operate more like a business.

"The Postal Service requires radical changes to its business model if it is to remain viable in the future," Donahoe told Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I) of Connecticut, chairman of the committee. "The Postal Service is in a crisis today because it operates with a restrictive business model…. [Its survival rests on its] ability to operate more as a business does."

Donahoe reiterated a list of cost-cutting measures he has been proposing in recent months to erase the agency's deficit, which could reach up to $10 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing as many as 3,700 postal locations, and laying off 120,000 workers -- nearly one-fifth of the agency's work force. (This doesn't include another 100,000 jobs lost to attrition that the agency does not plan to replace, for a total of 220,000 lost positions.)

The Postal Service will handle an estimated 167 billion pieces of mail this fiscal year, down 22 percent from 2006. E-mail communication, electronic bill payments, and the economic downturn have taken a toll on the USPS, which is facing its second straight year of losses of more than $8 billion.

The Postal Service is also hampered by high personnel costs and contractual promises made to unionized workers, including a no-layoff clause and the prefunding of retiree health benefits. In fact, wages and benefits for its 571,566 full-time employees account for 80 percent of the Postal Service's operating budget, compared with 53 percent of UPS's and 32 percent of FedEx's, two of its biggest private competitors.

The Postal Service is asking Congress to allow it to break union contracts to lay off workers and to loosen a requirement to prefund future retirees' health-benefit costs.

Senator Lieberman and Sens. Susan Collins (R) of Maine and Tom Carper (D) of Delaware all underscored the urgency of the situation.

"We must act quickly to prevent a Postal Service collapse and enact a bold plan to save its future," Lieberman said. "Times are changing rapidly and so too must the Postal Service if it is to survive."

Senator Collins characterized the Postal Service's current financial status as "abysmal," and called for far-reaching legislation to overhaul the troubled agency. She noted the critical role the Postal Service plays in the US economy, including supporting a $1.1 trillion mailing industry employing more than 8 million people in direct mail, periodicals, catalogs, financial services, and other businesses.

The White House is expected to weigh in on the issue soon. As part of a $1.5 trillion deficit-reduction package it will present in coming weeks, the White House plans to include a financial rescue plan for the Postal Service.

Nonetheless, the Postal Service's proposals are controversial and already face opposition. Given the range of stakeholders and the partisan rancor in a Congress still smarting from the debt ceiling showdown, Gene del Polito says it is unlikely the parties will reach a consensus on the Postal Service's proposals.

"Any other day, any other time when there isn't this sort of partisan rancor, this issue would have been dealt with sensibly by Congress," says Mr. del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce in Washington. "This Congress can't pass a budget, can't pass an appropriations bill, can't come to grips with the debt ceiling. It's not moving forward with this postal bill."

He said the proposal's naysayers failed to offer an alternative approach in Tuesday's hearing and that boded ill for the agency.

"Not one person has come forward with an appropriate remedy for the difficulty [Postmaster General Donahoe] has bought to their attention," he says. "For Congress, if you don't allow Donahoe's proposals, you're pushing the institution into the governmental equivalency of bankruptcy."

Del Polito called the Postal Service's proposals to scale back services and cut jobs and facilities "not a desirability, but an inevitability," and said the agency's goals should be self-sufficiency, not profitability.

"I think Congress has to stop calling the Postal Service a business and start talking about it as an essential element of the nation's economic infrastructure," he said.

According to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the panel, Congress must act quickly to prevent the agency’s collapse and enact a plan to ensure it survives into the future.

“We’re considering the question of whether the United States Postal Service can survive in the 21st century,” Lieberman said. “It’s hard to believe that it’s come to this, but it has.”

 

[cmnkb8]

I have had my issues with USPS in the past-- but must admit they do a good job overall. And if business is so bad--why is there a line out the door everytime I go?--lol.

Inefficiency? People not knowing what to do before approaching the counter and holding up the line with questions?

Honestly, I see virtually no need to go up to a retail counter for non-Registered domestic mail. I print 99% of my postage online and package everything at home for drop-off or carrier pickup (whether the carrier actually follows my instructions requesting a pickup on any given day is a crap-shoot however). The 1% of the time I do need to go to the counter is for the rare Registered parcel or international package (damn Customs requirements). I get a good laugh every time I drop by the PO and still see people lugging their partially packaged stuff up to the counter and asking "what's the cheapest way to send this?". Then a little kitty icon with the text bubble "I can has Internetz?" pops into my head...

 

[f2tornado]

Union labor costs are high but I think a near equal hindrance is not allowing the USPS to increase the price of a stamp beyond inflation. USPS was paying $1/gallon gas in 2001 when a first class stamp cost 34 cents. Today the price of gas USPS is putting in its trucks is up 350% while the price of a stamp is only up 30%.

 

[nborton]

If it were run like a private business it would be much more efficient. As it is right now no one is concerned with waste because no one is making money.

Also, theoretically if the USPS did shut down forever other companies would pick up the business. The only reason they don't now is the USPS does it. No one is going to let an opportunity go to waste.

 

[TBTwinsFan]

USPS won't just shut down, but hypothetically, if it did, I would probably stop buying cards over the internet and just go back to buying retail and using shows/shops to buy singles.

I would have some exceptions for really rare stuff and really large stuff, but the everyday buying would be done.