USPS Saturday Delivery

[uniquebaseballcards]

This is just another nail in the eventual USPS coffin unless they make some drastic changes to their business model.

Will never happen - aside from providing jobs in congressional districts the PO will always go to places where it is unprofitable for other letter carrier/postal businesses to go. The primary responsibility of the PO isn't to turn a profit.

 

[Hendersonfan]

Will never happen - aside from providing jobs in congressional districts the PO will always go to places where it is unprofitable for other letter carrier/postal businesses to go. The primary responsibility of the PO isn't to turn a profit.

Correct. Not a business, it's a service.

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[ThoseBackPages]

THIS STILL XXXXING SUCKS!

 

[Hendersonfan]

I agree

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[brian26]

I can live with it. I just dont want to see any more price hikes soon.

 

[zach]

Will never happen - aside from providing jobs in congressional districts the PO will always go to places where it is unprofitable for other letter carrier/postal businesses to go. The primary responsibility of the PO isn't to turn a profit.

Someone has to pay back all of the money they borrowed....oh wait that will be you and me and the rest of the country.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Someone has to pay back all of the money they borrowed....oh wait that will be you and me and the rest of the country.

Yes, very true, but that's the nature of the service. Little consolation but they're trying to make it better.

 

[bcubs]

Someone has to pay back all of the money they borrowed....oh wait that will be you and me and the rest of the country.

Didn't they borrow it from us in the first place? So we're going to pay more to pay back the money we loaned them?

 

[sneekc]

In the case of the Postal service they have failed at the "means of control" business approach, they own 40% of the entire world's mailing/shipping business/revenue. How the F'ing hell do you run a business into the ground that takes in 40% OF THE ENTIRE WORLD'S MAILING REVENUE??? What was once a highly efficient and profitable business has been ram shackled by government regulation, lifelong pensions, and bureaucracy. Kinda sounds like the love child of our federal govt.

Also the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act was passed in 2006 and requires pensions to be paid for something absurd like the next 75 years. So get on the boat kids and be a mail carrier, you're pension is already funded with magic money. Similar Congress members who continue getting paid their $300k? $400k? annual salary for a lifetime after just 2 years of service (feel free to correct me if my timeline is wrong)

In all seriousness though, this is another case of "too big to fail" just like the auto industry and someone, somewhere will pull some insane idea out of there ass on capitol hill and dump truck loads of money will be carted in to save the grand ole United States Postal Service. Likely at the cost of the American taxpayer and American jobs.

 

[Dilferules]

Similar Congress members who continue getting paid their $300k? $400k? annual salary for a lifetime after just 2 years of service (feel free to correct me if my timeline is wrong)

Correcting you because you are wrong and I have no idea where you heard that information.

Current salary not counting benefits for members of the House and Senate is $174,000. It's a little higher for the few with leadership positions, up to $223,500 for the Speaker of the House.

The pension for congress is nowhere near 100% of salary, and somebody who served in congress for only 2 years actually would not receive a pension...they are not eligible for one until they serve 5 years. And even then there are restrictions on when they can get it and how much they can receive. The pension is under the Federal FERS plan, same as any other Federal employee. Postal Employees may have a different plan as it's quasi-Federal.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congresspay.htm

 

[Casebusters]

The PO should just stop delivering on Tuesday..
I rarely get real mail that day except for advertising...

 

[D-Lite]

In the case of the Postal service they have failed at the "means of control" business approach, they own 40% of the entire world's mailing/shipping business/revenue. How the F'ing hell do you run a business into the ground that takes in 40% OF THE ENTIRE WORLD'S MAILING REVENUE??? What was once a highly efficient and profitable business has been ram shackled by government regulation, lifelong pensions, and bureaucracy. Kinda sounds like the love child of our federal govt.

Also the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act was passed in 2006 and requires pensions to be paid for something absurd like the next 75 years. So get on the boat kids and be a mail carrier, you're pension is already funded with magic money. Similar Congress members who continue getting paid their $300k? $400k? annual salary for a lifetime after just 2 years of service (feel free to correct me if my timeline is wrong)

In all seriousness though, this is another case of "too big to fail" just like the auto industry and someone, somewhere will pull some insane idea out of there ass on capitol hill and dump truck loads of money will be carted in to save the grand ole United States Postal Service. Likely at the cost of the American taxpayer and American jobs.

I won't argue with the spirit of your post because I do agree something needs to be done, but I have some comments.
- the USPS may have a large portion of the REVENUE, but that does not equate to PROFIT. Think about it. $0.45 ain't much to get a letter sent to Hawaii from Massachusetts.
- if you were a postal employee dealing with the amount of stupid they deal with minute by minute you'd deserve a pension, too (how much is another thing)
- pretty sure "government regulation" is something you want with the USPS
- it's not about "too big to fail", it's about an absolutely essential service that if it does fail will completely ruin the infrastructure of mail services

 

[dp33]

The PO should just stop delivering on Tuesday..
I rarely get real mail that day except for advertising...

Ha ha - couldn't agree more. I've always wanted to ask what sort of process (or is it process of sorting?) is used that I will get 5-7 packages on Monday, none on Tuesday, and then another 3 or 4 on Wednesday. Consistently week after week. Just seems weird that something like that happens.

 

[Austin]

How the F'ing hell do you run a business into the ground that takes in 40% OF THE ENTIRE WORLD'S MAILING REVENUE??? What was once a highly efficient and profitable business has been ram shackled by government regulation, lifelong pensions, and bureaucracy

Oh stop with the anti-government ranting.
The Postal Service has been financially devastated by skyrocketing fuel prices over the last decade.
A gallon of gas has quadrupled from a dollar around 1998 to the current $4.
Everything the USPS does relies on fuel. Planes, trucks... Do you realize how much gas a letter carrier uses stopping and starting for hours every day?

Then there's the massive fuel usage of the airplanes shipping packages and letters to every state and foreign countries.
Yet postal rates have barely risen over the years, and certainly nowhere near enough to offset rising fuel prices.

And don't forget the fact that there has been millions less letters sent every month since the mid '90s because of emails and it's no wonder the USPS is losing money.
Still, people complain whenever the price of a stamp rises a penny, or a package goes up 50 cents.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

XXXX that! MAIL EVERYDAY!!!

 

[Casebusters]

Ha ha - couldn't agree more. I've always wanted to ask what sort of process (or is it process of sorting?) is used that I will get 5-7 packages on Monday, none on Tuesday, and then another 3 or 4 on Wednesday. Consistently week after week. Just seems weird that something like that happens.

When you send mail out on Friday or Saturday, it will most likely get there on monday. The next day to send out is on monday, and you will start getting mail 2 days after that. So Tuesday is the odd day out.

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[hive17]

Oh stop with the anti-government ranting.
The Postal Service has been financially devastated by skyrocketing fuel prices over the last decade.
A gallon of gas has quadrupled from a dollar around 1998 to the current $4.
Everything the USPS does relies on fuel. Planes, trucks... Do you realize how much gas a letter carrier uses stopping and starting for hours every day?

Then there's the massive fuel usage of the airplanes shipping packages and letters to every state and foreign countries.
Yet postal rates have barely risen over the years, and certainly nowhere near enough to offset rising fuel prices.

And don't forget the fact that there has been millions less letters sent every month since the mid '90s because of emails and it's no wonder the USPS is losing money.
Still, people complain whenever the price of a stamp rises a penny, or a package goes up 50 cents.

The other thing that people don't take into account is the cost of all the protection and detection systems that had to be implemented following the "Amerithrax" letters that went out in 2001. That one event added a completely unfunded cost that is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

[sawmillthug]

I would be fine with them just raising stamps to 50-60 cents each. I don't mind. And I pay almost all my bills the old fashion way of writing a check. Electronic payments and deposits have hurt. I personally like writing the check. If a 10 cent increase on stamps and on small parcels would help I am all for it

 

[hive17]

Some good informations contained here: The Post Office Is Not Broke | The Nation#

 

[ThoseBackPages]

SEE!!!