The Demise of the USPS

CNS News ^ | 4-4-05 | Chuck Muth

[FlyLow]

Candle-makers were none too happy with the invention of the light bulb, for obvious reasons. Ditto blacksmiths with the invention of the automobile. So you can imagine how the post office must feel today about cheap, long-distance rates, faxes and email.

While candle-makers and blacksmiths still roam among us today, like the buffalo their numbers have greatly diminished since the country's founding years. I assume they fought the tide of progress tooth-and-nail, but in the end their fate was inevitable. So, too, is the fate of the once great United States Postal Service. Its demise is a foregone conclusion.

The only question is when and how the USPS as we know it today will be put out to pasture for good.

Last month, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) introduced the latest version of a postal reform bill. This in response to recommendations made last year by the President's Commission on the United States Postal Service. And while there are a number of good things in the bill, it is a bill crafted in denial.

The bill's overall intent appears to be to return the USPS to its glory days, ignoring the fact that its time has come -- and gone.

The Magic City Morning Star, a local paper in Collins' Maine, covered the introduction of the bill in some detail. It characterized the purpose of the legislation as an effort "to preserve the jobs of more than 750,000 career USPS employees."

Um, if the intent of postal reform is simply to provide employment for these folks, maybe we can retrain them to become candle-makers and blacksmiths? Talk about back to the future.

[Txsleuth]

Thank you---for at least pointing out that there IS some good things about the Post Office---

My husband works at the bulk mail center that only deals with packages---the "free market" hasn't seemed to hurt too much--he is working a lot of hours and they are getting more contracts not less....

[ModelBreaker]

If you want it there quickly and on time, mailing it via the post office is your LAST resort.

Chuck hasn't checked lately. Priority mail is CHEAP and provides two day delivery. It costs about 20% of what comparable service from FEDEX or UPS costs.

[kingu]

Set the price correctly, and someone will do it. Maybe even someone without a subsidy.

I believe it was during the first Iraq war the last time the USPS requested the allocated subsidy they get for operating unprofitable post offices.. In either case, it's been nearly 15 years since taxpayers footed any part of the bill, other than the already mentioned lack of property or income taxes. Then again, it is federal land, and I'm sure that the chunks of property escalate in value faster than tax revenues would pay, so even then, we're getting it cheap.

[Palladin]

I would miss the USPS very much. We actually pay very little for the services it provides. 37 cents can take a letter to my daughter 3,000 miles away on the West Coast.

And delivery to your own door of letters, periodicals, books and DVDs? Who else would provide this service at such a low cost?

(Disclaimer: I have NO relatives who work for USPS.)

[milagro]

NOT!! The USPS gets paid to deliver that mail--lots of people used to come into our small-town PO and beg that we not give them their "junk" mail, but we were NEVER allowed to NOT deliver that mail. It is cheap advertising for the businesses that pay for it--and it keeps the USPS going, even though it does drive a lot of people nuts.

Junk mail is like ads on TV--it pays for the "good stuff" that shows up (like IRS refund checks, letters from kids,Dads and Moms, packages from Ebay, etc.) And--if you think people don't appreciate getting mail delivered 6 days a week--just remember the outcry when the USPS merely mentioned the possiblity of eliminating Saturday delivery. People had FITS!!

I just recently retired from the USPS--worked for over 17 years in my little town--and our rural carriers are very much appreciated because they do their very best to deliver the mail. Sure they make boo-boos every once in a while, but they are not rude and lazy, nor are the clerks who sell the stamps.

And--as was posted by the wife of a carrier on an earlier post--Postal workers are under Social Security (since 1985), and if the Republicans really wanted to push "private Social Security accounts"--they could remind EVERYONE that ALL Federal employees (including Congresscritters) are eligible to have TSP accounts. They are a VERY GOOD thing!

[1L]

Actually, the one thing I like about USPS is that it IS a better way to send many packages sold on ebay. My office complex doesn't have a consistent pickup time for Fedex/UPS and I've had golf clubs stolen via UPS, which was a hassle to get straightend out. I like Fedex/UPS when I'm purchasing something, but everything I sell or send usually now goes USPS.

HOWEVER, I have more complaints against the USPS than compliments. My postman comes to the office at different times every day, usually during lunch (which is absurd for delivering to an office complex). I miss a LOT of registered mail. When I go to the post office, there are 8 windows operated by one or two postal workers.

[Oberon]

In either case, it's been nearly 15 years since taxpayers footed any part of the bill, other than the already mentioned lack of property or income taxes.

The USPS don't tag their delivery vehicles. I wonder what that costs UPS on a per-year basis?

[Txsleuth]

Since I don't know what the Bush plan actually is, I can't answer your question---

all I do know is that the personal accounts that have been discussed, were compared to the Thrift accounts, that not only postal workers get, but also the member of Congress...

I don't know, like I said, about the "matching" part, but if you were to split in half, the amount you now contribute to Soc. Security, and one half is kept the same as now, in a fictional "lock box", and the other half, you get to choose the fund the money goes to, with the coinciding risk in each fund, wouldn't that be better than it is now? even without "matching funds"?

Just asking---please don't flame me---like I said I don't know--no one knows the exact plan, I am speculating...

[null and void]

hile candle-makers and blacksmiths still roam among us today, like the buffalo their numbers have greatly diminished since the country's founding years.

I wonder. In absolute numbers are there more now than then?

[kingu]

The USPS don't tag their delivery vehicles. I wonder what that costs UPS on a per-year basis?

Gee, I bet they don't pay state gas taxes either for their diesel too. Those pesky quasi-federal agencies.

[milagro]

Our little PO had one too--but "they" came and took it away a couple of years ago. For months, people came in and asked "where did the Fed Ex box go?"

We never could tell them--cuz we never knew.

We lost a lot of customers to Fed Ex when we raised our Priority rates (around 2001), but then UPS and Fed Ex raised their rates so we got a lot of that business back. We provided EXCELLENT service to our customers, and they often expressed their appreciation for it. Small towns ROCK!!

[Mannaggia l'America]

BTW we are members of the Thrift Savings program which is very similar to the Soc. Security personal accounts that Bush is pushing for----THEY are terrific and if it (by a miracle) should pass, IMHO it would be a good thing for my kids and grandchildren....

But I'm sure the Carrier's union is opposing personal accounts...

[Steve_Seattle]

Newman and Cliff Clavin

And don't forget Postmaster General Wilford Brimley: "Mr. Kramer, I am not only a postmaster, I am a general, and I take my golf very seriously. Your antics are taking me away from my golf." Or something like that . . .

[biblewonk]

Look, it's me.

[Mannaggia l'America]

You see ebay people there all the time because ebay and the USPS have a marketing deal that supplies ebay sellers with free boxes.

Priority/Express boxes are free to everyone. They are in the post offices, and I have ordered cases of them through the USPS web site.

[Steve_Seattle]

I don't understand the USPS-bashing that goes on around here. I can't comment on alleged waste or inefficiency, I can only comment on the service, which I think is excellent. USPS priority mail beats UPS every time, and at the same or less cost.

[eno_]

I don't see what the big deal would be to allow the rest of the population to have them.

ONLY THE END OF THE FREAKIN' NEW DEAL.

Well, not all of it all at once, but the biggest part. After that, getting rid of other commerce and general welfare clause abuse will be relatively simple.

[freedomfiter2]

My husband works at the bulk mail center that only deals with packages

Tell your husband to be careful with them. Seriously, I have a small business which ships a lot of packages to rural areas and on packages under 10 lbs. UPS can't even come close on price. Not to mention the free boxes and tape for priority mail.

[Obadiah]

I'm more than happy with the semi-private quasi-governmental USPS system. A few tweaks here and there, sure.

Yeah, I got to agree with you. Something like "mend it, don't end it" or something like that.

I'm in no way connected to the postal service - heck I don't even own a gun - but I don't think people really think through on what privatizing the postal system would mean. My fear is that it would resemble the airline industry with providers fighting over routes, nobody making any money, some going bankrupt with undelivered letters scattered around in defunct companies. Naw, it ain't great, but it does work to some extent.

[flying Elvis]

I'm all for the USPS. Having sent and recieved hundreds of packages from online orders, they are the most reliable and easy to deal with. If you have ever filed an insurance claim on a damaged item shipped via UPS you know what I mean.