1) The USPS does NOT receive tax revenue to operate; it operates only on postage revenue. When the USPS has an operating loss, it must be paid back with future profits it receives (and the USPS has had many years in the black in the last 20 years.
2) Fed-Ex delivers to 3 millions delivery points a day worldwide, UPS delivers to 7 millions delivery points a day world wide. The USPS delivers to 144 million delivery points every day in just the United States alone.
3) The USPS handles 17 million change of address requests every year. It is a service the USPS is not mandated to perform, but it does every year, and is an unbelievably complex and time consuming area to maintain. Some people move over 6 times in one year, and the Postal Service tries its best to accommodate every move.
4) The USPS has the largest percentage of military veterans of any employer in the country. Thousands of postal employees are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan right now. There have even been veterans returning to work at the USPS even after losing limbs in Iraq, and I myself am damn proud of these brave soldiers who have returned to what they love to do!
5) With 800,000 employees, it is naive to lump all postal employees as being lazy freeloaders, union thugs, bureaucratic pencil-pushers, violent lunatics, and uncaring government employees. There are some incredible people moving, processing, and delivering the mail 24/7; they far outweigh the few who unfortunately tarnish the USPS, but this also occurs in other government agencies, private businesses, and charitable and religious organizations as well.
Hey, no need to go all “postal” on us! ;-)....
I appreciate the information and feedback, however what efforts do they take to become more lean? What other business (besides gas) can just decide that they need to increase revenue and their first reaction is to raise their price? Given the situation that you provided in your post, what legitimate reasons exist for not privatizing the USPS?
The point is, looking at the graph, in the last 40 years the cost is skyrocketing which is 80% labor.