Posted on 11/10/2008 6:36:36 PM PST by mbj
SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - "We lost 2 billion dollars and like any other business we have to stay afloat." And to keep from sinking, the United States Postal Service is considering cutting thousands of jobs nationwide. Lavelle Pepper with the post office in Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects of the same disease hitting the country... a struggling economy. "We employ about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs it would include clerks, carriers, mail handlers across all crafts."
Pepper says the postal service is looking to eliminate 40,000 jobs nationwide.
(continued at http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=9247633)
(Excerpt) Read more at ksla.com ...
Maybe not so good for free email in the future either. They would love to get a nickle tax on each email sent.
Is she Union?
If they don't need them tomorrow then why are they drawing paychecks today?
Correction, non union jobs first to go.
“Pepper says workers who are not part of union with six or less years of service would likely be the first on the chopping block. “We’ve identified 16 thousand people that are not covered under contract. We’ll see what those numbers add up to.”
A government entity losing money, so they lay off workers. Sounds like good business sense.
No bailout here because they actually have to operate like a business. Too bad every other government institution isn’t as accountable.
The Postal Service has known this was going to happen for years as well. Mail volume has definitely shrunk in the last decade or so (I know, because I've been there to see it happen). So, this left the Postal Service with a dilemma, since at the same time the volume of mail was declining, the Postal Service was upgrading much equipment for processing mail (something I've *also* seen firsthand, as I work in maintenance, and and regularly going back and forth to the training center for training on this new equipment). The dilemma was, they now had excess people in certain job categories, many of whom had lengthy periods of time invested in the Postal Service, but weren't able to retire.
How would you feel, if at 18-19 years with a company, just before you were eligible to retire, they tossed *you* to the curb?
the infowarrior
Columbus ohio here....
talked to my mail carrier and she confirmed the report...
said that most of the mail they deliver is junk stuff....people are using the internet to receive and pay bills...said that anyone with less than 5 years service is on the line.....
just damn.................
How dare the government lay off people? Shame on them. Big government at its worst.
It will be in 09 no more Christmas
While there *has* been talk of eliminating Saturday mail delivery, I've heard no serious rumbles about it.
Those of you who believe that the USPS should be folded, and it contracted to UPS, Fed-Ex, or whoever should understand that, under *that* scenario, Saturday mail delivery would be one of the first casualties, with daily rural mail delivery following closely behind. These "businesses" would see to that, as it would be a net loss to them, even as it is to the Postal Service...
the infowarrior
Yep, big time. Was a union steward for a while. But I think she looks at it as an alternative to lay offs.
Because, that's all BS. The internet has increased mail volumes 100 times over, just not letter mail so much, but parcel mail. They loose large mailings from utility companies etc. to online billing, but gain on bulk rate mailers, coupon mailers. It's just the post office, like always, refuses to change with the times as rapidly as they should, and have a bunch or retards, relatives, and university PhD grads (all three are intertwined with each other)that come up with ideas for new products, like Post office "electronic mail". How stupid. You go to the post office, they type up the letter you want send, email it across the country where it's printed up at the post office there and delivered like regular mail. How dumb. Anyone who'd pay a few bucks for that is equally retarded, when you can just send an email from your pc. But companies (like mine) that make the machinery for the post office to do these dumb thing make good money. :o)
Well they’re only “considering”. Knowing how the government considers this won’t happen until mid-next year at the earliest. Really once the new Congress and Pres are in who knows what’ll happen, they’ll be looking to hang on until then.
It's been my impression that junk mail has been subsidized by first class postage. And when more folks do what I do, and not pay bills by mail (I've even requested some bills to be delivered online), then they're losing the cash cow that pays for the whole system.
Maybe they need to revise the rates for junk mail, then they'll have a chance of breaking the vicious circle.
40k less Democrats?
Look, people in general, and Union members specifically, are used to taking the path of least resistance and also demanding more and more for themselves and offer to give less and less OF themselves, in return.
I don’t mean to be rude or cold, but my opinion is, let them lose their jobs. There are thousands that would willingly step in to do the work the way it should be done, without the belly aching.
My Carrier loves Saturdays. She knows just about every one of her customers, and likes them all. She is proud to be a Carrier, and Saturdays are the days she gets to see them most. It’s also the day she receives cupcakes and other little “thank yous” from all of us. maybe Sis needs a cupcake?
She’s not in the union, imagine that.
You're of the opinion that postage rates here in the US are high? Try elsewhere, *ANYWHERE*, in the world. We, in the US, have one of the cheapest postage rates on the planet, for the amount of territory covered.
The Postal Service has tried to keep those rates as low as possible, as well. We too, have felt the crunch of higher fuel costs, the expense of increasing the automation of processing the mail to better serve you, the customer, and a whole host of issues.
It's very easy, from the outside, looking in, to say that we suck. Do we have some issues? Yes, of course, I could tell you some stuff that would make your hair curl, but overall, from the highest reaches, to the lowest on the workroom floors, we are out there trying to serve you the best way possible (it's just somewhere in the middle that I have my concerns with)...
the infowarrior
Now your phone will be tapped. LOL
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