Posted on 05/10/2011 3:36:03 PM PDT by Beaten Valve
The U.S. Postal Service posted a $2.2 billion net loss in its second quarter and said it might be unable to pay its debts by September.
The agency, which has been battling falling mail volumes and competition from FedEx (FDX.N) and United Parcel Service (UPS.N), said it expects to hit its borrowing limit by the September 30 end of the fiscal year, and will have to default on payments to the federal government unless Congress intervenes.
"The Postal Service continues to seek changes in the law to enable a more flexible and sustainable business model," said Chief Executive Patrick Donahoe in a statement.
The Postal Service -- which posted a net loss of $8.5 billion at the end of fiscal 2010, its fourth straight year of losses -- has asked Congress for permission to cut Saturday mail delivery.
The agency lost a bid last summer to raise rates on first-class mail beyond the pace of inflation.
The mail carrier, which delivers about 40 percent of the world's mail and does not receive tax revenue, announced in March that it would eliminate 7,500 jobs and close 2,000 post offices in an attempt to cut costs
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Who needs ‘em?
Inflation statistics have been understated for years.
Keeps Social Security and military retirement payments lower.
But, but, but,
there is no inflation.
“The problem is the post office needs to remove all sorting from local sites and go to a hub and spoke model.”
They already did that years ago.
Mail in this region is shipped to a regional sorting center and then sent back as presorted mail to the local area to be delivered. AFAIK, only mail that is dropped in a town for delivery in that town (unicorporated) might be sorted locally. In our county seat of less than 2,000 they don’t sort any mail except for junk mail which is delivered in bulk to the local P.O. and then sorted out for everyone.
Mailmen making 100K, how can they lose with that model?
Pray for America
Yeah, and there are immigration laws and borders, yet the same government that runs U.S. Post Office, is aiding and abetting a violent invasion of our country by Mexico, all while forcing the law abiding tax payers to subsidize the governments country killing open border polices.
So I would guess the law you cited is *absolutely* meaningless.
Some local rural routes are contracted. Contractors use their own vehicles.
No, they didn’t, they only think they did.
Just today, a package was dropped off at my local post office and the brought it to me the same day. They sorted it right there.
Sorry, you are wrong, I have a very absolute definition of hub and spoke and removing local sorting. If they had really implemented what you say, what happened this very day wouldn’t have been possible.
Every problem the USPS has can be summed up in one word: UNION!
IMHO, they need to either break the union completely or at least fire 1/2 their union labor.
This problem will be hanging around until something is done about the union. Period.
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5179014_do-post-offices-sort-mail_.html
Here is an article about what we are talking about.
According to this article, 50% of every delivery driver/carrier’s day is spent sorting mail.
Pretty dang efficient, ah?
A business model under which you don't have to recover costs?
Reminds me of the carrier we had for several years. Drove around just stuffing wads of mail in mailboxes as they liked. Didn’t matter if it was the right house or street. If confronted they refused to take it and deliver it properly and would drive off.
When my mailbox was full of mail that was not mine they left me a nice note saying come to the post office to get it. I did, told them why and that mail sat for over a month before it was finally removed by a temporary carrier. When the previous carrier returned, the same thing happened.
It may mean that the local post office is going to be in a rented office in a business park and the mail delivered via standard commercial vehicles, but it will get done as it always has.
Agree. The PO seems to be moving towards consolidating not only branches, but distribution centers as well. They will have fewer facilities and employees, yet will process the same volume of mail as they do currently.
I checked at our small local office. According the lady who is postmaster she sells enough stamps, box rentals, etc. to make a profit after all the costs are considered. The postal service should evaluate all offices on a profit basis and also de-layer management by eliminating half the levels in the organization.
bwahahaha, all hail government run BS.... =.=
Oh yea, haven't sent something for 10 years. But I do get that junk stuff.
Be careful what you wish for. There are many parts of the world and country that UPS and FEDX either do not serve or serve at an enormous rate. An item that costs 25 cents ordered UPS to Alaska will cost $25 to get it. Once you do away with the USPO everyone’s rates will go up. the post office is keeping the competition rates lower. A lot of people will not be able to afford mail service if they go away. I suggest that the government PRIVATIZE it but keep it.
Form the article:
“Large central mail processing facilities are located between the various post offices they serve to distribute mail efficiently. These processing facilities have mail-sorting equipment that can handle standard letter-size mail. Individual post offices report the order of their mail delivery routes to these central processing facilities. The individual addresses are keyed into the sorting equipment computer in the order in which they are delivered. Then each day, letter-size mail is sent through the sorting equipment to place it into delivery order for individual mail carriers. The presorted mail (DPS) is placed in mail trays and delivered every morning along with parcels and unsorted mail pieces to every post office. This presorted mail can be taken by mail carriers directly to the street to be delivered. Individual carriers may place this mail into their sorting case along with larger pieces to avoid working from several trays while driving.”
It still looks like carriers get presorted mail and then have to add the unsorted bulk mail.
If you read it again, even the presorted gets sorted one more time.
It is only presorted by route/delivery driver. The driver actually sorts it again.
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