Posted on 01/28/2009 1:15:29 PM PST by Joiseydude
WASHINGTON (AP) - Massive deficits could force the post office to cut out one day of mail delivery, the postmaster general told Congress on Wednesday, in asking lawmakers to lift the requirement that the agency deliver mail six days a week. If the change happens, that doesn't necessarily mean an end to Saturday mail delivery. Previous post office studies have looked at the possibility of skipping some other day when mail flow is light, such as Tuesday.
Faced with dwindling mail volume and rising costs, the post office was $2.8 billion in the red last year. "If current trends continue, we could experience a net loss of $6 billion or more this fiscal year," Potter said in testimony for a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Three day delivery makes sense. You could still overnight things if absolutely necessary, but most of us can wait an extra day for that preapproved credit card application.
But lots of holidays fall on Monday. I don't see why daily deliveries to PO boxes or businesses addresses with lots of mailboxes next to each other should be cut. It's delivery to residential and rural addresses that cost so much.
I think cutting service on Saturday is a mistake.
They should add Sunday service if you ask me.
Fine with me. Better yet, cut all junk mail altogether, and deliver not sales letters three days per week. Let the mailmen sort one day, deliver next, etc. Save lots ‘o dough.
But there are lots of businesses that won't like this. I bet credit card payment centers could justify receiving daily or even more frequent mail deliveries.
As for cutting pay, good luck in getting the Unions to buy that!
Don't laugh...they will probably raise postal rates again to make sure this goes through. (Who cares if this makes any sense?? When has anything the USPS does made any sense?)
Addendum to the above: I don’t get three pieces of first class mail a month, anyway. I won’t be missing their lack of service.
Large businesses reevaluate their organizations on a regular basis to cut unnecessary and wasteful processes so as to increase efficiency and remain competitive. Large govt type bureauocracies like the school systems (and I suspect the postal service) never do this and thus have tremendously bloated and inefficient organizations. When cuts are necessary they always seem to make sure that it results in a cutback of service to the taxpayer. This is unacceptable. My solution would be to tell the head of the Postal service that he is required to cut cost by 10% a year with absolutely NO cuts in consumer service. If he failed he would be out of a job and receive NO Pension.
So, that last increase in postal rates means we’ll be getting less service. Charge more, get less. There’s a racket.
I still can’t figure out how it costs 41 cents to mail a flimsy letter that weighs nothing and that can travel with millions of other pieces of flimsy paper going in the same direction. Seems a private company could accomplish the same task for mere pennies on the dollar.
The joke is that the postal service pays bonuses to the postmasters and supervisors for cutting back on their budget expenditures. If they save the government money, they get rewarded. The sad part is, that it doesn't matter if service to the public suffers. This past Christmas season, the office I frequent was short of help, only because the postmaster chose to cut the hours of the clerks that are usually on duty. They were only allowed to work 32 hours a week or less. Everyday, from the hours of noon to around 2 p.m. or so, the line for this office was extremely slow, because the only one working was the postmaster. People were lined up out the door.
One day I had packages that needed to be shipped out, but since I'm retired and don't have to be anyplace special, I let everybody else go ahead of me. I basically ended up handling the crowd control for her. It was easy to do having worked over 20 years with convicted felons. Service suffered last season, and people were continually complaining to the other clerks that they had tried to be waited on during their lunch hour, but ended up leaving because the line hadn't moved, and they had to get back to work. That day, I finally got my packages shipped about an hour after I had arrived. I learned from then on, only to go to that post office once the postmaster has gone off duty.
Talk about THE poster child for Government waste and rudeness.
Obama’s fault
Do away with the postal service and let private industry take it over. Guaranteed it would be run smoother and cheaper.
Just raise the rates. What’s with all the fuss?
Sorry, it is in the Constitution, Article I, Section 8. Universal service including the far reaches of Alaska is an understood requirement.
Have never understood, why you need Saturday delivery.
Cut employees, compensation and benefits. Everyone else is, you sacrifice for a change.
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