Posted on 11/12/2010 3:22:43 PM PST by fightinJAG
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service said Friday it lost $8.5 billion last year despite deep cuts of more than 100,000 jobs and other reductions in recent years. The post office had estimated it would lose $6 billion to $7 billion, but a sharp decline in mail took a toll. Increased use of the Internet and the recession, which cut advertising and other business mail, meant less money for the agency.
For the year ending Sept. 30, the post office had income of $67.1 billion, down $1 billion from the previous fiscal year. Expenses totaled $70 billion, a decline of about $400 million. The post office also was required to make a $5.5 billion payment for future retiree health benefits.
"Over the last two years, the Postal Service realized more than $9 billion in cost savings, primarily by eliminating about 105,000 full-time equivalent positions - more than any other organization, anywhere," chief financial officer Joe Corbett said in a statement. "We will continue our relentless efforts to innovate and improve efficiency. However, the need for changes to legislation, regulations and labor contracts has never been more obvious."
The post office is currently in contract negotiations with two of its unions, with two more scheduled to be negotiated next year.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Like the Pony Express, the Postal Service, as a quasi-government entity, has become OBE (overcome by events; specifically, technology and the better and cheaper service provided by private shippers).
You know it’s bad when they release the loss figures at 5:48 p.m. on Friday night of a holiday weekend.
Oh, and note that the USPS is currently renegotiating its contracts with the UNIONS. I see a pattern here.
...and on part of my DEFUND from taxpayers wishlist:
Planned ParentHOODS,
The United Nations,
AMTRAK,
USPS,
NPR
I do not understand why the postman comes more than 2 times a week, that would be plenty. They could cut out 2/3 of their workforce.
Without that payment they'd been quite close to break even.
Add to that the fact they've already been overcharged $75,000,000,000 for federal retirement due their employees when they retire, I'd suggest that they were already "defunded" long ago.
Without these USPS overpayments and advance charges the federal government would be 1/10 of a trillion dollars more in the hole.
You really should study up on this stuff before demonstrating you know nothing.
Then you’d not get your junk mail on time.
oh, the horror.
Note my tagline....
Kill the Beast. Contract with private companies for mail delivery.
U-N-I-O-N-S.
The Post Office should be bought up or somehow go into partnership — with no more taxpayer subsidies — with FedEx and UPS so that post offices can be used primarily as post box facilities for shipments.
Ship to a (former) post office box and your package stays nice, dry and secure until you are ready to pick it up. Many more locations and more convenient that FedEX pickup points.
Otherwise. Buh-bye.
Yes.
This falls into the category of “we can do this ourselves now, thank you very much, U.S. Government.”
There was a time, long ago, when the logistics and dangers of transporting the mail required government assistance. Those days are over.
The Government doesn’t even mail checks to its welfare slaves anymore! They hang around Wal-Mart waiting for the clock to strike midnight because that’s when the millions upon millions of Electronic Benefit Transfers are made simultaneously at the beginning of each month.
Tax returns? Um, electronic. Or you could use FedEx, etc.
There is simply no justification any more for the USPS. It needs to be gone. Any utility it has can be performed better, cheaper and more responsively by the private sector.
They’d need to cut about 165 thousand positions assuming 50k per position. Interesting to see their former cut in the right ballpark.
The USPS is self funding, is it not?
Several million stamps are purchased by stamp collectors, meaning they paid for a service they didn’t use. If all the stamp collectors out there used what they had in their collections, the USPS would be bankrupt.
Yes, the USPS is self funded. Taxes do not support the USPS. Don’t want to contribute to those “outlandish” salaries and benefits? Don’t use the USPS. Feel better now Wobbly? I wish I had UPS’s retirement package!
Wow, thanks for that information. I had no idea, so obviously was running my trap without a license. ;) Based on what you’re saying, things are even worse than most people realize.
What I take from what you’re saying is that Congress more or less could see the writing on the wall, that being that the Post Office was going to be an expensive anachronism that could not be justified for too many more years, much less decades.
Therefore, Congress said before the USPS goes out of business completely, so to speak, it better pay up to its retirees into the future.
UGH.
This is no more than telling a company that needs to restructure or even go out of business that it is not allowed to because it has to pump money into retiree benefits and pensions. I know it’s tough if your company goes out of business and can’t pay your pension, but stuff does happen.
I think this is a matter that we need to get Republican attention on ASAP.
Golly, if you think it’s unfair for the Postal Service to contribute to the Civil Service retirement fund, maybe the poor overworked and underpaid postal employees could push for repeal of the private express statutes so they could compete in the real world.
At the same time the Postal Service has been required to "over contribute" to the tune of $75 billion.
So I'm not quite sure what you are getting at.
it's a huge quantity. Plus, you'd need postal police patrols.
The savings aren't as great as you imagine.
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