Postal Service Struggles to Stay Solvent, and Relevant (may shut down this winter)

NY Times ^ | Sept. 4, 2011

[muawiyah]

This is COMMON KNOWLEDGE. Just how did you think NYT mailed copies to libraries at home and abroad?

As far as your comment on my blowing smoke, you are a nutcase.

[hinckley buzzard]

I remember when they used to case the mail twice a day. That means if you had a PO box you got mail twice a day. Times sure have changed. But I agree, No Saturday service is a do-able step, don't know how much money it would save. I have also seen some tiny free standing PO's that could probably be eliminated at minimal inconvenience. It would be too bad if the P.O. disappears completely, it has been an institution--Pony Express and all, going back to Ben Franklin, the first Postmaster General.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Cut salaries and benefits.

Problem solved.

[Secret Agent Man]

Fedex and UPS already deliver much of USPS’s express and priority mail over long haul routes.

[muawiyah]

And what is your problem? The USPS is supported by postage. It does not receive a government subsidy. In fact, the financial problem is because USPS has been subsidizing the US government.

[ml/nj]

Does anyone still use the post office for anything important?

Actually I still use it to receive and pay bills. (Old habits die hard!) And the various governments harass me for money using US Mail, and expect (mostly) to be paid or responded to by mail.

ML/NJ

[Secret Agent Man]

That still doesn’t address the fact that the unions are taking USPS down.

[Vigilanteman]

Does anyone still use the post office for anything important?

I can't speak for important, but I can tell you that if you go to one of the few post offices which keeps Saturday hours (usually something pretty meager like 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), you will see lines stretching to the front door.

[Evil Slayer]

Bring back the pony express.

[muawiyah]

UPS is a delivery company with airplanes. FedEx is an airline with delivery trucks.

USPS has always rented space on available aircraft ~ that's the way mail is transported in this country, so it's not just UPS and FedEx ~ it's all the other airlines as well.

[crazyhorse691]

Our local post office removed the stamp machines also and replaced them with a line that snakes out the door. I buy my stamps at the supermarket...heck, even the more business savvy Korean grocers sell stamps(at a big markup of course)...one stamp for 60 cents beats three busses and an hour wait.

[SueRae]

Bingo on that. Less horses, more stagecoach drivers, that is the problem. I see it in Coporate America as well. My best friend’s husband is a postal worker...and I have had several really terrific postmen/women, happy in their jobs, doing hard work. My ex is an Amtrak employee, loves working with locomotives, steam-fitter, airbraking systems, etc. The crap that gets pulled on them from a bloated management system is beyond pathetic. I have very few issues with the rank and file...except the exasperation I feel for them not seeing the whole picture...forest for the trees? I don’t know. The Consitution does rovide for a postal service...but those in charge have ruined it...adn so has the union leadership.

[hinckley buzzard]

I don’t shop on line for much but when I do the delivery is almost always USPS—cheaper and just as fast as FedEx or brown.

[jmcenanly]

I don’t know if the timing is deliberate, or just an unhappy accident, but it looks like they are trying to shut down just before Christmas. I can see packages being sent by UPS or FedEX, but people still send greeting cards through the Postal service. Also , overseas and APO/FPO deliveries also depend on the Post Office. It is as if this shutdown was designed to cause as much inconvenience as possible.

[Baynative]

It seems like things would be just as well off if the USPS went to home delivery on M-W-F only. That would cut vehicle use by half and greatly reduce much of the labor payroll.

To prevent the job from becoming a total part time slot, the delivery staff could work the rest of their 40 hour week doing other tasks at the P.O. at a reduced rate, maybe even minimum wage just to keep their insurance in effect.

[martin_fierro]

Postal Service Struggles to Stay Solvent, and Relevant

"Write About What You Know," as they say.

[muawiyah]

So, "taxpayer subsidized" is how much money?

You have the US government in hock to the USPS for over $100 billion, and who is subsidizing what?

Let's see numbers, facts, references.

[RedMonqey]

Offer the entire operation up for contract takeover on a long term lease.

Interesting fact. With all the subsidies and "partnerships" the Government has with private industries, the delivery of mail (the post office) is the only mandated government run "business" specifically mentioned and required by the U.S.Constitution.

And just like evertthing else the gov. touches, ( solar, wind, corn, sugar subsidies etc etc.) its it's all FUBAR....

[Sequoyah101]

No, I can’t say that I have noticed that but I’ll look.

For Ronin, generally, something fills a vacuum of need in business. I agree, UPS and FEDEX are too expensive for most simple packages. I operate a small business and use USPS instead of FEDEX because of cost in many cases. FEDEX and UPS are expenses that most employees abuse without consideration at all for the cost. “Oh, I’ll just FEDEX that out to you.” Documents by FEDEX to Europe are about $60 and will get there in 3-5 days, USPS gets them there in the same time and tracks them just as well in about 5 days for less than $14. How much this is subsidized, I don’t know.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Are the people who sort the mail worth $90K/yr?

USPS mail sorters do not make 90K a year. According to this link, the max step for a PS-5 postal worker is $49,851.

http://postalwork.net/pay_scales.htm