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I work for postal service—we can’t really raise prices all that much without permission from Postal Rate Commission. Admittedly a large part of the debt is having to pre-fund
75 years of retirement in the next 10 years...45 cents is
a good rate for postage (1 oz.) but if we made it 50 or
60 we could get rid of that debt. But wait. We can’t. By law. Has to follow rate of inflation...up by just a few
cents each time.

—Many are being offered early retirement
—Facilities being consolidated (big sorting centers). I myself may wind up in downtown Boston after spending 25 yrs
in the suburbs. Some of the suburban facilities are being
closed. Vermonters may have their mail sorted 75 miles
away instead of only 25 miles...and it gets there a day later. Smaller post offices being closed.

—Salary freeze (actually all fed. employees exc for
military is affected)
—We do have universal service. Want to privatize? Fine,
but if you live in the boonies you may have to drive
40 miles or so to get your mail.

—Price of gas. It ain’t cheap. It adds up in jeeps,
planes, trucks, etc.

Sure we could raise the price. They won’t let us.

We’re cutting but we can’t raise the price all that much.
We’re quasi-governmental; if we were privatized the price would go up and you’d still get the cuts in service.

Sat. service? Who needs it.

This is where the U.S. Postal Service gets screwed by the U.S. government. If USPS rates can only increase with inflation, then the U.S. government policy of deliberately under-reporting the inflation rate isn't doing the USPS any favors.

It's not as if a 2% "reported" inflation rate is enough to offset the 20%+ increase in fuel costs and whatever pay raises are built into the USPS labor agreements.

I work for postal service—we can’t really raise prices all that much without permission from Postal Rate Commission.

The overabundance of USPS supervisors is a union sacred cow, never addressed:

APWU, USPS reach tentative agreement on new contract

Snip: The new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will expire on May 20, 2015, retains protection against layoffs for all career employees who were on the rolls as of Nov. 20, 2010, when the current contract was scheduled to expire.

The salary of a post office supervisor

Snips:

. Expert only reports average salaries for 10 cities, but five of those featured average earnings between $50,388 and $54,531.

. With bonuses and other incentives, those yearly earnings may increase by $1,458 to $4,929.

. Union contracts let postal supervisors access health benefits at a rate cheaper than the rest of the federal employee labor pool.

. Upon reaching qualifying retirement age (55 to 57), workers receive a monthly pension check for life.

We’re quasi-governmental; if we were privatized the price would go up and you’d still get the cuts in service.

If the USPS was private I wouldn’t be required by law to pay for the mailbox at the end of my drive way that by law is the property of the USPS that must comply with USPS regulations.

If the USPS was private the mail box would be personal property and unauthorized use of it would not warrant a fine such as when a political candidate tubes political literature.

If the USPS was private I would not be required by law to receive their service whatever my personal choice might be.

Nothing against you personally but I have had enough issues with the USPS over the years as to have no sympathy at all to its continued existence.