Posted on 09/22/2011 9:42:35 AM PDT by Corky Boyd
The United States Postal Service has spread the alarms. It has run through a $12 billion federal loan that has kept itself afloat for the past two years and it is now looking for a bailout. It cites declining revenues because of the internet, the inordinate cost of its pension program and the inability to control labor costs because of no-layoff provisions in its union contracts. It wants to cut service to 5 days a week, possibly more and it is planning to slow the delivery of first class mail. It has talked about reductions in force of 120,000, but that is probably more of a scare tactic...
The plight of the Post Office and how it is handling its fate stands in stark contrast to that of another private sector group – the newspaper industry. Both are suffering from the effects of internet competition. Both deliver product daily. Both are unionized. Both prefund their pension plans. And both are declining industries. Yet, by and large, newspapers and newspaper groups have kept their heads above water, the Post Office hasn't...
I picked the New York Times as an example, not because it is my favorite paper, it is not. But it is representative of the newspaper industry. It has no broadcast subsidiaries and virtually all its revenue is from newspaper circulation, advertising and more recently internet ads and fees. But the decline in revenue at the Postal Service is nowhere near that of the Times. In the past 5 years, the loss of revenue at the Times has been triple that of the USPS (almost 27%, as opposed to 8% ). Even looking at the 2008 – 2010 year comparison (peak revenue for USPS was 2008) the Times revenues losses were more than double the Postal Service (22.9% vs. 10.5%).
(Excerpt) Read more at islandturtle.blogspot.com ...
If Congress wouldn’t require the USPS to overfund pensions, the crisis would be solved.
When we were having the obamacare protests some idiot kid across the street started yelling “But the government runs THE POST OFFICE~!!!”
I think he meant it as an example of a government success.
We started laughing like crazy and said “THAT’S OUR POINT”
It actually does a pretty good job compared to most post offices in the world.
Both industries provide a service for a profit. Both are failing because of Unionism. Lift the burden of the Union pensions and Union control of who they can hire and for what, and both would instantly turn a profit.
So the problem is not the internet, its unionism.
In the case of the post office, if business is so bad, why are there always such long lines?
“If Congress wouldn’t require the USPS to overfund pensions, the crisis would be solved.”
Congress needs to act on this and the USPO will be solvent. We need to be informed of the truth.
The PO has not used a dime of Tx payer money in 30 years.
Over the past four fiscal years, the PO has earned a 611 million net profit delivering mail despite the worst recession in 80 years.
The $20 billion in postal losses don’t stem from the mail, but rather from a 2006 congressional mandate that the Postal Service pre-fund future retiree health benefits for the next 7 years and do so within a decade- a burden no other public agency or private firm faces. The $21 billion cost since 2007 accounts for 100% of the agency’s red ink over that period.
Congress created this mess, and lawmakers can fix it, without using a dime of taxpayer money. House Bill 1351, with strong bipartisan support does just that.
Congress can oversee the stabilization of the Postal Service or its destruction.
They are to pre fund future benefits for the next 75 years, not the next 7 years.
(correcting a typo, my mistake)
“The PO has not used a dime of Tx payer money in 30 years.”
Who do you think funds the USPS deficits?
I am going to do my research and get back to you with an answer. Valid question.
It’s the Federal Financing Bank, which is a part of the US Treasury.
http://www.treasury.gov/ffb/press_releases/2011/08-2011.shtml
So, the US Taxpayer is stuck funding the USPS deficits.
My brother in law works for the post office. I don’t have an answer back from him yet. But I think the point he made to me before was if congress hadn’t forced them to fund their pensions for 75 years into the future they would have NO deficit. They make money from Fed Ex and UPS by delivering to addresses that those entities find way off their routes.
They are asking congress to alleviate that burden of such a pension funding so far into the future....they will not have a deficit if so. He says they are the only outfit that has to do this. NOT social security, etc.
I would n’t be surprised if the gov’t was tapping post office pension funds as they have SS.
My bro in law says taxpayer money has not been used in 30 years. I don’t think the loans listed are considered taxpayer subsidies. He says no other business or entity has to fund their pensions 75 years out. He says that if that is changed, the PO would be solvent.
Well your BIL is wrong.
The loans are not being paid back. What do you call a loan that is not paid back, if not a subsidy?
A loan which the taxpayers are obligated to fund.
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