Posted on 11/10/2008 6:36:36 PM PST by mbj
SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - "We lost 2 billion dollars and like any other business we have to stay afloat." And to keep from sinking, the United States Postal Service is considering cutting thousands of jobs nationwide. Lavelle Pepper with the post office in Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects of the same disease hitting the country... a struggling economy. "We employ about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs it would include clerks, carriers, mail handlers across all crafts."
Pepper says the postal service is looking to eliminate 40,000 jobs nationwide.
(continued at http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=9247633)
(Excerpt) Read more at ksla.com ...
Hell has frozen over.
Cutting only the non-union jobs.
Because they wouldn't have leverage for their own little "bailout".
If they’ve had millions and millions fewer things mailed because of emails, why haven’t these cuts happened years ago? Why now? If they don’t get the revenue, all they’ve had to do in the past years is keep increasing the cost of postage to our detriment. NOW they’re going to do something about it . . . and they call themselves a business?
LOL!!!!
wonder if the surliness I encounter will change?
I wonder now how many shootings will take place ....
Because they want us to feel bad when we’re standing in line for an hour and a half.
(This is “looking to cut”, not something already committed.)
Well you know, all the hip kids are sending letters these days!
Factor in the high cost of stamps and the availability of email, the future doesn’t look too bright for USPS.
I get too much mail as it is. Hope they go on strike.
‘bout time....
I’m surprised it took this long. With more and more postal services being done electronically it was bound to happen.
Because that would make you get your mail too fast. Can't have that now can we... On a serious note, it's beginning. There sure were a lot of lay offs and one big bankruptcy protection application announced today.
At the same time USPS faces increased costs for delivering to more addresses (housing is growing like crazy ~ or it was until the Obama Depression started recently), and fuel costs went up.
Productivity is still improving at USPS thanks to a major investment in automation.
Recently advertising mail volumes dropped (due to the Obama Depression). The result is they have surplus personnel.
Not just emails ....there are more and more peeps paying bills online and directly from their banks
This is a BS cover for eliminating Saturday delivery. You just wait and see, that’ll be one of their “solutions”.
The PO has been a loser for years. Their problems really started, and were made worse by, bulk mail contracts. That have been competing with Fed-Ex and UPS and lose every time, and now they’re competing for pennies against trucking Carriers, who have been decimated by high fuel costs and poor economy.
Everybody loses.
So what if they don’t deliver on Saturday??? Will it be missed....except maybe during one week of the year?
You’d think that with all the internet buying they’d have more business. I know they have some competition and I will admit that their competition is usually better.
I haven’t seen any lessening of junk mail.
“Recently advertising mail volumes dropped (due to the Obama Depression). The result is they have surplus personnel.”
I agree, but knowing from a purchasing manager’s standpoint, a lot of my confirmations and new orders that used to be mailed, are done without any use of the post office . . . and have been for many years . . .
0bama’s fault!!
Not so...
the infowarrior
It will be missed. In our hectic lives, nowadays, many are only able to retrieve their mail om Saturdays. Besides, it’s an American tradition, and I, for one, don’t want any more of our traditions to go away.
What I would like to see, though, is good old American “can do” and creativity back in our CEO’s and entrepreneurs.
Not to mention the price of fuel. I’m a carrier who has to use my personal vehicle for delivery. It was costing me at least 40.$ a week out of my own pocket after they gave me allowance for gas.
What always amazes me about these layoffs, reductions, eliminations is that they can get rid of these people and continue to function. If they can continue as before, then why did they need extra people in the first place?
Is it really this bad?
the union doesn’t allow for striking.
It rained here this summer and they didn’t deliver the mail for weeks, I liked it. Because I didn’t go in to get the mail, they sent mine with my DIL. I hate mail, I only get it out of the box once a week or when I know I should be getting a check or something good.
Steps are already being taken. There is currently a big push for early retirement in many areas, including the facility where I work. This is the *second* time I've seen it happen during my time at the USPS. These are not only non-union jobs which are being affected, but union jobs as well...
the infowarrior
they also have to many chiefs!
My sister has been working for the post office for about 25 years. She said that nobody at the post office would be sad to see Saturday delivery go away. I agree with you...nobody would miss it.
I’ve been complaining for years that in many neighborhoods in my area, mail is still delivered to the door. These are houses on large lots. Roadside mailboxes would have been much more efficient and cost effective, but no one at USPS seems to care.
NEXT WINDOW PLEASE
A lot of the internet companies ship only through UPS/Fedex. It sucks here in AK because those two charge up the yingyang to ship here. When I order something online the first thing I look at is shipping method. If it isn't USPS I look somewhere else.
If it was not for the Government and teachers unions, unions would be finished.
Maybe not so good for free email in the future either. They would love to get a nickle tax on each email sent.
Is she Union?
If they don't need them tomorrow then why are they drawing paychecks today?
Correction, non union jobs first to go.
“Pepper says workers who are not part of union with six or less years of service would likely be the first on the chopping block. “We’ve identified 16 thousand people that are not covered under contract. We’ll see what those numbers add up to.”
A government entity losing money, so they lay off workers. Sounds like good business sense.
No bailout here because they actually have to operate like a business. Too bad every other government institution isn’t as accountable.
The Postal Service has known this was going to happen for years as well. Mail volume has definitely shrunk in the last decade or so (I know, because I've been there to see it happen). So, this left the Postal Service with a dilemma, since at the same time the volume of mail was declining, the Postal Service was upgrading much equipment for processing mail (something I've *also* seen firsthand, as I work in maintenance, and and regularly going back and forth to the training center for training on this new equipment). The dilemma was, they now had excess people in certain job categories, many of whom had lengthy periods of time invested in the Postal Service, but weren't able to retire.
How would you feel, if at 18-19 years with a company, just before you were eligible to retire, they tossed *you* to the curb?
the infowarrior
Columbus ohio here....
talked to my mail carrier and she confirmed the report...
said that most of the mail they deliver is junk stuff....people are using the internet to receive and pay bills...said that anyone with less than 5 years service is on the line.....
just damn.................
How dare the government lay off people? Shame on them. Big government at its worst.
It will be in 09 no more Christmas
While there *has* been talk of eliminating Saturday mail delivery, I've heard no serious rumbles about it.
Those of you who believe that the USPS should be folded, and it contracted to UPS, Fed-Ex, or whoever should understand that, under *that* scenario, Saturday mail delivery would be one of the first casualties, with daily rural mail delivery following closely behind. These "businesses" would see to that, as it would be a net loss to them, even as it is to the Postal Service...
the infowarrior
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