Posted on 03/24/2011 2:26:34 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
U.S. Postal Service to cut 7,500 jobs, close offices 31 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service said on Thursday it would cut 7,500 jobs and close seven district offices and 2,000 post offices as it handles less mail and faces greater staff costs and competition from FedEx and United Parcel Service.
"It's critical that we adjust our work force to match America's changing communications trends as mail volumes continue to decline," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement.
In November, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $8.5 billion for fiscal year 2010, its fourth consecutive year of losses.
Joanne Veto, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service, said, "We know that we cannot look the same 10 years from now. The mail volume isn't there. We have to adjust to keep up with the mail and customer needs."
She said the Postal Service would close 2,000 post offices around the United States over the next 12 months, while eliminating the 7,500 jobs.
As of the end of January, the agency employed 583,000 people.
The first round of job cuts are expected to be completed by May 31. As part of the first round of cuts, the Postal Service said it was offering voluntary early retirement of $20,000 paid over two years to employees 50 years old with 20 years of service, or any age with 25 years of service.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I got news for you Doc.
That inept service ain't limited to just Hollywood...
Yeah, I can’t stand that guy in the post office ads. He is so annoying.
The critical opening phrase of this poem will always be the grip. Which the hands unite to form a single unit by the simple overlap of the little finger. Lowly and slowly the clubhead is led back. Pulled into position not by the hands, but by the body which turns away from the target shifting weight to the right side without shifting balance. Tempo is everything; perfection unobtainable as the body coils down at the top of the swing. Theres a slight hesitation. A little nod to the gods.
Yeah, to the gods. That he is fallible. That perfection is unobtainable. And now the weight begins shifting back to the left pulled by the powers inside the earth. It's alive, this swing! A living sculpture and down through contact, always down, striking the ball crisply, with character. A tuning fork goes off in your heart and your balls. Such a pure feeling is the well-struck golf shot. Now the follow through to finish. Always on line. The reverse C of the Golden Bear! The steel workers' power and brawn of Carl Sandburg's. Arnold Palmer!
End the unfinished symphony of Roy McAvoy.
I would have to disagree. Up until the late 80’s, bulk mail supported the post office. Advertising and magazines. I know this because I spent the first half of my life in the direct mail business. It was this bulk mail, that supported letter delivery, and allowed the post office to actually make a profit.
As computers came into prominence, and direct mail moved from saturation mailing, and advertisers cut back tremendously on printed material and mailings (because they could target and geo code their buyers) junk mail decreased.
A few companies actually really helped support the USPS, Columbia House, American Family, and tons of catalogs like Wards, Sears, etc, helped make the post office one of the few government entities that actually turned a profit.
Those mailings fell by the wayside, in response, the USPS raised the rates of junk mail, thus making it fall off even more, as advertisers took those dollars and invested in the internet, and even more grepping programs to target those buyers more likely to buy from them. A chain of events started.
Do you actually think the post office can make money off of sending a letter for under a buck across the nation? Of course not, they rely on HUGE volumes of junk mail, dropped in one location, then shipped to another.
I am not saying I like junk mail, I’m not condoning it, I am just saying that if you eliminate it, you will have letter delivery rates comparable to UPS or FedEx.
Just part of the puzzle, top heavy management is another problem, but I am sure there are many problems, including but also not limited to a staff of inept government employees that basically enjoy a job for life, with compensation that is not based on productivity, but rather “time on the job”.
“Our local post office doesn’t open ‘til 9:00 a.m.
Soooooooooo convenient when you want to mail a letter or a package at, say, 8:00 a.m.”
Our local post office doesn’t open until 8 a.m.
Soooooooooo convenient when you want to mail a letter or a package at, say, 7:00, 6:00, 5:00, or 4:00 a.m. Are they supposed to be open 24 hrs. a day?
How did she steal while on the job?
I have been getting a lot of slashed opened envelopes of cards in the past few years. I thought there were cameras to catch postal workers sorting/stealing mail?
hee hee hee
My last "priority mail" was a shipment of bare-root fruit trees that shipped from East Texas on February 04, 2011, 3:29 pm. But arrived here in the Rolling Plains of TX on February 11, 2011, 8:23 am (Bullet Arrival at Post Office, February 11, 2011, 7:39 am)
Expected Delivery Date: February 7, 2011
Was I impressed with the delivery, NO. The ship distance was 312 miles, but it took 7 days by Priority Mail.
Local Post Offices are a bit of Americana. Would hate to see the one in my town close it`s door permanently.
She’s delivering mail to people’s homes. She walks up to the door, drops off the mail then leaves with a weedeater, blower, etc.
My BIL caught her walking down the driveway of the next door neighbor with a yard appliance of some sort and he yelled to her, jokingly, asking if she’s doing repairs part time and she didn’t acknowledge him, threw it in the mail truck and sped off. So he told the neighbor what happened and the neighbor called the cops. When they investigated they found she had pawned over 200 things stolen from people.
If he tipped at all, it was tiny and well calculated percentage.
I agree, but the Post Office still needs to innovate.
They should start by reducing postal rates 20% across the board. Next, they should eliminate Saturday mail service and use Mondays for express mail delivery only. Finally, they need to get into online bill-pay services or buy PayPal, and create a site like Facebook.
WOW! That’s really high living! (/ sarc)
I know several small town post office with at least two full time employees and free standing post office buildings serving communities of less than 100 inhabitants.
Unbelievable! She should be in jail, not working at the local Post Office.
How do people like this keep their jobs?
“This is NOT a racist remark but every DMV/postal cake job I see is predjudiced to black females only. Try calling a local HUD office you will get a recording and some woman is out to lunch all day making a damned good salary.”
It’s called reparations, and now that we’ve given the future of this country to black man (from somewhere), I think we have made our payback.
Time to move on from here. Treat everyone equally, but judge them by their MERITS, not their color.
THE GUILT TRIP NEEDS TO END, NOW!!!!!
“Eliminate Saturday...and cut 20,000 jobs and all overtime.”
I get a lot done on Saturdays, so maybe just eliminate Saturday deliveries.
But they should also eliminate Tuesday and Thursday deliveries...we really don’t need daily deliveries of most stuff anymore...every couple of days would be fine.
This is one government service that perplexes me. They have the capability of generating an income with stamp sales. I find it truly amazing that I can send a letter from my home in Connecticut to Hawaii for 44 cents, and that I can nearly count on my mailman to pick it up 6 days a week. However, I really think this service can be entirely privitized, there seems to be some mismanagement going on.
Just remember, there may be a camera... ;-)
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