The Post Office May Shut Down This Winter Unless Congress Authorizes A Bailout

Business Insider ^ | 09/04/2011 | Zeke Miller

[SeekAndFind]

“Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.” But unless Congress steps in, bankruptcy will.

The New York Times reports that unless the House and Senate take drastic action in the next few months, one of the nation's oldest institutions — which employs 574,000 Americans — may be forced to shut down.

A combination of labor costs and a declining number of packages and letters has the United States Postal Service running short on cash. The independent government agency will be unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to its employee healthcare plan by the Sept. 30 due date.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, told the Times. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

To avoid insolvency, Donahoe says needs Congress to approve the elimination of Saturday delivery and the undoing of the agency's contract with its union to allow it to layoff up to 120,000 works. The Post Office is also planning to close 3,700 locations.

[rlmorel]

Good point there. I think it is possible that was done because it would have been required to operate across state lines, and nobody really knew exactly how that was going to work back then...putting it in the Constitution probably guaranteed that mail wouldn’t be held up at state borders due to some kind of spat between a few states.

[ontap]

Damn straight I do. I believe EVERY advertisement was paid for my someone trying to run a business

Obviously they're not paying the full cost or the USPS would not being nearing bankruptcy.The simple fact is the post office can't deliver the mail for the price of the postage,Of the cost it has labor is the only one they have control of and the unions have removed that.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I believe EVERY advertisement was paid for my someone trying to run a business.

Not really, junk is subsidized by those paying the freight, first class postage.

I treat every piece of business mail as if it were the most important letter of the day.

Yeah, that's too bad, and pretty obvious, defending expensive trash, wasting paper (and our time).

"junk mail"...coming conveniently directly to your mailbox

Most people may glance at it on the way into the trash...We have a rural mailbox gang. I think I'll put a covered recycling bin under it and invite the neighbors to use it.

it's regionally targeted to an area that you should be able to access should you be interested in their business.

Calling BS here! I get tons of solicitation from all over the US that we have to parse and remove our ID information from before we toss it.

[RetroSexual]

If the Postal Service shuts down, Obama will campaign - telling us that his administration cut down on mail fraud.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

you speak as if you’re ill-informed.

What do you make an hour?

[ontap]

He can stay right here and offer his opinion...who put you in charge???

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””If the Postal Service shuts down, Obama will campaign - telling us that his administration cut down on mail fraud.””

---

LOL.

If a person only read the postings by the Post Office Apologists, they would be the left with the impression the USPS is the model of efficiency desirous of being copied worldwide.

[Big Giant Head]

Cut from a New York Times article, business section:

Postal service officials say one reason for their high costs is that they are legally required to provide universal service, making deliveries to 150 million addresses nationwide each week. They add that a major factor for the post office’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years is a 2006 law requiring the postal service to pay an average of $5.5 billion annually for 10 years to finance retiree health costs for the next 75 years.

So, if the Post office is losing $3.5 billion per year because they're paying $5.5 billion per year mandated by law, wouldn't it stand to reason that the USPS is actually showing a $2 billion profit, but is required to bury the money somewhere? USPS is not supposed to run a surplus. The problem isn't the USPS, and the Post Master General is a liar. That's how I see it. Or he stands to profit handsomely from a bail out?

I also read somewhere that the USPS has 300% more managers than UPS. If we HAVE to cut to keep the ability to overfund the health and pensions for the next 75 years out into the future, how about cutting the managers that don't even handle the mail, down to say, 100% more than UPS?

[ontap]

What do you make an hour??

[Big Giant Head]

Oh, here’s the link to the NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/business/in-internet-age-postal-service-struggles-to-stay-solvent-and-relevant.html?_r=1

[ontap]

I would think that little rule was the unions fix for making sure the pensions were fully funded.Again it comes back to public employees being treated better than the people who pay for the service.

[trisham]

I told him not to post to me. But if you'd like to receive his posts, go for it.

* Courtesy ping to Big Giant Head. No response desired.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

From the article:

Labor represents 80 percent of the agency’s expenses, compared with 53 percent at United Parcel Service and 32 percent at FedEx

How much do you make an hour?

Postal workers also receive more generous health benefits than most other federal employees.

>>So...why does it cost me so much money if it’s free?<<

Must be a really-really-really fat benefits package in addition to your highly inflated wage.

[ontap]

I told him not to post to me

[ontap]

I told him not to post to me

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Nothing compared to a union thug...and I can get fired if I don’t work hard.

Besides, I’m in the private sector, if people don’t like my company, they can take their business elsewhere.

Are you another taxpayer funded “worker” or an apologist?

[trisham]

Have a nice day.

[Big Giant Head]

I would go so far to advocate once a week delivery. So if a post office currently has 5 trucks and 5 delivery persons, that would be reduced to one person and one truck. So on Monday the person would do delivery person #1’s route. Tuesday #2’s route. etc, etc.

At least in my office, that won't work. My route takes 3-sh hours to sequence the mail, and five or so hours to drive it. So if you take a weeks worth of mail, it'll take all day to sequence the mail, much less drive it. There'll be so much mail per house in many cases it will not fit in the mailboxes, then you would have to take it to the door. It would be more mail than would fit in anyone's vehicles, and the vehicle would have to be at least a full size van.

Each day would be more than one carrier could handle. And there are many many offices that have FAR greater mail volume than mine.

I could see eliminating one day possibly two, hopefully the lightest days of the week. But that isn't the problem. If you read my post above, the USPS is actually showing a profit but is required to prefund health and benefits out to 75 years.

[ontap]

I told him not to post to me

[sheana]

I receive 8 bills a month....8. Everything else is sent via email. Since there are usually 30 days in a month figure out how much junk mail we receive. jeez Never actually thought of it like that.