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Posted on 09/15/2011 9:20:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The US Postal Service unveiled Thursday a drastic downsizing scheme for the embattled public company, including cutting 35,000 jobs, as it seeks to avoid collapse amid a "new reality" in the economy.
"Faced with a massive nationwide infrastructure that is no longer financially sustainable," the USPS said it was proposing sweeping changes aimed at saving the organization up to $3 billion a year.
Among the proposals being studied were cutting more than half of its processing facilities, limiting service, and eliminating as many as 35,000 jobs, the company said in a statement.
“Unexpectedly”.
Some have said that the USPS is having issues due to the internet / e-mail. That’s certainly true, but not the only reason - the down economy is also simply resulting in less things being shipped as fewer orders are being placed. The internet has also been a source of increased business for the post office as people order more things online rather than going out and buying it - less economic activity all around is also harming USPS just like anything else.
One other factor that has hurt the Post Office are its labor costs.
Recently, I was watching something on Fox News where they compared the labor costs of the Post Office vs UPS or FedEx. I do understand that FedEx and UPS can’t accurately be compared to the Post Office because they don’t process mail but if I recall the costs, the Post Office came out extraordinarily high.
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I don’t know about other places, but here in Texas UPS gets about $15-$18 and hour and the Post Office gets near the $30 range. That is just to carry mail and be able to read the address. If they would cut the pay to about $15 an hour and cut retirements about 20%, they would be in the black the first year and a stamp would be a quarter. They will strike for more money and lose 100,000 jobs rather than save jobs for everybody.
Sounds great!
Go for it!
but they have to fight off all those dogs!
What the postal service needs is retirement benefit CUTS..
And a reduction of other retirement benefits..
Also a plan to privatize the postal service..
IIRC, the USPS was privatized a long time ago. Or am I mistaken?
Whatever it takes. Fix it USPS — on your own!
[ IIRC, the USPS was privatized a long time ago. Or am I mistaken? ]
Maybe so, maybe not... Except for the federal dollars that go to support it..
Like Government Motors..
“Some have said that the USPS is having issues due to the internet / e-mail. That’s certainly true, but not the only reason - the down economy is also simply resulting in less things being shipped as fewer orders are being placed. The internet has also been a source of increased business for the post office as people order more things online rather than going out and buying it - less economic activity all around is also harming USPS just like anything else.”
You are exactly right in your analysis of what’s happening here. It is primarily the lousy economy that has affected the U.S. Post Office, not just e-mail and the internet. Again you are exactly right about how the internet has actually helped to increase business for the U.S. Post Office in the delivery of packages for orders made over the internet. The older I get the more I do my shopping on-line. So are many other baby boomers who are just about the largest population blip out there.
All of my merchandise is delivered to me primarily by UPS, Fedex, and USPS. In fact many of my purchases are delivered via USPS. E-mails have cut into regular mail sent, of course, however, what has also affected the USPS’s bottom line is less Ad’s and brochures being sent through the mail due to the rotten business climate in general, and the expense of mass mail advertising. Catalog companies are now sending out less of them; so many that I receive have the caveat on them that unless I plan on making a purchase, this will be my last catalog from them. They are only sending out so many to people before they remove those that don’t buy anything in X amount of months from their mailing lists. That, on top of the pension and healthcare costs of their unionized employees means the U.S. Post Office is screwed.
Good. Start with the bad attitude Hussein cultist at my local P.O.
This is not an pro-gun control observation. This is pure common sense.
It seems to me it is only a matter of time that a pissed offed, severence-ed USPS postal employee, well, "goes postal"--somewhere in the USA. Boy do a I pray that I am wrong.
The woman who delivers our mail here in Winter Haven is top notch and always has a good thing to say. She has been on this route for 25 years now. She could give lessons in pleasantry.
However...the antagonistic,confrontational idiots at the main USPS downtown need to go. I cringe if I have to go in there. Customer service at the counter died years ago.
Perhaps it is time to let this business model fail and allow free enterprise take over - yea right.
There's some hope in a bipartisan bill introduced by senators Susan Collins and Tom Carper to enable the USPS to access the money the agency has been forced to overfund pension obligations. If that bill passes, the postal "crisis" largely passes away also.
This doesn’t make sense.
The USPS is government jobs.
Everywhere you turn, the feds are expanding and hiring.
But the USPS is threatening layoffs.
Is this a just a ploy to get more funding?
Only temporarily. The crisis reappears in a few years as the postal volume continues to decline.
The Postal Service should start the process of downsizing via "attrition". That is, as workers retire or leave the job they should not be replaced. The number of Post Offices and Handling Centers must also decline as volume declines. The Postal Service needs to manage its declining volume by continually reducing costs proportional to that decline. Don't wait until the volume is a fraction of its current level to begin transforming the workforce/facilities/costs.
I agree the long run entails downsizing. The Collins bill would give the breathing spell to let attrition do the work.
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