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The Bailout Of The US Postal Service Begins: Cost To Taxpayers - $110,000 Per Union Vote
ZeroHedge ^ | 4/26/2012 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 04/26/2012 8:49:05 AM PDT by mojito

A week ago, when reading between the lines of what had heretofore been considered an inevitable USPS episode of austerity in which hundreds of thousands of labor union workers would lose their jobs but in the process would streamline a thoroughly outdated and inefficient US Postal Office bureaucracy, we asked if a US Postal Service bailout was imminent, focusing on the following: "Enter Ron Bloom, Lazard, and the very same crew that ended up getting a taxpayer funded bailout for GM. From the WSJ: "The Postal Service's proposal to close thousands of post offices and cut back on the number of days that mail is delivered "won't work" and would accelerate the agency's decline, according to the six-page report by Ron Bloom, President Barack Obama's former auto czar, and investment bank Lazard Ltd., LAZ who were hired by the union in October." That's right: after all the huffing and puffing about "sacrifice" and austerity, the labor union took one long look at the only option... and asked what other option is there." The other option, it turns out courtesy of news from AP, is the first of many incremental bail outs of the US Postal Office, better known in pre-election circles as hundreds of thousands of unionized votes up for the taking, and which could be bought for the low low price of $11 billion in taxpayer money, or $110,000 per vote! And so the latest bailout of yet another terminally inefficient and outdated government entity begins.

(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bailout; gm; laz; lazard; lazardltd; obama; pensions; postoffice; union; unions; uspostalservice; uspostalservie; usps
I guess the cost of a stamp just went up.
1 posted on 04/26/2012 8:49:16 AM PDT by mojito
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To: mojito

Incredible! What other industry would increase cost to the public when they have a downturn in demand for services. Private sector would lay off unneeded workers instead of keeping the unneeded workers and increasing taxpayer demands.


2 posted on 04/26/2012 8:53:54 AM PDT by laweeks
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To: mojito

Calling it a service is a misnomer. It’s a welfare, healthcare and pension program that also delivers packages.


3 posted on 04/26/2012 8:54:19 AM PDT by Jack of all Trades (Hold your face to the light, even though for the moment you do not see.)
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To: mojito

Here is the REAL reason that the post office is in trouble financially. This is what they need to change:

Postal unions want the American public to know that their employer is profitable. While mail volume has dropped by 22 percent since 2006, the agency made $226 million in the first quarter of this year, funded entirely through stamps, not taxpayer money.

The reason for the deficit, they say, is a 2006 mandate that the postal service pre-fund 75-years of pension in a 10-year window, at a rate of $5.5 billion annually. Two independent actuaries have said that the post office has overpaid $50 billion into this fund.


4 posted on 04/26/2012 8:59:01 AM PDT by Dudoight
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To: mojito

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/09/28/postal-workers-deliver-a-message-not-mail/


5 posted on 04/26/2012 9:01:18 AM PDT by Dudoight
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To: mojito

I remember in 1976 wanting to coordinate my job as a Meter Reader, for lights and water to coincide with the walking route of the postal carrier. The idea would be that when the monthly bill came out of the machines, they would all be sorted according to the route of postal carriers. The Union of the Postal Carriers crapped on the idea, it would take job hours away from them sorting these water bills, light bills and put them in the right bag.


6 posted on 04/26/2012 9:01:27 AM PDT by rovenstinez
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To: mojito

Costs always go up if it’s gov operated.


7 posted on 04/26/2012 9:04:06 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: mojito

The dems are moving on this just to get the postal UNION vote.


8 posted on 04/26/2012 9:35:00 AM PDT by Dudoight
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To: Vaduz

Dunno. I still think its pretty remarkable that $.45 delivers a letter anywhere in the US pretty quickly. Can any private operation match that service?


9 posted on 04/26/2012 9:42:52 AM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: laweeks
What other industry would increase cost to the public when they have a downturn in demand for services.

Actually, a lot of them as if the cost of providing the services increase a result of the demand, and some sub-group finds the service utterly necessary.

I guarantee you that a ride in a carriage in in New York City costs a lot more than it did 100 years ago, even though demand is down 99%. Computer Shopper magazine stuck around as long as it did in part because it raised prices and shrunk content to meet the needs of the dwindling number of readers who are not satisfied with web sites. Even now, I will sometimes plunk down $6 for a PC World magazine at an airport to have something to read on the plane.

The fact is that the mailman has to run a full route whether the residents get one piece of mail or ten. That is why the USPS is so in love with bulk junk mail, the marginal cost of delivery is low.

Sometimes, the same people who claim they use the Internet and FEDES/UPS for everything are the sameones who complain about the cost of a first class stamp on a letter. I still mail letters, and its one of the best deals going (magazine rates are another matter).

The USPS's hands are tied. They have to break even or better, AND they have to keep open a bunch of offices that aren't ever going to take in what they spend. In my area there are more post offices in an eight mile radius than gas stations (four vs. three), and two LARGE post offices in the cities where people pretty much have to buy groceries.

I would suggest that the USPS should either be partially subsidized to pay for the perks demanded by local congressmen, or that it be given free reign to make the cut backs they need to do.
10 posted on 04/26/2012 9:44:29 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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11 posted on 04/26/2012 9:58:22 AM PDT by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: mojito

dump ‘em!

...dump everything!


12 posted on 04/26/2012 11:10:22 AM PDT by gunnyg ("A Constitution changed from Freedom, can never be restored; Liberty, once lost, is lost forever...)
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To: mojito

They’re delivering mail to the US Department of Buggy Whip Auditors.


13 posted on 04/26/2012 11:17:52 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: mojito

Do you want the government to be flush with lots of money to spend, or do you want government to be broke?


14 posted on 04/26/2012 12:08:20 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: laweeks; mojito; tomdavidd; Freeper; Gvl_M3; Flotsam_Jetsome; Berlin_Freeper; Hotlanta Mike; ...
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

.

15 posted on 04/26/2012 1:22:37 PM PDT by LucyT
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To: familyop

good point!

just FLUSH GubMint—PERIOD !!!!!!!!!!

Semper Flush!
******


16 posted on 04/26/2012 1:46:46 PM PDT by gunnyg ("A Constitution changed from Freedom, can never be restored; Liberty, once lost, is lost forever...)
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To: Dr. Sivana

>I would suggest that the USPS should either be partially subsidized to pay for the perks demanded by local congressmen, or that it be given free reign to make the cut backs they need to do.

I agree with cutting them free of the stupid requests. It reminds me of Amtrak, which might be able to actually turn a profit if they only focused on the routes which are popular. Instead, there’s also someone congresscritter with their pet lines.

Mind you, in both cases privatization would solve the issue, since it is an issue of pull, which is endemic to all government run organizations.


17 posted on 04/26/2012 2:21:31 PM PDT by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: Jack of all Trades
Calling it a service is a misnomer. It’s a welfare, healthcare and pension program that also delivers packages.

BUMP!

Privatize it.

18 posted on 04/26/2012 4:03:42 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: Dr. Sivana
yes, mailing a letter is still a wonderful bargain....no question about that...

but these postal workers have glorious benefits and retirement compared to similar workers...lets face it...you don't need to be a rocket engineer to deliver mail...

govt workers have never taken any cutbacks when the economy is bad...

while the rest of us take our lumps and told to be happy we have a job, the govt workers in general just keep on collecting and getting more....

19 posted on 04/26/2012 5:44:29 PM PDT by cherry
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To: Little Ray

UPS and fedex


20 posted on 04/27/2012 8:50:45 AM PDT by Vaduz
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