Posted on 02/06/2013 9:47:53 AM PST by Morgana
The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays starting Aug. 1 — but will continue delivering packages.
Unless forbidden to do so by Congress, which has moved in the past to prohibit five-day-a-week delivery, the agency for the first time will delivery mail only Monday through Friday. The move will save about $2 billion a year for the Postal Service, which has suffered tens of billions of dollars in losses in recent years with the advent of the Internet and e-commerce, officials said.
“The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation,” Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said at a news conference. “The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail.”
The postal service plans to continue Saturday delivery of packages, which remains a profitable and growing part of the delivery business. Post offices would remain open on Saturdays so that customers can drop off mail or packages, buy postage stamps or access their post office boxes, officials said. But hours likely would be reduced at thousands of smaller locations, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
and this is going to save money, how? lay off UNION workers, naaa, lay off management , naaa. Freeze hiring, not likely.
Whatever will I do without my catalogue from Pottery Barn!
I could care less if they got to three days. Have to walk to the PO about 1/2 mile away and yeah I understand vets and others get their meds through the mail but if still delivering and just don’t have the window open folks can still get their vibrators and amazon books, oh and meds on time.
The Muslim socialist is out of control.
I never have packages delivered on Saturdays. In fact, I seldom receive any mail on Saturdays .
It says packages will still be delivered.
It gives them more time to show the outrage of the American people therefore requiring more money.
I like to berates gubmint, and pretend it is at fault for most evils in life. Sometimes I overstate the case against them. But not so concerning the Post office. Going in there is like wandering into a deleted scene from “Dawn of the Dead,” with zombies going through motions habituated during their living years. It’s so gray, humorless, and deadening. Makes you realize what Nietzsche meant by staring into the abyss.
Unless your letter carrier is on the “ overtime desired list”, he/she only works 5 days per week. Your letter carrier has rotating days off, i.e. Monday this week, Tuesday next...so, no, your letter carrier will not get a pay cut.
Cheers!
A friend of mine (postal carrier) says they have MORE busy work lined up for them, even with this loss of delivery. He also says they’ve already shown the ‘power’ to force employees (in this case two clerks) to take a position at a location in another state!
The morale is lower than he’s ever seen it (he’s a pretty positive minded conservative) and if he’s forced to change location (his options are horrid toll roads to New Jersey or the ‘ghetto’ in his own state) he might just quit.
Not pretty from the inside. Never was, really, but its worse than ever. I told him he was simply born the wrong color... he responded with a link to the beginning of “The Jerk” :)
What about rural carriers? Their system is a tad different since they are evaluated and not hourly employees. Who knows, maybe a raise instead of a cut?
Don’t use them...use UPS or FedEx Overnight Letter. Ya got options, ya know.
IBD Editorials
Dear Congress, Please Privatize The Post Office
Posted 02/06/2013 06:44 PM ET
Gov’t Monopoly: So the Postal Service’s genius plan for saving itself in the face of massive consumer flight is to raise prices and provide worse service. Unfortunately, Congress has left it with no other choice.
At the start of the year, the USPS hiked postal rates across the board, and this week it followed up by announcing plans to stop Saturday home delivery.
Obviously, something has to be done.
Last year, the USPS posted a record $15.9 billion loss, and Postmaster Genera l Patrick Donahoe says it’s hemorrhaging about $25 million a day, thanks to massive bloat and a cratering core business.
All but 7,000 of its 32,000 post offices lose money, for example, and a recent government audit found the USPS has almost twice as many mail facilities as it needs, 35,000 excess workers, tens of thousands of unneeded machines, and hugely wasted travel costs.
The fact that 85% of its workforce is unionized doesn’t help, either. In one six-month period, labor agreements forced the USPS to spend $4.3 million to pay workers to do ... nothing.
Meanwhile, first-class-mail volume is plunging. It fell 25% over the past decade and will likely drop another 46% over the next.
It’s not as though the USPS isn’t aware of this. In fact, it’s been trying for years to restructure its operations in light of its crumbling core business.
But it’s been stymied by Congress, which routinely blocks needed reforms either to protect special interests or spare districts from losing a precious post office.
http://news.investors.com/print/ibd-editorials/020613-643441-time-to-privatize-the-post-office.aspx
Should have stopped Saturday deliveries in 1918 not in August.
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