South Carolina Ping
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Posted on 03/06/2009 5:52:09 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
LAKE WATEREE, South Carolina (CNN) -- At a time when the U.S. Postal Service says it is experiencing a financial crisis, it purchased a $1.2 million home from an employee so he could relocate, a CNN investigation has found.
Postal Service spokesman Greg Frey said the home will be resold, as others have been.
"It's not like we threw away a million dollars," Frey told CNN. "We are hoping it's going to go for the appraised value."
But a real estate agent in the area said the home could be a tough sell in a depressed housing market -- and the USPS said it lost an average of more than $58,000 on the 500-plus homes its relocation program bought and sold in 2008.
The 8,400-square-foot, six-bedroom home on Lake Wateree, about 30 miles north of Columbia, is likely to be the last million-dollar home purchased by the Postal Service. A $1 million cap on homes eligible for the relocation program took effect in February, Frey said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
JERRY: You can’t let this dream die. Your moving away is my dream too!
NEWMAN: What are you proposing?
JERRY: Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes me, where ever it takes me, as long as it takes you away from me!... Now get the hell outta here.
Whoa! And that is on a home in S. Carolina no less. Imagine what they’d have forked out if it was in the D.C. area.
Funny...I don’t remember any offers from DoD to buy my house every two or three years when they moved me...
Postmaster general makes $800thou. plus benefits and perks, car driver, housing allowance, clothing allowance. A carrier that I know gets $50,000.00 a year.
No the price of stamps are going up. ;)
I once had a chat with a behind-the-counter clerk postal clerk when I was mailing a package. She was complaining about her car being in the shop and how much it was costing.
Turns out, she drives a Lexus.
“I’m just wondering what the hell kind of postman has a salary where he can afford a million-dollar house!”
From the article, no mention of salary though.
“The South Carolina home belonged to Ronald Hopson, the former postmaster in Lexington, South Carolina, and his wife, Evelyn. The property includes five acres, four bathrooms, two half-baths and an indoor swimming pool.
Video tour of home,
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/05/postal.service.relocation/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
You’re kidding!
I picked the wrong career...800k to be a Postmaster General?
South Carolina Ping
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A few things are clearly not adding up. First, the postmaster's new job in Texas pays $92,000; presumably the one he's leaving paid less. Obviously, he had other sources of income to be able to afford to build that house. It would be interesting to see if the other income sources were legitimate. Was he moonlighting? Or did he just have a cash stream from investments? Did his wife have a high-paying job? Did he use his position as postmaster to gain unfair advantages -- inside knowledge of new highway locations, say; or did he "know something" and extract a price? And who wanted to get him out of town so badly, anyway?
Another curiosity: Lexington is a county seat town transitioning into a suburb of Columbia; it's about 10 miles due west of Columbia. The article says that Lake Wateree is 30 miles north of Columbia (in fact, it's more like NNE). Regardless of where exactly on the lake the postmaster built his house, that's a long commute. Curious.
As a recently retired postal employee, I’m sorry about your bad experiences. Rest assured that there are many of us who strive to do a good job for our customers and who truly feel bad when people are not properly served.
Hey Toute 797 -
Yes, I know, there are some postal workers who really care about their clients and about getting the mail to them reliably. Unfortunately there are a few out there who give the rest of you a bad name.
Thank you for caring!
oops - Route 797
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