Free Republic

The US Postal Service has been bleeding money for a number of years and revenue shortfalls are in the billions. While no one I know is predicting immediate collapse, the obvious fact is that the Postal Service is becoming outmoded. Why would I bother with "snail-mail" when I can just send an e-mail and know that the recipient will have the correspondence within seconds instead of one to three days? From what I've seen, most younger people use the Postal Service far less than older Americans. I'm no spring chicken, but I pay all of my regular bills electronically. I've...

Will Obamacare Go Up In Flames Too?- By: Larry Walker, Jr. -"You've got a lot of private companies who do very well competing against the government -- UPS and FedEx are doing a lot better than the Post Office." ~ Barack Obama (Aug. 2009)According to an article posted on federalnewsradio.com, on June 28, 2010, the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General (OIG) discovered that the Postal Service had made a $75 billion overpayment to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). However, the same problem had already been reported by the OIG back in April of 2004. Apparently nothing...

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – An image of President Ronald Reagan graces the U.S. Postal Service's newest 44-cent stamp.

WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin postal carrier says he simply wanted to cheer up a woman on his rounds who seemed "stressed out" when he decided to deliver mail in the buff. But upon further review, the worker told police that delivering mail while completely naked probably wasn't a good idea.

DENVER- A former Denver-area postal worker who stole more than 11,000 packages and sold the items for more than $85,000 has been sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison... The items included DVDs, CDs and lingerie from Victoria's Secret. Authorities say Schmauder sold most of the items to a store in Littleton. "A number of people in the public in the Littleton area were complaining they weren't receiving their packages,"... Scmauder was allowed to walk out of court Tuesday but will have to report to prison soon. He almost didn't get to walk out when he got into a shouting...

Just got my mail and it was junk mail from the Postal Service advertising for their flat rate mailers. It's so sad to see the once great U. S. Post Office reduced to this.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service said Friday it lost $8.5 billion last year despite deep cuts of more than 100,000 jobs and other reductions in recent years. The post office had estimated it would lose $6 billion to $7 billion, but a sharp decline in mail took a toll. Increased use of the Internet and the recession, which cut advertising and other business mail, meant less money for the agency. For the year ending Sept. 30, the post office had income of $67.1 billion, down $1 billion from the previous fiscal year. Expenses totaled $70 billion, a decline of...

HENNING, Tenn. -- Two gunmen opened fire Monday at a post office in a rural southern town that was home to "Roots" author Alex Haley, killing two workers during an attempted robbery. The shooting happened Monday morning at the one-story, brick building in the town of Henning, the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department said. District Attorney Mike Dunavant said Monday afternoon that authorities were looking for a vehicle but would not elaborate except to say the case involved "disturbing violence."

The U.S. Postal Service is losing billions of dollars a year, but its regulator has denied a requested postal rate increase, saying the Postal Service failed to justify it. The Postal Service had sought a rate increase on mailings averaging 5.6 percent, well above its statutory price cap, which is tied to the consumer price index. “The commission finds that the Postal Service has shown the recent recession to be an exigent circumstance, but it failed both to quantify the impact of the recession on its finances and to show how its rate request relates to the resulting loss of...

More than 800 U.S. Postal Service executives receive health insurance coverage at no cost, in just one example of the excess and mismanagement that's costing the agency $800 million annually, according to a Republican lawmaker. A USPS inspector general report released last week in response to requests from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, found the Postal Service pays the full health insurance premiums for 835 Postal Career Executive Service employees, OIG directors and Senior Executive Service members, a perk not available to other federal workers. Fifteen members of the Postal Regulatory Commission receive this benefit, according to PRC spokesman Norman Scherstrom....

Mother TeresaWith this stamp, the U.S. Postal Service recognizes Mother Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Noted for her compassion toward the poor and suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and honorary U.S. citizen, served the sick and destitute of India and the world for nearly 50 years. Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s poorest populations.Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on...

There must be some mistake. Our Postal Service announced in early August it is hemorrhaging at the rate of $14 billion this year. So disappointing. On the same day, the New Zealand postal system announced its disappointing results. It will earn profits of only $72 million for 2010. Disappointing because they are down a few million from last year. Did you ever expect to see the words “profits” and “postal system” appear in the same sentence? If this is not enough to capture your attention, let us do some conversions. The $72 million New Zealand dollars are equal to about...

The U.S. Postal Service reported a $3.5 billion loss in its most recent quarter Thursday, as mail volume plummets and retiree health care costs mount. The USPS, a self-supporting government agency that receives no tax dollars, said operating revenue declined 1.8% to $16 billion during the fiscal 2010 third quarter compared to a year earlier, while operating expenses spiked 4.2% to $19.5 billion. The quarterly loss was the fourteenth in the last sixteen quarters, the postal service said. "A significant portion of USPS losses in the past few years has been due to an unprecedented decline in mail volume...

True story.. I work for the USPS as a mechanic... I fix and PM the machines that handle your mail. I am not a member of the union. I'm transferring to another mail handling plant. Long story short,,, I took a job paying 50K because I passed a test for the USPS.The test has changed to allow custodians to pass the test. Now anyone with common sense, but no real mechanical training can pass the test.I put in for a transfer to my hometown. On my second to the last day,,(before moving) a black custodian said: " If I was...

Keith McVey is no ordinary mailman. He finished his afternoon deliveries, betraying no sign that anything out of the ordinary had occurred save for the blood on his uniform and the cut on his lip. Back at the post office, he was greeted with cries of disbelief: "Did you hear? Keith saved another life today." McVey now can't walk down the street without being honked at by passing cars filled with admirers -- or, apparently, without saving a life. "He's a rock star in our eyes," says Tina Starosto, a receptionist at King Apartments, where a sign declaring "Keith Our...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Buy those Forever stamps now. The cost of mailing a letter is going up again. Fighting to survive a deepening financial crisis, the Postal Service said Tuesday it wants to increase the price of first-class stamps by 2 cents — to 46 cents — starting in January. Other postage costs would rise as well. The agency's persisting problem: ever-declining mail volume as people and businesses shift to the Internet and the declining economy reduces advertising mail. The Postal Service faces a serious risk of financial insolvency," postal vice president Stephen M. Kearney said, an indication that without...

Battered by massive losses, the Postal Service wants to raise rates to bring in more money. Postal officials scheduled a briefing Tuesday to discuss the amount of the increase, which will go to the independent Postal Regulatory Commission for review. The boost comes as no surprise. Postmaster General John Potter said March 2 that a rate increase would be necessary for the agency, which does not receive tax funds for its operations. The current 44-cent first-class rate took effect May 11, 2009. While that change will be the most visible, rates for other types of mail will also go...

WASHINGTON — As federal regulators consider a proposal to cut most Saturday postal deliveries, the business community is sharply divided about the consequences of switching to five-day service. Some, like Donald J. Hall Jr., chief executive of Hallmark Cards, said that eliminating Saturday delivery and raising prices even incrementally would drive more business away from the United States Postal Service, resulting in a “slippery slope.” But others, like Andrew Rendich, the chief service and DVD operations officer at Netflix, said five-day delivery would be a better alternative to significantly higher postal rates. “Big rate increases will absolutely squash business and...

REDLANDS, Calif. - It wasn't snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night that stopped Chester Arthur Reed from his appointed round. The mail handler just felt it was time to call it quits at age 95. The fork lift operator retired Wednesday as the nation's oldest postal worker, ending a career without taking a single sick day. It's a feat he attributes to a healthy diet of watermelon, alkaline water and an onion sandwich with mayo every day....

Mail carriers are scrambling in Scranton this spring after seven dog bite attacks—the most in recent memory. Letter carrier Lyn Sottile was bitten by a chocolate Labrador that ran through an invisible fence, bit her leg and punctured the can of mace she carries. The injury took her off the route for a week, according to local news reports. Postal workers are victims of only some of the more than 4.7 million dog bites annually. Each year 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites; half of them children. Of those injured, 386,000 require treatment in an emergency department and...