USPS Chief Lays Out Plan for the Agency’s Survival

CNBC ^ | November 28,2012

[Hojczyk]

The head of the financially struggling U.S. Postal Service said the agency must be allowed to ease the terms of prepayments into a retiree health-care fund and eliminate general mail delivery on Saturday.

Patrick Donahoe told "CBS This Morning" the agency isn't asking Congress for money.

He said, "I think most people don't realize, we're 100 percent self-sufficient. We pay our own way." But the postal chief notes the agency is losing $15.9 billion this year.

Donahoe says the post office needs to refinance retirement health fund payments to $1 billion a year instead of $5 billion.

He said the Postal Service would continue package delivery on Saturday and keep post offices open. In this scenario, he says the agency could be $8 billion in the black each year.

[Hojczyk]

How about one day a week...except for business... it is mostly junk

[muawiyah]

it's actually mostly DIRECT MAIL ADVERTISING ~ and that's not "junk" ~ to many it's the life's blood of Capitalism without which we would turn into another tacky third-world nation full of warring fascistic tribes and incendiary murdering socialist thugs.

You love direct mail advertising or you hate America ~ no two ways about it!

[DJ Frisat]

"We pay our own way."

How can you pay your own way when you're losing $15.9 billion?

Sheesh...

[Milton Miteybad]

How about consistently being able to deliver a first-class letter to a destination 125 miles away in a week? I just spent a hour online transferring funds to a relative via the Web to replace a check I mailed (and the Postal Service has apparently lost) to said relative a week ago. No wonder the USPS is circling the porcelain bowl.

[GeronL]

The fact is they are still bloated with too many sorters and others who should be let go. Congress paid for magazine sorting machines and they sit unused while union labor still does it.

Waste.

[PMAS]

So end Saturday delivery, I don’t see a problem with that.

[muawiyah]

you borrow it ~

another way is to pledge assets in exchange for money ~ lots of ways

[unixfox]

"We pay our own way."

Remind me, who pays their own way?

[muawiyah]

Congress did what?

That's gotta' be pre 1972

[muawiyah]

Things happen, but I'd suggest you take that up with your Congress-critter. You should also take up your medical problems with him or her as well because that's how you get rid of ObamaKKKare ~ hound Congress about the small stuff that they simply can't deal with.

I don't care if they are Democrats or Republicans, both are responsible for coming medical disaster ~ did you realize that ObamaKKKare's top brass have already defunded studies in epidemiology ~ they'll have us all dying from hanta virus and ebola before it's over.

[GeronL]

I think it was in the late 90’s or something

[old and tired]

I think they should keep Saturday delivery and skip another day, maybe Wednesday. Two days’ worth of skipped mail will be too big and too heavy for the on foot door to door letter carriers to hold.

[moovova]

Postage rate increase...

Tape a dollar bill to the envelope.

Want to send a package?

Tape your charge card to the box..

[Wiggins]

The USPS has outlived its present day usefulness. Trains replaced the pony express, airplanes replaced trains and today email and online bill pay are knocking out what remains. Not to leave out all the waste and union pensions. Within a 10 mile radius of my home there are about 5 post offices and two privately owned UPS stores. I do prefer private enterprise but what the post office needs to do is to consolidate their locations and handling facilities and maybe get into some modern day technology. 98% of all mail I receive through the USPS is junk mail.

[Wiggins]

I meant to say compared to two privately owned UPS stores.

[muawiyah]

Congress hasn't bought anything for USPS since about 1965 ~ which is one of the reasons they had to set up USPS. I was hired into headquarters the year after Congress cancelled the line item in the finance bill to purchase spare parts or postal vehicles and machines.

There was a national defense purchase in the 2000's where sniffers and such were installed to detect bombs or biological weapons ~ but they don't sort mail.

BTW, magazine volume is so small these days special sortation for them is never going to be in the cards. The big employment centers to hit are RURAL POST OFFICE POSTMISTRESSES AND THEIR RELIEF CLERKS.

We don't need those facilities and haven't needed them for the last century!

[arthurus]

we're 100 percent self-sufficient. We pay our own way." But the postal chief notes the agency is losing $15.9 billion this year.Does this need a comment?

[arthurus]

How about simply ending USPs’s monopoly, subsidies, and price controls?

[mfreddy]

Can we please at least stop the foot delivery of mail? How about individual or group streetside mailboxes?

Every time I see a mailman walking down the street sliding mail into slots and house boxes I think if only someone had a brain, they could break even....