Bernie Sanders Scores A Win As The Postal Service Backs Off Plan To Close Plants

[Divernan]

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/05/30/bernie-sanders-scores-win-postal-service-backs-plan-close-plants.html

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) won another victory in the battle against privatizing mail delivery as the Postal Service has quietly backed off of a plan to close 82 mail processing plants.

In a statement, Sen. Sanders said:
I am pleased that the Postal Service has decided not to shut down virtually all of the 82 mail-processing plants this year, but much more needs to be done to ensure that Americans throughout the country receive their mail in a timely manner. ….

The Postal Service should be speeding up the delivery of mail, not slowing it down. We should be working to strengthen the Postal Service, not sending it into a death spiral.

The Postal Service had planned to close eighty-two more mail processing plants as part of a cost-cutting move. The USPS is being forced to cut costs because a Republican imposed mandate that the Service pre-fund 75 years of retirement benefits within a decade. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) plunged the profitable USPS into debt and forced four out of every five dollars taken in to be spent on funding this mandate.

[Divernan]

1. More from the OP link.

The Republican passed mandate was designed to drive the Postal Service out of business. The GOP goal has always been to privatize all mail delivery. The mandate is forcing the USPS to make decisions that hurt customers and result in slower mail delivery as part of the larger Republican plan to use government to break a public service that benefits the public good.

Sen. Sanders has been fighting to not only keep the Postal Service alive, but to expand the services offered by the USPS. The Republican privatization scheme would result in more expensive, but less frequent mail delivery. Rural areas that depend on their local post offices would be gravely harmed by privatization.

Bernie Sanders is fighting for the programs and services that benefit ordinary Americans, and that battling spirit has resulted in a win for the American people.

[sadoldgirl]

2. I missed that, but will certainly

tell my mailman about it.

[daleanime]

3. Excellent!

[Divernan]

4. Backstory:a 2011 moratorium; now plan is DEAD! Thanks, Bernie!

http://www.thevermontstandard.com/2011/12/video-post-office-closures-and-moratorium-bernie-sanders/

PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined senators from around the country today to announce that the U.S. Postal Service voluntarily agreed to their request for a five-month moratorium until May 15 on closing postal facilities. The moratorium would give Congress more time to consider postal reform legislation, including a bill introduced by Sanders. “I am pleased that the Postal Service has announced that it will impose a moratorium on closing or consolidating post offices and mail processing facilities. This moratorium will give Congress the breathing room it needs to enact comprehensive postal reform and protect universal service while ensuring the postal service will succeed in the 21st century.” Sanders authored a letter signed by 22 senators calling for a similar moratorium to be imposed by Congress. The letter was sent to Senate leaders on Friday. The announcement today follows a meeting yesterday between Sanders and several other senators with U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Thurgood Marshall. At the meeting, the senators expressed concern over the impact of reduced service and the loss of thousands of jobs. The Postal Service is in the process of studying the potential closure of nearly 3,700 mostly-rural post offices, including 15 in Vermont. In addition, the Postal Service is considering closing the mail processing facility in White River Junction, Vt., which would cost 245 jobs. Nationwide, as many as 100,000 jobs are at stake. The moratorium would prevent the Postal Service from closing facilities in Vermont and elsewhere until May 15, 2012. The Postal Service in September announced plans to review its mail processing network in the hopes of reducing costs and increasing efficiencies. The Postal Service is currently considering the elimination of overnight delivery and studying the possibility of closing 3,700 mostly rural post offices and 252 mail processing facilities.

[artislife]

6. !!! This is actually a blow against privatization!

We all can agree, we don't want USPS to go.

P

[silvershadow]

5. Now that it is a done deal, Hillary will weigh in in 3...2...1... nt

[SoapBox]

7. Yay Bernie!

Great news.

[KittyWampus]

8. I heart the Post Office. Still a bargain.

[PatrickforO]

9. And the PAEA is NOTHING more than the GOP trying to bust a public workers union.

No reason for it but that.

[BrotherIvan]

10. Jobs jobs jobs jobs

Yaaaaay, jobs!

[raouldukelives]

11. Better make sure my postal carrier is feeling the bern.

[LWolf]

12. Another demonstration of the fact that

Sanders CAN, and DOES, get things done.

[WillyT]

13. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Enthusiast]

14. Kicked and recommended to the Max!

[Divernan]

15. USPS has made a sweet profit the last 4 quarters

and has a very lucrative contract with Amazon to handle deliveries 7 days a week. My mailman told me all about it today, including rattling off the figures. If you see a USPS truck late Saturdays, Sundays or holidays, it will be delivering only Amazon packages.

Amazon's Deal With the United States Postal Service Could Hold the Key to the Mail Deliverer’s Future
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By Daniel Kline | More Articles
October 1, 2014 | Comments (3)

The rise of email, the recession, and a massive mandate from Congress to pre-fund 75 years of retirement benefits in ten years -- a burden not legally required of any other business or government agency -- has led to difficult times for the United States Postal Service.

The agency, which operates without taxpayer funding, has weathered a drop in letter volume, and has pioneered new programs which may ultimately hold the keys to its future. Now USPS officials have asked federal regulators for permission to expand a deal with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN ) which has postal carriers and vehicles delivering groceries and other prepackaged goods in big cities. The current arrangement is a test, operating just in San Francisco where the USPS makes early morning deliveries to customers of Amazon's grocery delivery service.