Do we need mail delivery 6 days/week?... USPS bleeding $$$, possible default

[True Earthling]

Do we really need Saturday delivery? Why not cut back delivery to 3 days a week - Mon, Wed & Fri. This really needs to be restructured...

USPS posts $3.1 billion loss in Q3, warns of default

Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online.

The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds, has struggled to overhaul its business as mail volumes fall. It has said personnel costs weigh heavily and is facing a massive retiree health benefit prepayment next month.

The Postal Service said it lost $5.7 billion during the nine-month period ended June 30, compared to $5.4 billion in the same period of 2010. Postal officials have called for Congress to change the way USPS operates, saying it needs more flexibility to close failing post offices, cut Saturday delivery and raise rates.

http://news.yahoo.com/usps-posts-3-1-billion-loss-q3-warns-145707721.html

[Aerows]

1. Everyone's jumping on the default bandwagon

I guess they saw that it worked and decided to threaten it, too.

[TheCowsCameHome]

I get enough bills in five.

Just sayin'

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[angstlessk]

9. You make no sense at all! n/t

[muffin1]

39. What?

I DID manage to get that you think USPS workers are lazy, though. :puke:

[bigwillq]

44. Hello.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[grasswire]

3. why not tax the rich and subsidize the post office for the working people?

Some people rely on snail mail for their living.

[Horse with no Name]

4. Another good job down the drain

too bad the government doesn't give the USPS the same tax breaks it gives its competitors...

[LeftyMom]

5. It takes long enough to get stuff. Fewer delivery days would mean they'd lose more business to UPS

and FedEx.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. This stems from a 2006 law passed by

the REPUBLICAN congress and signed by baby bush.

It was a trap meant to bleed the USPS dry... and it is working. Final goal, privatize it.

People really need to wake up to the reality

[villager]

19. Everyone seems to miss this point --that it was a set-up, all along...

n/t

[AlabamaLibrul]

7. Unrec.

Yes, I need mail delivery 6 days a week. Five at the absolute minimum.

WTF.

[boppers]

36. Why would somebody need mail delivery 6 days a week?

I'm curious.

[Contrary1]

8. USPS needs to be able to charge the consumer whatever it costs them to provide the service...

no matter how many days they deliver. 44 cents to mail a letter across the country?
Hell, I spend more than that just starting up my car.

[angstlessk]

11. I agree they should take the cost to deliver every piece of mail

and multiply by the number of households/business'...and expect to deliver to each once per day...

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Talk to Congress who does not aprove that

they cannot do that themselves, realistically it should go up to at least 89 cents, but they cannot even get a ten cent increase.

And this is coming from having to front load retirement funds, the only agency forced to do that.

[OmahaBlueDog]

13. Right - I think that's the central point that's being missed

.44 isn't cutting it. It probably needs to go up to something like $1.

Other thoughts.

Few people send letters - they use e-mail

An increasing number of bills are now available to be sent online

An increasing number of people pay bills electronically.

There are at least two other viable package delivery services.

We need 5 day a week delivery, and we probably need to get rid of individual mail boxes in place of group boxes.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. And the USPS cannot do this withouth any CONGRESSIONAL

approval...

The USPS has requested a rise in postal rates several times, and ignored by the Congress. Republicans have been trying to PRIVATIZE it since at least Nixon.

People really need to understand this.

[OmahaBlueDog]

40. Right, and people scream blue murder if congress passes a .02 increase

It's a reflex

[FarCenter]

29. The price for first class is not the problem

Put up the price for all the second class and bulk rate junk mail, magazines, newspapers, etc.

[Dulcinea]

49. I wholeheartedly agree!

Most of that crap just ends up in the recycle bin anyway!

[pipi_k]

10. If you're rural....

You understand how important mail delivery is.

Well, to many of us rural folks, anyway...

[xmas74]

30. Agreed.

If they aren't rural they really don't understand.

[Creideiki]

32. Hey--a lot of us urbanites understand, too

I've got friends and family who are rural, and I'd prefer to not screw them over.

[xmas74]

35. Thank you.

I don't live in an urban/suburban area but it's not quite rural either. What I do remember is living the definition of "rural"-a mile away from the nearest neighbor and 15 miles from the nearest town. There was no cable, no internet at the time and if I didn't have mail delivery I would have been in trouble.

[Bluerthanblue]

34. yes- I agree.

-
:hi:

[boppers]

42. Important how?

As a person who grew up rural, and moved to urban, I don't think I share your perspective, so I'd like to be more informed.

[gkhouston]

14. Yes. What we don't need is war 7 days a week. n/t

[Sherman A1]

16. Precisely

You got that right. ...

[glowing]

15. People need to know why the postal system is failing. They have pay up now for future retirement.

It's a union busting move for a retirement. My grandmother worked for the postal system. They have really good retirement plans w/ healthcare. They also are a successful program that has run for many, many years and services the world; not just the USA. However, the pukes 2 goals is to privatize (which would push the cost up to deliver at the private delivery services), to show Americans that Govt is bad and doesn't work, and to bust unions.

Because they are the only workplace that has to pre-pay for their employees retirement packages, they were set up to fail. No company funds all of it's retirement for all of it's future retirements in a present day mode. They take money as it comes yr to yr and set it aside to build in a pension fund. They were given a bum deal wrapped in love from the bush yrs with pukes in charge.

[Sherman A1]

17. Yes, indeed

We need to fix the USPS funding, perhaps increase the cost of first class and alike, but it should continue to serve the nation.

Now, what can you do to help a bit.

Simply return every postage paid envelope you receive (well perhaps not for charities and such) empty and you can allow business to help subsidize the post office.

[Speck Tater]

18. I think they should deliver ONLY on Saturday. Or maybe only on Wednesday. Doesn't matter which...

If it weren't for Netflix I'd only get 3 or 4 letters a month, and I'm switching that to streaming so, no I wouldn't miss Saturday delivery at all.

As far as I'm concerned they could deliver only one day per week and I'd be happy. One day a week delivery would save a bundle! And those "you've already been approved" credit card offers can wait a few days before I take them out of the mailbox and shove them through the shredder.

And face it, are you really that anxious to get the electric bill?

[WinkyDink]

20. Well, bully for non-magazine-subscriber you!

[Speck Tater]

25. Magazines? How quaint. Personally I don't see the point of killing trees to distribute information.

[boppers]

47. People still read magazines?

What's the point?

[boppers]

46. 1 day a week is fine with me.

I throw it all in the trash anyways.... Mail ceased being relevant to me years ago.

It's paper crap to reflect electronic records.

[Shagbark Hickory]

21. This could explain why the USPS is in trouble...

This picture was taken in front of the local post office.

[pwb]

23. I want mail service twice a day, 7 days a week.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. When I lived in France, they delivered the mail twice a day

How is it that European countries can offer so many more civil benefits than the United States?

[CBGLuthier]

31. They did that here too. About 60 years ago I think

[Seedersandleechers]

48. When I lived in the UK

They would deliver mail to your home but would not pick up mail for delivery. :wtf:

[MouseFitzgerald]

26. Its sad seeing people here buying these right-wing talking points

The USPS is one of the most efficient organizations in the country. They have prices and a range of service that UPS and other private mail carriers could only dream of.

There is nothing wrong with the USPS other than the federal governments attempts to starve it of funding and then blame them for not being able to continue to function at the same level. We can start bashing the USPS after we cut spending to the millions of other things our government wastes money on.

[MilesColtrane]

27. Can business function unhindered by three day a week delivery?

I'm not sure it can.

If it can't, then this sounds like an argument for privatizing what should be a quasi-governmental function.

[Strelnikov_]

28. GOP created artificial crisis

pa28 presents the case in the following post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4949703&mesg_id=4949746

++++

In 2006 the USPS was suddenly required to pre-pay future health benefits into a government trust fund and now they need to access some of the 60 Billion in audited overpays they've made. They need a change in the law as well as their own money back and the GOP, of course, refuses to cooperate.

Just another page in their playbook. Fabricate a financial crisis and then use it as a variation in their "america is broke" story line which, of course, will lead to a discussion on privatization.

Here is some additional backround.

http://federaldaily.com/articles/2011/05/17/usps-billions-in-benefits-overpayments.aspx

++++

And a follow up link by PoliticAverse:

http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2009/03/26/the-postal-ponzi-scheme

++++

[pinboy3niner]

37. EXACTLY! The GOP hobbled USPS by making it fund pensions for FUTURE hirees.

If not for that, it would have no budget problems. One union official described the situation well in a LTTE published yesterday in the Chicago Trib:

USPS can keep Saturdays

1:00 p.m. CDT, August 5, 2011


If one was to believe the recent propaganda by the Postmaster General, you would think the internet, the economy and the declining mail volume has made the United States Postal Service (USPS) unprofitable- thus they must eliminate Saturday delivery and close local Post Offices in order to survive. This is simply not accurate.

While it is true that mail volume has declined over the past ten years, the Postal Service, with cooperation from its labor unions, has made the appropriate business decisions to remain competitive and efficient. The real reason behind the "loss" of billions is a law that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its future retiree's health benefits for the next 75 years. That mandate, enacted during the Bush-era (2006), requires this to be done in ten years.


That's right – the USPS is required by law (not by its labor unions) to contribute over $5 billion annually to pay for the future health benefits of carriers and employees that have yet to be hired. The National Association of Letter Carriers is aware of this, which is why we have been working hard to get Congress to relieve the Postal Service of this unreasonable and unfair burden. No other company in the private or public sector is required to do this so neither should the Postal Service. ....
...


.... The Postal Service is still very relevant and for only 44 cent a stamp we don't require a dime of your tax dollar! If it was not for the congressional mandate to pre-fund our retirement, the Postal Service would have seen profits of over a half a billion dollars over the past five years. Right now the United States Postal Service does not need to close post offices, reduce services or a bailout -- we just need Congress to fix the law that is breaking your Postal Service.


-- Mack I. Julion , President, National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 11- Chicago


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-110805julion_briefs,0,2889672.story

This was an RW anti-union set-up all along. The only fix needed is legislative--to change the unreasonable pension-funding requirements the GOP succeeded in imposing by law.

[Strelnikov_]

45. Its like the Social Security crises

Both the Postal Service and SS need tweaks, but both are fundamentally sound.

If needed, eliminate Sat. delivery (PO's still need to be open on Sat. AM) and raise the rates a bit to reflect increased operating costs.

What you posted calls into question if there even is a problem with revenues. The problem is the GOP is trying to break the PO.

[pinboy3niner]

51. In USPS case, GOP's aim is to BOTH crush unions and to privatize

Read the letter again. There is NO NEED to eliminate Saturday delivery.

The ONLY fix needed is legislation to get rid of the unreasonable pension-funding requirements the GOP managed to impose during the W administration (in 2006).

Without that, USPS is fully self-funding, without a deficit problem.

The "crisis" was entirely manufactured by the GOP by passing a law to set up the USPS for failure. They divert operational funds to pre-fund pensions (including for FUTURE employees), then demonize USPS for failure to compete. USPS has to consider cutting services, which would further kill its competitiveness...and pretty soon you can drown it in a bathtub, eliminating the unions and privatizing it in one fell swoop.

What's not for a conservative to love?

Progressives shouldn't allow themselves to be sucked in by the RW BS. Nadin started a new thread in an effort to shine a light on what's REALLY going on here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1680161

[Strelnikov_]

50. Fair case is made for Saturday deliveries

The fact remains that everyone does not pay their bills online or even have access to the internet. Those who live in rural communities, low-income areas, and the elderly would be impacted the most by the slower delivery time that would result from just one less day of mail service.

The mail is like a pipeline. One less day of delivery means a day of delay depending on when the article is mailed. I know a lot of my stuff gets dropped in a box Friday afternoons or Saturdays.

[Bluerthanblue]

33. I really appreciate sat. mail- I'd be good with them

raising the cost of a first class stamp- it's pretty incredible to be able to send a letter across the country for less than $.50.

I prefer USPS over all other carriers for parcels as well.

Paperless communications have really taken a toll on many industries-

[BiggJawn]

38. Yes. I absolutely MUST have my Comcast junk mail 6 days a week

Oh, OK, so it's only 4 days a week. CenturyLink is trying to sell me ADSL the other 3. I have wireless broadband.

[EC]

41. I wouldn't care if it were only 3 days a week.

even...all my checks are on auto-deposit and that is the only thing I'd really, really not like waiting for.

[AsahinaKimi]

43. The only problem I could see is..

If ever my rent check is late, I get dinged an extra 50 dollars. I have seven days to get that rent check mailed to my landlady. I wish she would use pay pal, but she probably doesn't even own a computer. All my other bills can be paid on line.