Why the GOP Hates the Postal Service
- Thread starter What Would Jesus Do?
- Start date
No, this thread has shown just the opposite. That's not why they had those losses. Congressional control led by Rs is the reason. Release the USPS from that control and the problems evaporate. On every other issue you are for less gov't control, why don't you see the root of the problem here?
natural, if they were smart enough to grasp what you are saying this discussion wouldn't be necessary. Another thing that always worked against them was postage increase requests seemed to be in extreme arears. The approval process was so protracted that by time an increase was OK'd, economic conditions in the volatile 80s and 90s had rendered it obsolete. For several postage increase windows, the shortfall increased drastically.
And name a postal service that will deliver mail to you home? US Postal service? Not anymore. Have to drive to your cluster mail box. Yes, great service.
They have been working on this for decades. Rockwell Collins has been working on self driving trucks for at least 20 years.
No they can't. If they could, they would.
CeMar, you are a total jerk. Should a carrier deliver to every apartment in a building? A person in the country has to walk across the road to a mail box. A person in a housing complex has to get his mail in a cluster box. I'll tell you one thing; privatize mail delivery and everyone will be driving to pick up their mail somewhere. At a cost. A serious increase in cost you can't begin to imagine.
And, I challenge you...tell me about this terrible service. I am waiting.
In my area the Postal Service delivers 7 days a week (Amazon) on Sundays. I believe I have read where they now deliver more packages than UPS and Fed Ex combined the article quoted the Postal Service as being the shipper of choice for Ebay and Amazon. Fed Ex and UPS have priced themselves out of the market.
Sorry you live in the hood. My mailman in Coralville drives right up to my house and even brings big items right to my door.
That's true, but they weren't in charge of this train and have offered solutions which Rs blocked.
It is math.
I know Liberals and math do not mix, but this is pretty easy.
Don't be a "math denier".
The combined total of their solutions will not make the Postal Service profitable or even break even.
The beer/wine shipping is working its way through Congress now but will only add 50 million per year in revenue.
Saturday closures and no Saturday delivery are coming but again that won't make a huge difference.
The Postal Service is going to suffer a continued reduction in revenue to a point we can only guess at. This is not a political problem it is a revenue problem and while the Postal Service does not get Federal support the employees are government workers with pensions that will be paid from the government pension fund.
The 2006 Postal Act was a bi-partisan bill that was passed with a high level of support from both parties.
All kinds of misinformation here! There is no such thing as "the government pension fund" for starters.
http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/decade-of-facts-and-figures.htm
Package volume alone was 4 billion last year.
CeMar would rather pay UPS or FedEx $10 or $12 to send his letters. Because they're, like, private.
Just one day in the life of the
U.S. Postal Service... by the numbers
Each day the Postal Service picks up, processes and delivers millions of letters and packages. No single operation in the world comes close to this level of connectivity to so many households and businesses. Here’s just ONE day in the life of the United States Postal Service. (Figures are averages.)
- 223.7 million — revenue received, in dollars
- 151.8 million — dollars paid to postal employees in salaries and benefits
- 512.8 million — number of mailpieces processed and delivered
- 21.3 million — average number of mailpieces processed each hour
- 356,103— average number of mailpieces processed each minute
- 5,935 — average number of mailpieces processed each second
- 209.9 million — pieces of First-Class Mail processed and delivered
- 265.1 million — pieces of Advertising Mail processed and delivered
- 7,000 — number of letter carriers who deliver mail entirely on foot — The USPS Fleet of Feet
- 113, 531 — number of address changes processed
- 3,206 — number of addresses added to our delivery network
- 3.9 million — number of people who visit usps.com
- 3.3 million — dollar amount of online stamp and retail sales at usps.com
- 1.5 million — amount of money spent on postage for Click-N-Ship labels
- 133,699— number of Click-N-Ship labels printed
- 17,029 — number of passport applications accepted
- 320,132 — number of money orders issued
- 1.6 million — dollars spent at self-service kiosks in Post Office lobbies
- 0 — tax dollars received for operating the Postal Service
Ok, besides the Federal Employee Retirement System what did you find to be misinformation.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/04/how-the-postal-service-is-being-gutted.aspx
How the Postal Service Is Being Gutted.
That 75-year pre-funding mandate adds substantially to the post office's losses. This is a requirement that no other government agency, let alone a private company, must face. In short, the USPS is paying for people who aren't even employees yet -- in fact, may not even be born yet!
And the USPS has been a model for prudent squirreling. As of Feb. 2012, it had more than $326 billion in assets in its retirement fund, good for covering 91% of future pension and health-care liabilities. In fact, on its pensions, the USPS is more than 100% funded, compared to 42% at the government and 80% at the average Fortune 1000 company. In health-care pre-funding, the USPS stands at 49%, which sounds not so good until you understand that the government doesn't pre-fund at all and that just 38% of Fortune 1000 companies do, at just a median 37% rate. The USPS does better than almost everyone.
Pre-funding is a burden that other government-linked firms don't have to face, notably defense companies. Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT ) pension was underfunded by $13.3 billion as of Aug. 2012 -- nearly half of its market cap. Raytheon's (NYSE: RTN ) was underfunded by $6 billion, more than one-third of its market cap, and Boeing's (NYSE: BA ) by $16.6 billion, almost 30%. They have the luxury of profitability and time to fund their obligations. Another advantage: They can invest in a wide range of securities, while the USPS is forced to invest in only government bonds. Yeah, those bonds that, in some cases, pay less than 1% interest. So USPS has to save a lot more money now for the same payout later.
The cuts USPS is being forced to make are like eating dog food when you have a million bucks in the bank. The pre-funding mandate is completely ridiculous for a business that is mandated to break even. Where is the surplus cash going to come from, since it’s not from profits? In addition, this mandate forces USPS to cut investments in technology that would increase productivity and competitiveness, making USPS viable longer term. Even Congress is not so dense as not to see that its law creates a crushing burden.
You mean try to get them to stay within their budget and stop fraud, waste and abuse?
Private companies kick the post offices ass in timely service and customer service. AIAEC. The post office is like the VA....just another bureaucratic night mare that won't ever get fixed.
After all the excellent info provided in this thread, it's really painful to read such an appallingly ignorant comment.
Because they're always away from home with no danger of taking control on land
This has to be a troll job, because no one could possibly read that information and make such an asinine comment. Please confirm you are trolling here!
This has to be a troll job, because no one could possibly read that information and make such an asinine comment. Please confirm you are trolling here!
Several articles linked already showing their debt associated with their pension structure.
Go back and read them.
What other participants in the Federal retirement program are required to prefund their pensions?
That's a serious question. Does anyone know?
That's a serious question. Does anyone know?
Their pension system is fine. The USPS being mandated to pay pensions for people not even born yet is not.
As a frequent shipper and small business owner, Saturday shipping helps me serve customers better, and the USPS Priority has become more reliable, cheaper, and faster than UPS Ground or Fedex Ground. It's made great strides in terms of service level in the last 5 years.
NOW, the flip side. The reason the USPS is bad is because it's a government business competing with private sector business (which is supposed to be illegal), particularly in the area I utilize, parcel shipment. As long as there is a need for paper mail though, and another private-sector entity doesn't give it focus, the USPS will remain necessary.
I'm not sure if I necessarily am ok with privatizing the military. To be honest I don't know enough about it. But it seems like if someone is for the privatization of the post office, they should also be for doing the same with defense.
You could probably stand to get off your fat ass and walk to the central mail box.
How is it working? "Working" to me should imply that it is a well-run needed service that is self-sustaining financially. I don't think it is working.
How is the military working? Did we efficiently and effectively control Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and ISIS?
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The reason why they are not profitable has been stated several times in this thread.
I wonder if the 'private post office' would have to change their name as many times as Blackwater has because of bad publicity.
And that would happen if the congressional restrictions that prevent that were lifted. It was as you desire prior to the 2006 law going into effect.
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