It’s no longer considered news when the United States Postal Service (USPS) projects a loss. Earlier the USPS indicated projected losses for the year would hit $15 billion. Well, that projection was off by $900,000,000. Yup, the venerable postal system lost more money than officials had been projecting. (The fiscal year ended Sept. 30 for the service.)
Now get this, the USPS says it will run out of cash on Oct. 15, 2013, unless Congress — you guessed it — bails ‘em out. Wait a minute, we’ve been told that the United States Postal Service is not a branch of the federal government, that it’s a quasi private business. OK, then let the USPS bail itself out or file for bankruptcy. It’s been suggested that there are no more bail out funds available at our revolving Chinese bank account.
If the American taxpayer is asked to bail out the long-failing postal system to the tune of $15.9 billion, then why the charade of pretending it’s not a government service?
And, what’s causing this growing shortfall? Well, the USPS has to pre-fund its employee compensation payment to the U.S. Labor Department.
According to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, “We are walking a financial tightrope.” Donahoe then posed the question on the minds of U.S. taxpayers: “Will we ever stop delivering the mail? It will never happen. We are simply too important to the economy and the flow of commerce.”
Sounds like “too big to fail” banking industry rhetoric in the days leading up to the financial bailouts of banks.
So what is Donahoe looking for from Congress? He’s hoping Congress will come up with legislation that would allow the USPS to spread future retirees’ health-benefit payments over a larger number of years. He’s also hoping that Congress would allow the service to end Saturday mail delivery. And, he’s not done yet with his wish list. He hopes Congress will make it easier to close post office locations and processing plants that the service deems too expensive to operate or that would be easily consolidated with other local or region post office locations.
That sounds reasonable.
If Congress stumbles over his request on the way to our nation’s fiscal cliff and fails to act, what would happen to the USPS? “If Congress fails to act, there could be postal slowdowns or shutdowns that would have catastrophic consequences for the 8 million private sector workers whose jobs depend on the mail,” said Art Sacler, coordinator of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service. (That’s not good.)
What’s the solution? “It (a temporary projected surplus) is no substitute for the actual cost-cutting USPS needs to do to find real savings,” said Darrel Issa, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee.
Actual cost-cutting? That’s a novel idea.
If cost-cutting works at the USPS, it may work in other areas of the federal government before going over Jan. 1, 2013’s apocalyptic cliff.
Keith Hansen
Comments (12)
Add commentI agree 100% with you on this
I agree 100% with you on this one Keith. Eliminate Saturday delivery for a start. Close more small town post offices, we can not afford it. Why should someone in a larger town have to subsidize the small ones?
Price of a Stamp.
I'll likely get crucified for this but here goes. We ask the postal service to take a letter to anywhere in the world for a measly $.45. Are you kidding me? The post office is mearely slow in coming around to joining us here in the 21st century. I remember postage at $.23 so they've nearly doubled while gas prices have more than trippled in that same time and the USPS is losing money? It's my opinion postage should be a dollar or more, look at what you're getting for that money. Oh, and one positive byproduct of higher postage? Less junkmail!! Can you image? Going out to the mailbox and not throwing away 80% of what you bring in without opening? UTOPIA!
More
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171301/easy-task-congress-save-post-office
Another solution ...
... if advertisers (read also "junk mailers" ) paid the same $.45 rate that we do, there would be no fiscal crisis at the USPS; why should private party mailers subsidize the junksters ?????
USPS
Isn't it simple to sit back and bark an opinion about something you have no idea how complicated it really is? Lots of opinions out there...and most of them are factless. Cut off Saturday delivery. Close post offices. Lower or freeze the price of stamps. Reduce salaries and benefits. Eliminate bulk business mail. All good ideas? Some maybe.
If it was that simple, don't you think the problems would have been corrected and the USPS ship righted? It isn't.
Quasi-government? Yes, in 1970 Congress created the Postal Reorganization Act, and the United States Postal Service was born. One of its mandates is universal mail service. From Barrow Alaska to Key West Flordia you can mail a letter for the same price that you can to delivery a letter across the street. That business plan worked well when there were 200 million letters in the mail system everyday. That was before computers of course. When was the last time you mailed a personal letter to someone?
The Postal Service does not receive tax revenues and hasn't since its conception in 1970. The USPS is suppose to operate like a business but it is not supposed to make a profit. What? Can you imagine? Open the door in the morning and plan on breaking even. Don't make a profit and don't loose any money.
Did you know there are dozens of state and federal agencies that is one way or another have some sort of reglatory control over the Postal Service?
Did you know that Congress determined that the Postal Service should to pay $5 billion dollars a year to pre-fund future retirement health insurance? No other federal agency, or quasi-government agency is required to do this. Is this really a stamp-tax?
Now, I am not saying the USPS is faltless. But, it is long over due for Congress to correct the business plan they created and allow the Postal Service to operate without all the federal restraints.
post office
if they would of charged letter rates for all the junk political mailings this past election they would have been in the black with enough left over to run them til the next election.
What people fail see is how
What people fail see is how technology has affected our lives and has changed our economy. Sure life is easier now because we can email a 10,000 page document with the push of a button. How has this improvement affected our economy?
Well first we don't use as many
trees. Hooray! That's great for the environment. Well, now the people who cut the trees, lumber jacks, are out of a job. The people who drive the trucks which carry the trees to the factories are out of their jobs, and let's not forget the factory workers in the paper mills. They are all out of jobs. Plus the people who deliver the papers like truck drivers, UPS, USPS, FEDEX - they're out of jobs too. Oh, and the stores that used to sell the envelopes and pads. They are all out of business. That's thousands of small businesses all vanished.
That's just one example which has caused millions of jobs lost throughout the world, and I can go on and on with more examples.
I laugh when I see people blame the state of the economy and the lack of jobs on President Obama. He does not control the economy, nor create jobs unless they are government jobs. He can only foster an environment for people to create jobs. But understand that no
President as ever been a job creator.
Yes technology has made our lives easier, and has provided instant gratification for millions of Americans. But, there is a price that has been paid, part social, and a big part economical.
Junk mailers pay less because
Junk mailers pay less because of volume, just like Walmart pays less for a widget than a small mom and pop business.
Hate the junk mail all you want, but they keep your rates down.
You have to look at both sides. Yes, technology has taken away jobs, but it has created them too.
Thank the Republicon US Congress for creating yet another mess
And just think . Not too many years ago most Americans thought the absolute Veterans Preference the USPS used in their hiring practices was a GOOD THING !
I wonder if Halliburton has their bid in to take over the US mail service ?