I would do it too for $2,000,000,000 dollars

[Pray To Jesus]

Simple change, big savings.

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented.
“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.”
Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However, recent strong growth in package delivery (14 percent volume increase since 2010) and projections of continued strong package growth throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain package delivery six days per week.
“Our customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an important part of that platform,” said Donahoe. “As consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services — especially due to the rise of e-commerce — we can play an increasingly vital role as a delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for America’s businesses.”
Once implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.
Market research conducted by the Postal Service and independent research by major news organizations indicate that nearly seven out of ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the organization to financial stability.¹ Support for this approach will likely be even higher since the Postal Service plans to maintain six-day package delivery.
The Postal Service is making the announcement today, more than six months in advance of implementing five-day mail delivery schedule, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule.
Given the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal Service finances.
“The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation,” said Donahoe. “The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail.”
The operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully implemented.
The Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations. During these unprecedented initiatives, the Postal Service continued to deliver record high levels of service to its customers.
While the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters outside the Postal Service’s control. The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
¹ Sources: Gallup Poll, March 26, 2010 • New York Times/CBS News, June 27, 2012 • USA Today, March 17, 2010 • Washington Post, March 30, 2010

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Copyright© 2013 USPS. All Rights Reserved.

 

[sourceninja]

I have a money saving system for them. I'd pay them to get on a list to not get any bulk mail ever.

Less mail to sort, less mail to load, less mail to deliver.

 

[LTC8K6]

I'm sure it will save money, but I bet that number is optimistic.

 

[darkxshade]

I have a money saving system for them. I'd pay them to get on a list to not get any bulk mail ever.

Less mail to sort, less mail to load, less mail to deliver.

https://www.catalogchoice.org/

 

[Vdubchaos]

2 Billion? pppppfffffttttttt

They just spent 50+ Billion on Iraq and accomplished NOTHING.

There is only one solution to this madness. Keep Government/Business COMPLETELY separated.

 

[sixone]

What, exactly, qualifies as a "package"? Large envelopes that require extra postage?

 

[sixone]

I have a money saving system for them. I'd pay them to get on a list to not get any bulk mail ever.

Less mail to sort, less mail to load, less mail to deliver.

I'd pay to be on that list, too.

 

[Rakehellion]

growth of our package

That was all I read. I'm 12.

 

[Rakehellion]

I have a money saving system for them. I'd pay them to get on a list to not get any bulk mail ever.

Less mail to sort, less mail to load, less mail to deliver.

Yeah, the advertisers are paying even more.


I'm in an apartment and probably half the mail I get is addressed to previous tenants. I don't get checks, I don't write telegrams, and I receive bills online. I've never anticipated a letter, but I have packages going in and out all the time. (That's what she said!)

 

[Red Squirrel]

That was all I read. I'm 12.

They should get that checked. :biggrin:

I can't help but giggle inside when I go to Purolator and they tell me "you have a big package" :biggrin:

 

[Rakehellion]

2 Billion? pppppfffffttttttt

They just spent 50+ Billion on Iraq and accomplished NOTHING.

There is only one solution to this madness. Keep Government/Business COMPLETELY separated.

America spends more on military than anything else by a long shot. The USPS has a comparatively tiny budget. Hell, the space program was a fraction of a percent of the budget and they axed that.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I wouldn't mind if they greatly increased the price of bulk mailings. Cut down on some of the crap that companies send out. Right now they pay like half as much or less than standard postage.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah bulk mailing should be like 2x or even more than regular mail. Think of how many tons of paper are moved by foot due to bulk mail. Labor and time = money.

 

[sixone]

Yeah bulk mailing should be like 2x or even more than regular mail. Think of how many tons of paper are moved by foot due to bulk mail. Labor and time = money.

They don't care about the money or the planet. They care about keeping the union employees on the job.

 

[BudAshes]

Just deliver once a week is fine with me at this point.

 

[mmntech]

I'm actually surprised the US has mail delivery on Saturdays. It's something we've never had in Canada as far as I can remember.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Pretty much nothing for me will change. Hopefully this move will enable them to keep package shipping costs down.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The USPS needs to have online tracking, better insurance policies, and be able to store tracking info for a long while. I sold some DDR 400 CL2 a while ago and used the USPS service. They were the worst when it came to providing me with proof that the package was delivered and someone signed for it. They told me once it's delivered the info is no longer in the system, hence my Pay Pal dispute. So not only did I lose the DDR 400 CL2 ram on behalf of the USPS, I had to give the buyer the money back.

 

[sixone]

The USPS needs to have online tracking, better insurance policies, and be able to store tracking info for a long while. I sold some DDR 400 CL2 a while ago and used the USPS service. They were the worst when it came to providing me with proof that the package was delivered and someone signed for it. They told me once it's delivered the info is no longer in the system, hence my Pay Pal dispute. So not only did I lose the DDR 400 CL2 ram on behalf of the USPS, I had to give the buyer the money back.

That's a good point. The post office may be good at some things, but customer service isn't one of them - and hasn't been for a very long time. And it's hurting their bottom line.

If they were an independent company, they'd have to bend to customer demands. Instead, they're beholden to political and union interests, and the customer can go hang.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

The USPS needs to have online tracking, better insurance policies, and be able to store tracking info for a long while. I sold some DDR 400 CL2 a while ago and used the USPS service. They were the worst when it came to providing me with proof that the package was delivered and someone signed for it. They told me once it's delivered the info is no longer in the system, hence my Pay Pal dispute. So not only did I lose the DDR 400 CL2 ram on behalf of the USPS, I had to give the buyer the money back.

USPS offers multiple option if you need delivery confirmation. You were just too cheap to pay for it.

 

[GundamW]

Simple change, big savings.

Simple, stop the "government-mandated payments to pre-fund health care benefits for postal retirees -- 75 years into the future", then stop using competitors to sort/transport mails.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/postal-service-financial-problems_n_1833211.html

Congress causes the dame problem in the first place and are now blaming USPS for wasting money.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Good thing they're not paying their bills!

On Aug. 1, for the first time since the 2006 mandate, the Postal Service did not pay its $5.5 billion annual retiree health benefits bill, and announced that it's likely to default on the next payment too, due Sept. 30. While the announcement raised red flags of concern for the welfare of retiring postal workers, experts, including postal employee unions, contend that the retirees will be fine -- or may even be better off -- if the USPS doesn't pay another cent into the fund for a long time. Indeed, Postal Service inspector general David Williams wrote a letter to the Senate earlier this year recommending just that -- eliminating the annual payments and letting the $44 billion fund grow with interest. Despite the Postal Service's debt, its retiree benefit coffers are beyond full. Its pension funds are more than 100% funded, compared with 42% for all federal pension funds and 80% for the average Fortune 1000 pension plan. That "astonishingly high figure," according to Williams, amounts to a "war chest" of resources that will take care of older workers for decades to come.

Why aren't they paying their bills (hidden tax)? Because of this:

But some in the postal industry say that declining mail is just an excuse: "There is red ink -- but the overwhelming share has nothing to do with mail volume, the Internet, or other factors related to the mail," says Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. The retiree health payments account for nearly 80 percent, or $9.2 billion, of the first three quarters' losses, and they "not only have exhausted the Postal Service's profits, savings and borrowing authority, they also have distracted the USPS from addressing the structural issues that do indeed exist as society changes," says Rolando, adding that there are "plenty of opportunities" in mail, including e-commerce shipping. "The prefunding of retiree health benefits for future retirees is a major cause of our financial crisis -- but not the only cause," says a USPS spokesman, citing decline in first-class mail as another major cause.

While many industry groups, including the Postal Regulatory Commission, have recommended that the health care payments -- the result of a congressional mandate passed in 2006, before the Postal Service's problems started -- be reduced to alleviate the burden, there is one massive roadblock: the federal budget. Because the retiree health prefunding payments are counted in federal funds, they are tied into the nation's budget, which some experts say amounts to the USPS subsidizing government operations. "So the Postal Service has been a kind of cash cow for the federal government for the last 40 years," says Postal Regulatory Commission chairman Ruth Goldway.