Post Office to stop Saturday mail delivery in August.

[waggy]

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/...ls-for-postal-privatization-federal-job-cuts/

Republican official party platform 2012:

“In light of the Postal Service’s seriously underfunded pension system, Congress should explore a greater role for private enterprise in appropriate aspects of the mail processing system,” the platform states.



Its an OUTRIGHT LIE!

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...rman-issa-pushes-privatization-159224595.html

Issa Blocks Fix Of Post Office Pension Prepay Time Bomb, Says Robert Weiner, Former Spokesman for U.S. House Govt Reform Comm.; Bipartisan Bill Has 229 Sponsors But Chairman Issa Pushes Privatization
PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1eCpv)


The US Postal Service could avoid closings, firings, and cutbacks if the Chair of the House Government Reform Committee would stop blocking a bipartisan bill sponsored by 229 members that gives the Post Office the same 20-30 year pension pre-pay funding requirements as other federal agencies, instead of a Bush-signed bill that requires a 75 year prepayment leaving the Post Office with massive debt, says Robert Weiner , former spokesman of the Government Reform Committee before he became a spokesman in the Clinton White House.
PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1eCpv)

BOTH parties have fucked over the USPS.

if they left it alone and let them do what needed they would be fine.

though ending Saturday is minor I hope they don't close my PO office. its one of the few places we can put up notices's on teh board, talk etc.

 

[iRONic]

This is why you'll die alone.

well we know you will. so its ok

kinda happens when you are a whiny bitter old bitch who has nothing better to do then sling shit. Call dads who are in the military "unfit parents" and just be an all around old fucking useless wise and beautiful woman.

maybe you two can send each other postcards?

Talk about self ownage! Christ...

Ixnay on the ostcardspay. One can't write fundamental English, the other one can't read it.

 

[IronWing]

I leave a thread for a bit and look what happens.

It's like P&N, L&R, and the Video Card forums slam dancing around here. Just don't spit into each other's mouths; that would be gross, okay?

 

[techs]

BOTH parties have fucked over the USPS.

if they left it alone and let them do what needed they would be fine.

Yes and no, imo.
Yes, their are times that political considerations have hurt the Post Office bottom line. But, sometimes that's necessary for the public good. Forcing the Post Office to deliver to "uneconomical" outlying areas was hugely beneficial to our nation as a whole for over a hundred and fifty years.

If we "left the Post Office alone" would they drop deliveries to the 15 percent of homes that cost the most and pay the least? That wouldn't be good for the country.

Basically we need politicians who will respect the Post Offices service and work toward reasonable changes that are economically viable and workf or the country as a whole.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Why don't we just privatize the USPS?

I'd be interested to see a study on how much first class mail would cost if handled by UPS/Fedex. How much first class mail do you receive that you actually care about?

 

[IronWing]

Why don't we just privatize the USPS?

I'd be interested to see a study on how much first class mail would cost if handled by UPS/Fedex. How much first class mail do you receive that you actually care about?

FedEx envelope shipped cross-town today from drop-off location to residential address by cheapest method, delivery on Monday, today is Wednesday= $17.05. With Friday delivery = $21.62. Delivered tomorrow afternoon (on par with what the USPS could do for $0.46) = $24.48. By early tomorrow morning = $61.16. We could certainly eliminate junk mail.

 

[sixone]

Basically we need politicians who will respect the Post Offices service and work toward reasonable changes that are economically viable and workf or the country as a whole.

Sounds great. Unfortunately, politicians are beholden to donors, so it'll never happen. They'll do what works for the people who get them reelected, and screw everyone else.

 

[RU482]

http://letters.ocregister.com/2012/11/19/lighten-the-post-office-pension-burden/

The real problem for the U.S. Postal Service that your editorial, “Post office’s own fiscal cliff” [Nov. 19], doesn’t address is that Congress ordered the post office to pay ahead 75 years of expected pensions. In other words, pay ahead for pensions for people not even hired yet. No other corporation or government agency has to work under such an unfair burden.

The solution to this strictly political, manmade “crisis”? Undo the 75 years’ advance payment requirement and look into allowing the post offices to also handle other matters – such as notarizing papers, having coin machines available for making copies, selling maps or the like.

was just thinking, I wonder how hard FedEx and UPS lobbied for this situation....

 

[Gunslinger08]

FedEx envelope shipped cross-town today from drop-off location to residential address by cheapest method, delivery on Monday, today is Wednesday= $17.05. With Friday delivery = $21.62. Delivered tomorrow afternoon (on par with what the USPS could do for $0.46) = $24.48. By early tomorrow morning = $61.16. We could certainly eliminate junk mail.

Volume for these companies would be significantly higher, if the USPS was privatized or abolished. Complete wild ass guess would probably be a couple bucks, using the economies of scale. I think junk mail would be drastically reduced and companies would be incentivized to push for paperless billing. I guess it would negatively impact more rural/technologically unprogressed people, as they'd still need to mail in monthly bill payments and such.

 

[Xonim]

I'm not really going to weigh in on all the nonsense happening the last page or two, because it's ridiculous.

Here's my contribution: Why does nobody ask their employers why they aren't paid more or why they don't have better benefits? Companies are posting record profits, and now anybody who has an ok paying job with ok benefits is the enemy.

 

[sixone]

Here's my contribution: Why does nobody ask their employers why they aren't paid more or why they don't have better benefits? Companies are posting record profits, and now anybody who has an ok paying job with ok benefits is the enemy.

Most people say that their Congressman or Senator is great - it's everyone else's that are causing the problem.

Same goes for schools and employers.

 

[techs]

Why don't we just privatize the USPS?

I'd be interested to see a study on how much first class mail would cost if handled by UPS/Fedex. How much first class mail do you receive that you actually care about?

was just thinking, I wonder how hard FedEx and UPS lobbied for this situation....

FedEx and UPS have both publicly stated they are not interested in taking over the Post Offices business.

Heck, those and other premium delivery services have at times used the Post Office to deliver their packages "the last mile". Newegg had DHL who did this for a while. The reason is the cost of having someone make rounds every day to every house. FedEx and UPS know they can't make money, nor probably do as well as the Post Office.

On the other hand, what FedEx and UPS have done, by lobbying, is prevent the Post Office from competing with them. In fact, the worse the Post Office does its job the better for hugely more expensive alternatives.

If any private company wanted to take over the Post Office business how come they haven't said so?

There is NO private alternative that could do what the Post Office does if they had to make a profit as well.

 

[bigrash]

damn you USPS, now I have nothing else to look forward to on Saturday.

 

[waggy]

damn you USPS, now I have nothing else to look forward to on Saturday.

yeah them fuckers!

though ti will save me from walking a whole 30 yards to the post office on saturday.

 

[Brainonska511]

There is NO private alternative that could do what the Post Office does if they had to make a profit as well.

Why does it have to be profitable? Why can we not be accepting that some government services may be very good for everyone, but still carry a user fee (to mitigate losses overall and pass costs onto those that use it the most), but still not make money? The military isn't exactly operating at a profit. We should privatize that too...

 

[Jimzz]

damn you USPS, now I have nothing else to look forward to on Saturday.

Well it does give us more time to keep those damm kids off our lawns. :|

 

[Thebobo]

Why does it have to be profitable? Why can we not be accepting that some government services may be very good for everyone, but still carry a user fee (to mitigate losses overall and pass costs onto those that use it the most), but still not make money? The military isn't exactly operating at a profit. We should privatize that too...

Republicans!

 

[techs]

Why does it have to be profitable? Why can we not be accepting that some government services may be very good for everyone, but still carry a user fee (to mitigate losses overall and pass costs onto those that use it the most), but still not make money? The military isn't exactly operating at a profit. We should privatize that too...

Republicans!

No, I think he raises a good point.

The impetus to privatize it is coming from uber capitalists who believe that the profit motive will improve service or lower costs. While this has only rarely occurred when tried in other areas, apparently they are "confident" that the lure of making money will give us "better" mail service.

The current Post Office is a non profit. So if you are just talking about changing management I don't see the point. Before we could even begin to measure the current managements performance we would need to lift a lot of government regs that prevent the Post Office from doing anything that might compete with any private organization like FedEx. Change the extreme rules on pensions, etc, allow the Post Office to raise rates so they have enough revenue.

Of course if you did those things there would be no "crisis" and no more talk of privatization.

 

[Slew Foot]

As a guy who mails thousands of packages every year through the USPS, I think they provide a fantastic service at a spectacular cost.