US Postal Service suspending pension contributions

[Mackelroy]

Maybe. So. Not the job of the government to make our life cheaper.

And thats why medical in U.S. is the highest per capita compared to any where in the world.

but people still mail bills with a postage stamp, try to send it by private shipper, the cost is no joke.

 

[nickaluch]

In the cities here there are Amazon boxes. Looks like a stack of large post office boxes. You go and enter a code - and one door opens and you get your stuff. For people in apartments and such - Amazon can't enter anyway. They could put an Amazon box in the nearest town or at a popular corner and people could go retrieve there own stuff.

I am not unsympathetic to those people, but I grew up in a very rural place and mom went to town at most once per week. There were no deliveries back then. Its part of living in a rural area, and anyone that actually understands this won't worry about it.

makes sense to me I know my daughters apartment building in lower Manhattan the lobby is loaded with deliveries tons of boxes every day it's a real show to retrieve a box

 

[Finklejag]

Is that early morning? Likely waiting for next day air early morning delivery packages to land. UPS, FedEx, DHL all do the same. Huge revenue to get a package to a far destination by 8 AM the next morning.

This employee sits in that van all night and does absolutely nothing. I honestly don’t know what their job function is?

 

[TimeFlies]

Why shouldn't they be in a union? I feel there is a widespread misconception, especially among those outside the federal government, regarding the scope of federal unions, which varies significantly by agency and position.

If I told you, they would ban me.

 

[SC Maintenance]

And thats why medical in U.S. is the highest per capita compared to any where in the world.

Medicare, Medicaid, VA and federal employees account for more than half of all US medical spend. US medical complex is not private and is a scam. Different topic. We might agree there actually.

but people still mail bills with a postage stamp, try to send it by private shipper, the cost is no joke.

No disrespect intended, but its not the governments problem that you or your supplier refuse to use more modern payment methods. Its not critical to the republic, and the purpose of the post office was never to mail payments. The USPS, while possibly convenient for many, is not an essential service for our country.

We honestly do not know how much a private mail carrier would charge because we don't have one - the post office has complete monopoly on standard mail. Its illegal for anyone to put anything in my mailbox except the USPS, they must shut off there truck, get out, and bring it to my door. Even though its my box, my number, my post sitting on my lawn. Complete monopoly.

 

[The_Jeff]

It’s a good view that a government agency attempt to operate as if it were for profit. Business or organizations that do not operate well / efficiently cease to exist including non profits.

The Post Office is part of our infrastructure, like telephone lines, water, and internet, which help people and businesses thrive and flourish. The government, and quasi-government agencies, exist where these things are best handled by a monopoly. USPS is not so profitable that anyone serious would go after their monopoly status. In fact they get hobbled by various congressional requirements that they do last-mile deliveries for UPS and Fedex only where it's not profitable for private industry to choose to do so.

Their "profitability" (or alleged lack thereof) includes "Hollywood accounting" for the 75-years-in-future pension plan, but their operations have hovered around breaking even at least some of the time. Compare that to our gas tax and highway situation, where gas taxes and user fees only cover about half of the expense. BTW, both highways and the post office are "infrastructure."

 

[SC Maintenance]

A lot of the new neighborhoods around me have group mailboxes at the entrance.

I have a personal mailbox.

The newer sections of our same development have a group mailbox location. Same subdivision, all single family homes. No mailbox.

Just depended on what year was build.

 

[SC Maintenance]

The Post Office is part of our infrastructure, like telephone lines, water, and internet, which help people and businesses thrive and flourish. The government, and quasi-government agencies, exist where these things are best handled by a monopoly. USPS is not so profitable that anyone serious would go after their monopoly status. In fact they get hobbled by various congressional requirements that they do last-mile deliveries for UPS and Fedex only where it's not profitable for private industry to choose to do so.

Its no longer required infrastructure.

75 agencies have been closed over our history. We used to have agencies the regulated things like the quality and weight of gold and silver coins - went away when we stopped using those coins as our primary money.

We have stopped using letters as our primary communication. So no post office needed for the function of our country - unlike roads, water and internet. As for telephone - no hard wire lines to new developments either - there VoIP or cell. Stuff evolves.

 

[alarmguy]

This isn’t a political statement. This has to do with the whole world.
When companies are restricted by political organizations meaning government, it’s hard for them to run efficiently

I can solve The Postal Service problems with one act. The Postal Service wanted to do this a long time ago, but were blocked by Washington DC

It only makes sense to deliver mail five days a week Monday through Friday

The need for postal workers would be greatly reduced. The cost savings would be massive and it would also make a more efficiently run operation. 6 day a week mail delivery is absolutely stupid in this information age

 

[6.7 CTD]

This isn’t a political statement. This has to do with the whole world.
When companies are restricted by political organizations meaning government, it’s hard for them to run efficiently

I can solve The Postal Service problems with one act. The Postal Service wanted to do this a long time ago, but were blocked by Washington DC

It only makes sense to deliver mail five days a week Monday through Friday

The need for postal workers would be greatly reduced. The cost savings would be massive and it would also make a more efficiently run operation. 6 day a week mail delivery is absolutely stupid in this information age

Are you proposing to alter the carriers’ days off from Sunday and Tuesday (for example) to Saturday and Sunday? While this change may be appreciated by the mail carrier, it does not impact their weekly hours or provide any cost savings.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Are you proposing to alter the carriers’ days off from Sunday and Tuesday (for example) to Saturday and Sunday? While this change may be appreciated by the mail carrier, it does not impact their weekly hours or provide any cost savings.

Ummm, you would have 1/6 less work days and hence 1/6 less work. Unless your telling me every mail carrier is already loaded to the brim and can't take 1/6 more volume?

If so, I like @dnewton3 suggestion that USPS stop moving packages, and just do letters and such.

 

[cheech279]

This employee sits in that van all night and does absolutely nothing. I honestly don’t know what their job function is?

Maybe you were on a lengthy stake out, but if you stayed and watched that Postal van for 8 straight hours to know what the employee actually did, you need a life, Bud. Maybe he was an armed employee guarding high value shipments being loaded or unloaded at that terminal gate.

 

[6.7 CTD]

Ummm, you would have 1/6 less work days and hence 1/6 less work. Unless your telling me every mail carrier is already loaded to the brim and can't take 1/6 more volume?

If so, I like @dnewton3 suggestion that USPS stop moving packages, and just do letters and such.

Except that by eliminating an additional delivery day, there will be increased carrier volume. While Saturday’s volume is often the lowest volume as compared to weekdays. It’s still going to potentially extend carriers’ route times potentially leading to overtime. Without knowing the overtime expenditures related to this, one might guess it saves money but in reality it may not. This has been proposed for many years and hasn’t been implemented; likely for a reason that I’m not personally privy to.
Side note: I don’t work for the postal service, but my sibling is an operations manager.

 

[Ronsant]

The US postal service does not deliver on the end of a motorboat or seaplane - pure gibberish. US postal service only delivers on year round regularly maintained public roads. For those that live outside normal routes they can receive mail "general delivery" - meaning you go to the nearest post office and pick it up.

You also pay more to ship packages to places like Alaska and Hawaii.

More reason to sunset the post office. Do taxpayers need to subsidize Amazon delivery for rural areas?

Taxpayers do not subsidize the postal service. That is a common misconception.
Also,the reason that the post office is always in financial trouble.
I feel that the postal service does provide a vital service. However, I admit to being a subscriber of many of the print magazines still available. I pay most of my bills via the internet, but I do mail in a few. I hope that the government can find a way to make the post office solvent as they compete with Fed-Ex and UPS.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Taxpayers do not subsidize the postal service. That is a common misconception.
Also,the reason that the post office is always in financial trouble.
I feel that the postal service does provide a vital service. However, I admit to being a subscriber of many of the print magazines still available. I pay most of my bills via the internet, but I do mail in a few. I hope that the government can find a way to make the post office solvent as they compete with Fed-Ex and UPS.

They can't pay there pension, which will mean were on the hook for it.

Either way, my argument has never been about the money, if you look at my posts. If its an essential service the government needs to provide it. Congress's job to figure out how to fund it.

If its not essential then government should not be involved, profitable or not. As for Amazon packages - unless you did the books you don't know if those are profitable or unprofitable. Any decent accountant can allocate costs to show one part of a business is profitable or not. Either way the USPS is enabling Amazon to compete with local retailers, and its been well published they get quite a discount due to "volume". Not the governments job to pick winners and loosers.

We don't need it. The premise of the post office was a method for the nation to communicate. That need has long passed. Just because its convenient for many does not change that it is not a needed function.

 

[6.7 CTD]

They can't pay there pension, which will mean were on the hook for it.

Either way, my argument has never been about the money, if you look at my posts. If its an essential service the government needs to provide it. Congress's job to figure out how to fund it.

If its not essential then government should not be involved, profitable or not. As for Amazon packages - unless you did the books you don't know if those are profitable or unprofitable. Any decent accountant can allocate costs to show one part of a business is profitable or not. Either way the USPS is enabling Amazon to compete with local retailers, and its been well published they get quite a discount due to "volume". Not the governments job to pick winners and loosers.

We don't need it. The premise of the post office was a method for the nation to communicate. That need has long passed. Just because its convenient for many does not change that it is not a needed function.

Maybe because:

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 (Public Law 109-435) was a major U.S. federal statute signed by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006, that overhauled the United States Postal Service (USPS). It forced the USPS to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance and created a restrictive rate cap based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Key Aspects of the PAEA of 2006:

• Retiree Health Benefits Funding: The act mandated that the USPS pay roughly $5.6 billion to $5.8 billion annually for ten years into a newly established Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund to pay for future retiree health care costs.
• Rate Regulation: It required the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to create a new system for regulating rates, capping price increases for "market-dominant" products (like first-class mail) to no more than the rate of inflation (CPI-U).
• Product Classification: The Act split services into "market-dominant" (monopoly products) and "competitive" (packages, etc.) to prevent the USPS from using mail revenue to subsidize competitive shipping services.
• Regulatory Changes: It renamed the Postal Rate Commission to the Postal Regulatory Commission, giving it expanded oversight duties and subpoena power.
• Financial Impact: The stringent pre-funding requirement resulted in significant financial pressure on the USPS, causing massive operating losses in subsequent years, which critics argue created a manufactured financial crisis.

The PAEA was the first major legislative reform of the USPS since it was reorganized into an independent agency in 1970.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Except that by eliminating an additional delivery day, there will be increased carrier volume. While Saturday’s volume is often the lowest volume as compared to weekdays. It’s still going to potentially extend carriers’ route times potentially leading to overtime. Without knowing the overtime expenditures related to this, one might guess it saves money but in reality it may not. This has been proposed for many years and hasn’t been implemented; likely for a reason that I’m not personally privy to.
Side note: I don’t work for the postal service, but my sibling is an operations manager.

Maybe. As mentioned the USPS themselves have proposed it.

I stand by my suggestion - go to 3 days a week and triple the rates. We will find out how much of a post office we actually need. If your letter is important you will pay 3 bucks to send it.

 

[Leo99]

My kids are 30 and 34 and I don't think they have much need for the usps unless Amazon uses USPS.. They never mail anything. We need some official means to contact everyone and we'll need usps until an official email takes over. Paying bills by check isn't that safe anymore so the usps has very limited use for individuals buying stamps.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Maybe because:

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 (Public Law 109-435) was a major U.S. federal statute signed by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006, that overhauled the United States Postal Service (USPS). It forced the USPS to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance and created a restrictive rate cap based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Key Aspects of the PAEA of 2006:

• Retiree Health Benefits Funding: The act mandated that the USPS pay roughly $5.6 billion to $5.8 billion annually for ten years into a newly established Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund to pay for future retiree health care costs.
• Rate Regulation: It required the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to create a new system for regulating rates, capping price increases for "market-dominant" products (like first-class mail) to no more than the rate of inflation (CPI-U).
• Product Classification: The Act split services into "market-dominant" (monopoly products) and "competitive" (packages, etc.) to prevent the USPS from using mail revenue to subsidize competitive shipping services.
• Regulatory Changes: It renamed the Postal Rate Commission to the Postal Regulatory Commission, giving it expanded oversight duties and subpoena power.
• Financial Impact: The stringent pre-funding requirement resulted in significant financial pressure on the USPS, causing massive operating losses in subsequent years, which critics argue created a manufactured financial crisis.

The PAEA was the first major legislative reform of the USPS since it was reorganized into an independent agency in 1970.

So your saying changes made 20 years ago are just now causing the USPS to be able to not afford their pension contributions?

The government has been in charge of running the post office since 1776. Maybe its time for new owner.

 

[SC Maintenance]

My kids are 30 and 34 and I don't think they have much need for the usps unless Amazon uses USPS.. They never mail anything. We need some official means to contact everyone and we'll need usps until an official email takes over. Paying bills by check isn't that safe anymore so the usps has very limited use for individuals buying stamps.

They need to allow an opt out.

I was a victim of Fraud years ago. Several times I would get an email with a PDF of a letter from my bank. A few days later the same letter arrived in the mail. I assume the law required them to mail one due to the fraud.

My kids are in their early 20's and I am certain they have no clue how to mail a letter.