[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'W')ith the net, UPS, FEDEX, etc. It is time to consider eliminating the post office. If it can't turn a profit, yet commercial companies can, why keep it around? Of course my Netflix subscription might go up.

[argyle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'W')ith the net, UPS, FEDEX, etc. It is time to consider eliminating the post office. If it can't turn a profit, yet commercial companies can, why keep it around? Of course my Netflix subscription might go up.

[careinke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('argyle', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'W')ith the net, UPS, FEDEX, etc. It is time to consider eliminating the post office. If it can't turn a profit, yet commercial companies can, why keep it around? Of course my Netflix subscription might go up.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', '
')It seems to me it would be cheaper to provide people with internet access than postal service. Cheaper and more useful.

[Cloud9]

This is part of the problem.

http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/03/te ... ntroversy/

[basil_hayden]

Keep in mind that as the Postal Service, at least in my experience for example, has deferred maintenance to the point that every underground fuel tank they ever had is or was leaking and I can't wait to see the ultimate bill for that.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today: the agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

“Our situation is extremely serious,” the postmaster general, Patrick R. Donahoe, said in an interview. “If Congress doesn’t act, we will default.”

In recent weeks, Mr. Donahoe has been pushing a series of painful cost-cutting measures to erase the agency’s deficit, which will reach $9.2 billion this fiscal year. They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.

The post office’s problems stem from one hard reality: it is being squeezed on both revenue and costs.

As any computer user knows, the Internet revolution has led to people and businesses sending far less conventional mail.

At the same time, decades of contractual promises made to unionized workers, including no-layoff clauses, are increasing the post office’s costs. Labor represents 80 percent of the agency’s expenses, compared with 53 percent at United Parcel Service and 32 percent at FedEx, its two biggest private competitors. Postal workers also receive more generous health benefits than most other federal employees.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the agency’s predicament on Tuesday. So far, feuding Democrats and Republicans in Congress, still smarting from the brawl over the federal debt ceiling, have failed to agree on any solutions. It doesn’t help that many of the options for saving the postal service are politically unpalatable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/business/in-internet-age-postal-service-struggles-to-stay-solvent-and-relevant.html?_r=1#h

[Cog]

They also have a bloated pay scale and huge legacy health care costs.

Lets fire the 120,000 employees and cut Saturday delivery first, then we can discuss a bailout. I like my cuts first and my bailouts(if required) last.

[Cloud9]

This might help explain some of their budget problems.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/05/postal ... index.html

[nobodypanic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'T')hey also have a bloated pay scale and huge legacy health care costs.

Lets fire the 120,000 employees and cut Saturday delivery first, then we can discuss a bailout. I like my cuts first and my bailouts(if required) last.

[Lore]

Another sign of automation and technology replacing traditional jobs. As government employees get whacked around the country, we can expect a surge in a new round of unemployed workers with useless skills. The 120,000 well paid workers that will be let go and the ripple effect just puts another hole in any economic recovery.

[dsula]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')their problem is that e-mail has dealt them a blow, which, unless serious measures are taken, will be fatal.
.

[peeker01]

I'll bet UPS is working on a plan right now to privatize the Post Office.

Mail delivery on M-W-F, ban the useless junk mail nobody reads, kill the pensions, 401K for all employees. Job rotation to avoid burnout, upward mobility to other UPS jobs.

One less expensive, failing, government agency. FAA and the Park Service is next!

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', 'A')nother sign of automation and technology replacing traditional jobs. As government employees get whacked around the country, we can expect a surge in a new round of unemployed workers with useless skills. The 120,000 well paid workers that will be let go and the ripple effect just puts another hole in any economic recovery.

[PrestonSturges]

I guess we can't even afford Kevin Costner on a donkey.

The GOP is moving us into a post-apocalypse economy without the fuss of an actual crisis.

[nobodypanic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peeker01', 'I')'ll bet UPS is working on a plan right now to privatize the Post Office. Mail delivery on
M-W-F, ban the useless junk mail nobody reads, kill the pensions, 401K for all employees. Job
rotation to avoid burnout, upward mobility to other UPS jobs. One less expensive, failing,
government agency. FAA and the Park Service is next!

[dsula]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '
')2nd no capitalist entity will provide services in areas that are not profitable - so very small market areas, e.g., small town america, very rural areas, etc. could kiss the service they have been accustomed to for over a century g'bye.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', '1')st no self-respecting capitalist postal entity would ban the cash cow of junk-mail.
2nd no capitalist entity will provide services in areas that are not profitable - so very small market areas, e.g., small town america, very rural areas, etc. could kiss the service they have been accustomed to for over a century g'bye.

[Fishman]

"The GOP is moving us into a post-apocalypse economy without the fuss of an actual crisis."

So you're saying, without even knowing it, the GOP is handling the post peak oil scenario, or "powering down" I think its called. Bravo.
We knew all along those living on unicorn dreams of hope and change would be clueless when the post peak oil "post-apocalypse economy " came along. Dang, reality sux

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'F')unny how rural delivery wasn't an unbearable burden when everything was rural.