[gollum]

I think Tea Party people are having a good time gloating about the trouble of the post office, but as things go down hill I expect other shippers to eventually have problems too, and if the grid becomes less than dependable we'll be glad for the post office.

[Expatriot]

Here's what they oughtta do to "fix" the system:

1. Go to every other day delivery and let private companies handle next day issues.
2. Fire half the staff.
3. Lower private mail rates by 50%.
4. Make it a merit based system where there are incentives to deliver the mail faster and better.
5. Raise junk mail rates by 10% and make the junk mail system an "opt in" system, to be renewed annually.

Do those things and it will be fine.

The USPS is a victim of govt and union stupidity.

They have a "no layoff" clause in the current contract? AHahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahah.

Bet the folks in the private sector would love to have that Marxist guarantee.

[Expatriot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') think Tea Party people are having a good time gloating about the trouble of the post office, but as things go down hill I expect other shippers to eventually have problems too

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') think Tea Party people are having a good time gloating about the trouble of the post office, but as things go down hill I expect other shippers to eventually have problems too

[furrybill]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')
So anyhow.. looks like they need a bailout.. even after canceling sat delivery and laying off 120,000 employees they're still defaulting. What I don't get is.. why not just raise prices.. they're a darn monopoly, at least on junk mail and bills and letters from grandma. They could raise first class stamp to $1, a dollar to mail a letter sounds reasonable, and voila problem solved.

[Cog]

Cut 120K from their bloated unionized staff and I'll n happy to entertain an increase in postage. Cuts first is the cry from the tax payers. You progressives would be wise to listen to this cry before you embarrass yourself in 2012 like you did in 2010.

[Cog]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') think Tea Party people are having a good time gloating about the trouble of the post office, but as things go down hill I expect other shippers to eventually have problems too

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') think Tea Party people are having a good time gloating about the trouble of the post office, but as things go down hill I expect other shippers to eventually have problems too

[Expatriot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', 'N')o doubt. And, as a result and unlike the govt. piglets running the post office, they will fire staff, keep better people, find new ways to cut costs, and adapt.

[Expatriot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'i')t would be a good thing for people to get information back and forth the old fashioned way.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'i')t would be a good thing for people to get information back and forth the old fashioned way.

[peeker01]

Only the failing ones.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peeker01', 'O')nly the failing ones.

[peeker01]

Since the post office was reorganized in 1971 into a corporation independent of the federal
government they have a different status than the agencies you mentioned. Not to worry,
I heard obama is going to give them some of that Solyndra money they have sitting around
to study green mail delivery.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Expatriot', 'N')o doubt. And, as a result and unlike the govt. piglets running the post office, they will fire staff, keep better people, find new ways to cut costs, and adapt.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peeker01', 'S')ince the post office was reorganized in 1971 into a corporation independent of the federal
government they have a different status than the agencies you mentioned. Not to worry,
I heard obama is going to give them some of that Solyndra money they have sitting around
to study green mail delivery.

[peeker01]

Gollum, government has become too big and inefficient. The trend must be reversed or our
country is going to go belly up.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('peeker01', 'G')ollum, government has become too big and inefficient. The trend must be reversed or our
country is going to go belly up.

[massymoxieman]

Gollum has hit the nail on the head- the Postal Service is at war with a vicious and misinformed Tea Party movement. They are so obsessed with "government is bad" they will even attack an agency (one of the only agencies) explicitly authorized by the U.S. Constitution. Things are so serious right now, the NAPS (National Association of Postal Supervisors) is joining forces with the Postal unions to save the Postal Service. http://www.postalnewsblog.com/2011/09/0 ... save-usps/
If you know anything about how the USPS works, this is a RARE show of unity, as postal supervisors and the unions have one of the most strained management/labor relations in the U.S. Most people think, because they are told by the media, that the Postal Service's financial problems are because of the decline of first class mail volume and the increase of internet communications. But this is not why they have lost $20 billion in the past four years (2007-2010).
The USPS has lost so much money because of a Bush-era law passed in 2006 called the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA). PAEA requires the USPS to massively prefund the cost of retiree health benefits over the next 75 years in just 10 years’ time. No other corporation, or government agency, is required to prefund future retiree health benefits. This cost covers not only current employees, but employees who have yet to be hired (based on the erronious assumption that they would continue to be hired at the same rate that they were in the year of the highest mail volume in the history of the world: 2006) – and it is on top of the cost for health benefits for current retirees!
The USPS has been forced to pay $21 billion into a fund for future retiree health benefits over the last four years- meaning it would have been profitable had it not been for this onerous obligation! This is despite the worst recession in 80 years. Congress has hesitated in repealing this law, because they are using the profitable Postal Service as their piggy bank, and to make the budget numbers look good. All that would be neccesary to save the Postal Service would be a simple transfer of funds: private sector audits that found a pension SURPLUS of between $50 billion and $75 billion in the postal portion of the Civil Service Retirement System, because of an accounting error that led the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to overcharge the Postal Service by billions of dollars for payments into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). H.R. 1351, Rep. Steven Lynch's bill, would rectify this error, whereas the solution Tea Party hero Rep. Darrell Issa has announced his desire to instead lay off between 170,000 to 200,000 workers. This is nothing but good old-fashioned union busting, as these workers make up some of the largest and strongest unions left in America. They are not paid out of taxpayer funds, either, as, contrary to what some may believe, the Postal Service is an independent agency that has not recieved a dime of taxpayer funds since the early 1980's.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('massymoxieman', 'C')ongress has hesitated in repealing this law, because they are using the profitable Postal Service as their piggy bank, and to make the budget numbers look good.