U.S. Postal Service Q2 loss widens to $1.3 billion, while revenue rises
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The difference in perception between what the government spends money on with zero hand-wringing is, IMO, relevant when we see a whole bunch of hand-wringing over a much more paltry sum that the government spends money on - especially when the latter, I’d argue, benefits far more people than the former.
1. Start by closing down about 25-33% of brick and mortar and sell off those assets. There are still way too many post office buildings out there. From my house alone in about 15 minutes I can get to at least 5 post offices, is that needed, no way.
2. Reduce delivery. Don't need Monday through Saturday. As was mentioned, 3 days per week. M-W-F for one group and T-T-S for another.
3. With doing the above, probably can also downsize by 25% the personnel.
2. Reduce delivery. Don't need Monday through Saturday. As was mentioned, 3 days per week. M-W-F for one group and T-T-S for another.
3. With doing the above, probably can also downsize by 25% the personnel.
The Economist recently had a piece about this subject. They suggest privatising it and say it has worked in Europe, which surprised me because usually the US have private things that are public in Europe rather than vice-versa.
I only get my mail twice a week at this point, once mid-week and once on the weekend.
https://www.economist.com/news/lead...ostal-markets-why-americas-post-office-should
I only get my mail twice a week at this point, once mid-week and once on the weekend.
https://www.economist.com/news/lead...ostal-markets-why-americas-post-office-should
Okay. I've simmered down. How about this? Make postal workers paramilitary and collapse the USPS into the industrial-military complex. That way the hand-wringing will cease, and mail carriers could open carry and protect themselves from canine aggression. Just kidding.
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Many years ago, back when postal workers would go crazy and shoot people now and then and "going postal" was an expression, a guy I knew dressed for Halloween as a deranged postal worker with full uniform and fake gun to go with it. That probably wouldn't be PC nowadays.
This is REVOLUTIONARY thinking! Outside the box simply isn’t adequate to describe this. I think we move this to the “implementation” phase ASAP, The only potential drawback is if a Waste Management truck pulls up to a curb side big blue mail box and the hydraulic robot rips it off its anchor bolts, hoists it in the air, turns it over like an hourglass run out of sand and deposits the contents into the back of the truck. That could get messy!
Here's a crazy idea. Increase daily pay and do away with gubbmint pensions - all of them. I know a firefighter that retired at 40 and takes home $30K/year for life. Same w/ military, only they go back in as a civilian for the double dip. Fund your own pensions (we'll give you $$ to do it). Passing a civil service exam - or even dodging IED's shouldn't mean you get paid for life.
This is a familiar theme. Retirement and health benefits, whether for government employees, federal programs like Medicare and social security, or in the private sector, add huge costs which are difficult to fund. Much of the problem is demographics, with an aging population which is increasingly relying on these programs for their well being in their older years. Until cutbacks across the board on federal, state, and even private industries’ “mandates” occur, we will find it difficult to pay for the increasing costs which these programs add to our financial burden. The US auto industry is a good example where I believe about $1500 for every domestic car went to pay for medical costs for retirees of the company. Bankruptcy was the only answer.
I'm reminded of the episode of Cheers where Norm and another guy were having an argument and the other guy says "I tell you, it's a thousand times faster" and Norm says "No way, it's at least a million times faster" and right then Cliff Clavin walked in and said "What are you two arguing about?" and Norm said "We're arguing about how much faster a fax machine is than the US Postal Service."
Of course that was back in the 80s or 90s when fax machines were the new things. Now we have the Internet.
Of course that was back in the 80s or 90s when fax machines were the new things. Now we have the Internet.
When this discussion is over , let's talk about State owned liquor stores.
Start delivering Congressional pay checks by mail
You have a problem with a mailman earning a pension but you have no problem with a Lockheed Martin executive earning a 7 figure salary paid for with taxpayer funded defense contracts.
My favorite part of these discussions is that nearly every single military/defense contractor/cop that I know who are just soaking the government in the most socialist scheme we have in this country is, nearly to a man, a rabid consumer and pervayor of right-wing media “big government is bad” nonsense. And the hypocrisy and hilarity of that position vs how they make a living is completely lost on them.
Sometimes the best ideas are sprung from the most off hand comments. I bet work place violence would drop too if everyone knew everyone else was armed.
You seem to equate men and women who actually put their lives on the line with defense contractors who sit safely in their boardrooms and country club bars
This is a great idea. As an additional labor saving step my mail person can avoid wasting time delivering all the direct mail, aka junk mail, to my mailbox. At each stop the postal worker gets out of the truck, throws all the junk mail into the back of the garbage truck then moves on to the next house. It's a win/win for everybody.
Not at all. But many if not most of them were also in the military. No different than every republican politician whining about government waste, then sending their districts as much pork as possible (who’s bankrolling all these dumbass southern red states again?).
They have the same mentality is my point. Whether it’s said at a country club bar or a dive bar is irrelevant.
Alternatively, the Postal Service could create new revenue streams by offering certain banking services - as detailed in this 2014 report: https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-14-007_0.pdf
It’s a win-win - it would help eliminate predatory lending practices like high-interest payday loans that plague low-income communities, it would provide banking services to rural communities who might not have a traditional bank nearby, and would help to generate additional revenue for the USPS.
It’s a win-win - it would help eliminate predatory lending practices like high-interest payday loans that plague low-income communities, it would provide banking services to rural communities who might not have a traditional bank nearby, and would help to generate additional revenue for the USPS.
I doubt you can find one defense contractor in a hundred who served in the military- they hire some ex-military, but the owners of those companies never go anywhere near combat- no more than the vast majority of congressmen ever have.
My experience has been completely different. But that’s pretty far away from the relevant point anyway.
Cheers.
I’ll start now. It’s great to be finally able to buy beer and wine in my local grocery stores, Acme for example. For some reason I have to use a separate check out line, but I can live with that. The convenience to do all my shopping at one store is great. Now if they would just expand this to include liquor, we would be set. All these grocery store wine sales have to be killing whatever is left of the State stores sales.
By my understanding a significant contributor to the USPS’s financial challenges is that congress has mandated it to make massive overpayments to its pension fund. It goes back to the 80s when the USPS was profitable and congress used its profits to fund other agencies. The “solution” was to mandate massive payments to the pension.
Try having your mail forwarded. They don't forward junk mail. That eliminated 80% of my mail.
Post office pension has $79 billion of unfunded liabilities. Their pension benefits include a defined benefit pension, a defined contribution plan (TSP), and retiree medical.
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They used a pay-as-you-go model like most pension funders until being mandated to prepay it. So we can call it “prepaid” instead of “overfunded” but the result is that the prepayment methodology results in USPS paying more into its pension fund than other government and private entities.
The post office used to fund pensions on a pay as you go basis much like social security. They can't do that anymore so they are in catch up mode but they are not overpaying. They still have $79 billion of unfunded liabilities.
Most private companies have defined contribution plans like 401-Ks which they fund on a current basis. Private defined benefit plans must also be funded. The controversy is about the discount rate used to calculate anticipated investment returns.
ERISA explicitly forbids pay as you go for private sector, qualified, defined benefit plans.
401ks - and other defined benefit plans like IRAs and deferred compensation - are not pensions. Pensions have never been required to be prepaid.
401Ks are defined contribution plans, not defined benefit plans.
ERISA explicitly forbids pay as you go for private sector, qualified, defined benefit plans.
And then, FedEx and UPS drop packages off at post offices and postal employees deliver to the customer. Not sure what the USPS is compensated for doing this, but isn't the idea of having a package shipped with FedEx to have FedEx deliver said package?
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but this sounds like a government scam. This money will eventually be redirected (aka STOLEN) for some other purpose.
After reading this thread, I come away with the question......why isn't anyone pre-funding my retirement health care????
Unions are an issue, along with their lobbying. One could argue that teacher pensions have had a similar affect in PA. Who retires with the benefits that teachers have historically? My mom taught for 35 years and retired receiving approximately 90% of her salary as her pension amount. Good for my mom, but damn.
Unions are an issue, along with their lobbying. One could argue that teacher pensions have had a similar affect in PA. Who retires with the benefits that teachers have historically? My mom taught for 35 years and retired receiving approximately 90% of her salary as her pension amount. Good for my mom, but damn.
Did I read correctly that the State of PA is the largest buyer of wine and liquor in the world? That signifies that State Stores are still doing OK.
Lotta good points made here. My biggest issue is the US Congress. If the USPS is to operate as a business, let it operate as a business. Let it close down inefficient or uneconomical post offices. Congress tells them time and time again to operate as a business and then prevents them from closing "my" post office. As such, the USPS is frequently faced with subsidizing offices that should not be there. Not to apologize for bad management, but their dilemma is not totally on them.
That’s really the crux of the issue, isn’t it? The USPS can approach its service in one of two ways: it can either seek to provide coverage to almost every town in the country as a public service and take a loss in operating a large number of unprofitable branches, or it can seek to operate as a business in the public sector would and trim its service (and cut the number of people it’s able to serve) accordingly. It can’t do both. I think the former is by far the superior and more valuable approach, and find that its worth the minisule government investment.
It’s like Amtrak: certain groups of folks complain and complain about how Amtrak loses money. But the Northeast Corridor turns a healthy profit every year - it’s the long routes through the Great Plains that cost Amtrak a whole bunch of money to operate, but they operate them at a loss as a public service. It’s worth the small investment to provide transportation and mail delivery services to rural areas, IMO.
