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Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount

It would cost more to send paper documents by private courier than it would via public postal service. We already have competition established for bigger packages and I'm okay with that.

The fear of socialism is getting out of hand. It's not dying because it's government run but because everyone uses e-mail now. Please get a grip people.
 
Well, what needs to occur is for the USPS to be taken... OMG... into the 21st century!!! and start using this new fangled thing called email.


Sarcasm aside though, seriously, the USPS needs to be taken into the 21st century. People should get their mail electronically and have an option of whether or not they want to pay their bill online or via snail mail. If investing a couple million is what it takes to modernize our postal service, than so be it.

This does not work for everything. Some things require an absolute verification that a person legally received their mail.

A good example would be from my own experience. The military must ensure that its personnel receive important documentation. The best way to ensure that is to use the USPS. I have received important personal documents through the mail from the military. They could not come via email. I have also had to ship important personal documents via mail. Things such as ID cards, that could not go any other way except USPS and had to go back to the state that was handling my discharge paperwork.
 
If it's true that 80% of their costs go to employees then I would say it's fair to blame the downfall on the unions. I am skeptical of this number though.
 
Now why would, oh say I, need to use the USPS.com email instead of simply having someone send me email to my regular email account? -Or- giving the US government my regular email account instead of one ending in USPS.com? Can you tell me what advantage that is to me?

Tim-

Because you would have to sign up with one of your other e-mail accounts.

With a USPS.com account, local, state, and the federal governments could automatically send it to all USPS.com accounts. This is important because every citizen would automatically be entitled to a USPS.com account.

And, again, that's even if we use e-mail, which I think may go obsolete. A better thing to do would be to make the USPS site a social networking site. On it, government officials could communicate to everyone else on it.

The reason why this is important is mostly for emergency announcements from the government, but also as a way to ensure the people get vital information.

Take, for example, the Hurricane Irene. It hit areas not used to hurricanes. The Department of Homeland Security could use the USPS site to send information on how to properly prepare for a hurricane to those who have never experienced one before. Local and state governments could use it to post information, such as mandatory evacuation areas.

There's a ton of benefit to this, mostly informing people on the things they need to know that they may not even know they need to know.

And there are other benefits as well, such as constituents being able to better monitor the doings of their elected officials, and not just on the federal level - on the state and local level as well.

Something like this WILL happen one day. It's inevitable because the internet revolution is inevitable. It's affected the entertainment industry. Now it's affecting the communication industry. And just like corporations have to accept the new reality so too will our government as well as its constituents.
 
Its a little both government attempting to run a function the private sector can do better and its failure to adapt to newer technologies. Time start the privatization process like what Japan did back in 2006 and go farther than they did.
 
Our post office is nothing like japans was... :shrug: they literally had the largest cash holdings on planet earth.
 
I went to the post office today... it was great, the service was great everyone was happy and smiley and i sent a letter overnight for 90 something ¢.
 
So, the postmaster general is begging congress to do something because they are running out of money...I am wondering why it is that congress needs to do something if that something does not include tax payer money in order for them to continue (as the pmg stated) Why can't HE just make the institutional changes that he seems to know will work?? I have a suspicion that the plea to congress was a underhanded attempt at some sort of bail out. (PMG) "We can do this by cutting the workforce in half and reducing delivery days and closing some post offices." (congress) "oh no we can't have that... here's $10b of tax payer money."
 
So, the postmaster general is begging congress to do something because they are running out of money...I am wondering why it is that congress needs to do something if that something does not include tax payer money in order for them to continue (as the pmg stated) Why can't HE just make the institutional changes that he seems to know will work?? I have a suspicion that the plea to congress was a underhanded attempt at some sort of bail out. (PMG) "We can do this by cutting the workforce in half and reducing delivery days and closing some post offices." (congress) "oh no we can't have that... here's $10b of tax payer money."

i fail to see why we can't just raise prices of services right now.
 
i fail to see why we can't just raise prices of services right now.

You could raise first class rates. More will switch to the internet. You could raise package rates and more would switch to UPS and Fed Ex.
 
You could raise first class rates. More will switch to the internet. You could raise package rates and more would switch to UPS and Fed Ex.

not immediately. i still get bulk mail and still have to use the po services. fisrt class mail is an incredbile bargain right now and we could well afford to raise the raise on both bulk and first class. why not charge what it costs?
 
not immediately. i still get bulk mail and still have to use the po services. fisrt class mail is an incredbile bargain right now and we could well afford to raise the raise on both bulk and first class. why not charge what it costs?

I fully believe that we should charge what it costs.......problem is, it's not going to fix the problem. Like has been said, if all you do is raise rates with no program to address costs, the Post Office is going to continue losing business.
 
I fully believe that we should charge what it costs.......problem is, it's not going to fix the problem. Like has been said, if all you do is raise rates with no program to address costs, the Post Office is going to continue losing business.

oh, i agree with that. but that is something that takes a bit longer to address. seems gov't can't manage to do anything in a timely basis.
 
You could raise first class rates. More will switch to the internet. You could raise package rates and more would switch to UPS and Fed Ex.
If anything, their prices or at least prices for service is already too high and that is why so many people and businesses use UPS or Fedex for packages. Just like so much else the government does, its not that more money needs to be invested, it simply needs to be run more efficiently.
 
If anything, their prices or at least prices for service is already too high and that is why so many people and businesses use UPS or Fedex for packages. Just like so much else the government does, its not that more money needs to be invested, it simply needs to be run more efficiently.

The USPS has been extraordinarily efficient. For decades they've been able to take a letter, put it on a plane, fly it across the country, and deliver it by hand for less than 50 cents. And for decades they did so completely self-sufficient. It's only very recently that they started to lose money due to the drastic drop in mail volume brought on by email.

They're efficient, they just need to adjust things to fit a changing world.
 
Pensions is what's killing the Post Office.
 
If anything, their prices or at least prices for service is already too high and that is why so many people and businesses use UPS or Fedex for packages. Just like so much else the government does, its not that more money needs to be invested, it simply needs to be run more efficiently.

Oh look. Another person who either doesn't know what a 10K is or how to read it.

Tell me, if you take out the required pension prepayment (which no private or public entity on the planet has to do except for them) and legacy costs, how poorly is the Post Office run?
 
Pensions is what's killing the Post Office.

Jesus. It's amazing how few people here get that and how many like 00timh mouth off without bothering to read their 10Ks. Actual profit on operations for the Post office over the past 10 years has been well in line with Fedex and UPS.
 
The Post Office is a non profit. Has been since 71?
 
The Post Office is a non profit. Has been since 71?

Their 10K is not downloading properly. Are they actually organized as a non-profit? Or they just have some odd legal structure where they don't have to pay federal/state income and property tax?
 
Their 10K is not downloading properly. Are they actually organized as a non-profit? Or they just have some odd legal structure where they don't have to pay federal/state income and property tax?

I certainly am not aware of the specifics. Too tired right now to look for them either. :D
 
Oh look. Another person who either doesn't know what a 10K is or how to read it.

Tell me, if you take out the required pension prepayment (which no private or public entity on the planet has to do except for them) and legacy costs, how poorly is the Post Office run?

I think what is actually taking place is an attempt to privatize the Post Office and kill its union. I think players are sitting in the wings ready to pounce on the carcass and they are Republicans, as always, Corporatocracy/Privatization. Take a look at the funding requirements set forth by Congress for the PO pension and healthcare budgets. It is funded for 75 years into the future.

Postal Workers: The Last Union | Truthout
 
I think what is actually taking place is an attempt to privatize the Post Office and kill its union. I think players are sitting in the wings ready to pounce on the carcass and they are Republicans, as always, Corporatocracy/Privatization. Take a look at the funding requirements set forth by Congress for the PO pension and healthcare budgets. It is funded for 75 years into the future.

Postal Workers: The Last Union | Truthout

Exactly. The idea that every function of government must pay for itself instead of being a public service is ridiculous.
 
I think what is actually taking place is an attempt to privatize the Post Office and kill its union. I think players are sitting in the wings ready to pounce on the carcass and they are Republicans, as always, Corporatocracy/Privatization. Take a look at the funding requirements set forth by Congress for the PO pension and healthcare budgets. It is funded for 75 years into the future.

Postal Workers: The Last Union | Truthout

A plant from inside that caused the Post Office to lose all of this money? Who do you suppose this double agent is?

Now, I've argued that I would be for programs that reform the Post Office to make them relevant. I liked the idea of a central website for all government agencies. That said, we are 10 Trillion in debt. The pensions are not funded.
 
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