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Postal Service on path to be broke by October

To think the Japanese postal service is one of the richest entities in the world.
 
To think the Japanese postal service is one of the richest entities in the world.

What does it do different? Could it's methods work here with our vast distances between people, the main reason it costs so much?
I see it privatized in 2007. How is that working out?
 
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meh.... I dunno. But i like their little postal symbol. And they seem all prim and organized.
 
To think the Japanese postal service is one of the richest entities in the world.

There is more to the story:
How did Japan's postal service get so rich? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine

A parliamentary vote on whether to privatize Japan's state-owned postal service has been delayed until Monday. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is pushing hard for the reformation of Japan Post, which holds about $2.9 trillion in savings and insurance deposits, making it for all practical purposes the world's biggest bank. How did Japan's postal service get so rich?


Postal savings accounts. For 130 years, the postal system has served as a local savings bank for anyone with a cent to spare. (In the early days, you could start an account with a deposit as small as one two-hundredth of a yen.) Postal savings began a few years after the postal service was founded in 1871, and several years before the first private savings bank opened in Tokyo. Today, Japan Post holds about a third of all personal savings in the country. (It does not make big profits from mail delivery.)
 
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Curious.... how many private sector companies have gone out of business? Look this is a "company" that is NOT a Federal run joint. It is NOT a federal run business. Did you NOT know that!?!?!?!


OPPPPPSS!!! NO! You didnt. :roll:

I've never been to a post office when the lines weren't nearly out the door. How does a buseinss run, with that amount of customers, and still fail so badly? I think we know the reasons, at least I know I do - and it's ouitlined in the op.
 
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I've never seen a line at the door at any of our post offices in VA.
 
Councilman nailed. it.

Reduce mail delivery to three times a week, cut the post office work force by 2/3, and it'll make budget.

Otherwise, this dinosaur will keep leaking like the Titanic. The world has passed it by.
 
I can't believe the Post office still delivers on Saturday. That's a no-brainer.
 
I can't believe the Post office still delivers on Saturday. That's a no-brainer.

It's a law tied into the banks, I believe. Banks can't be closed for more than two days, nor can the post office.

Made sense in 1950 when commerce ran exclusively through physical banks and the post office. Now, it's antiquated and unnecessary.
 
It's a law tied into the banks, I believe. Banks can't be closed for more than two days, nor can the post office.

Made sense in 1950 when commerce ran exclusively through physical banks and the post office. Now, it's antiquated and unnecessary.
I agree. We need a modern, leaner more efficient post office.
 
Councilman nailed. it.

Reduce mail delivery to three times a week, cut the post office work force by 2/3, and it'll make budget.

Otherwise, this dinosaur will keep leaking like the Titanic. The world has passed it by.

Well, there's that idea, however, all those current retirees, and the one's surely to take the "buyout" are going to have to be paid bu someone, and 2/3rd's less employee contributions ain't gunna cut it.. Guess that means that Uncle Sam will be there to pay for retirees until the cows come home.. Great gig that is.

My postman is pretty cool guy, always on time, and takes my outgoing mail from my mailbox every time without any complaints. I think the USPS like no other has within it's infrastructure to outpace FedEx and UPS.. Like the other poster mentioned, those entities could never do what the USPS does. Cut the delivery days, cut the employees, redesign the pensions and benefits, lower wages, and increase costs for postage and the USPS will be in good shape.


Tim-
 
I think the USPS like no other has within it's infrastructure to outpace FedEx and UPS.

...especially since, unlike FedEx and UPS, the post office doesn't have to show a profit. Government agencies never do.

That's the same reason insurance companies have no chance against a public healthcare option.
 
...especially since, unlike FedEx and UPS, the post office doesn't have to show a profit. Government agencies never do.

That's the same reason insurance companies have no chance against a public healthcare option.

At the same time, many private companies utilize these government agencies to increase their own profits. In fact, these private companies create the majority of the workload for this particular govenrment agency. Interesting, isn't it?
 
Councilman nailed. it.

Reduce mail delivery to three times a week, cut the post office work force by 2/3, and it'll make budget.

Otherwise, this dinosaur will keep leaking like the Titanic. The world has passed it by.

And eliminate all these small town post offices. I'm talking a town of 300 people will have a post office. In almost every case their will be a larger town near by. An example of this is a town I lived that had one hundred seventy some people. We had a post office but we did not have deliverymen, it was strictly postal boxes. The neighboring town of 25k people was only 6 miles away where most people in the area worked anyway. So why not remove the expense of having a separate post office. I dont think many would have complained.

Another easy money saver would be to require everyone to have a mailbox at the street. The town I currently live requires all new homes to have a mailbox at the curb however any current houses at the time of the law change were exempt. So we have thousands of homes with mailboxes at the front door meaning mail carriers must walk the routes costing us ALOT more in man hours.
 
At the same time, many private companies utilize these government agencies to increase their own profits. In fact, these private companies create the majority of the workload for this particular govenrment agency. Interesting, isn't it?

Even more interesting how, with all of this virtually guaranteed business, the post office went bankrupt.
 
I'm reading through this thread and I'm seeing a lot of appeals to emotion. But the fact is the post office is an economic drain, and it needs to be on the chopping block. We can't govern based on warm and fuzzy feeling from our childhood. We can cut the post office and life will go on. People will just have to start using fedex or ups or dhl. It's irrational support for wasteful government spending in areas where entrepreneurs simply do the same thing better, and we can't afford to subsidize nostalgia.

The lack of government meddling in the postage industry will lead to enhanced competition, and net economic stimulus for this country. Better yet, there is no way to outsource postage delivery jobs, so they stay right here. This is one instance where I think everybody can agree the free market knows best.
 
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And eliminate all these small town post offices. I'm talking a town of 300 people will have a post office. In almost every case their will be a larger town near by. An example of this is a town I lived that had one hundred seventy some people. We had a post office but we did not have deliverymen, it was strictly postal boxes. The neighboring town of 25k people was only 6 miles away where most people in the area worked anyway. So why not remove the expense of having a separate post office. I dont think many would have complained.

Another easy money saver would be to require everyone to have a mailbox at the street. The town I currently live requires all new homes to have a mailbox at the curb however any current houses at the time of the law change were exempt. So we have thousands of homes with mailboxes at the front door meaning mail carriers must walk the routes costing us ALOT more in man hours.

why not just raise rates? mailing a letter is cheap........
 
why not just raise rates? mailing a letter is cheap........

Like they haven't several times in recent years? Every time they do, the traffic in the mail room goes down.
 
I'm reading through this thread and I'm seeing a lot of appeals to emotion. But the fact is the post office is an economic drain, and it needs to be on the chopping block. We can't govern based on warm and fuzzy feeling from our childhood. We can cut the post office and life will go on. People will just have to start using fedex or ups or dhl. It's irrational support for wasteful government spending in areas where entrepreneurs simply do the same thing better, and we can't afford to subsidize nostalgia.

The lack of government meddling in the postage industry will lead to enhanced competition, and net economic stimulus for this country. Better yet, there is no way to outsource postage delivery jobs, so they stay right here. This is one instance where I think everybody can agree the free market knows best.

While I agree in concept, it would damage the access, I'm afraid.

There's a ton of FedEx places in the suburbs. Not so much in the ghetto.
 
While I agree in concept, it would damage the access, I'm afraid.

There's a ton of FedEx places in the suburbs. Not so much in the ghetto.

You've got a point there. I envision a system where the role of the federal postal service has been radically reduced to minimal services such as you're talking about. Perhaps even postal vouchers for low-income earners similar to the foodstamp program would be helpful to correct this necessary systemic inequity.

So I'm ok with providing reduced cost of free government delivery of a low incomer earner's car insurance payment, etc. But the important thing is we drastically reduce costs of the extraneous postal services; any delivery service that is basically a luxury subsidized by the taxpayer will have to go.
 
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why not just raise rates? mailing a letter is cheap........

Last time they tried it was rejected and determined that raising the rates wouldn't change the fundamental problems that the post office has.
 
Even more interesting how, with all of this virtually guaranteed business, the post office went bankrupt.

Seems pretty simple. They didn't charge these companies enough to exploit a public service.
 
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