The Post Office that (was) near you

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by censusdata

or to have 50% of its 2 parking spots be signed as "handicapped"

A general rule is 1 per 25 spots... but at least 1. Therefore a 1 space parking lot would be a handicapped space.

[Vols44]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

Wow, unions having a death grip on something. Imagine that. Yet another industry soon to be crushed by organized labor.

I've felt for some time that there needs to be a PRAC (postal closure and realignment commission) similar to BRAC to get rid of the many unnecessary and overlapping post offices. Where I live in suburbia, there are literally 6 different post offices within a 10-minute drive. 3 or 4 of these I believe are leftovers from when people traveled in horse and buggy.

Not a union member I take it? Ask your member of Congress why they stopped the Postmaster General from closing as many as 5000 buildings til Congress could review options. Closing facilities has nothing to do about organized labor.

[Vols44]

Originally Posted by soug

I was actually thinking about it the other day, and I realized I've only sent thirteen letters in my life - all of them were college apps from a couple years ago. I did some Googling and read that A) The Post Office is gonna lose $208(?) billion over the next 10 years, and B) The union of the postal workers has a death grip on USPS and won't even allow it to for example shuffle workers from underperforming Post Offices to ones which need more workers.

I think the Post Office should be privatized and its monopoly on first class mail should be removed. But the govt. should make a few ground rules, such as every citizen must have access to a post office within say 15 miles.


Edit: Sorry I don't have any links.

LOL, can't have it both ways. Their are many flaws and misconceptions in this post.

Ask your U.S. Representative why they did not cosponsor HR1351 in the 112th Congress. The PAEA of 2006 was passed in a lame duck session and requires the PO to prefund retiree health care benefits 75 years in advance at the rate of ten billion dollars a year. The prefunding requirement accounts for 86% of the PO's losses since 2006.

The Postmaster General had a plan to shutter over 3700 facilities and a Congressional committee halted the moves for two years so a study could be conducted. Mean while the PMG has reduced hours at thousands of low revenue generating zips by 50-75%. Hundreds of 65k a year Postmasters supervising five or so workers took a monetary incentive in lieu of a 50-75% pay cut.

The NALC and APWU are the keeping the company's best interest in mind and embrace new avenues of revenue instead of reducing days of delivery.

In closing, how many people would drive/commute 15 miles to pick up their mail? Privatize the PO and people in rural areas would get items a couple times a week while urban areas would have access seven times. Sound fair to you?

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Annie53

Getting rid of mail delivery may be OK for you, but there are a lot of people who do not have computers.

A lot of people don't know how to use a computer and have no one to show them how. Some people may not have the mental where-with-all to learn how to use a computer, let alone a printer set up when hard copies of documents are needed.

Computers and computer service are expensive.........a lot of people cannot afford to have one........how can you totally cut them off?

How are they going to pay their bills? How are they even going to recieve their bills?

What about rural people who cannot drive? Are they supposed to hire a taxi to drive them 15 miles to a post office several times a week to check their mail?

We need home postal delivery and the government should subsidize it if that is what it takes to keep it up and running.

Good points.

I think the Post Office should raise it's rates. People complain about the cost of postage all the time, but our postal rates are among the lowest in the industrialized world. My friends in Europe simply can't believe how inexpensive our mail system is - for both stamps and shipping.

[jtur88]

It's Privatization, which is seen by the Red Shift as the panacea to all problems. Fed Ex will open offices in Glen Haven CO and Prairie City SD, and again, all will be well. Just like the private sector quickly set up internet service and cable TV and cell phone coverage in those communities.

[Chava61]

As already said not everything can be sent electronically and not everyone lives near a post office. So mail delivery needs to continue but perhaps reduce the number of days a week that mail is delivered could help reduce costs.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Would be nice to stop wasting all that junk mail paper.

I'm OK with junk mail. It keeps graphic designers working and it essentially subsidized the USPS.

But I do agree that many smalled post offices need to be closed and /or consolidated.