Postal Service (Reagan, poll, layoffs, economy)

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by doc1

Do you have any idea what that's doing to a huge organization that provides good paying jobs, benefits and pensions for so many people.?

Many with only high school diplomas yet still make a "livable wage".

What would you have them do, work at Walmart?

People don't pay for services because of what the organization provides for its employees, they pay for services that are convenient for them. Since many folks are choosing to pay bills, etc online and use email versus letter writing, then that means there is less demand for the USPS services. I'm not going to continue mailing my bills versus paying online just because the USPS are good employers! Either create a service that meets a need or cut back! Simple as that.

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

So, what is the solution?

Let's go back to Economics 101. It's been 40+ years, but I still recall our professor reminding us that the MOST efficient provider of any good or service is a regulated monopoly.

As it is now, we have the USPS, UPS, FEDEX and others providing small package service delivery in this nation. That's THREE sets of labor, THREE sets of management, THREE sets of facilities/equipment/vehicles/airplanes. There are THREE sets of profit margin to cover, UPS and FEDEX corporate profits plus the USPS need to stay in the black.

Seems to me the most logical thing to do is to merge all three, putting them all under a UPS or FEDEX set of work rules, pay, benefits. There would be a lot of duplication that could be eliminated and there shouldn't be any prices increases for quite a while, since we aren't paying 3 times over for all the redundancy.

Of course, such a scheme cannot happen in this country, as here, it's all about the money that can be sucked out of a business by the impulse of greed. It has nothing to do with running a nation efficiently for the sake of WE the people. WE the people don't count, haven't for decades. It's all about paying off congressmen to keep someone's pot of money full. Meanwhile, we'll keep paying through the nose for any one of the three service providers that we use.

Competition is what keeps prices low. If there is no competition, there are no incentives to keeping prices low or to provide efficient services. Local phone service is a great example of this. Since the phone industry has been deregulated a bit, I now have more options in phone plans and multiple companies competing for my services. If I'm not satisfied with my local phone carrier, I can switch. I did not always have those options when my local phone company was a monopoly.

[Lancet71]

Originally Posted by michiganmom48

I just heard that the Postal Services is asking to stop the Sat Mail to save money. I guess they would ask the Goverment? I guess snow, sleet and rain doesn't over jump money

I spoke to my union more then a month ago,and it was shot down.

[pghquest]

I cant link to the source, its an email I received that goes out to GSA investors. Just posting here if anyone is interested..

The Postal Service had net income of $179 million for the month, it revealed in a report filed yesterday with the Postal Regulatory Commission. The USPS had more mail volume (9%) and revenue (6%) than budgeted, but lower expenses (-2%), enabling it to beat its budget by $546 million.

Holiday-related mail usually makes December one of the Postal Service's best months, but the USPS lost $185 million even in December 2008. The differences this year were a lower cost structure and higher labor productivity: Total work hours were 7.6% lower than in December 2008 even though mail volume was down only 3.2%.

The Postal Service is still on track to lose billions of dollars this year, mostly because of a mandated subsidy to the federal government (euphemistically referred to as prepayment of retiree health benefits). But the first three months of Fiscal Year (2010) are much better than budgeted and even a bit better than last year, despite a drop in mail volume of nearly 9%.

The USPS has managed to keep its expenses slightly under budget so far, despite mail volume running nearly 5% higher than planned. That has resulted in a quarterly loss of "only" $297 million in the quarter, nearly $1 billion better than the budget.

The recent results disprove the notion that higher postage rates are the only way to balance the Postal Service's budget. That would only drive away business without decreasing costs much.

A better path is to reduce fixed costs with early-retirement incentives and facility consolidations. Postal officials have mostly followed that path, though the early-retirement bonuses have been too small and the pace of consolidations too slow.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by pghquest

I cant link to the source, its an email I received that goes out to GSA investors. Just posting here if anyone is interested..

The Postal Service had net income of $179 million for the month, it revealed in a report filed yesterday with the Postal Regulatory Commission. The USPS had more mail volume (9%) and revenue (6%) than budgeted, but lower expenses (-2%), enabling it to beat its budget by $546 million.

Holiday-related mail usually makes December one of the Postal Service's best months, but the USPS lost $185 million even in December 2008. The differences this year were a lower cost structure and higher labor productivity: Total work hours were 7.6% lower than in December 2008 even though mail volume was down only 3.2%.

The Postal Service is still on track to lose billions of dollars this year, mostly because of a mandated subsidy to the federal government (euphemistically referred to as prepayment of retiree health benefits). But the first three months of Fiscal Year (2010) are much better than budgeted and even a bit better than last year, despite a drop in mail volume of nearly 9%.

The USPS has managed to keep its expenses slightly under budget so far, despite mail volume running nearly 5% higher than planned. That has resulted in a quarterly loss of "only" $297 million in the quarter, nearly $1 billion better than the budget.

The recent results disprove the notion that higher postage rates are the only way to balance the Postal Service's budget. That would only drive away business without decreasing costs much.

A better path is to reduce fixed costs with early-retirement incentives and facility consolidations. Postal officials have mostly followed that path, though the early-retirement bonuses have been too small and the pace of consolidations too slow.

Glad to hear it. I'm a big fan of the USPS, having shipped thousands of items and having been in the business as a shipper.

Rather than restate my old posts about the USPS, I've merged your posting into an older thread.

[specialrequest]

Originally Posted by sickofnyc

Maybe they should pass a law against so much junk mail, especially those credit card promo rate scams. They probably pay special rates for bulk mail and all they are doing is loading up the mail handlers with crap...Also, way too much paper being wasted.

Junk mail is the Postal Service's biggest source of income- if you were to eliminate that, you wouldn't have much of a Postal Service left-I know when I carried the mail for one year back in my youth, I found out just how much the junk mail was my bread and butter as a carrier-without junk mail most carriers would lose their job-

Everyone likes to rip on the Postal Service- where else do you get such service for such a low cost? I have a mail order side business, and ship out hundreds and hundreds of packages every year- the few times that I used UPS instead of the USPS my packages were damaged-never have had one package damaged by the USPS-

[Mike from back east]

Five Myths About the USPS.

1. The Postal Service wastes taxpayer dollars.
FALSE. The USPS has not received taxpayer funds since 1982.

2. The Postal Service is inefficient.
FALSE. Ten years ago, it took 70 employees one hour to sort 35,000 letters. Today, two employees process that same volume .... the number of addresses in the nation has grown by 18 million ... the number of employees ... has decreased by more than 200,000.

3. Mail is not reliable.
FALSE. ... surveys conducted by IBM confirm record reliability levels. In 2009/4thQtr, overnight delivery of first-class mail was at 96 percent for the fifth straight quarter...

4. The USPS is not environmentally friendly.
FALSE. ... a fleet of 44,000 alternative-fuel-capable vehicles is one of the largest in the world and includes electric, three-wheeled electric, hybrid electric, ethanol, fuel-cell, biodiesel and propane technology.

5. The USPS can't compete with the private sector.
FALSE. ... stamp prices increased about 33% over the past 10 years, ... in line with inflation. ... private carriers raised their prices by as much as 60% between 1999-2009. The USPS is, and has always been, a bargain.

[Boompa]

Originally Posted by michiganmom48

I just heard that the Postal Services is asking to stop the Sat Mail to save money. I guess they would ask the Goverment? I guess snow, sleet and rain doesn't over jump money

In the early 1980s the Postal service did not deliver to residences on Wednesday or Saturday

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by Boompa

In the early 1980s the Postal service did not deliver to residences on Wednesday or Saturday

Before that there was delivery twice a day.

[swagger]

Originally Posted by ovcatto

I didn't rep you because, while I thought is was a good line, it didn't adhere to the original quote. So, to improve upon it, I had to look up the original. The stuff you can learn...

The United States Postal Service has no official creed or motto. Often falsely cited as such, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is an inscription on the James Farley Post Office in New York City, derived from a quote from Herodotus' Histories (8.98), referring to the ancient courier service of the Persian Empire:
It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed. (trans. A.D. Godley 1924)

There is similar confusion surrounding the phrase, "To protect and serve." Many people think it's some sort of universal police motto, but it's actually only the motto of the Los Angeles Police Department.