The Post Office is not broke--and it hasn't taken any of our tax money since 1971

[Galraedia]

Consider $.50. What does that buy these days? Not a cuppa joe--that'll cost you two bucks at Starbucks, and even McDonald's wants a dollar for a small. Nor will it get you a newspaper, a pack of gum, a shoeshine, or a bus token. And Walmart, which promotes itself as the palace of cheap, sells practically nothing for a half-buck.

There's one place, though, where you can get a steal of a deal for a fifty-cent piece: your local post office. Put down two quarters or five dimes there, and you'll get a first-class stamp in return... and you'll even get a nickel in change. Slap that 45-cent stamp on a letter, drop it in the mailbox, and our nation's postal workers will move your missive across town or clear across country--hand delivering it to any address in America within three days (42 percent arrive the very next day, and 27 percent more get where we want them to go within two days).

Each day, six days a week, letter carriers traverse four million miles toting an average of 563 million pieces of mail, reaching the very doorsteps of our individual homes and workplaces in every single community in America. They ride snowmobiles to reach iced-in villages, for example, fly bush planes into outback wilderness areas that have no roads, run Mail Boats out to remote islands in places like Maine and Washington state, and even use mules on an eight-mile trail to bring mail to the 500 members of the Havasupai tribe of Native Americans living on the floor of the Grand Canyon.

From the gated enclaves and penthouses of the ueber-wealthy to the inner-city ghettos and rural colonias of America's poorest families, the US Postal Service literally delivers. All that for 45 cents. And if you've written the wrong address or your recipient can't be found, you'll get your letter or package back for no charge. The USPS is an unmatched bargain, a civic treasure, a genuine public good that links all people and commu-nities into one nation.

Read more: http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/2927#.URST55bK0mQ

[blkmusclmachine]

1. USPS works. That's why it must be destroyed.

[underpants]

27. and it unionized. Remember that Santorum tried to privatize the weather

[PSPS]

2. Without the poison pill imposed by the GOP, the USPS would have had over $1 billion profit last year

[SunSeeker]

8. It pisses me off to no end that this is never mentioned in the MSM. nt

[naaman fletcher]

26. That's factually not true

operational losses were 2 billion last year, without the pre-funding requirement.

[Wilms]

3. ^

[Doctor_J]

4. Many Dems have bought the Hate Radio bullshit

as usual

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=391755

[The Blue Flower]

5. I especially like his ideas for expansion of USPS

Great article. We need to be contacting our congresscritters.

[Initech]

6. The billionaires are pissed because there's a government agency making money and they can't have a piec

[moose65]

7. The Post Office, overall, is an efficient operation

I know that everyone jokes about it and thinks it's inconvenient, but the USPS really does link this country together. They are required to deliver to every place in the country, unlike FedEx and UPS. If FedEx and UPS don't deliver to a certain place, who do you think does the delivery? That's right - the Postal Service. If you ship something and your shipping info says something about FedEx Smart Post or UPS Mail Innovations, it means that the actual last mile of delivery is being done by the Post Office. The Postal Service is just that - a SERVICE! It was never meant to be a profit-making business. In spite of their deficit, the USPS still does billions of dollars in business every year, which private companies would love to get their hands on! The Postal Service needs to be an independent entity - one that Congress can't constantly mess with. If Congress would untie them, I'm sure the Post Office could thrive. That being said, I'm sure there are lots of improvements that could be made. It's always seemed odd to me that it costs the same to send a Christmas card across town as it costs to send one 2,000 miles.

[SunSeeker]

9. Thank you for posting this.

The MSM is ignoring the pertinent facts when it comes to the USPS, in essence being complicit with the GOP in destroying this national treasure.

[littlewolf]

10. I love the Post Office.

when I was stationed overseas or was deployed on those big grey things that float (mostly ) mail call was my fav time of day.
it kept me updated on what was going on at home, and there is NOTHING like getting a hand written note. you can go back and reread it all the time.
(and if it had perfume on it so much the better )
even today with E-mail and phones and all other forms of communications, there is nothing like getting a letter and taking your time to enjoy what someone wants to communicate to you.
good job USPS.

[They_Live]

11. Thousands of cottage industries

depend on the USPS. Any reduction of service is going to have an effect on them, and how those (very small) businesses operate. That will in turn have an impact on the economy. Think of all of the E-bay, & "Amazon market place" folks that use the USPS not only for delivery, but to also receive and pay bills associated with their businesses.

[mraponick]

12. The Post Ofice, the military and the service

First the Post Office mandated by the Constitution. A liberal Court would agree with us and make the gov't run the show. Not to be.

Second, You talk about jobs for the military. Since WW2 vets had the abilty to come the PO and not end up trashed on the street. It's a decent honorable job.

In the future, there will be uniom strife, carriers will balkanize the PO, fighting for territory, which means less jobs, and a lot less service.

Make to PO more efficient, have different means of cost-cutting and save the jobs. You are getting something for tax payer dollars, and a conscientious gov't kick in?

[emsimon33]

19. Good point about being mandated in the Constitution

[YOHABLO]

13. MSM is silent about USPS and funding their pensions .. 40yrs in advance!

The Corporatist have been licking their chops to gain ownership for a while now. They are slowly going to get their way. Unless of course somebody grows a pair in the U.S. Congress .. sigh.

[tclambert]

14. In Canada, it's 63¢. And it has not destroyed Canadian commerce.

At that price, the USPS would make 5 to 10 billion dollars profit.

In the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, it's even higher. I think New Zealand charges less, but not by much.

[malthaussen]

15. Post Office Hate is a shining example of why the facts don't matter.

And possibly of how spoiled Americans are, or have been. I've always been amazed at the speed and reliability of the PO, yet for all my life people have bitched about how it needs to be improved. This is the result. We'll improve it all right.

I wonder how it is that so many people fail to see the simple point that if you change a not-for-profit service into a profit-making enterprise, then either cost must go up or service be curtailed to ensure the profit? To me, this is the glaring flaw in the whole "privatization" ideology.

-- Mal

[radiclib]

16. You get a heart for posting this, Galraedia

The MSM and the corporate power that rules it are conspiring to destroy the two most efficient and popular public institutions ever created--the USPS and Social Security. They won't stop until every American is thoroughly brainwashed.

[johnlucas]

17. Don't let them destroy the Post Office!

I've been worried about the future of the Post Office for a long time.
Doesn't seem to me that many people understand the importance of this service & they have taken it for granted.
New technologies make things convenient, sure, but like the article says the Post Office provides us an invaluable service for such a low price.

I respect the Post Office.
I respect Post Office workers.
And I will not stand by & let the Post Office be dismantled just like that.
Public services are the hallmark of progressive societies.
We've been regressing for too long.

I don't even mind the junk mail.
Just keep my Post Office alive!
John Lucas

[cp]

18. I love our Post Office

I love getting letters and cards. Love sending real mail to my loved ones. Love the aerogrammes I got when I was abroad. Love the summer job as a substitute mail carrier, especially with a trainer who looked like Paul Newman. In my rural town, the Post Office is essential. It's central to our community and helps knit us together. No corporate entity would ever do that.
Hightower's Lowdown on the Post Office is brilliant. I'd had no idea about the 75-years-in-advance pension payment. Do you know any company or person who has to fully fund something 75 years ahead of time? Best are the positive, practical ideas for our Post Office's flourishing into the future.

[Moosepoop]

20. I remember watching a Gallagher special on Showtime

back in the 1980s. He did a bit on the Post Office -- how you could send a letter... and some guy on a pony would take it and ride and ride and ride like hell... all the way across the country... and deliver that letter to the recipient within a few days, maximum... FOR A QUARTER!!!

It was a nice homage to the Postal Service, and made me stop and think every time someone bitched about the price of a stamp, or had some other denigrating crack to make about the Post Office or its workers. He was right then, and is still right today. The USPS is still exceptional in its speed and value, and too many people don't realize this and need to have it pointed out to them. I'll always be grateful to Gallagher for pointing it out to the young adult me, in a way that stuck.

Thanks, Gallagher!

[Stuart G]

21. K and R nt

[love_katz]

22. Hightower's article is great.

I am highly recommending that people follow the link, and read the whole thing. Great ideas for keeping the USPS going, and even expanding their services.

Thanks for posting this, Galraedia.

I wish there was a way to trumpet this info from the roof tops, all around the country!

A pox on the privatizers!

[dipsydoodle]

23. "unmatched bargain"

I guess you mean in the USA. Its pretty much the same as the UK's Royal Mail.

The title says "no tax " money" which is not for me to query other than to say I thought USPS was a public utility. As such using tax money shouldn't be a problem anyway - I'd have thought all national postal services used affordable utility pricing for the overall benefit of its population. Subsiding such services achieves the effect of helping to provide a service to those may otherwise be unable to afford it.

Aside from that as I have said in the past here - I must say I think your USPS is wonderful. I have for the past 10 years found them to be totally dependable and reliable having had many banjos, guitars and related stuff shipped here to the UK without issue.

[liberal N proud]

24. The GOP is going after the post office because they don't have anyone making millions

from the customers.

The GOP wants all things privatized! All things!

[Phlem]

25. Let's see

There was the manufactured fiscal cliff crisis, now the USPS is in a manufactured crisis. Who knows how many have happened in the past and what is yet to come. One thing is clear, the Republicans have a very high tolerance for other people's pain.

Republicans = The American Taliban

Why are we spending bajillions of dollars police-ing the rest of the world when the real terrorists have sat in the White House and currently sit in Congress?



-p

[underpants]

28. Excellent article - I was not aware of the PO Bank operations

Now I see why they aren't allowed any more - Pay Day Loans which is a parasitic industry

[Louisiana1976]

29. K&R

[Iwillnevergiveup]

30. Jim Hightower

deserves a bushel-load of hearts! His newsletter is excellent, and I think it's accepting new subscribers.

K&R

[Highway61]

31. Not broken

GOP forced the issue of pensions....the motive? Privatization. Just like the prisons. Just like they want to do with schools and Social Security etc. My prediction (IMHO) that someday, somehow they will privatize water. In fact, I believe that CLEAN water will become so scarce someday that there will be huge conflicts, if not war over it. Greedy bastards.

[Egalitarian Thug]

32. Great Read Indeed. K&R

[gussmith]

33. Give Me The Facts

Is it written somewhere in this fanciful story how the Post Office reportedly loses billions per quarter, pays it workers good wages, is not a government agency? What's the story?

[Galraedia]

34. USPS history:

[Uncle Joe]

35. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Galraedia.

[Blue_Tires]

36. k+r

[oldandhappy]

38. an excellent value

and very safe. Worked as a sub for awhile and was impressed with how careful the operation is.

[Pterodactyl]

39. Yeah! The Post Office is AWESOME!