On the USPS possible default and why...

[nadinbrzezinski]

I have read many things here so here are some facts for you.

1.- THe post Office should raise the price of a first class stamp. Agreed, they should, but they cannot unless CONGRESS aproves this. The USPS is not private, and they cannot determine the cost of a first class stamp, that is congress's job. Any odds on these guys approving a needed ten cent rise, let alone a realistic 50 cent increase?

Yes the Postmaster General has asked for this...

2.- The Postal Service has been required, since 2006, to front load it's retirement program. This was approved by a Republican Congress and signed by Baby Bush. This is a union busting. privatization trap.

So as they say... do not blame the USPS... for bad management... this was a trap and it is working... You want to support your mail service? USE IT. By the way, here is another dirty secret...

3.- Last mile delivery... who do you think Fed Ex and UPS use for that? You order UPS and they pay the USPS for standard, even if you paid expedited rush... and by the way, this is supposed to be last mile... but at times you can have a packet sent from La Jolla to Philadelphia. So think about that, when you paid for UPS or FedEx and your friendly postman delivers this. They are making a bundle on that.

[Rex]

1. Email has destroyed the USPS imo.

Free market etc..

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Email is part of the problem but the 2006 law

has done a lot more damage, The USPS runs a very efficient package operation.

[Rex]

4. True, another fabrication by the GOP to privatize the industry imo.

[Scruffy1]

15. How do you email a package?

In the last week I have received about five packages through USPS. Priority mail is considered first class mail. Person to person first class mail has never been a large part of Postal revenue. Advertising, catalogues, political fliers, and magazines have always been a postal staple. Currently UPS and FedEX have done such a good job lobbying the PRC that the USPS share of the parcel business is too small to be sustainable.
UPS and FedEX know this and couldn't stay in business without the USPS.

[Dulcinea]

16. My sentiments exactly!

I'm an eBay seller & ship packages via the USPS every week. The others are too expensive.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart

and my husband who processes your boxes from time to time

[Fearless]

29. Ask Congressman Weiner. Everyone's seen his package.

Sorry... couldn't help myself... good point though. :)

[Rex]

30. UPS and FedEX ship packages worldwide and can easily

survive the USPS falling apart...sure it would mean job cuts. USPS won't die, just that email cost them a lot of money. USPS lost thousands of posts the other day, it wasn't FedEX or UPSs fault.

[NV Whino]

3. The last mile delivery annoys me no end

It adds at least a day delay in delivery. I would get a package faster with either straight mail or straight UPS/FedEx delivery.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. i now make a point to contact the companies

who believe they used UPS\ FEDEX and tell them that since they are going to use USPS I want the option too.

And I also point to them that shipping will be cheaper too.

[FarCenter]

5. Increase the price for second class, bulk mail etc.

The problem is the Postal Regulatory Commission which controls prices, service requirements, and closing of locations.

http://www.prc.gov/prc-pages/default.aspx

Congress as usual abdicated its responsibilities to the PRC so it can't be blamed.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Oh congress can, they aprove the strucutre

except for packages, THey have to sign off on it and they will not.

[FarCenter]

8. Where does it say Congress has anything to do with it?

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=b0d0b9f44f70698aa363c395fb5ef623&rgn=div5&view=text&node=39:1.0.2.15.8&idno=39

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
Title 39: Postal Service
PART 3010—REGULATION OF RATES FOR MARKET DOMINANT PRODUCTS

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. They are a monopoly

Congress has been in charge of determining postal rates for MAIL for ever. Packages are determined by the Postal Service, why they are competitive.

Look my husband WORKS at the USPS...

I know that people really do not want to blame who needs to be blamed, but ultimately CONGRESS has to sign off on that and it has all to do with having the MONOPOLY that both UPS and Fed Ex want a hand into.

Realize this, UPS and Fed Ex pay minimum, the USPS is a good union job.

Also neither of them will charge you 49 cents for a letter, and will NOT deliver in the boonies.

Oh and who signs off, Budget Oversight Committee

[lbrtbell]

9. It's front loading the retirement program, period.

I know postal workers who are all in agreement about that. The USPS was fine until the RePUBICans started that B.S.

Raising the cost of a first-class stamp would be madness. People are already flocking to e-mail, and this would only hasten the demise of the letter. I used to have 50+ pen pals all over the world. I can't afford to anymore.

Another problem: The USPS eliminated the Small Packet and Printed Matter rates overseas, replacing it with the MUCH more expensive letter rate, stupidly named First-Class International Mail. (I guess Airmail was too convenient and logical for them.) Many people like myself used to trade magazine clippings and all sorts of nice things with overseas pen pals. Other countries still have the lower rates, and we don't, so they're at a great advantage over us. I used to get cute overseas goods and sell them on eBay. No more...there's no way I could sell these items for enough to cover postage, let alone make a profit.

Also, have you seen how often the USPS changes their forms? Take customs forms, for instance. They used to be a nice size; you could even fit them on a little box you'd mail a CD in. They had all the necessary info, a tear-off portion with a barcode that could be scanned, etc. So what did the USPS do? TWO TIMES, they changed the forms, increased the size a great deal, and wasted all the previous forms. Now consider insurance forms, and all the other ones that the USPS has added to landfills. It's unnecessary and wasteful.

The USPS also has a penchant for remodeling post offices that are in perfectly good shape. I'm not talking about new tiles for the floor; I'm talking about tearing out entire counters, the whole bit. It's sheer madness.

What they don't tell you is that other postal rates, like first-class over one ounce, overseas mail, etc., have had rate increases again and again in recent years.

The USPS doesn't need to increase the cost of already-overpriced stamps. They need to stop spending like drunken sailors, and Congress needs to stop forcing them to front-load the retirement program.

[canoeist52]

13. Junk mail is good.Send every return envelope back empty or stuffed.

-specially those solicitations from your "favorite" banks.

I also keep sending the right wing stuff (left-over from my mom's Alzheimer days) back stuffed with her Democratic inserts.(yes she was funding both sides...sigh)

No postage necessary is your and the USPS's friend says my postmaster..


(edit- oops, replied to you instead of op -sorry)

[pinboy3niner]

11. Straight talk from a postal union branch official...

This LTTE was published just yesterday in the Chicago Trib:

USPS can keep Saturdays

1:00 p.m. CDT, August 5, 2011


If one was to believe the recent propaganda by the Postmaster General, you would think the internet, the economy and the declining mail volume has made the United States Postal Service (USPS) unprofitable- thus they must eliminate Saturday delivery and close local Post Offices in order to survive. This is simply not accurate.


While it is true that mail volume has declined over the past ten years, the Postal Service, with cooperation from its labor unions, has made the appropriate business decisions to remain competitive and efficient. The real reason behind the "loss" of billions is a law that requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its future retiree's health benefits for the next 75 years. That mandate, enacted during the Bush-era (2006), requires this to be done in ten years.


That's right – the USPS is required by law (not by its labor unions) to contribute over $5 billion annually to pay for the future health benefits of carriers and employees that have yet to be hired. The National Association of Letter Carriers is aware of this, which is why we have been working hard to get Congress to relieve the Postal Service of this unreasonable and unfair burden. No other company in the private or public sector is required to do this so neither should the Postal Service. ....
...


.... The Postal Service is still very relevant and for only 44 cent a stamp we don't require a dime of your tax dollar! If it was not for the congressional mandate to pre-fund our retirement, the Postal Service would have seen profits of over a half a billion dollars over the past five years. Right now the United States Postal Service does not need to close post offices, reduce services or a bailout -- we just need Congress to fix the law that is breaking your Postal Service.


-- Mack I. Julion , President, National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 11- Chicago


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-110805julion_briefs,0,2889672.story

(With minor reformating to reduce paragraph length.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Wish I could recommend this

[handmade34]

14. me too

good info... I mail 4-10 boxes per month to my family and I love the USPS...

*Support Your Local USPS*

[pinboy3niner]

18. *Support Your Local USPS*--Yes! And remember that supporting USPS supports UNIONS

This "crisis" is wholly manufactured by the GOP to both destroy unions and privatize postal service.

The only winner, if they succeed, is big business. WE will be the losers, along with the postal workers who will lose union representation and protection.

[lonestarnot]

33. K & R!

[matmar]

17. I'm a Postal Worker.....

The reason the USPS is having financial problems is because of the $5.5 billion dollar mandated pre-funding requirement passed in 2006 by the Republican controlled Congress.

Understand that the USPS does not take any taxpayer money to operate. It operates completely on the sale of postage and has been a self-sustaining operation up until the Republican Congress of 2006 put a poison pill provision in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.

The poison pill was the $5.5 billion dollar payment that has to be set aside every year for 10 years to fund FUTURE RETIREE health benefits (another argument for national healthcare, IMO). In other words the USPS starts every year in a $5.5 billion dollar hole.

This was not the labor unions' idea, this was mandated by the Republican Congress and IMO, designed to drown the USPS.

I also don't believe that doing away with Saturday delivery is a measure that should be taken to cut costs. Doing away with the ridiculous pre-funding mandate and we can have 6 day delivery, no problem.

[handmade34]

19. ....

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

21. Thanks for your excellent post, matmar

And welcome to DU! :hi:

Your 'poison pill' point is right on. And your point that the GOP designed this "to drown the USPS." (Drown it in a bathtub, as someone once said.)

The pension-funding requirements were passed by the GOP for two reasons--to kill unions and to fully privatize postal service. If the USPS goes under, so do the unions that represent and protect postal workers.

Without having to divert operational funds to pensions so excessively, USPS would be fully in the black. The solution is not to cut services, but to fix the statutory burden imposed on USPS by a Republican Congress.

[Desertrose]

22. Thx for your post. I always ship USPS!

I think you guys rock.

Thx for all your hard work. :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. absolutely

My husband is also a postal worker... and it irks me just how this is spun everywhere

Welcome to DU.

[matmar]

24. Then you must be familiar with Darrell Issa's Union-Busting proposal..

http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2011/11-084-washpost-letter-110802.htm

http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2011/11-085-teaparty-hr2309-110804.htm

It's always chapped my arse how a postal worker (or any worker) could be a rightwinger. Sort of like a chicken who loves Colonel Sanders...

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Yep, and given good ol' Daryl's history

it should shock nobody.

As to why people become chickens for colonel sanders, I think at this point I could write a book or two.

I try to keep the issue as simple as possible, I mean people do not even realize how postal rates go up or the 2006 law... education will take a while, I am afraid.

[matmar]

26. Here's a link I found that has some good info....

http://www.savethepostoffice.com/

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Thanks just went into my favorites... useuful material

when pestering congress critters.

[Occulus]

32. Postal worker here as well.

I have posted those exact thoughts here on DU and elsewhere more than once.

We need to keep telling people about this. Every time we post it, people who didn't know it before walk away with the truth. Shoot- there are still people out there who think the USPS gets taxpayer money from Congress.

[fadedrose]

28. My brother-in-law, retired postman, and now deceased, complained...

that the Post Office is the ONLY government agency that is expected to show a profit.

[riderinthestorm]

31. I only ship USPS because I am aware of the impossible hardships they face.

the USPS has my support eternally. I am rural and I rely upon the USPS for ALL of my shipping.