"Sen. Bernie Sanders...will oppose a U.S. Postal Service plan to end Saturday mail delivery."

[ProSense]

Sanders to Fight for Real Postal Reform

Sen. Bernie Sanders said today he will oppose a U.S. Postal Service plan to end Saturday mail delivery.

“The postmaster general cannot save the Postal Service by ending one of its major competitive advantages. Cutting six-day delivery is not a viable plan for the future. It will lead to a death spiral that will harm rural America while doing very little to improve the financial condition of the Postal Service,” Sanders said. “Providing fewer services and less quality will cause more customers to seek other options. Rural Americans, businesses, senior citizens and veterans will be hurt by ending Saturday mail,” Sanders added.

The House last year refused to consider a Senate-passed postal reform bill that Sanders helped draft.

The Senate measure to modernize the Postal Service would have changed a 2006 congressional requirement that the mail service pre-fund 75 years’ worth of future retiree health benefits over a 10-year period. That pre-funding requirement is responsible for about 80 percent of the Postal Service’s financial losses since 2007. “No other government agency, no other corporation in America is burdened with this mandate. This mandate must be lifted,” Sanders said.

Current federal law makes it illegal to end Saturday mail delivery. The Senate-passed bill would have reinforced the ban for two more years.

“It is time for Republican leadership in the House to work with the Senate to reform the Postal Service in a way that will not harm rural America and allows the Postal Service to adjust to the digital age without ending Saturday mail delivery,” Sanders said.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=a868cce9-3b42-40c4-a7ef-519507db955f

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Sanders should explain why he voted to require the pre-funding of pensions in the first place

[xtraxritical]

23. I don't believe he did, can you prove it?

[Nye Bevan]

3. Why should mail carriers be forced to work on Saturdays? (nt)

[ProSense]

4. Why

"Why should mail carriers be forced to work on Saturdays? "

...should people in retail or in hospitals and nursing homes?

Mail delivery is not a Mon-Fri 9-5 job.

[Nye Bevan]

6. People would die if hospitals were not staffed on Saturdays.

I, on the other hand, will not die if I have to wait an extra day for the birthday card from my sister, or for my Hammacher Schlemmer catalog.

Hope this helps.

[ProSense]

8. You seem unaware that millions of Americans work on Saturday...

millions of people in service.

Hope that helps.

[Nye Bevan]

9. Millions of people work on Sundays, too.

So why not force mail carriers to work on Sundays?

In answer to my question "why should mail carriers be forced to work on Saturdays", you have given two answers so far:

1. Hospitals are staffed on Saturdays;
2. Millions of service people work on Saturdays,

neither of which strikes me as an especially compelling argument.

[ProSense]

10. "Millions of people work on Sundays, too. So why not force mail carriers to work on Sundays?"

Is that what you consider a "compelling" argument?

Here's the deal: People work. Some work one day, some work five. Some have Saturdays off, some had Tuedays off. Some work days, some work nights.

I doubt your concern about mail carriers having to work Saturday has anything to do with concern for their well-being.

Why don't you want people to have the opportunity to make a living?

[Nye Bevan]

11. OK. I understand that you have no interest in allowing my mail carrier to spend the whole weekend

with her family.

Convenience comes at the expense of the workers, as usual. God forbid people have to wait until Monday for their mail. I assume that you are all in favor of the big stores being open on Thanksgiving Day, for the same reason.

[Aerows]

12. You are a transparent

and always have been, shit-stirrer.

Yeah, I'm sure you are all over this policy of getting rid of the US Post Office, since you are also chafing at the bit to get rid of other "social" programs for the common good.

[Nye Bevan]

14. Hmmm. I hardly think, sir, that eliminating Saturday mail delivery equates to

"getting rid of the US Post Office".

I mean, Canada stopped Saturday deliveries in 1969 and as far as I know the Canadian Post Office is still very much alive.

And I do not recall ever advocating on DU for getting rid of a "social" program. Do you have a link to a post where I did advocate for that, or perhaps you are confusing me with another DUer?

[JaneyVee]

20. Because it's about crushing wages and unions.

[ProSense]

13. What?

"OK. I understand that you have no interest in allowing my mail carrier to spend the whole weekend with her family."

Here's the solution: Employ more people. Pay them more. Cut the work week to four days. That way people will have more time with their families and more people will have jobs that pay a decent wage.

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

[athena]

16. I'm sure my mail carrier wants to work on Saturdays.

He has a certain income, and not being able to work on Saturdays will reduce that significantly. I feel so bad for the guy.

[flamingdem]

5. Good news from Bernie!

[Aerows]

7. Republicans supposedly want to end the Postal Service

They always have simply because Democrats fund it, like the social safety net, yet they depend on it, and the laws governing it.

I'm literally going to laugh my butt off if there is no way to deliver mail cheaply and Republicans are responsible for it.

Go Ahead. Proceed Senator.

[JaneyVee]

21. Yup, I can see it now.

Privatizing it will lead to us having to subscribe to mail delivery & pay monthly fees. Stamps will be $5 each.

[freshwest]

15. K & R

[AzDar]

17. Bernie!

[Jefferson23]

18. Republicans screwed this up like they do everything else they touch..stupid bullshit

they passed in 2006.

K&R

[Fire Walk With Me]

19. Go Bernie!

[timdog44]

22. Go Bernie!!!

We need more Bernies.