| Author | Message | ||
     Toona |
This is just an open discussion, I'm not sure if there is a right side or wrong side to the issue, but with the USPS not producing enough revenue and borrowing from the governments general fund, (that you I pay into as tax. payers)http://voices.washingtonpost.coms (article from April 2010-how much worse is it now?) My thought is that since the average city/town population is 6,200 http://www.newgeography.com why not stop carrier delivery to towns smaller than 6,200 and offer free post office boxes inside the post office that we have to go to pick up our own mail? The lobby hours could be longer than the normal 5:00, say 8:00 or even midnight. Offer stamps thru a vending machine, but keep the regular lobby hours for those that need extra services such as shipping a package. Towns larger than the 6,200 criteria would keep their regular delivery, just as it is now. The savings by not needing mail carriers in the smaller towns, in theory could be 25% of the USPS budget. I'm thinking that towns larger than 6,200 would keep their full staff, that's 50% of their budget, the smaller towns would layoff/retire the route carriers (half of our local staff) keeping a basic staff that would only work in the office filling the P.O. boxes, counter staff etc. Any costs incurred by construction needed to build additions for the newly needed rooms for the P.O. boxes would be offset within a year or two, five years max by the cost of the salaries/pensions that are now not being paid. What are your thoughts??? | ||
| Swampy |
Our country is in for a major renovation, I just don't know if we will be patient enough to survive it. With the advent of the internet and cell phones, you can handle almost all of your problems from the comfort of your home. | ||
| Kilroy |
That sounds like ""fewer" gov't workers, and "smaller" gov't, in essence. So, it will never happen. Better to dump billions more of our tax dollars into a failing enterprise at the same, or most likely, increased funding levels. Kilroy | ||
| Hootowl |
Buggy whips. The only things I get in the mail these days are packs of coupons and ads from the local grocery stores. Everything else comes UPS, FEDEX, or by email. We need to ask ourselves whether we need a government delivery service that makes most of its money by delivering advertising door to door. | ||
| Johnnymceldoo |
Why not increase funding? This works with public education right? | ||
| Rich |
Raise the price of stamps to a dollar. Quit giving the crybaby businesses a deal that the rest of the public has to underwrite. I don't mail many letters, the increase would still be a deal for me. | ||
| Mtjm2 |
Whos gunna deliver all those well fair checks? Oh , the Fed will take the savings and give everyone a laptop and wifi . | ||
| Pellis |
The Post Office is one of the things that the Constitution requires the federal government to do. Congress has voted against the Post Office’s request to stop delivery on Saturday’s. This would save something like a billion dollars a year. They also voted not to allow the post office to close under used facilities. Congress was afraid that it might upset their constituents and hurt their reelection chances. I believe that the Post Master General would be allowed to run the Post Office as a real business, it would be in the black. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/24/postal- service-eyes-closing-thousands-post-offices/ In addition, it is reviewing another 16,000—half of the nation's existing post offices—that are operating at a deficit, and lobbying Congress to allow it to change the law so it can close the most unprofitable among them. The law currently allows the postal service to close post offices only for maintenance problems, lease expirations or other reasons that don't include profitability. But while closures have been "on the table" in the past, this push is the agency's most serious yet, Granholm said, and is drawing widespread interest from a cost-cutting Congress. Still, shutting down post offices is often politically unpopular: elected officials in several communities have already written the Postal Regulatory Commission protesting planned closures. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/22/issa-wa rns-new-bailout-as-postal-service-suspends-pension -contributions/ The post office, unlike other federal agencies, is also required to make an annual payment of more than $5 billion as an advance contribution to future retiree medical costs. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Toona, not sure if the math is as simple as you work it out, though not saying my couterpoint is any more accurate, just food for though. If I had to guess, I'd say that this average population of 6,200 is for the towns/cities and NOT for a given ZIP code. As an example, I live is a smaller-ish town of North Greenbush, but my mailing address is for Troy, with a Troy ZIP code, serviced by the Troy post office (and it's satellites, none of which are in my town). If this is the case, then some of the smaller Hamlets near me may even count. These communities are typically not large enough to need their own post office when they're serviced by a larger neighboring city, which means it's not exactly a quick run into town to get your mail if home delivery service were stopped. All the junk mail we get is annoying, but it does make most of the USPS's business, and if those companies are willing to keep paying it then they can keep paying it, I guess. Maybe commercial rates should be higher to make up some of the gap? I wouldn't want to eliminate it all together - I like getting my magazines and NetFlix discs... | ||
| Sifo |
Quit giving the crybaby businesses a deal that the rest of the public has to underwrite. I'm not sure what business mail your are thinking they get a deal on. They pay first class postage just like everyone else, so I assume that you are referring to bulk mail. Bulk mail rates are already set where they subsidize all other rates. I used to follow this closely as part of my job quite some time back, having spent over a decade in the bulk mail business. I can pretty much guarantee you my work has touched your mail box numerous times.  | ||
| Toona |
Xl1200r: according to Wikipedia, your town has a population of 10,800 as of the 2000 census. So you wouldn't be affected by "my plan". My town, whopping population of 2,000 that consists of 800 +/- houses, could easily implement "my plan". I'll have to check the next time I go in, but it seems to me that they have a bunch of unused PO boxes. What triggered my thoughts on this was my mail carrier DRIVES around all morning delivering mail, to my business included. Then about 2 hours later he WALKS on the other side of my street hand delivering mail. Often, there are days that I don't even get mail at my business location. I know because I found out by calling the info line off of the usps.com site that "if there is no mail delivery to my box, that the carrier is not required to pick up any mail, even though the mailbox with flag up is in full view of him walking his route". I guess walking that extra 50' across the street is too much to ask. BTW, he crosses the street a half of a block up to deliver mail after going past my place. So it's not like he only has to cross to get my mail. I usually end up just taking the mail to the P.O. anyway. | ||
| Andymnelson |
They ought to simply implement a 5 year plan to phase out the USPS entirely. There is simply put, no need for them ...and it costs us all a ton of money. Electronic means of communication trumps anything the USPS can do, and we would use FAR less paper without them. Private companies (courier services, UPS, FedEx for example) can pick up the slack for anything else. | ||
| Hootowl |
Picking up mail at the post office seems reasonable to me, especially in small towns. Where does the constitution specify door to door mail service? | ||
| Andymnelson |
Agreed. In fact, stopping home delivery of our mail could easily be step 1 of phasing out the USPS! | ||
| Crackhead |
Until recently the post office wasn't costing us tax payers any money. The post office was self supporting. I would rather the post office put in group mail boxes, and stop Saturday delivery. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
$8.5 billion in losses in fiscal year 2010. so wouldn't that make th PO the most profitable part of the gov'ment? | ||
| Swampy |
They don't mail Welfare Checks anymore. The Gub'mint gives out debit cards, in Michigan they are called bridge cards. The account is filled automaticly, so no one has to get off the couch to get "Their Money" The problem with these debit cards is, the beneficiary can use it to buy just about anything, including making withdrawls at casino ATMs, go to the store and buy alcohol and some really good steaks, then ride the bus with their free bus pass to Meijers and buy that gas grill that I can't afford. For me to get that same gas grill I have to wait for my beige friend to get a new apartment and give me the "like new" Gub'mint bought gas grill with the full tank of fuel that was left behind. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
What if they kept the package price close to the same, there's compatition with ups fedex and others. But the mail part, who is the compatition? Why couldn't they just charge a little more for that part? The only problem I would see with the orig. post idea is the disabled. If they can't get the mail at the PO box, I bet we will have to pay somebody to deliver to that one house, the way we do things that will ad up.. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
'who will deliver all those welfare checks' Auto deposit has been around at least as long as I have been in the work force.... get rid of junk mail, federal check runs, and local coupons - what does the USPS do? I havent written nor received a letter in a decade. I dont have a home phone either - for the same reason - it was all solicitor calls and cr@p. | ||
| Aesquire |
A few misconceptions here. The Post office is NOT the government. It's a non profit company under govt. control. So you have in some ways the worst of both worlds. Congress must approve things and the Congress critters are not connected at all with the problems. A "mail man" is not allowed to run for public office. The people he talks to each day give him an unfair advantage over multibillionaires.  ( actually a law meant to keep Postmasters from doing free mailing for their own campaign. It used to happen ) Bear in mind that for more than 20 years, the folk hired at the PO don't get the Federal Pension they used to. ( the old guys, some with over 50 years in, do ) The guys hired since have a Federal 401k style plan. ( and a really token "pension" that pays very little ) so wouldn't that make th PO the most profitable part of the gov'ment? LOL. True-in a way. When the PO makes a profit Congress keeps it. No fake IOU like Social security, just takes it. Hasn't happened in a while, and to shift the burden of the old federal workers pension off the Federal govt, require, by law, that the PO pay for all the retirement and health care stuff Up Front. The big problem is they are not allowed to cut services, and not allowed to raise rates without Congress approval. But it was doing ok. Until the fake gas crisis stuff started and the cost of fuel more than tripled. And then doubled again. The law says we have to deliver, darn near everywhere, and for a good reason. A for-profit company ( like ooops and the fed excess guys ) just doesn't bother with full service. Doesn't pay. Ask a UPS guy about the results of the last strike and how the company abandoned the country folk to focus on high profit areas. ( part of a plan to screw the workers who were supposed to get full time employment..... and skirt the union agreement.....or so I'm told. ) The solution? Write letters to family & friends. Mail stuff. 44 cents is so cheap I can't believe you can deliver a letter across the country and make a living. Oh, yeah, unless theres enough volume, you can't. Or, we could have a cheap energy policy so they don't have to pay 4+ bucks a gallon for fuel with a real cost of less than one. Not holding my breath on that one. it's against the Religion of both Greenies and authoritarians. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
"A penny for your thoughts" was originally a protest against the Penny Stamp (when portions of pence were still used in currency) it was deemed as offensive on both sides of the coin, 1) How dare you say an academics mindful correspondence is only worth a penny (similar to the argument against the DLMA and the $1 Itunes down load model) 2) How dare you charge such an exorbitant rate, only the 'rich' will be able to afford the services! funny how 150 years later -NOTHING has changed. There is little written of value that would warrant the price of the stamp. (but I dont patronize Hallmark either) | ||
| Andymnelson |
I agree with all of the sentiments above. they processed 171 billion pieces of mail last year, and lost 8.5 billion $$. Isn't the logical solution to simply raise postage by $.21 and be profitable again?? For Pete's sake, you could still get a piece of mail across the country for $.65! | ||
| Crackhead |
Congress would have to approve. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Xl1200r: according to Wikipedia, your town has a population of 10,800 as of the 2000 census. So you wouldn't be affected by "my plan". I know I wouldn't be, but my point was more that even though my town is roughly twice the size of your cut-off, we'd be left without a post office and would need to drive to one of two neighboring cities to get to one. Or, the USPS would have to build a new branch in our town. | ||
| Andymnelson |
No problem...approve it or shut down! It's not ok to lose money and steal from taxpayers to cover your losses. | ||
| Fahren |
USPS "Express mail "overnight" service costs more than a fedex letter, and from where I am, it is very often not guaranteed to be overnight. Where I used to live, the post office's mailbox area was, and still is, open 27/7 (small town). Mail delivery is only to selected streets in the town. I would like to see the post office stick around. Often, the post office is quite the social center of a small, rural area and/or a town, and definitely the only official Federal outpost in many locations. People post town notices there, yard sale announcements, lost dog posters, the works. A post office gathers people in a way that a town hall never seems to. I have no problems with folks suggesting changes to help it to be a break-even proposition. | ||
| Hootowl |
I'm not certain that increasing the cost of a stamp by the shortfall times the price delta will work. Raising the price will deter some of the business. If the cost goes up, fewer transactions will take place, and there will be a gap between actual and projected revenue. The cost increase would have to make up for the reduction in stamps being sold due to said increase. | ||
| Froggy |
I happen to be a fan of the USPS and their cheap reliable shipping for packages. Fedex and UPS typically cost 2-4x as much for the same package, and if you are shipping international it is no contest, I've seen a guy working at a UPS store recommend a customer go across the street to the post office to ship a parcel to Germany so it wouldn't cost $122. | ||
| Hootowl |
USPS might be cheaper, but then, they're operating at a loss. UPS and FEDEX can't do that. | ||
| Aesquire |
The USPS is not allowed to turn a profit. ( when it does, Congress takes it ) I do have some ideas on how to improve the USPS. I don't want to get fired though, so I'll reserve them.... They already get mad enough at me for telling them the Emperor is naked. (Message edited by aesquire on June 27, 2011) |
