Postal Service Seeks Permission to End Saturday Delivery

[Ovedya]

The main reason the USPS is short on money is the simple fact that people don't send letters anymore. We don't mail our billls either, as a rule. Everything is done on the internet so of COURSE revenues are going to be way down. I get mostly junk mail anyway so I don't care about losing Saturday delievery.

This is true. Sad thing is, taxpayers will eventually (if we're not already) be paying extra just to prop up the USPS. They'll try to save the government jobs just to keep people employed. It's not a "bad thing" per-se, but if the Fed contracted with a private firm it wouldn't be near the drain on taxpayers. Bif blind spot with the government is: Our way works better than private industry and saves money.

WROOONG!!!

The postal service is completely self sufficient and has been since 1972. They get no tax money at all and can't without congress changing things.

The constitution does not allow them to outsource the mail system, and considering the problem with the Federal Reserve, I'm not sure I'd like to see us outsource something else that we're not supposed to.

If they don't cut Saturday delivery and lay off some people, they will be forced to raise prices once more.

Actually it's classified as an "independent agency of the United States government, which exist under the Federal Executive branch: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Independent.shtml

The USPS is a Federally sanctioned monopoly.

[other one]

The main reason the USPS is short on money is the simple fact that people don't send letters anymore. We don't mail our billls either, as a rule. Everything is done on the internet so of COURSE revenues are going to be way down. I get mostly junk mail anyway so I don't care about losing Saturday delievery.

This is true. Sad thing is, taxpayers will eventually (if we're not already) be paying extra just to prop up the USPS. They'll try to save the government jobs just to keep people employed. It's not a "bad thing" per-se, but if the Fed contracted with a private firm it wouldn't be near the drain on taxpayers. Bif blind spot with the government is: Our way works better than private industry and saves money.

WROOONG!!!

The postal service is completely self sufficient and has been since 1972. They get no tax money at all and can't without congress changing things.

The constitution does not allow them to outsource the mail system, and considering the problem with the Federal Reserve, I'm not sure I'd like to see us outsource something else that we're not supposed to.

If they don't cut Saturday delivery and lay off some people, they will be forced to raise prices once more.

Actually it's classified as an "independent agency of the United States government, which exist under the Federal Executive branch: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Independent.shtml

The USPS is a Federally sanctioned monopoly.

but since 1982 it is completely self supporting, it gets no tax money. It is set up within the Constitution itself. Whether or not you actually like the post office and it's people, it is the only government agency that I know of that supports itself completely. If the rest of government was the same, we'd be a lot better off.

[nebula]

If they don't cut Saturday delivery and lay off some people, they will be forced to raise prices once more.

I've never heard of the fed. gov. laying off people.

Once hired by the fed. it is very difficult to no longer be employed by the fed. Even people who deserve to be fired aren't because of this.

[other one]

If they don't cut Saturday delivery and lay off some people, they will be forced to raise prices once more.

I've never heard of the fed. gov. laying off people.

Once hired by the fed. it is very difficult to no longer be employed by the fed. Even people who deserve to be fired aren't because of this.

The postal service is not typical government. They may just do attrition, but they do have a lot of outsourced contract people that could be released without any problem....... well other than to the people that go.

The actual postal employees have a pretty strong union that would probably revolt if they had layoffs of postal employees.... that's no different than other companies or the rest of the government...... that part really sucks from my viewpoint.

[Ovedya]

The main reason the USPS is short on money is the simple fact that people don't send letters anymore. We don't mail our billls either, as a rule. Everything is done on the internet so of COURSE revenues are going to be way down. I get mostly junk mail anyway so I don't care about losing Saturday delievery.

This is true. Sad thing is, taxpayers will eventually (if we're not already) be paying extra just to prop up the USPS. They'll try to save the government jobs just to keep people employed. It's not a "bad thing" per-se, but if the Fed contracted with a private firm it wouldn't be near the drain on taxpayers. Bif blind spot with the government is: Our way works better than private industry and saves money.

WROOONG!!!

The postal service is completely self sufficient and has been since 1972. They get no tax money at all and can't without congress changing things.

The constitution does not allow them to outsource the mail system, and considering the problem with the Federal Reserve, I'm not sure I'd like to see us outsource something else that we're not supposed to.

If they don't cut Saturday delivery and lay off some people, they will be forced to raise prices once more.

Actually it's classified as an "independent agency of the United States government, which exist under the Federal Executive branch: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Independent.shtml

The USPS is a Federally sanctioned monopoly.

but since 1982 it is completely self supporting, it gets no tax money. It is set up within the Constitution itself. Whether or not you actually like the post office and it's people, it is the only government agency that I know of that supports itself completely. If the rest of government was the same, we'd be a lot better off.

As an independent agency of the U.S. government it regularly advises the Executive branch. As such it need only post a significant loss and we can expect Congress to pass a bill mandating a tax increase to bail it out. Heck, it only took a couple of trips by GM execs to Congress to beg for their bail out.

[~candice~]

The Big Deal is that the U.S. Postal Service, like all the organizations that the Federal Government runs, is a broken malfunctioning organization and runs a deficit all the time. No matter how many times they raise rates.

It's a precursor to Socialized Health Care. "Sorry, there will be no more Health Care on Saturday's due to our new business model."

The Federal Government should have privatized the mail service in the U.S. a long, long time ago.

Peace,

Dave

The main reason the USPS is short on money is the simple fact that people don't send letters anymore. We don't mail our billls either, as a rule. Everything is done on the internet so of COURSE revenues are going to be way down. I get mostly junk mail anyway so I don't care about losing Saturday delievery.

Right.

Privatise it.

[Matthitjah]

The Big Deal is that the U.S. Postal Service, like all the organizations that the Federal Government runs, is a broken malfunctioning organization and runs a deficit all the time. No matter how many times they raise rates.

It's a precursor to Socialized Health Care. "Sorry, there will be no more Health Care on Saturday's due to our new business model."

The Federal Government should have privatized the mail service in the U.S. a long, long time ago.

Peace,

Dave

The main reason the USPS is short on money is the simple fact that people don't send letters anymore. We don't mail our billls either, as a rule. Everything is done on the internet so of COURSE revenues are going to be way down. I get mostly junk mail anyway so I don't care about losing Saturday delievery.

Right.

Privatise it.

Andy,

I know you're not American, but understand that every American knows that outside of the U.S. Military, anything the Government runs, whether it is State or Federal, is inefficient and wastes money.

Something like 74% of Americans are now opposed to Government run Health Care. There's a reason for that opinion. We simply do not Trust the Federal Government to operate efficiently or with our best interest in mind.

Peace,

Dave

[wyguy]

We simply do not Trust the Federal Government to operate efficiently or with our best interest in mind.

That and we're already sick of them spending us straight into bankruptcy!

[~candice~]

The Big Deal is that the U.S. Postal Service, like all the organizations that the Federal Government runs, is a broken malfunctioning organization and runs a deficit all the time. No matter how many times they raise rates.

It's a precursor to Socialized Health Care. "Sorry, there will be no more Health Care on Saturday's due to our new business model."

The Federal Government should have privatized the mail service in the U.S. a long, long time ago.

Peace,

Dave

The main reason the USPS is short on money is the simple fact that people don't send letters anymore. We don't mail our billls either, as a rule. Everything is done on the internet so of COURSE revenues are going to be way down. I get mostly junk mail anyway so I don't care about losing Saturday delievery.

Right.

Privatise it.

Andy,

I know you're not American, but understand that every American knows that outside of the U.S. Military, anything the Government runs, whether it is State or Federal, is inefficient and wastes money.

Something like 74% of Americans are now opposed to Government run Health Care. There's a reason for that opinion. We simply do not Trust the Federal Government to operate efficiently or with our best interest in mind.

Peace,

Dave

*pokes her head out of the sand and has a look around*

I'm not as naive or uninformed as you think. Inefficiency is a plague of the government here too. Did you miss where I said "privatise it"? The eye rolling was in response to your attempt to link this to socialised health care. I read an article about how popular the proposed health care bill is and I am well aware that the majority of Americans despise it. I have also recently read up on the falling popularity of your president. I understand you don't trust your government to be efficient. But this has nothing to do with healthcare... unless you want to invent a creative slippery slope argument .

[Rick-Parker]

Another result of unionization and the bloated "prepaid" retirement systems that have bankrupted the automakers and other AFL-CIO/UAW controlled companies.