[BarryD]

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Many of us have clear childhood memories of that mailman.
People are spewing wildly inaccurate statements. USPS is losing money now, but not for the reasons most often claimed. USPS did not use any tax dollars for years. The steep drop in mail volume and laws/rules from congress are like a python squeezing the air out of USPS. Amazon and Vote-By-Mail are not suddenly spiking a need for capital.
Mail Volume (The Volume Falls but the Fixed Costs Remain)
• Internet banking and email resulted in a massive (-33%) reduction in first class mail, marketing mail (-7.5%) in the past decade (severe revenue loss)
• COVID-19 caused an enormous drop in advertising revenue, including mail for USPS (marketing mail -36.4%) (severe revenue loss)
• Package volume including Amazon helps revenue. By law, USPS cannot offer package discounts at a loss (Amazon and other online sellers are paying their lawful share on the books). Package costs will go up after the next regulatory update of overhead allocations.

Congress/Regulator Laws and Rules (forced USPS to comply with rules no competitor has)
• They require USPS to deliver mail to everybody, rural or not, at the same price.
• USPS cannot just raise or fix prices (regulatory review required). Until 1970 it was a regular, tax supported agency of the federal government.
• There are many cost-saving actions that USPS is not allowed to take. For example, regulations prohibit them from buying and operating their own fleet of airplanes (to save money like FedEx/UPS do), weren’t allowed to cut Saturday deliveries.
• In 2006, USPS was given 10 years to fund retiree healthcare for 40(+) years in advance (NPV). The law took cash that should have funded more automation and efficiencies. No other firm or government agency has to do this. USPS defaults started in 2012.

Postmaster General (PMG) Actions (Making Mail Slower)
• Forbes reports that PMG dismantled and removed over 600 sorting machines, which each process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour. Forget any claim of innocence you may hear.
• PMG prohibited overtime and (replacement) hiring despite staffing shortages from COVID-19.
• Former Attorney General, Eric Holder said that anyone who “willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail” can face fines and imprisonment of up to six months.

Additional Remarks:
• USPS bankruptcy would damage people and businesses. People depend on delivery of prescriptions, social security checks, and legal documents and much more.
• Only USPS is set up to deliver your mail (not FedEx, UPS or anybody else). Almost all countries have government run postal systems. USPS has been with us since Ben Franklin became the first Postmaster General in 1775.

It’s elementary, Dear Watson. We have found the contract killer. Now we must uncover the suborner. Let’s follow the money and see who would profit by privatizing the post office.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by BarryD

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Many of us have clear childhood memories of that mailman.
People are spewing wildly inaccurate statements. USPS is losing money now, but not for the reasons most often claimed. USPS did not use any tax dollars for years. The steep drop in mail volume and laws/rules from congress are like a python squeezing the air out of USPS. Amazon and Vote-By-Mail are not suddenly spiking a need for capital.
Mail Volume (The Volume Falls but the Fixed Costs Remain)
• Internet banking and email resulted in a massive (-33%) reduction in first class mail, marketing mail (-7.5%) in the past decade (severe revenue loss)
• COVID-19 caused an enormous drop in advertising revenue, including mail for USPS (marketing mail -36.4%) (severe revenue loss)
• Package volume including Amazon helps revenue. By law, USPS cannot offer package discounts at a loss (Amazon and other online sellers are paying their lawful share on the books). Package costs will go up after the next regulatory update of overhead allocations.

Congress/Regulator Laws and Rules (forced USPS to comply with rules no competitor has)
• They require USPS to deliver mail to everybody, rural or not, at the same price.
• USPS cannot just raise or fix prices (regulatory review required). Until 1970 it was a regular, tax supported agency of the federal government.
• There are many cost-saving actions that USPS is not allowed to take. For example, regulations prohibit them from buying and operating their own fleet of airplanes (to save money like FedEx/UPS do), weren’t allowed to cut Saturday deliveries.
• In 2006, USPS was given 10 years to fund retiree healthcare for 40(+) years in advance (NPV). The law took cash that should have funded more automation and efficiencies. No other firm or government agency has to do this. USPS defaults started in 2012.

Postmaster General (PMG) Actions (Making Mail Slower)
• Forbes reports that PMG dismantled and removed over 600 sorting machines, which each process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour. Forget any claim of innocence you may hear.
• PMG prohibited overtime and (replacement) hiring despite staffing shortages from COVID-19.
• Former Attorney General, Eric Holder said that anyone who “willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail” can face fines and imprisonment of up to six months.

Additional Remarks:
• USPS bankruptcy would damage people and businesses. People depend on delivery of prescriptions, social security checks, and legal documents and much more.
• Only USPS is set up to deliver your mail (not FedEx, UPS or anybody else). Almost all countries have government run postal systems. USPS has been with us since Ben Franklin became the first Postmaster General in 1775.

It’s elementary, Dear Watson. We have found the contract killer. Now we must uncover the suborner. Let’s follow the money and see who would profit by privatizing the post office.

The PMG would profit by seeing the USPS destroyed. He and his wife have heavy investments in competitors - and used to be the CEO of one of them (XPO Logistics).

If the USPS fails, his investments could quadruple within a month.

[davem4616]

some of the nicest people I've come across in my life have been folks working for the USPS

[tvbound]

The U.S. Postal Service should not be a business

"There was no hard economic reason for hiving the Postal Service off from general government funding. Nevertheless, this division became the conceptual basis for treating the U.S. Postal Service as a market participant, same as a private business, that needs to keep its finances in the black.

Except the Postal Service wasn't really transformed into the equivalent of a market firm: It's still required to provide mail service to every corner of the country, for one thing. Its private rivals — FedEx, UPS, Amazon, etc. — are under no such obligation.

If you live out in the rural hinterlands, and providing you service isn't profitable, those companies simply don't run delivery routes out to you. Only the U.S. Postal Service does."


Our postal system is a service to our country and like in most other developed nations, shouldn't have to pay for itself any more than any other governmental agency (USDA, DOT, FEMA, military, Etc.).

[Paper1]

Originally Posted by BarryD

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Many of us have clear childhood memories of that mailman.
People are spewing wildly inaccurate statements. USPS is losing money now, but not for the reasons most often claimed. USPS did not use any tax dollars for years. The steep drop in mail volume and laws/rules from congress are like a python squeezing the air out of USPS. Amazon and Vote-By-Mail are not suddenly spiking a need for capital.
Mail Volume (The Volume Falls but the Fixed Costs Remain)
• Internet banking and email resulted in a massive (-33%) reduction in first class mail, marketing mail (-7.5%) in the past decade (severe revenue loss)
• COVID-19 caused an enormous drop in advertising revenue, including mail for USPS (marketing mail -36.4%) (severe revenue loss)
• Package volume including Amazon helps revenue. By law, USPS cannot offer package discounts at a loss (Amazon and other online sellers are paying their lawful share on the books). Package costs will go up after the next regulatory update of overhead allocations.

Congress/Regulator Laws and Rules (forced USPS to comply with rules no competitor has)
• They require USPS to deliver mail to everybody, rural or not, at the same price.
• USPS cannot just raise or fix prices (regulatory review required). Until 1970 it was a regular, tax supported agency of the federal government.
• There are many cost-saving actions that USPS is not allowed to take. For example, regulations prohibit them from buying and operating their own fleet of airplanes (to save money like FedEx/UPS do), weren’t allowed to cut Saturday deliveries.
• In 2006, USPS was given 10 years to fund retiree healthcare for 40(+) years in advance (NPV). The law took cash that should have funded more automation and efficiencies. No other firm or government agency has to do this. USPS defaults started in 2012.

Postmaster General (PMG) Actions (Making Mail Slower)
• Forbes reports that PMG dismantled and removed over 600 sorting machines, which each process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour. Forget any claim of innocence you may hear.
• PMG prohibited overtime and (replacement) hiring despite staffing shortages from COVID-19.
• Former Attorney General, Eric Holder said that anyone who “willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail” can face fines and imprisonment of up to six months.

Additional Remarks:
• USPS bankruptcy would damage people and businesses. People depend on delivery of prescriptions, social security checks, and legal documents and much more.
• Only USPS is set up to deliver your mail (not FedEx, UPS or anybody else). Almost all countries have government run postal systems. USPS has been with us since Ben Franklin became the first Postmaster General in 1775.

It’s elementary, Dear Watson. We have found the contract killer. Now we must uncover the suborner. Let’s follow the money and see who would profit by privatizing the post office.

Our grandchildren will profit by bringing USPS to cost neutral regardless of Ben Franklin's involvement. Yearly cost over runs are being added to national debt we all know we are not paying, our grandchildren are. You imply the USPS service is being treated unfairly due to being forced to fund future retiree healthcare cost. All public service retirement plans should be mandated to do this. We have become dependent on spending more than we take in with taxes and are very comfortable with letting next generations worry about it. USPS needs to be brought into 21st century. IMHO

[Stu from NYC]

It should plan to more or less break even. The effiiencies now in it should be fixed with the money coming from congress and stop having to fund pensions so far in advance or even stop the pensions altogether and let people have 401 or IRA's like most of us

[retiredguy123]

I wish people would stop saying that the USPS delivers Social Security checks. They don't. All payments are made by direct deposit. It's mandatory.

[justjim]

Playing politics with the postal service is shameful.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I wish people would stop saying that the USPS delivers Social Security checks. They don't. All payments are made by direct deposit. It's mandatory.

In so many ways the post office is incredibly inefficient. It should be brought up to date to meet 21st century needs not continue on its current path.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

In so many ways the post office is incredibly inefficient. It should be brought up to date to meet 21st century needs not continue on its current path.

I'm just glad that our bills are mailed with the USPS, and not sent via FedEx or UPS. The bill itself would increase in cost every month, because instead of 55 cents (or less for bulk mailing) the utility would be paying over $8 per household per month, JUST to send the bill.

And then if you want to send your payment by mail, instead of paying 55 cents, you'd have to pay over $8. For every single bill you choose to pay by mail.

And that's just bills. Imagine if you choose to subscribe to a paper magazine, without the USPS to deliver it to you. The cost to FedEx it to you is more than the cost of the magazine.

Without the USPS - our lives would be significantly and profoundly different from how they are now, and most people don't even think about how much we rely on the postal service, and that 55 cents per envelope.

[Cheapbas]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I wish people would stop saying that the USPS delivers Social Security checks. They don't. All payments are made by direct deposit. It's mandatory.

Although 99% accurate, there are still 500k checks mailed every month under a few programs.

None the less, stupid time to be cutting, wait till pandemic has subsided.

[BryanTheGolfPro]

This is really about voting by mail--whether via an absentee ballot, which has existed for decades, or by the newer form of vote-by-mail. Why the concern? Just mail your ballot soon enough to get to its destination on time! This is not rocket surgery or brain science; it's just common sense. Duh!

[J1ceasar]

Not even the garbage companies come to your house for $0.55

[J1ceasar]

It's hard to imagine the politicians have screwed up yet another thing that was working fine. 99% how the problem is a law requiring pensions be fully funded for USPS. We will have heard about Amazon getting a great deal for delivery packages but do you know until this year the international Postal Union then we belong to required us to accept Chinese mailed packages for as low as $0.50 going 12,000 miles to our homes but our own postage a 1000 times more going to China???

[George Page]

Pony Express motto:
"The mail must go through"
and it still does.
Thanks to all postal workers!