Not true. In 35 years of public service I was held accountable for any error, real or imagined by the people we served, and I spent the last 20 years holding others accountable for error or malfeasance, then designing systems to eliminate the possibility of error. I had friends and acquaintances who worked in private industry who were amazed at how strict we were with our people. A foul up a John Deere or Caterpillar might get you fired. Foul up at my agency, and we might just put you in prison for five years or more.

The Postal Service is self funded. Your tax dollars are not used.

From AI:

"The U.S. Postal Service reported a net loss of $9.5 billion in fiscal year 2024." This is from their own report.

For those pointing to the funding of retirement benefits, these are real costs to the taxpayers. It really doesn't matter how or when the costs are entered into their budget, they are real costs that must be paid. When an employee retires at age 55, he/she is likely to receive a pension, health benefits, and other benefits for 30 years or longer, while doing no work.

If remember correctly under furs can’t get retirement pay until 59? IMO CRS employees are gone.

When I was in AF SAC use to have saying “do more with less and do it better” a standard never heard of today. When I was civil service employee NEVER seen budget reduced and alway spent any money left at end feasco year. Why? I guessing can’t request larger budget it you didn’t spend allotted money? I had seen where upper management passed out bonuses with money left over, but I had nothing to with management budgets just had to produce regardless.

I think the FERS pension starts when you retire, which can be as early as 55 with 30 years of service. But, I think that, if you decide to take a withdrawal from your TSP account before your are 59.5 years old, there may be a penalty.

Another huge benefit for Federal retirees is that you can keep your employee health insurance plan and reject Medicare Parts B and D. I am a Federal retiree and I save thousands every year by not paying the Medicare IRMA premiums.

Hold Mail
 

It has always worked for me but I do it on the website instead of filling out the form and turning it in.

What they should do is discard all the junk mail, and the ads. And only hold the real mail that comes in envelopes. But they are too lazy to do that. Or maybe they’re not allowed to who knows.

For non-LEO now it’s 56 with 30 years and you can take TSP withdrawals under 59.5 without penalty . You also get a special supplement until you are 62 which is about 75% of what you will receive in SS at 62. I’m happy

Forwarding not working
 

Has anyone had their mail forwarding stop working. I had gone online to forward my mail from the Villages to our place up north and it worked for a month but I haven't received any mail in more than 2 weeks. I am in one of the new Villages in Lake County so I thought I could call the Okahumpka post office but the number listed is not in service. The 800 number sends you into voicemail hell and will not allow you to speak to anyone. Has anyone had this issue and how did you resolve it?

Thanks to all for the responses. Just to be clear I only posted my question (U.S. Mail hold... worthless?) to see what others experiences were here in the Villages. Didn't anticipate the discussions on whether or not the postal service should be eliminated or its funding.

I only requested (via the Services online website) the mail hold so as to avoid causing issues at the postal substation for the postal employees trying to place a months worth of mail into a small mailbox. Have used mail hold "up North" and mail was binned until delivered or picked up. I anticipated the same here, thinking it would be binned and then placed in one of the keyed lockers if it did not fit in the mailbox. Was surprised that my effort to avoid the situation for the postal employees was a total failure and was curious what others had experienced. Apparently it varies by individual substation or postal employee(s).

As for the Postal Service itself, they have a thankless job. Congress requires them to deliver and sets the price for such services knowing full well that whats charged doesn't cover the actual costs. As for the postal employees I feel they are entitled to livable wages and benefits. As for individual employees and their work ethic, its my opinion that its no different than private industry. People are people no matter where they work. Some are good, some are bad. Private industry just isn't as transparent about their shortcomings.

Finally, as to whether or not current society needs a mail service, that's a political question that I believe varies depending upon circumstances and your location. The U.S. is a BIG place where people live in all sorts of locations urban, rural and remote. The Postal Service is required to provide service to all and some deliveries can't be sent by email alone. Whether not the service is worth the cost/tax dollars is up to Congress.