Good call, sharky. I mean, they pick a letter up from my door, ship it across the country, and deliver it to the addressee's door....all in 2-3 days. I'd pay 2x 45 cents for that kind of service without blinking.

I do agree it is easily worth a dollar to send something 1st class, but it might also lead to more emails instead of standard mail. It's got to be hard when you are staring at your own extinction, and have a difficult time figure out how to survive. Kinda like Palm Pilot a few years ago, they were really the only handheld in town, and then BAM, they are toast.

I do think they should make sure to bump rates on junk mail and such. I wish I had a 'do not junk-mail' registry so I could stop getting so dang much of the crap I get now.

Sharky/Spider: I have to agree with you....45 cents is too low for a first class letter considering that it's delivered right to your door!! I would pay 50 cents even. Plus, I think they should do away with Saturday deliveries. Half the time, I don't even bother to check my mailbox on Saturday....it waits until Monday unless I'm expecting money (rarely). I think the U.S. Postal Service undercharges for a great many things that they do....this, along with the ridiculously large pensions, etc., is what is costing them money.

Why a penny? Should raise it to $1 first class, and raise the junk mail rate 10 cents too. Stop Saturday delivery as well. Instead of closing little post offices, use the "small town" post office model for suburbs and urban neighborhoods, i.e. not door to door delivery, but post office box to post office box in a central location in neighborhoods.

you're both nutz! The Post Office is bankrupt for a couple of reasons:

1) The government takes over a Billion dollars from the Post Office each year to put into their "general coffers"

2) We live in an electronic age where email is king and will be forever. This has made "snail mail" obsolete

There is not much besides junk mail in my mailbox anymore. All of my bills I receive and pay electronically. I no longer subscribe to magazines, as I get these online as well. I really can't think of anything that I can't get in an electronic format these days.

For those that insist on continuing the USPS, they need to do a few things to keep them solvent for a few more years:

1) Close all those rural post offices that are draining cash out of the system

2) Reduce delivery of mail to 5 days per week by eliminating Saturday deliveries.

3) Yes, increase the cost of postage for those (mostly junk mailers) that think it is still necessary, to at least 75 cents

The taxpayer has been supporting this losing GOVERNMENT business for far too long. It is inefficient and obsolete.

IMO........

I'll pay a dollar for that service. No problem. I have friends that work for the postal service and they have families. Do brainer for me!!

Denise, that is your right. Use UPS or Fed EX and pay $11 and up to mail a letter. Personally, I love my post office. I get excellent service for a fraction of the cost.

Didi-376564, I don't know who gets a ridiculously large pension, but I'd sure like to. USPS employees have a retirement savings plan (like a 401k), and their pension benefit reduced by the amount of social security they get. So, if they saved money and invested it well, they shoudn't be able to get it back? I wish people would investigate more and believe propaganda less - the more facts, less hype.

I agree i would pay maybe 75 cents especially if it will keep Americans employed with a living wage,

I forgot to mention........ if the government tries to do anything to reduce the size and expense of the USPS, watch out! The UNION will be up their shorts so fast and put the pressure on the ObamaNation that he will cave and continue to allow billions more in wasted tax payer dollars. This is all so predictable.

Since Congress is driving the Post Office into insolvency any short falls to the Post Office should be off set from the Salaries of our elected members of Congress. Maybe if that was the case, Congress might reconsider the stupid law they passed back in 2006 that requires the Post Office to "Pre-fund" their retirement system 75 years in advance and do it within a 10 year window. It was a stupid act on their part in the first place. No company on earth prepays into their retirement fund 75years in advance within a 10 year window. Congress screwed the Post Office and made it pregnant with this burden so it is only fitting they pay the support for this bundle they created by their stupid rape.

Also, for those of you that think UPS or FedEx should replace the postal system, maybe you should consider that even they do not make deliveries to 25% of the country. USP and FedEx contract to the Post Office to deliver their packages to the parts of the country that they cannot or will not serve because there is no profit in it for them. The United States Post Office is required by law to deliver mail and packages to every address in the United States of America and they do it every day so becareful what you wish for. You just may get it and more.

Jerry - taxpayers doesn't support the post office - mail does. Congress is driving the post office out of business due to a 2006 govenerment ruling that they had to pay for benefits in advance 75 years out - paying benefits to people who aren't even born. I like the mail service and don't want to see it go!

I think it's hysterical that people blame CEO's and Wall Street for operating their companies out of self interest, and then wonder why the postal service is going bankrupt.

If you want to save the postal service, sell it. Sell stock on wall street, pay a CEO $25 million to figure out how to make it work, and then watch it work.

Oh, wait, then it would be called FedEx.

Jerry-835503, Wake up and read the news. The post office is not funded by taxpayer money, never has been. USPS is self funded by sales of stamps, products, etc. If you are going to say ignorant things make it harder to find the truth, this one is a no-brainer.

I agree. The junk and bulk mail rates should be increased. Most of the mail is now junk mail, anyway.

I would agree with sharky except for one thing.

In the past 6 months, I have had 3 different 1st class envelopes I mailed become lost and undelivered. They still have not been located.

One was just a personal contact letter, however two were payments of bills. Neither were delivered and neither check was deposited so it was no theft involved, but I still had to pay the bank $25 for each check to put a stop payment on them.

I pay most of my bills by bank transfers, however some vendors require payment by check. I understand from others, that this is not an uncommon occurrence. There needs to be some kind of guarantee of delivery. Charge for it if the need to but guarantee to pay bank charges if the check is not delivered.

Personally I think that any kind of price increase is ridiculous. Perhaps other people are getting better service than I am. I have lost count of my mail (outgoing and incoming) that has simply disappeared and never reached its destination. This includes envelopes containing checks and packages. Also I have sent local mail which has taken almost two weeks to arrive at offices just on the other side of town. This has caused me to start paying bills by phone and internet or to simply drive to offices and pay in person. In addition, my mailman seems to take great delight in leaving my mail anywhere and everywhere but my mailbox. It has become a joke between myself and one of my neighbors that he actually delivers my mail to me all the time. Also I have seen total strangers drive up and put my mail (which they received) into my box. Perhaps I am the exception by mail service has steadly deteriorated.

Denise, I've used the USPS for years and will continue to do so. I've never had an overnight or a 2-3 day priority mailing get lost or not arrive at it's destination on time. I've sent local mail that has arrived the next day! I sent first class mail cross country that has arrived in 2-3 days. 45 cents to send a bill payment from Massachusetts to Texas is well worth it, I'd be more than willing to pay a dollar for that service.

I understand that rate increases are necessary in light of the USPS' current financial situation; it's not so much the amount that I find bothersome, it's those make-up stamps! I still have .39c stamps because I don't send many first class letters (although I do mail a fair amount of first class packages and priority mail, but I print that postage electronically), so I currently pair those with a .05c but now I'll have to add another. It would be nice if they'd let you trade them in for stamps of the current first class letter value.

There are some facts to which many on this thread seem oblivious:

1) The USPS was established by Ben Franklin who knew what he was doing. He was George III's Postmaster for New Jersey. Franklin wrote that the USPS must ALWAYS remain a monopoly and that it should ALWAYS be run off the books of the Federal government. And that's the way it was until Nixon wanted money and support from UPS, FedEx and DHL. And we all know that Nixon was sooooo much smarter and more honest than Franklin, don't we?????

2) The USPS originally built all the interstate highways in addition to delivering the mail and government freight. They were called Post Roads before they were called highways. This was an extremely important task to tie the country together in its early days.

3) Franklin was very concerned that the USPS should be a monopoly because he saw "packet" boats that wanted to cherrypick the most profitable parcel and letter deliveries and forget the rest. If this had been permitted, the USPS would have never gotten off the ground in the first place. It would have just been too expensive.

4) BY LAW the USPS is required to deliver to every populated location in the United States and its territories. The idea, again, was to help bind the states together in a growing country. If you want to send a letter to Point Barrow, Alaska, forget FedEx. If you want to ship a package to Guam, don't bother with UPS --- they don't go there.

5) You cannot close down the rural post offices in most cases. Rural Free Delivery is no longer supported. This means that many, many rural folks do not get home delivery, but instead maintain post office boxes. If you try to close down rural post offices that do not deliver to every address, it is against the law. Those post offices exist because it is cheaper to have a rural post office than to deliver rural mail. You cannot close down others because it would be prohibitively expensive to deliver the mail out of "nearby" post offices that might be over a hundred miles away.

6) FedEx sends about 28% of its mail by USPS. UPS sends around 60% of its mail by USPS. This is because it is cheaper for them to just mail it than even try to compete directly. And, for parcels, the USPS is more gentle, faster, and cheaper. PopSci had a good article on it a few months back. UPS would like to get out of the "terminal delivery" business altogether and only deliver to post offices and let them take it from there. This will not happen until they buy a few more Congressmen because they are forbidden by law still to deliver to post office boxes. I haven't received a delivery from a brown truck in a couple of years. All my UPS stuff comes by USPS.

7) Nixon "reformed" the Post Office by essentially privatizing it exactly as dictated by UPS and FedEx. The cabinet-level Postmaster General was demoted to a basic civil service position. Rate control was taken away from them and given to Congress. And the USPS was taken off the books of the Federal government and made a "quasi-independent government entity." That means that it must be run at the break even point. It cannot make money, set aside money for future hard times, or lose money. There is no provision for a single dime of taxpayer money to be spoent on the USPS. And not a single taxpayer dime has gone to the USPS, ever! So if you don't use it, it doesn't cost you a dime.

8) The USPS retirement is okay, but far from lavish. It ranks in the middle 30% of all retirement plans --- about a "C". The problem is thatr Congress found out that they could use it as a source of endless revenue and there was noting anyone could do about it. In this case they required the USPS to "pre-pay" retirement benefits for all its workers, all possible future workers, and even for untold thousands of positions that are not currently filled and never will be. This has allowed Congress to suck up more than $25 billion from the USPS and give them a worthless IOU in its place. (It also puts the taxpayer on the hook for those pensions and health benefits.)

9) Everybody likes to go off on the Postal Unions. That's a laugh. The carriers' union does not have the right to strike or picket. The only thing they can do is accept the offer made by USPS management or refuse it and hand it over to NRLB arbitrators. The NRLB arbitrators then apply the same formula used to compute Federal COLA and apply it. The carriers would then get that amount which would hold until the end of the next 5 year contract. Not a big deal and far from the greedy, horrible union thugs. Impotent is the appropriate word.

10) This whole issue of cherrypicking of deliveries is little discussed and little understood. What Nixon allowed was for UPS and FedEx to deliver to only the most profitable routes and ignore the rest while requiring the USPS to deliver to all them. And UPS and FedEx were allowed to zone their charges while the USPS had to deliver to Guam for the same rate as Kansas City. What happened initially was that the market adjusted all of the slack out of the model. UPS/FedEx took a huge chunk out of the profitable business and left the unprofitable business to remain with the USPS. This virtually quadrupled the USPS costs versus revenues overnight. The USP started shedding jobs and costs like mad. While at the same time the runon expenses of a new business were starting to show and UPS/FedEx costs were going through the roof. Right now virtually all business school models show the USPS as about 30% more efficient than either UPS or FedEx. This is also why UPS/FedEx are shipping so much by USPS.

The idea of talking about huge pay, fabulous pensions, and no-show jobs only serve to show how little people know about the situation. These are hard-working blue collar workers who do a really tiring and monotonous job while dealing with a thankless public and garbage preached as truth about them. MOst of the USPS-haters aren't fit to shine the shoes of the average letter-carrier. These are good people who do not deserve your Fox lies.

Ken,

Everything you said is absolutely true and I commend you on posting facts instead of emotions. If everyone educated themselves you would find out that congress is stealing from the Post Office Retirement Fund and putting into the back hole called the General Fund.

Chris, I completely agree!! It's a shame that ignorant people open their mouths only to fill the air with their lying opinions they believe are truth. Think about what you're saying people before you spout off because you Feel like it.

Thanks Chris 749391

Finally some sanity here!

@ Chris- Bravo!

I agree with everyone about the junk mail. I consistently receive way more junk mail than I do legit mail. Everyone is talking about being more 'green' these days, except for direct marketers/mass mailers, who seem to be wasting more paper than ever. I recycle everything, but I know a lot of people just throw it away, so it's not just a waste of trees but also of space in the landfills.

Here's my solution (at least to the USPS financial problem): since junk mailers don't really have anyone else to deliver their junk (like they're going to pay UPS rates, LOL), I think the USPS should raise their rates substantially, even approaching the first class rate that consumers pay. As mentioned, mass mailers don't really have anywhere else to go, so you might as well gouge them. The ones that do stop their mailings in reaction to the price increase will surely be outnumbered by those who still want to advertise their business, resulting in a nice increase for the USPS.

As a general rule, most legit mail is sent first class, and most junk is sent via standard mail (look at the imprint in the upper right corner of your mail). So raise the rates on standard mail and leave first class alone...problem solved.

Chris-749391, Great post! Your facts are spot on. The only thing you got wrong is closing rural post offices. This news agency did an article just a little while back about small rural post offices that are on the slate to be closed. The reporter interviewed me because of a post I made and then talked to the people in the town where the service is going to be curtailed. It's Yellow Pine, Idaho, about 60 miles from where I live and this is where they will have to come to get their mail when their office is closed. All they have is P.O. Box pickup, no delivery.

Chris--thank you for all that information. Those that harp about the poor service may simply have a local postmaster who may never have finished high school or performs his job with little intelligence. What you neglected to mention in your dissertation is that the Post Office hires a great many veterans, and perhaps widows and close family of veterans who were killed in the line of duty. All the letter carriers we have had here (will NOT mention location because of repercussions to them) have been excellent, friendly and hard workers. One with whom we developed a pleasant relationship, who transferred out to a northern/western state to be near "war buddies," stopped by not long ago to say hello while in town. He lost fingers/toes due to frost bite delivering the mail in the winter--and CONTINUES to deliver mail there. Local postmasters have a great deal of influence over how mail is delivered locally. Hence, they may develop a "power complex" that makes the carriers' job more difficult, such as making the carrier traverse THE SAME ROUTE twice in one day, which is stupidity to the nth degree. Often, simple common sense escapes them when they reach that point. Before we jump all over OUR postal service, we should remember it is still the best in the world. In other places, even on this continent, it may take two weeks for a letter to make it across town, let alone across the country. And it takes only two or three days for a letter to traverse 3000 miles across the USA (plus Hawaii & Alaska) for a puny 44 cents. Obviously, that 44 cents does NOT pay for oats for horses and a Pony Express rider, but either for deisel or jet fuel to get that letter from coast to coast--and at what price per gallon??

My local carrier once noticed my mail returned because a stamp apparently had become dislodged. She affixed her own stamp and remailed it, believing she did me a favor. Now THAT is what I consider service. I doubt very much that would happen anywhere else but here!!

I agree with good pay; HOWEVER, no one with only a high school education with no experience should START at $20.8236 an hour ($43,313.09 a year) as a letter carrier. That is grade 1, Grade 2 is $21.7462 That is the ACTUAL hourly rate/annual wage for a NALC worker. That is BEFORE any benefits. AND within 8.69 years that same worker will make $25.6966 an hour($53,448.93 a year) . These figures came from the NALC City Carrier Wage National Agreement schedule effective November 20, 2011. Add employer paid benefits and the total compensation package is $58,472.67 a year. THAT is why the USPS is in the RED.

Chris-749391, Thanks for a great post concerning the USPS. Most people listen to the NYT, or a congressman from California about the USPS. There are several bills out there running thru the house and other committees that would relieve the Postal Service almost immediately, for which my co-workers and I would be really happy to see (minus the one from congressman Issa, he wants to destroy the USPS with his). Most of the Postal services problems need some realistic repair as they are trying but there are some things nobody ever tasks the Postal Service managers with.....thier blatant attitude concerning the contract they signed. Most managers violate the contract knowing and carelessly that the union will file a greivance over the matter. They believe that in the moment they do it, they are saving money (they are not). The average cost of a greivance is $4000!!! Now, multiply that times several hundred a year....it amounts to millions of $$$. If they just do what they agreed to do in the 1st place it would save millions a year.

Avg violation paperwork=$4000

Avg cost of doing things by the book=$60

Anyone see a problem?

Again, thanks Chris, and sorry for the rant.

the post office should just do away with bulk mail rates except for charities, it might raise more money, and at the same time get rid of alot of the junk mail

juanitabonita, although you might have most numbers right (12.3 years for the top of the payscale), you are wrong on alot of other information!! I, for one have a masters degree in automotive technology with a teaching degree on top of that. 25% of Postal workers are Vetrans/ disabled Vets (like me)
I like being a letter carrier because I like people and it was cleaner (people don't clean thier vehicles very well) and due to my military disability it is hard for me to work in my field. Although I like the benefits the USPS has to offer, I had better before. The other part you left out is the amount of stress postal workers have to put up with both from thier supervisors and the public that blame the workers for problems caused by the supervisors. Just in case you want to know, I have an impecable record of "0" (ZERO) complaints about or against me in 19 years of service!!, something I am very proud of!!

I find it funny that people on here have a problem with what a letter carrier gets paid, but i understand it. Coming out of WW2 it was very common for anyone reguardless of no college education to find employment that compensated them with a solid middle class wage. Today many people are forced to take any job that pays and maybe 2 just to make ends meet. Todays lack of manufacturing in the U.S. has led to low wage jobs. Which in turn has made people believe that if they make a wage that is at the poverty line they have a middle class job, thats not the way it should be! And as for juanita's opinion that someone not going to college should not be able to get a job paying what letter carriers make ,I would say go take the postal service letter carrier and see if you can not only pass but score a 90% or higher which is what it would take just to get an interview! Most letter carriers are not dumb hicks. Dont crack on postal workers for making a wage they can raise their families on, and another thing when it comes to those great benefits a family health plan for a postal worker from blue cross costs that worker around $275.00 per month out of their check. So he is paying for alot of it. All the postoffices problems with losing money is a huge accounting scam and if the powers to be are succesfull in closing offices and ending 6 day delivery it will start the death march for the P.O.

juanitabonita,
No one starts at that rate. You have to be a "sub", paid between $11 - $13 per hr., usually for years before getting to have your own route, and then you start at the base pay schedule. You obviously have NO IDEA what you are talking about. Where do you get off telling someone what they should or should not deserve to get paid regardless of education. Just because you hold a college degree doesn't make you better than anyone else. And with the way most college KIDS act they should make less than someone with actual work experience. I know plenty of college degree holding people that get paid far less than I, but wouldn't want to do my job as it's just a postal job. There is nothing wrong with an honest days work and being paid for that work accordingly. You should try it some time, you idiot.

H-D.

A masters degree in automotive technology. Like a master tech? Or did you complete a 6 year graduate degree in auto technology. I am assuming a master tech which is not the same as a masters degree. I assume master tech because of the statement that "people don't clean their vehicles very well" meaning you work on vehicles. I too would take up a job as a postal worker from being an auto mechanic. With the economy auto maintenance is taking a pretty good hit as well.

I did work as a technician, auto mechanic for 6 years, but then pursued Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Chris, thanks for the excellent post. I live in a rural area....I'm fortunate that my local post office is not on the list of ones for possible closing, and that I still receive USPS delivery in my area.

I've had fabulous service from my USPS carrriers over the years--far better than FedEx or UPS---I avoid using them as much as possible and try to send everything via USPS. I don't mind the rate hike--I'd like to see the rate for junk mail get raised much higher though!

Dear Juanitabonita,

If what you said is true, then the post office position that is open should be offering about $25/$30/hour instead of the measly $14/hour they have posted on their PO door. Here in Minot, ND you can get a pizza delivery job for $15/hour because people are so desperate for workers but the oil field is paying from $20-$25/hour. Where would you work: the oil field or the post office? I would say the oil field, for their benefits are similar to the post office workers, if not better.

Great post Chris. The history lesson and explanation was enlightening and valuable. I agreed with everything you said except the last line. These people do not deserve any of these lies and they do not come solely from Fox.

@ Chris - interesting post, lots of history. One point - it was the Post Office Department (POD) (a cabinet-level agency) from 1792 to 1971. The US Postal Service (USPS) was established in 1971 - still in the Executive Branch, but the PMG is no longer in the cabinet - instead the position is filled by the Board. So your references to "USPS" before 1971 are not quite correct - USPS did not build Post Roads in the early days of our country. You should say "POD" pre-1971.

In item 6) you mention the pieces which UPS and FedEx 'hand-off' to USPS, mostly for addresses they do not wish to carry (low volume.) Good point. But you might mention that the USPS ships most long-distance First Class Mail and almost all long distance Priority Mail through FedEx. FedEx is a transportation contractor, like trucking companies and like the airlines once were (postal facility to postal facility, not to customers.) FedEx provides better transport service and more stable prices to USPS than the unregulated airlines can.

In item 7) you talk about how Nixon reorganized the POD into USPS in 1970. While it is true that Nixon signed the bill, it was written and passed by Congress, as all laws are. In 1968 and 1970, when Postal Reorg was being crafted, both the House and Senate had solid Democrat majorities. So Postal Reorganization truly was a bipartisan project - suggesting that it was created solely by Nixon is just inaccurate history.

Your description of cherrypicking is very good. That is what allowed UPS to get started - they took the best customers (large business mailers like Sears, etc) and the highest-density delivery areas (large cities) at first, offering big discounts. These are all things that Congress forbids the Postal Service to do. As the profits accumulated, UPS gradually added more customers - down to single retail one-package shippers - and more delivery addresses - out into medium cities, suburbs, etc. They had a good plan to gradually take over Parcel Post, a bite at a time. Without the flexibility to grab the meatiest chunks first (and discount big shippers), they never could have grown so fast.

From the article, the legislation mentioned has a proposal that makes sense - raise the healthcare costs for Postal employees. They pay a lower percentage of FEHB premiums than federal workers, federal retirees, or Postal retirees (contracts require USPS to pay more for Postal workers, while Congress sets the other rates.) To change it, and make everybody pay the same premium (relieving USPS of some of their contractual obligations), Congress must pass a law that over-rides the contracts and directs USPS to pay the same as the Treasury pays for the others. It was a nice extra benefit for employees when USPS had the money, but as long as Congress continues to fleece USPS for an extra $5.5 billion a year, the money is just not available. The effect will be cushioned by the fact that employees pay health premiums with pre-tax income (premium conversion - something that retirees and self-employed cannot do.) That stung when I retired from USPS - premiums went up, and I had to start paying them with after-tax dollars.

Chris, thanks for your informative post. They seem to have the USPS backed into a corner. What are they supposed to do, hold BINGO and bake sales? The answer to me has always been charge businesses more for delivery of the junk mail and coupon flyers. That's where the majority of USPS capacity seems to be going.

Don't worry, liberals see the post office as the ultimate business model for utopian society. Great pay, great benefits, strong union, lifetime employment, government price controls, government ownership, universal customer coverage ...

Can you name a liberal business ideal not encompassed by the postal service? It's a perfect microcosm of socialism.

Don't worry, the government (taxpayers) will bail it out at all costs without disrupting any of its ideals.

FLAcct, I am suprised that with an active internet connection, that you are still unable find out the facts.

No tax dollars go to fund the post office. The government has been raiding the post office funds for years. The government forced them to fund pensions 75 years in advance. That's right, they are paying pensions on employees thet are not even born yet.

Even though they get no federal funding, the government still gets to dictate how they operate.

So maybe next time when you decide to get on your bash a liberal even if it's not even remotely accurate, do us all a favor and do some research. Or would that interfere with your daily bash a liberal for no valid reason events?

What has your utopian political party of choice done for us lately? I fail to see how any political party has done a damned thing for us other than make themselves richer at our expense.

FL Acct: LMFAO! You clearly have no idea of what really goes on at the PO, lol. I don't work there, but I have relatives that do. So let's dissect your misconceptions:

Great pay? - At least for the vast majority of employees, its OK, but nothing special. Maybe for upper management, but that's true of most large companies.

Great benefits? - Again, its pretty much on par with private corporations.

Strong union? - You gotta be kidding me. One of the weakest unions I ever seen, and I've seen a lot.

Lifetime employment? - people can and do get fired. People work there a long time because they are either afraid to join the private sector, or because they too easily settle for mediocrity. Certainly not because it such a great place to work.

Government price controls? - well, you got me there. Big brother won't allow them to increase their rates to cover their costs. That's a huge benefit for them, I'm sure.

Government ownership? - sorry, government does not own them, doesn't give them a cent of tax money.

You may have some valid complaints and issues with liberal big-government ideals, but you picked the wrong target with the Post Office. They get nothing from the govt., have to fund retirement fully far into the future (unlike any other agency or business), and aren't allowed to charge what it costs them. Personally, I think the small-govt. conservatives want to drive it out of business so their friends at UPS and Fedex can take over the market. Wait till you have to pay $10 to send a letter anywhere, and lets see then how you feel about the USPO.

Bob you are right. My postal lady says that junk mail is the worst, and personally I hate getting it. Make them pay top dollar and bet they would send out less crap.

Should be MORE than a "fair price" they should pay alot more for the crap they send up, the 4 color flyer, the hate mail against opponents....!

if the (company, person, business ect..)is willing to pay for it who cares. the postal service need to look at this from a real business stand point, not to be the better guy who costs less, costing less usually means losing money for a good rep! not worth it. 45cents is nothing to ship a letter across the country in a few days for the person but does cost for the post office. im all for RAISING things, it will force the lazy asses of America to finnaly work and make a living.

Good call Bob, if you are going to bump up the price then let's be fair by sending it across the board! Also, perhaps the practice of postal jobs redundancy and avoidable lawsuits has shot the Postal Service in their bottom line and not necessarily the low costs of mailing a first class letter, hmmm?

Personally, I believe the USPS made a big mistake in thinking that huge volumes of discounted junk mail would make them money. With the majority of mail being junk, the general public started to turn away from mail. Most people dump the majority of it in the garbage. Who wants to send a check, love letter or card along with all the garbage. But of course business and politicians always seem to get a cushy deal.

I'd like to see the "franking" stopped for politicians too---let them start paying for all the mail they send out to constituents!

In extremely copious quantities, if you can afford to!

Yea! Because that ONE cent may drive you into homelessness.

Absolutely, Mark. And the problem begins with fixing the 2006 legislation that requires them to fund 75 years of retirement costs within a ten year period. That legislation alone has caused the Office of Personnel Management to overcharge the Postal Service upwards of $80 billion. Put them on a level playing field with every other employer in the country, and they would be in the black and this discussion could move to more serious issues, like offering other services that would offset the declining mail volume.

dub,

Fixing legislation is a start. USPS is not on a level playing field with anybody else because when the USPS goes to open their books OPM will find that USPS has to account for every penny (remember no tax dollars goes to running them) and the pension overfunding is the government jack-pot/slush fund which is an embarrasment to say, the Dept of the Interior with their drunken hotel bashes complete with strippers or DOD runaway contracts.

The USPS would figure how to piss away $1 first class additional revenues with 24 hours of it going into force.

I agree. And I know that email has put a dent in first class mail but I still want to send real birthday and Christmas cards. I think email cards suck! It means you didn't want to take the time to send the very best.

While I can't argue they could, Icky, they are awfully top heavy in management; over the past several years they have lost something like 10% or more of craft employees while increasing management by about 18%, Congress has been the major cause of financial woes at this point in time. Again, fix the 2006 legislation, make them pay for future retiree benefits at the same rate as every other employer in the country and you could see a return to a healthy postal service.

Ichabod,

Get a brain. <<Play on words intended; don't get too irritated, please ;)

Most of us pay nearly $1 for a candy bar.

Raising the rate to $1 would eliminate the problem of insolvency for the USPS and very few would be affected. The number of handwritten letters has dropped from one every two weeks to one every seven weeks on average. Email and electronic bill pay has obviously reduced the need for mailing letters. Our postal system is a model for most of the rest of the world. We don't worry about our mail being stolen by postal employees as in most of the third world. Mail moves across the country in days. Kudos to the USPS. (BTW, I don't work for them; I just appreciate the job well done as well as the outstanding option of Priority Mail)

Write to your congressman and tell them to bring the regulations into the 21st century.

It's all about the money. They want to fund their pet projects for their state in the constant attempt to get re-elected. Politics is a four letter word (times 2). The only thing that will get results from Washington politicians is to not vote for re-election. I'm ready to vote for anyone that's not a Democrat or Republican.

And TeaParty.

You know, I keep seeing that everyone wants to stop Saturday service and have the urban offices follow suit of the rural areas. Living in a small rural town with a small rural post office that does not offer home delivery, you could look forward to office hours of 10am to 3pm Monday through Friday and the door locked and the outside drop welded shut due to "vandalism" during all other hours. Kind of hard to retreive your mail, let alone do business with them, when the few that have money to spend are at work.

What if they made the same move as other small businesses and closed on Mondays and left Saturday's alone instead?

The problem isn't that they have TOO MUCH mail to deliver. The problem is they have too much CHEAP mail that they are required to deliver cheaply -- and most of that is what we call "junk mail".

Easy for you to say. I live in one of those smaller towns and would have to drive 26 miles to get my mail. I know people in a smaller town than ours whose post office is going to be closed and they will have a 60 mile drive over treacherous roads to get their mail . As for cutting benefits, my husband is a retired Postmaster and we paid dearly for that retirement and pay through the nose for our health insurance.

I agree, Robin. I live in a very rural area and would have to drive almost 30 miles to get to a post office if the one in my town closed.

Not only will it hurt the rural areas, but in the states of Oregon and Washington, the people vote by MAIL, gee you think when the 2006 Congress controlled Repub. had another agenda as well???

Ever heard of Amazon? Ever ordered something from them? They mail almost all their stuff via USPS. If they didn't the cost would be much, much higher.

I belong to Amazon prime and I buy almost everything on Amazon I specifically asked not to use USPS, everything I get comes either UPS or FEDEX. USPS is like a old useless car, when it no longer functions then get rid of it.

Craig,

While I admire Warren Buffett, there is no need to sell the Post Office to anyone. They make a profit and take zero taxpayers dollars while providing a service level at a price and effectiveness that is unmatched by any other organization worldwide. If we can just get the Congressional Republicans to leave the Post Office alone, they would be fine. Of course, that would interfere with the goal of privatizing everything, which is their real motivation. It would also help if we could educate the good folks (like Jerry) who still think the Post Office is supported by taxpayer dollars.

George are you just stupid or what. I'm a mail manager for a printing company and if you raised postage that high for mass mailings companies would stop doing them, it wouldn't be cost effective. Also that is where the post office is making their money. First class mail has decined since the internet. Postage for mass mailings are cheaper because the mailing companies do most of the work.

tbenno791,

You're the stupid one! If bulk mailers want their sh-t delivered, just like the rest of us, then let them pay rates just like the rest of us! If some of them go out of business, tough! And do the same to these non-profit groups, like churches and charities! What is wrong with a mega-church paying first class rates? And, have the damn government pay for mailing their crap, along with having the senators and ALL politicians paying the standard civilian-class rate! If stuff isn't cost-effective, then figure a way to make it cost effective - after all, they pass on their charges to their customers anyway.

Think about that, o stupid one!

tbenno791, if the first sentence out of your mouth is to insult a stranger, then I question your intellegence and that of whomever hired you as a manager. Second, I would love to see those mailings stop, even if it cost you and those like you your jobs. I hate going through that garbage, even though I'm on the "Opt Out" list. It's a wasteful, obsolete technology. And I for one am tired of subsidizing your employment. Now crawl back under your rock before someone moves it on you.

Magnifico-First Good, Sensible thing I have read! There are Churches that have more money than the local economy! And the Congress-WHY do they get to mail free?! Let them pay like the rest of us! And the Junk mail-I bet my wife and I get AT LEAST 25 unsolicited magazines a week and Tons of solicitations for credit cards and every sort of product imaginable! THAT is what needs to either STOP or they pay FULL rate! In addition, that STUPID, Irresponsible law that requires the USPS to Fully Fund YEARS in advance the retirement fund needs to go NOW! Make it Impossible for the Federal Government to even Think about touching it. Let the USPS do their own retirement plan, like most every other business! The USPS is going bankrupt Because of the government!

Try about $10 to send a letter via UPS.

If the postage is 3 times more than the cost of processing, how are you staying in business? Are you subsidized by the government or by the mafia?

Some of your folks are "blaming" 4th class junk mail for the problem -- which it is not!!!-- Yes, it might be a waste of your time, space in your mail box and paper stock -- but that very postage business is what is keeping the Post office alive -- without it they would be gone already. E-mail and stuff like that is the real reason the Post office is in trouble.

I was also tempted to say 'let's have a do not mail registry' or something similar; I know it would work out great for the environment and for mail recipients, but it would also cut down on the USPS' volume which would not help their financial situation. Instead, I say they should substantially raise the rates on standard (junk) mail and enjoy the profits, since mass mailers can't really take their business elsewhere :D

I know all sorts of useless facts about the USPS :D but was not aware of the USPS delivering packages for UPS or FedEx...unless you're talking about Smart Post or similar services for smaller items which are dirt cheap and take forever. That's some sort of deal between the shipper and the USPS, where FedEx or whoever ships it to a nearby post office, then it makes it's way to the recipient along with the rest of the mail.

The postal service doesn't have to ask for a bailout because it just keeps raiding rates! If the postal service was to disappear, there would be something else to replace it, and maybe a something else with a business plan and clear goals.

It wont save the USPS duh!!! Raise it to $1.00 per postage envelope. Most people will not have a problem with that.

Rob-1067535

I guess I'm older. I still remember pre ZIP code days and airmail postage, when there were "zones" and the amount you paid to deliver outside your own zone was higher. AND if you out an Airmail stamp on a letter, it had to go on an airplane, whether that was the fastest way or not. And I remember when the USPS was actually a government entity, now it's a hybrid. I was the offspring of a postal employee, and the pay was so poor that the schools got subsidies for each child who had a parent working for the government. Decades ago, but true. There was an annual survey sent home, every kid had to bring it back, and for each who had a parent in federal government service job there was a small amount of money added to the school's budget for the year by the federal government. Military, Post Office, VA, some highway construction - When my father retired, he got 80% of the average of his highest 3 years pay, but he had to pay for his medical insurance. He figured the 20% was expoense he didn't have for working - uniforms, transportation, etc - but the medical coverage was breaking his back.

If mail is lost or late, either it arrives to the Post Office late (Fed _Ex delivers all mail) or the person sending paced the wrong address. The Post Office is having problems because of bad decision from the top-down. Purchasing equipment to automate but the equipment breaks down constantly and to service the machines is rediculous. Also, you've laid off so many workers there's no one there to run the machines or to do it manually when the machines break down. It's cheaper to keep the employees

Rob,

If you mail 10 letters a week, which most private citizens do not, a one cent increase in postage will cost you $5.20 a year. That's about the cost of one Big MAC with fries and a coke. Is that really worth bitching about?

To fix the problem is for Congress to repeal that stupid bill requiring the Post Office to fund its employees pension for the next 75yrs, no business does or would they, this is all about privatizing the Post Office. If that bill was never introduced back in 2006, the Post Office would be in the black by about 1.2billion, yes billion dollars.

To all you whiners about your postal service, be careful, you may just get what you want, Fedx, UPS delivering your mail for a very hefty price, then we will see who you are whining about!

REPEAL REPEAL REPEAL REPEAL!