Congress is trying to destroy the US. It seems if something doesn't create profit for the 1% it must be eliminated. Nothing can be done just for the general good of our citizens.

I think it's already begun. I sent a package last week that was supposed to take 2 days. It took 4 days. And it wasn't cheap. Ten bucks to go 150 miles.

Companies billing via the post office should be required to add 5 more business days before a payment is due, to compensate for this slower service. Let's support our postal service, and try not to bash them so much. It would be a huge loss if they went under. Our lives would change, and not for the better.

If we're going to do away with institutions, let it be the Republican House and Senate members who are determined to destroy our country.

I guess you're not very good at math. Could you have made a 300 mile round trip to deliver that package yourself for $10?

and 111 is on here to complain about the complainers complaining.

they're shooting themselves in the foot with this as with saturday deliveries gone and the price staying the same on these services less people will use them as it gets less convenient and reliable.

What about the US govt. taken the retiree money and using it for other things?????

It's funny. The Post Office in and of itself actually does quite well. There are two real problems: Veterans who look to remain in service to get their pensions are put on the Post Office's payroll and the Post Office is forced to set aside the next 75 years of health benefits now due to a law passed in 2006.

Basically the Federal Government uses the P.O. to hide costs and make themselves look better financially than they really are.

Google "a manufactured crisis post office"

Sounds like a bank, put a thousand in and wait for three days to be able to get it back or use it.

The Post Office and Social Security would be alive and well if Congress stopped taking their money. Congress created laws with both to give itself another form of income to spend on the general budget.

Most folks complain about the strings that come attached to govt money. USPS gets all the strings and they still dont get the money. In fact, they have to pay the govt. Nuts.

"That birthday card mailed first-class to Mom also could arrive a day or two late"

Well, just send it a day or two early. STOP complaining. This story is getting to be very old, every few weeks for the last few years we read about how the post office is bankrupt, well, FIX IT! Raise prices, cut service to 4 days, get rid of waste and problem solved.

This is simply another example of failed government management. Our federal government has horrendous management skills ... and now we are going to put them in charge of health care in the U.S. ???

It's cutting back service not because the evil 1% can't afford it, but because the other 99% are "too greedy" to pay for it.

"Too greedy to pay for it"? So we're supposed to pay more for a service, or pay for a lesser service, or use a service at all when there is a better alternative?

Why? Is it a crime to try to save money now?

I smell a bait and switch lawsuit in the making. The U.S. Postal Service has been selling 'Forever' stamps, encouraging people to buy them now for later use. Now, the intended use has changed since they cannot change the costs of already sold 'Forever' stamps.

People, please remember the Postal Ser. is a private Co. with in the Fed. Gov. What does that mean? You should know by now. They can't make any kind of move that will better the service because they are regulated by the Feds. Can we do this, Feds? No you can not, or we will loose controll of your money. The Feds, uses that money like they use money from S.S. Then refuse to pay it back.

lol. There's a great idea. Help save the Postal Service by making it more useless.

wow...Looks like a lot of posters have forgotten to wear their tin hats this morning.

With email and the proliferation of other online services, smartphones, UPS, FEDEX and others along with rising postal service pensions it should be more of a wonder why saturday delivery hasn't been dropped already along with perhaps some other USPS services.

Really folks, there are many alternatives to getting time sensitive documents rather than just thru the USPS.

Once again this is another crises deliberately caused by our Domestic Enemy of the USA government.

What has been lost in the political debate over the Post Office is why it is losing this money. Almost all of the postal service’s losses over the last four years can be traced back to a single, artificial restriction forced onto the Post Office by the Republican-led Congress in 2006.

At the very end of that year, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under PAEA, USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten-year time span” — meaning that it had to put aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees it hasn’t even hired yet, something “that no other government or private corporation is required to do.”

As consumer advocate Ralph Nader noted, if PAEA was never enacted, USPS would actually be facing a $1.5 billion surplus today: By June 2011, the USPS saw a total net deficit of $19.5 billion, $12.7 billion of which was borrowed money from Treasury (leaving just $2.3 billion left until the USPS hits its statutory borrowing limit of $15 billion). This $19.5 billion deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011. If the prepayments required under PAEA were never enacted into law, the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion.

The current deficits attributed to the Postal Service arise not from falling revenues, overly generous employee compensation, or too much capacity, but rather from accounting transfers to the Treasury mandated by Congress. The plain and simple fact is that Congress, essentially the owner of the postal system, has extracted billions of dollars of profits and value from the Postal Service. The bottom line is that the Postal Service is not only doing fine - its surpluses are being taken by Congress and used to mask other budget deficits.

The supposed deficits the Postal Service has been running are attributable to three related accounting issues: (1) the overly ambitious pre-funding schedule of retiree health benefits mandated by Congress in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), (2) the over-funding of both the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), and (3) the methods used to determine potential liabilities due to workmen’s compensation.

It’s up to Congress to act to allow the Post Office to save itself, lest it become a victim of a crisis that Congress itself manufactured.

I live in a very (!) small town in rural Va., with lots of other very small towns around me. there staffed Post offices in every town, every 6 or 7 miles ....... Half in my developement have the mail delivered to our doors like in city. The other half pass the mail delivery truck, while driving to our private little PO and pick up our mail.

Not only a waste of $$, but suprised Green Peace isn't after the PO for a double system carbon footprint.

Think of the money and pollution that could be saved with every other day delivery.

But hear the whining over just cutting Saturday.

It is time for all American citizens to realize that this congress, ad many before it did not keep the Oath as they were required to by our Constitution. That makes them unable to stay in the current position they currently occupy. It means we can replace them immediately.

Then they can be charged, arrested, held until we replace the judicial branch, and prosecuted. It is up to us, "We the People..." to stop them from destroying our country, our freedoms, our way of life.

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because the Congress created that problem. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. The Speaker of the House is the leader of the majority party. The Speaker and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted - by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees... We should remove all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

This is not suprising concidering how bad the usps is in our town. It is more dependable and just as cheap just to send it UPS or Fed Ex.

ROCCO:

Your post was Excellent, until you had to take a swipe at the Republicans, blaming them.

Please do not pass the blame. The US Postal Service is owned by the Government, not the Republicans..

It is this Administration trying to get this plan pushed thru.

The Internet, buying online, will make a huge difference in the amount of US Postal Deliveries for sending out merchandise. For this reason, it will not be good. Slow service.

Other online retailers send their products thru UPS, Fed Ex, etc. The others will be forced to use the more expensive way of sending out packages.

Charlie Ford:

It is NOT just as cheap via UPS or Fed Ex and do you know how many packages USPS delivers for those two places??? ANY clue? My husband carries mail and he tells me all the time how many packages those two places drop off for him and his co-workers to deliver! They do NOT deliver everywhere. What they can't do, they have USPS do. There are many places FEDEX and UPS do not want to travel to. So, for those of you that think just get rid of USPS, those who are anywhere less than urban may not be able to receive packages, movies, prescription drugs, etc. I'm sorry your office isn't good, but most are great and have great service. Watch what you wish for!

makememad,

rocco is a lib, no wonder he's a bit baffled by simple math....LOL

Charlie Ford:

Sorry about the UPS service--I have my stories re: UPS--could write a book--including crashing into my car as I approached my driveway--

It is far less expensive to send small packages thru the United States Postal Service.

Has anyone noticed the disproportional rates of S&H now--many times it is the same cost as the Product.

The company offering merchandise over the Internet are taking a large chunk of change from adding huge S&H charges. They are also making money. It is a scam. Selling merchandise for less online, then sticking the buyer with the large S&H costs. The retailer online, and the delivery service are both taking a cut of your purchase.

It is a win win situation for both of them. Not the buyer.

Well, we are not going back to the pony express days, but this will lead to checking kiting again where the consumer mails a check for a bill and this will give them time to get their money into the bank before the check is received and goes back to the bank. Degression means depression.....and what about all those postal employees(100,000) losing they jobs.......a savings of $6.5 billion for the postal service, but a strain on the country.. More people in the unemployment lines, fore-closures in the housing area and no food to feed their families like the rest of us already going thru this......I believe that the people in the Goverment positions should take a giant cut in pay and help support this country by helping the people who are struggling because of the enconmy. Alot of their decisions have caused this country to be in the shape that we are in now.

One thing the postal service will not cut are bloated salaries and extremely generous pensions and benefits. Who cares about service to the customer. Typical government operation.

Cut back the service you lose customers to UPS and FEDEX. Its that simple.

But if no one is ordering duck at a diner. Maybe the cook is bad, or maybe the duck is free down the street.

Cut out first class and use the savings to reorganize and cut down on Parcel post costs and priority. By doing that USPS could charge less than FEDEX or UPS. And gain some customers back.

Mouse:

Correct. More loss of jobs. At this rate of getting rid of employees, there will be very small employment numbers.

That means, Americans will have to look to the Government programs to financially survive on pennies provided to live.

Very bad. The Unemployment number will not last long at 8.9 per cent---of which 315 million people are no longer looking for jobs. They have given up.

I guess you're not very good at math. Could you have made a 300 mile round trip to deliver that package yourself for $10?

If I had a truck full of packages at $10 each, yes - and make a handsome profit.

However, if the truck is full of junk mail - much of which rides at 1/3 the first-class rate, no. I'd be drowning in red ink - like the USPS.

They ought to raise the postage costs of junk or bulk mail. I can't see why they don't since that crap clogs up my mailbox on a daily basis, it has to be a decent sized volume that every post office has to deal with. Maybe if they charged more for it then I would get less. :)

I guess you're not very good at math. Could you have made a 300 mile round trip to deliver that package yourself for $10?

By that logic a sheet of paper is a bargain at $1. After all, could you drive to Oregon, cut down a tree, pulp it, reconstitute it into a sheet of paper, and drive it back home for $1?

@Maui2: I'd have to disagree. At least half the time when I buy online, I can receive free S&H. And if your order is a normal size package, it won't cost all that much to ship unless you're shipping something other than normal ground service. And if you are, then it's your choice to pay more for faster shipping. If you ship a cheap item, then yes, the shipping will be around the price of the item. Try sending a penny by USPS and you'll pay $0.44 to ship it (44 times the value of the item). And if you order something really heavy or really large, then that also will have a much higher price. You can't really use the two extremes in your argument. The average size package with an average value of item will ship for less than the value of the item.

The only time I see the scam you're referring to is with the TV commercials that offer a product for something like $19.95 + S&H. Those ones are scams and always have been. The products are usually not even worth the price before shipping and then they double the cost with overpriced shipping. You can get the same kind of product for less if you go online. Other than those, S&H prices are pretty much what you should expect for the service and are not scams.

We need to vote all of them out, no matter which party they are affiliated with. And, if the USPS were to go away, my van would get repossessed because I don't have another way to mail the payment. The finance company wants to add $15 if I pay online. The stamp, check, and envelope is a lot cheaper, and I won't pay them for the "privilege" of being able to pay online, not going to happen. The biggest problem is Congress, not the USPS itself. As a former meter reader in a rural area, I have been in some areas that a UPS driver told me he would never go in, which is part of the reason UPS and FedEx both use the post office for deliveries - they go where UPS and FedEx won't. As far as high pensions, you all must be talking about the people in DC, because the average worker doesn't get as large a retirement as you think.

Just two quick points: 1) UPS and Fedex would like nothing better than to see the failure of a major competitor even though they use that competitor to deliver their own packages to 'unprofitable' locations that the USPS is required to serve, and 2) criticizing the Government is the bull being deceived by the matador's cape. Do you think the USPS makes a profit on all that 'third-class' junk that arrives in your mailbox from corporate? Any 'government' is just a machine which responds to whomever controls it. In American political fantasy, WE control it. B'wah hahahah! When we finally decide to smash our psychopathic elite and their corporate rape machines and take back our own government, those completely corrupt asshats in Congress will do what WE want them to do. Until we, collectively, have the native intelligence to recognize what's in our own best interests, the criminal scum on the 'top' of this local genepool will do to us whatever they want and we will continue to decline as we have been doing since toady roosevelt helped usher in The (rothschild) Fed way back in 1913. Don't be fooled into aiming at the gov, the cape (and the sword). Our sharp horn needs to find the hands (and the entrails) behind it and rip and stomp them into the earth until none of them remain at all. America does not need an elite and the more power this filthy elite gathers unto itself, the less 'America' we are and the more feudal slave state we become. You already wear a slave collar, the 'credit score'. Solid iron could not limit your options as well. We don't need a revolution, we just need a 'Restoration' of Democracy in America. Vive la Restoration! Bury the elite in dung and take back what they have stolen from us, our money, our futures, and ultimately, the freedom of our children and grandchildren.

If the USPS is so great; than why not make it legal for others to compete with them?

Where would the USPS be if it were legal for others to drop things into your mail boxes?

The USPS is a vicious monopoly with all the problems that go with monopolies.

Ben? Ben? Franklin? Did you read that? Congress can even destroy one of the greatest mail systems in the world.

personal mail was leveraging the more important business mail for so many years that we all got used to cheap mail delivery.. Who here could hand deliver a single piece of mail (like a check or a signed contract) to New York from LA for 44 cents? But as personal mail started to drop significantly, all that is left is business mail, and some of that will never be replaced by electronic mail. That means increased costs for every kind of mail. It sucks, but quite frankly any way you look at it, every one of us will be affected by this. Sure, you can just shift your personal mail over to electronic means, but it will still affect you. When a business that sends out thousands of invoices per day, many to people without internet connections or to people who do not check their email daily, has to start paying Fedex or UPS $5 to send it instead of $.44 to the USPS, YOUR costs on everything will go up. And it will snowball. Manufacturers costs will rise, wholesalers costs will rise, and retailers costs will rise, and all of it will be passed on to the consumer, so the consumer will see a triple hit.. We are all consumers, whether we own a business, work for a business, or just leech off of the taxpayers, so we will ALL see this affect our pocketbooks.

There are just too many things that will never go electronically, like signed documents and physical goods.. sorry, no star trek here, it will have to go via some form of mail service.

Why doesn't congress just reverse that ridiculous 2006 law that says they have to fund future health care costs for the next 75 years? Whoever thought that up doesn't deserve to be in a position to make laws.

Re: the conversation between @Maui2 and @Riamus. There is a vast difference between internet shipping policies in the contiguous 48 states and shipping to Hawaii. I would guess that Maui2 lives on Maui as I do. Very often with internet purchases, if you want to get the package in a reasonable amount of time, the shipping cost is actually as much if not more than the product. If they would all use priority mail for products that fit in flat rate boxes, they could ship it for a reasonable amount of money, but many of them claim they have some agreement with the Post Office that they can't do that, so they charge a lot of money and ship it slow mail which can take several months to arrive in Hawaii.

Postal Service - "Service????" Now that's an oxymoron for you. I remember when a Mail Man could be trusted and was a good friend that would deliver your mail to your door and ring the bell letting you know your mail has arrived. Now today we have huge community boxes which our mail is jammed into and mixed with trash mail so we need to be careful to go through everything to find what we are looking for in hopes of not throwing away a bill or check with the garbage. In fact, my mail person doesn't speak English or so pretends not to understand what I am saying when I ask her a simple question. I thought you had to be an American Citizen to be a postal worker??? Regardless, price has increased and service has decreased to the point where I try to avoid the post office. I am paying more and more bills by email accounts to avoid late fees for lost or misplaced mail. I CRINGE when I purchase an on line order in fear it will be delivered by USPS because items usually arrive late or just don't arrive at all or are damaged in one way or other. More and More FAT mail delivery persons are working for the postal service than ever before - hummmm - I wonder why??? Maybe because very very very few actually know how to walk. Quality has gone away and Cost has gone amuck. Woe to the U.S. Postal system . . . woe to us.

I would like a LARGER mail Box--the US Postal Service crams all the mail, crushing packages into a tiny 1/2 sized shoe box--crazy.

Maui2. You want a bigger mailbox? Go buy one. Tigerlover: Hate will eat you up brother. Give peace a chance. Mailcarriers across this nation are the front line heroes in nearly every neighborhood. Any time you hear of a natural disaster, or a man made crises, i.e. Hurricanes, earthquakes, or bombing, the post office immediately sets up a disaster center so that displaced citizens can retrieve their mail. The very people sorting and delivering the mail during these crises have also lost loved ones, watched their homes burn down, or witnessed their neigborhood being swallowed up in a huge wave. Yet they still come through. They deliver in -20 degrees, and 110 degrees. They face armed robbers, carjackers, rapists, etc. We do it because we love people. We believe in what we are doing. We want to provide the best possible service we can. Many of us, go to visit our customers on our own time. Assiting the shut in with grocery shopping. Writing out Christmas cards for the widow whose hands are crippled by arthritis, mowing the grass for the gentleman who just had his hip replaced, even making a young boys dying wish to be a mailman become a reality, only to follow in a procession of 15 postal trucks at his funeral a week later. We care!!!! Hopefully, we can be of service to you for the years to come.

Noel: Mail carriers in my town are far from being "front line heroes" and I am certain I have heard no stories about our mail workers donating time to natural disaster relief. . . not saying your telling tales . . . just saying, I have never seen nor heard of a mail person go out of their way to help anyone and certainly not on their own time or dime. But, I expect their are mail man hero's out there somewhere and maybe you are one of them. Good for You!! At least I haven't heard of any new AK47 incidents.

Riamus:

On some points, I agree with you, re: S&H--large items---small items over under $40.00 is usually around $7.95/9.95-or more--

The even smaller cost items are equal to the S&H costs. To me, this is outrageous--because the S&H cost is large, the retailer makes a good chunk of the S&H costs--they are shared; so the item is not really inexpensve. This is how they keep the item under "low cost". Then the Tax is plastered on the invoice as well in most cases.

I only buy smaller items online when, they are not available in my area.

They just don't get it! STOP SATURDAY MAIL DELIVERIES!

We wouldn't even be talking about this if the Republicans did not pass the law in 2006 to make them fund their retirement for the next 75yrs and do in 10yrs, what company or corporation does that??? NONE! Just one more example how the Republicans want to privatize EVERYTHING!

Noel:

Can't buy a bigger mail box--ever heard of Home Associations, and Regulations?

They're out there---we live in the City---

The problem is the 2006 pre-funding mandate forced on the USPS by congress. Unfortunately for the Postal Service, we have a do-nothing Congress elected by us, who get paid for doing nothing except furthering their agendas, which apparently includes destroying our country-they care nothing about the lower class and middle class in this country-only the rich and the lobbyists. They are all corrupt==but what are we going to do about it?? Another election coming in 2012 which means nothing meaningful will get done do help the Postal Service or the USA, for fear that they might not get re-elected--after the last election when Obama got elected, the Republicans had only one agenda--and it wasn't to do whats best for this country--their agenda was to get rid of Obama--they don't want the economy to get better, they don't want the job crisis to get better==because if it does, Obama will get re-elected because they have no one to run against him--hell they dont even like their own field of candidates. Our beloved country is in trouble because of politics--the only answer--term limits--2 terms thats it and retirement for life--who in this country gets full retirement from a job after 8 years?? nobody--they need to retire on social security and whatever else they can save--just like the rest of us--one more thing-they stole money from social security-never have paid it back==they stole money from the postal service and will never admit it. they are all crooks--rep darrell issa from california who wants to destroy the postal service can't even get a job with the postal service because he is a felon!!!

Knine #464.20: Your post is absolutely accurate. This is the work of a goddamn pack of mostly, republican congressmen who want to privatize a proven money making institution. A money making institution with a very "up to date" infrastructure I might add. The US congress is little more than an untouchable institution specifically designed toward the higher handed art of thievery and debauchery.

makememad - You don't seem to very good at math either. Rocco's package wasn't going round trip. he sent it one way - 150 miles. And the postman did make a round-trip journey either and didn't deliver just the one package from post office A to post office B. It's known as cost amortization.

Noel, I think you may be delusional. No postal worker does any of these things: "Assiting the shut in with grocery shopping. Writing out Christmas cards for the widow whose hands are crippled by arthritis, mowing the grass for the gentleman who just had his hip replaced". You are living in some fantasy world that is far from real. If you think postal workers are "front line heroes", then what are the cops and firefighters and EMTs? Demigods?

You can't keep them around when the business loses $8B a year.

of course, if it was a business, they would raise postage prices to offset losses, and they wouldn't have to fund the future pension for decades ahead of time. some of the issues are self-inflicted, but many are also regulation issues that they cannot change internally.

Well I guess losing a lot of the dead weight might help, out of the whole work force I wonder how many seat warmers there are, I bet that is the cause of their problems ...

As I understand it, some of their (pension) problems were inflicted by the U.S. govt. Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that there is a lot of money-wasting going on and not keeping competitive. Since I basically do all my Christmas shopping online, UPS has been at my door frequently lately. Why couldn't the post office do that? It seems that everything even remotely connected with the govt becomes a bureaucracy.

That's great that UPS is doing a good job for you Susi, but did you know that folks in rural areas get their UPS shipped packages delivered by none other than the US Postal Service? It's the same with FEDEX. I am a postal employee myself and over the last decade while being competing companies, we now work together a lot in the package delivery service. Since 9/11, our packages shipped by the USPS which were previously flown around the country and the world on commercial flights are now flown by Fedex. So we all work together. Problem is that UPS and Fedex can and do charge more for their service. We, on the other hand, can only raise rates when and if the Postal Regulatory System allows us and then it is only a percentage of the rate of inflation.

Actually Susi-Oh, I get most of my packages delivered by the USPS. It depends on who you order from (some only use UPS) and what type of shipping you order (many companies' "standard" is the post office, while next day might be USPS, UPS, or Fed Ex). Either way, the USPS can "do that".

If you lived in a rural area, it would be USPS delivering those UPS packages to you, because UPS and FEDEX utilize the urban-subsidized rural routes of the postal service to deliver to the less densely populated and therefore less profitable rural areas of our country.

Make no mistake, the reason the USPS is failing is because of the poison pill that the Republican lame duck congress pushed through in 2006. From then on, the USPS has been required to fund their pension plan SEVENTY FIVE years in advance. No other government agency or private business is required to do this. Prior to that bill, the USPS was in the black and it has not been subsidized by taxes in many, many years.

Just like the Medicare part D prescription drug benefit that was passed UNFUNDED against Democratic opposition (deciding vote was Paul Ryan in the middle of the night), this is another poison pill by our fine Republicon party to destroy public institutions and lend credence to their meme that government doesn't work. Of course government never will work as long as the cons are allowed to screw it up.

All you numbskulls spewing typical teabagger swill about inefficiencies and wasteful workers and taxpayers dollars and all have NO idea what you are shouting about. You apparently have never stopped to consider the miracle of putting a 44 cent stamp on a letter, dropping it in a mailbox and hainv it delivered anywhere in the US in a few days. I would bet they are more efficient than most normal corporations... and yes, they are a private business completely funded by postage sales and other services. They receive no funds from "taxpayers". If you would ever bother to pull your nose out of Sarah Palin's crack or away from Faux News, you might be better informed.

So DBCooper, Eleanor, Rick, etc - you believe it is fair and correct for congress (PAEA passed in 2006) to require the USPS to pre pay for employees health benefits for 75 years into the future? Heath benefits for employees it has not even hired yet?

Think of this; This $19.5 billion deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011.

That it is fine for congress to use that money that was supposed to be put away for the "pre" employees health benefits? Actually used it and added more to it or we would not be an additional $20.95 billion in debt, but would be less then a billion.

It is "our" congress, "our" own government messing up again with a service that would be billions in the black ($1.5 billion surplus) today inspite of additional things that are NOT USPS business related that it also pays for.

Congress, the current people in it who are illegally still occupying those congressional seats. illegally because they did NOT keep the Oath as they were required to. (Domestic Enemies)

It is time for us to replace them immediately with people who WILL keep the Oath. Arrest and hold until we can prosecute the current congressional members.

Take back America, Defend OUR Constitution, Get rid of ALL Domestic Enemies within our government. This is the only way to get America back on her feet. Anything else is just doing business as usual and will finish off the Land of the Free.

"Domestic enemies pursue legislation, programs against the powers of the US Constitution. They work on destroying and weakening the Rights of the People guaranteed by the Constitution. Plus they create laws, amendments, etc that goes against the restraint on the three branches of our government by the Constitution"

Another 100,000 middle class jobs gone. Yay!

But they're just government employees. It's not like they're real people, or anhthing.

Forever stamps until the USPS says nothing is forever, not ever Obama...

Problem is that UPS and Fedex can and do charge more for their service.

Umm, the market says NO. Their service is worth more and cheaper in many cases. The USPS loses tons of money on bulk (junk) mail that rides for 1/3 price. Just because the junk mailers pre-sort it does not cut the cost that much. Most of the sorting should be electronic by now using preprinted codes.

Knine

One thing you might want to keep in mind. When you are critcizing the Government, you are criticizing yourself for lacking control over your own servants. Your 'choice' is limited by the same scum who then control these sociopaths when they are in office. The WHOLE system is compromised and the corruptors, not the corruptees need to be erased, a complete elitectomy. Perhaps you would prefer to, instead, destroy the American 'free market' system as represented here by our opportunistic politicians? There is no end to opportunistic, sociopathic politicians in America, one of our most basic values. But there can be an end to those most responsible for our servants' continued pathological behavior. Again, attacking the government (i.e. the symptoms) is what you are supposed to do instead of attacking the disease itself, the elite. Don't let yourself be deceived. Politicians are pure sycophants and will respond to whomever controls them. It really should be US. It's not. Your fault, my fault, the American People's fault. Let's fix that flaw with just a little cosmetic surgery, a radical elitectomy.

John Mack - How about the numbskulls at the USPS that charged me $23 to deliver time critical legal document with guaranteed delivery by noon the next day finally got it there 6 days later. "We'll refund your money" didn't negate that the legal documents were late and involved issues that were time critical. And a month later it only took the same numbskulls 4 days and $18 to deliver an overnight letter between the same addresses.

Just last month it only took the post office 8 days to deliver a certified letter 3 miles from the PO where it was posted to my house . Mind you it went from one PO to another 13 miles East, then to a PO 52 miles South, then 52 miles back to the same PO up North, then 8 miles to my house to leave a note in my box. Then I got to go 8 miles across town to retrieve and sign for it. How do I know? The tracking number allows one to see where and when it went anywhere.

I could have walked to the original PO and back in less than an hour.

thinker... You're not going to be any happier, guaranteed, when all of these post office processing centers are closed and your mail is routed at even greater distances.

@ William Bjornsen, Aloha, Orygun... Great posts. Thanks for slapping me back into reality... It's so easy to fall into the complaint category when, as you so correctly reminded us, WE are the ones who have the capability and the responsibility to stop what's happening. These politicians did not just volunteer for their posts... They were voted in. I hope everyone "hears" your message and takes responsibility for the consequences of their votes by correcting their mistakes and cleaning house.

Past house-cleanings had no significant impact on the incidence of what you're referring to. There seems to be a pretty-consistent pattern of people making big claims about how things are going to be different if they're elected, but for many of these things they're either deluding themselves or deceiving voters, because their jingoistic exhortations that they'll be better reflect a distinct lack of realistic perspective. The American voter is notoriously myopic: They generally want what they want with little regard for the realities associated with what they want, such as cost. They generally assume that the things they want are more worthy and should trump that which other citizens want. They cannot all be correct: Everyone's personal priorities cannot all be more important than everyone else's personal priorities.

Due to this widespread myopia, some bits of the quagmire are going to always be there - not "inescapable" but rather "not going to be escaped from" because reasonable people disagree about where they want to go "from here". To a great extent, many people see leaving the quagmire by going in someone else's direction to be far inferior than doing what they can do to ensure we remained stuck in the quagmire: The quagmire, itself, becomes the consensus best option.

Well said ... Future historians will be in disbelief of this nation's 21st century priorities and it's apparent dysfunction regarding meaningfull decision-making. We always seem to have billions for wars, meddling in other country's affairs, 'rescuing' greedy banks and giving foreign aid to people who hate us. The Fortune 500 corporations and the Wall Street 'casino boys' now own this nation lock, stock and barrel because our 'illustrious' crooked Congress has become the very best government that money can buy ... period.

Peace to all

I read some of the dear obama but stopped when I got to the distorted facts and illusions. If you dislike Obama you should have been around during the Bush II years, your letter would have been three times as long. As a Patriot myself and veteran I disliked Bush II lying to the American public and Congress to create a war of pleasure which sent over 4,000 true patriots to their grave. He and Halliburton made a lot of money on that war and we got over 473 thousand barrels of oil a day YTD 2011. Oil and financial gain for dead Americans doesn't convert to a Patriotic president and should make sick all true patriots. Bush II sent Americans to the grave so he and his friends could make billions which we borrowed from China and the other Patriots have to repay. Bush II is the most unpatriotic president we ever had and could care less about our military. Read his military record. When brave patriots were going to Viet Nam he hid under the umbrella of his rich dads influence giving him exclusion rights from coming into harms way. That isn't a patriot but a coward!

Once again, Obama's actions defended by "but Bush did...."

Hey Dick,

Didn't your Democrat Boy Clinton dog the draft as well?????? Political affiliation has nothing to do with the piss poor manner in which this Country is being run right now. All of the Politicians should be FIRED!!!!

@stanboy

(Raising hand and waiving excitedly) I CAN!! I CAN!! I CAN!

That's an easy one you can see for yourself. Google;

1.) Carlyle Group

2.) Sybus Investors

3.) Amsec Corp.

4.) Engineered Support Systems and William Bush

That being said, NONE of this is illegal but the family has become rich since this war.

The USPS deficit would be wiped out by 2 weeks of funding of the Afghanistan war!!! I find the USPS to be a real bargain--my son lives 2,000 miles away ande I can get something to him physically in 2-3 days for under $10.

You are absolutely right! Government needs to allow the post office to run more like a private business and the 75 year pre-funding needs to stop immeadiately. That change alone would make a big difference. I get sick and tired of people blaming their neighborhood letter carrier from the problem of the USPS when the problem lies with the people at the top of USPS and the Federal goverment. FOr every one USPS employee that has all these great bennies there are a dozen who get few or none at all. Laying off 10,000 people is not the answer. Stop the ridiculous 75 yr retirement fund issue, raise stamps to sixty-seventy five cents and layoff the redundant upper mangment. Then if it stil does not profit cut Saturday service. Putting more peope in the unemployment line is definetly not the answer. Put some of the greedy sob's at the top of USPS and some of congress and the senate in the unemployment line. THis = more foreclousers, more people on food stamps and other assistance, more people with out health insurance therefore raising everbodys' costs, etc..etc.. Yes, as in every line of work their are rotten eggs but for the most part they are men and women, American citizens and taxpayers just like the rest of us and they do a pretty good job. Thank-you to all those USPS employees out there delivering in rain or shine, snow, sleet,h igh winds, floods, extreme heat/cold etc.. Most of us would'nt and/or could'nt do your job. The hardest part would be with the general public giving you crap all the time. Keizer,OR USPS you do a great job!!!!

DANGIT!! THAT DOES IT!! Y'all have convinced me. I'm never voting for George Bush again. And that's FINAL!!

Hey, ya gotta draw a line in the sand someplace ya know.

Read his military record.

Compare it to Clinton and Obama.

Clinton and Obama were never in the military. Clinton escaped the Viet Nam draft with a college deferment, you may think that a college deferment wasn't right but consider this: The Viet Nam war lasted about 20 years, if we disallowed all college students from going to college and sent them to Viet Nam during that period how do you think that would affect America? No college graduates within 20 years. Clinton was exceptionally smart achieving the Rhodes Scholarship (I think the American allotment was only twenty and of the thousands that applied Clinton was one of the 20 that acheived it) and that was indicative that there was something better in life for him than Viet Nam. With those qualifications he should not have been drafted. I was there in Viet Nam and none of us had any ill feelings toward the deferred, some wished they were with them though. It was only the angry old guard establishment that called them draft dodgers.

Obama is of a different generation, however he was patriotic enough and intellectually competent enough to not only see through Bush II lies but voted against them. That is a true American! Too many Congressmen which they had done the same today.

Dr Larry...You beat me to it...at least Bush II HAS a military record!

Dick-2100935

If you haven't yet read Russ Baker's "The Bush Family: Family of Secrets", I strongly recommend it to you. And it wasn't just oil, although the first oil to flow again was piped directly to israel at USD25 a barrel. It was about strategic positioning for our invasion of Iran. If you notice the geography, Iran lies directly between Iraq and our other noble effort, Afghanistan. Apparently everyone thought that Iraq would be a pushover and we could get right on with our business of expanding the Mideastern dominance of the zionists, building our staging base so that we could sacrifice more of our children (and treasure) for the benefit of our 'ally' (see USS Liberty) so they wouldn't have to waste their children who are so much more valuable than ours. Truth be told, the Iranis owe the Iraqis a deep debt of gratitude for standing firm and resisting our murderous invasion. As odd as it may sound, I think we do too. It could have been so much worse.

And may I suggest that you not bother responding to the human equivalent of the dog in "Up" (Look, a squirrel!) who can see discussion of our best interests as only a religious argument about who is less evil, their treasonous politicians or ours. Politicians don't matter. They are just servants. The evil in America is in our elite. They corrupt both sides as we have seen over and over. And they will be free to do so as long as any discussion immediately diverts into the color of the matador's cape and not the evil of the hand behind it. The government is only the cape and the sword. We need to rid ourselves of the evil behind the cape because the sword is being sharpened with every addition to the power of homeland security and to the Executive in general. It WILL be used unless we disembowel our elite soon. We have the horns for it, we just need to get over our political and religious propaganda induced schizophrenia and take good aim at our true enemy, our psychopathic criminal elite. Just sayin'...

As far as bush being a vet, he even had his own aircraft. Nobody else wanted to use it because of the smell of fresh butt squirt every time he landed. He was terrified. And he left because he had so much coke in his system he would never have passed his overdue flight physical and daddy would have been squirting had that gotten out...

Dick - Wasn't it your man obama that promised to end the wars as soon as he was elected and yet here he is three years into his reign and the military is still over there. And he stirred up a war in Libya.

As for clinton being "smart" enough to garner a Rhodes scholarship - it wasn't as much intelligence as it was conniving.

So then you would get paid for 40 hours a week instead of 60?

The post office can only get rid of Saturday delivery with congressional approval and since this congress couldn't make a decision and actually do something if their life depended on it (and it doesn't include affirming that we are under god), it isn't going to happen anytime soon. USPS requested permission to get rid of Saturday delivery well over 6 months ago.

Hey, numbnuts, go work for the USPS if you are so jealous, or just shut up.

The Beev, How about instead of waiting for any USPS service to stop, why don't you educate yourself on WHY the USPS is in this position? Let me make it easy for you.

Did you know that congress (PAEA passed in 2006) requires the USPS to pre pay for employees health benefits for 75 years into the future? Heath benefits for employees it has not even hired yet? Then congress also uses that money immediately upon receiving it. Congress is deceiving American citizens again. (Remember that 10 out of the 12 Supercommittee took foreign nations money while in the Supercommittee, knowing we would be watching.) They take bribes from foreign nations/big banking/mega corporations/pretty much anyone and willingly destroy our economy, our air, our water, our land, our jobs, our written and guaranteed Freedoms(and as we all know )our economy; plus make decisions that are good for foreign nations/etc and bad for America and her people.

Think of this; This $19.5 billion deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011.

That it is fine for congress to use that money that was supposed to be put away for the "pre" employees health benefits? Actually used it and added more to it or we would not be an additional $20.95 billion in debt, but would be less then a billion.

It is "our" congress, "our" own government messing up again with a service that would be billions in the black ($1.5 billion surplus) today inspite of additional things that are NOT USPS business related that it also pays for.

Congress, the current people in it who are illegally still occupying those congressional seats. illegally because they did NOT keep the Oath as they were required to. (Domestic Enemies)

It is time for us to replace them immediately with people who WILL keep the Oath. Arrest and hold until we can prosecute the current congressional members.

Take back America, Defend OUR Constitution, Get rid of ALL Domestic Enemies within our government. This is the only way to get America back on her feet. Anything else is just doing business as usual and will finish off the Land of the Free.

"Domestic enemies pursue legislation, programs against the powers of the US Constitution. They work on destroying and weakening the Rights of the People guaranteed by the Constitution. Plus they create laws, amendments, etc that goes against the restraint on the three branches of our government by the Constitution

The USPS is in debt way beyond the prepay funding issue. Their prepayments are in the order of $5.5 B annually. Their deficits are much higher.

The real reason they are so far in deficit is they are unresponsive (businesswise), wasteful, over-regulated, and don't charge enough for bulk mail. They (and Congressional regulators) are in the hip pocket of the junk mailers.

Why do you think UPS and FedEx do so well? They deliver on-time, on-budget.

So then you would get paid for 40 hours a week instead of 60?

If you're working hourly, but salaried employees get paid a certain amount despite the number of hours.

How about the medical benefits? Who do you think is subsidizing them? When I worked for the government I had the chance to buy Mailhandlers health insurance. But when comparing the premiums they gave two columns of rates - postal employee, non-postal employee. The non-postal employee rates were almost exactly double the postal employee. Why would it have cost me twice as much to be insured as an overweight chainsmoker?

The traitor congress is deliberately trying to destroy the USPS. The stupid people who watch fox news call this "job creation"

It would also help if they were allowed to go ahead and kick first class stamps up to .50, instead of having to beg for it to go up .01. (I hate those odd numbers anyway).

I guess that makes you an IDIOT then dancnman!

"The traitor congress is deliberately trying to destroy the USPS. The stupid people who watch fox news call this "job creation""

They are domestic enemies, some are probably traitors. But most important for you and all American citizens to realize is that they did NOT keep the Oath as required, which means they cannot stay in the positions they currently occupy. They are also arrestable, can be held, prosecuted.

We need to do this; arrest, charge, hold, (and after replacing the domestic enemies within the Judicial branch) prosecute them. This will be the ONE THING that will make there replacements start to actually work for America and her people. They will finally realize that the American people will not take anymore corruptness within our govenrment.

But it is up to us, the American citizens to fix this problem.

But management would never accept the same wage concessions. If management was employed in the private sector, most of them would have been fired because they are either inept and/or ethically challenged. Come to think of it, alot of them would probably be in Congress!@

I forgot to tell you . A private carrier ( company ) will never deliver mail to each and every house . NO MONEY IN IT !!!! If you live out in the country , on a farm or ranch good luck getting your mail . You will have to go to town or some other drop off point to get it . As for junk mail , that is the stuff that pays the bills for the P.O. Also most if not all postal workers are federal employees thank you president RON .

bob

You are mistaken. The majority of first class mail still flies - on FEDEX. Some regional First Class is trucked.

I forgot to tell you . A private carrier ( company ) will never deliver mail to each and every house . ............As for junk mail , that is the stuff that pays the bills for the P.O.

A private carrier could deliver mail, but they are currently prohibited by law. I think a private company could do this profitably, if the government did not over-regulate.

Junk mail does NOT come close to paying their own way, much less "the bills". Pre-sorting by zip code has never, and will never, break-even with the current actual bulk mail cost. Previous studies have confirmed that. Until junk mail costs about 90% of 1st class, it will be a loser.

If they were private, they would not have to fund their pensions 75 years in advance.

Yes Amy, and you would be paying $4 to mail a letter instead of 44 cents. Do you really want that??

verno, maybe thats part of the problem, 44cents isnt breaking even with the cost to deliver the piece of mail,,, with fedex the higher costs are true cost of handling that letter or package, with the postal service perhaps they are about 4 decades behind the curve on the actual costs.

Nope, you're wrong

if the USPS was private they wouldn't fund pensions at all !!!

@Randy-2925150

Ummmmmm........... You are aware that U.P.S. is a PACKAGE delivery company? They are not allowed to even use the mailbox at your house!! (that's why you always find the'packages in your door or at the front door, garage, etc....) YA, the only entity, currently, allowed to deliver ANY First Class mail is the U.S.P.S.

try mailing a letter at fed ex for 45c.

IF they were private, they would get the same kind of "pensions" that all other private companies get. 401K, social security and medicare...

Not the bloated retirement they are currently getting.

The post office steal too much. I send cards and letters to family .and they never get them I know they take the little money out and through the cards and photo's away. I would not care if they went awat all together.

spot on Ann, the PO has not changed enough to keep up with new technology. Why send checks in the mail when you can on-line bank. why send cards when many have computers, smart phones, etc.

At one time people needed a horse for transportation, not so today. Just as the pony expressed ended, so will go the USPO. They cannot keep doing the same thing and survive.

Have a great week.

In a perfect capitalism model this should be true but the P.O isn't susceptible to these indicators because of oligopoly like behavior. There are few competitors and the cost to operate this behemoth has a breakeven so high it must get passed the initial cost before moving toward the breakeven markers.

@ Chris 5759. In a perfect capitalism model this should be true but the P.O isn't susceptible to these indicators because of oligopoly like behavior. There are few competitors and the cost to operate this behemoth has a breakeven so high it must get passed the initial cost before moving toward the breakeven markers.

Don't knock junk mail - they help keep the cost of stamps down due to their volume. I do continue to write letters (I try to average once a month), but it is a shame that the practice is dying out.

I like this and do the same. But there is a sizable majority in this country who don't own computers (and don't want to) or even have, or can afford internet access.

I'm just sayin'.......

People not writing letters is not just a PO problem. IT's also a society problem. Have you been to a wedding, baby shower or some other event where gift giving is expected? People today have forgotten about personal contact and the proper etiquette of writing,hand written personal messages to those attending their events and gift giving. Children in general have stopped writing grandparents and other relatives thank-you notes for christmas gifts, birthday gifts, graduation, engagement and so on.. Maybe if this country starts to return to some of the more old-fashioned ideas, values etc.. we'd all be better off.

Beev I'm with you. If it wasn't for bills and junk mail there would be no mail. I couldn't tell you the last time I even looked in my mailbox.

For those who want to continue using standard mail for everything they should be able to then. I say raise the price of stamps to $0.50 right now and leave it alone for 10 years, and only deliver mail 1 or 2 times a week. That means you may have to plan for your deliveries better, but most things take 2 - 3 days to deliver anyway.

The Postal Service doesn't receive ANY money from the Federal Government!

100,000 lost jobs. You'd have to have big ones to call that bluff. Now if the theiving banks /credit card companies were forced to use business reply envelopes and pay the postage for their customers, more people would write out the check and drop in the mailbox. Instead our government steals our money to "bail out" the banksters. By, practically forcing the pay on line "option" on us, less employees are needed, and the plan to destroy America as we once knew it, continues. It's all in their big plan to render total insolvent slaves.

The major problem with how the Postal Service runs is simple. The structure of the chain of command is extremely top heavy. Instead of reassigning or eliminating those positions, they continue to cut working positions for the staff of employees who handle the mail or assist the Public.

For management it's about the individual units numbers, not how the entire Postal Service runs as a whole. It's about looking good at the next Manager/PM meetings. Short staffed, no problem (except for the remaining staff and inconvience to the Customers). But that Manager's numbers look good to his boss for that week. That is how this company runs.

Without Customer Service and efficient staffing, this has been a long time coming. This is what happens when a Company promotes, not from merit of qualifications, but who you know, who are you sucking up to and whether you can target employees and their positions for other agenda's other than what is best for the Public and Company as a whole. These are the results. Management is too worried about saving their own salaries and position.

With the automation that the Postal Service has, it's obvious what the source of delay to deliver mail stems from. It's the understaffing that is now common place, so Management can use the money for obsolete and unnessary Management Personnel Positions. The Postal Service of the last 15 to 20 years has cut from the bottom, instead of most companies in trouble, where they cut from the top down....

The U.S. Postal Service is still the cheapest mailing service worldwide. Who doesn't like to get packages in the mail. Mailing packages to our men and woman in the armed forces or family that lives too far away to drive the package or card to. For me I'd rather mail my bills in, than do it on line. I worry my account information will be compremised again.

For those not aware, the Postal Service is independently ran. The revenue profits pay for the Company expenses. The Federal Gov't does not financially support the P.O. And if an employee works 30 years doing a physically demanding labor job, they deserve their pensions.

Once the Postal Service has the leadership and corrective staffing issues resolved from the top levels on down, the Postal Service will still be a viable way of sending mail....

The postal service regularly and almost always delivers mail that I send to within about 200 miles (more?) overnight. The post office is a gem. Our country is definately in decline if we let the post office go away.

Slower service will only make their problems worse. A death spiral to the bottom. So sad.

Yankee,

I'm old enough to remember twice-daily mail deliveries to the mailbox on our porch. Letters mailed to anywhere in our city were routinely delivered overnight.

I live in a suburb of Indianapolis. When I return a Netflix DVD, or when they mail one to me it is delivered next day about 98% of the time - hard to b|tch about that. My letter mail (First Class) in the local area gets service like that also.

If it changes to 2-days each way, I will probably cancel the DVD service. Four rentals per month is not enough value for the current price. This service change would definitely drive the last nail in the Netflix coffin, as many analysts say their business is broken now.

Maybe in your town you don't get next day delivery, but in my town next day delivery is expected and almost certain!@ Go USPS!

Yankee

You must be to young to remember those days . Mail for in town delivery was cancled at the local office back then . Also you missed out onChristmass rush . The P.O. use to deliver mail to your house two and even three times a day . The good old days.

bob

When I return a Netflix DVD, or when they mail one to me it is delivered next day about 98% of the time - hard to b|tch about that

Good point. There are more than 20 million Netflix subscribers and most of them receiving DVDs the very next day. So on one hand people complaining how slow they are, while at the same time they conveniently don’t notice that they are receiving DVD from Netflix every 3rd day.

Economan
"I'm old enough to remember twice-daily mail deliveries to the mailbox on our porch. Letters mailed to anywhere in our city were routinely delivered overnight."

bob1/28
"You must be to young to remember those days . Mail for in town delivery was cancled at the local office back then . Also you missed out onChristmass rush . The P.O. use to deliver mail to your house two and even three times a day . The good old days."

What?! They really did that?! Thats amazing!!! Anybody have a time machine? I'd love to go back to then!

20% are former military and some disabled. Enjoy your freedom.

Don't know where you're getting your salary figures but my late mother-in-law was retired from the Post Office and I know for a fact she didn't get a pension anywhere near the money totals I see being quoted. Maybe management got those kind of pensions but the average worked sure didn't.

J Moore

I retired from the P.O. 3 years ago . Did 25 years for them . Received a full 25 year pension . I was making just over 52 K a year when I retired . My P.O. pension from there is just about eighteen hundred a month.

The numbers you spoke of must be for congressmen !!!!

bob

J Moore you comment is way out of line as are many. The PO is a valuable entity in this country and w/o such we will shut down!

Also as one who goes to the PO to mail things (biz, personal or bills) several times a week part of their loss of money goes right back to you, and you and YOU! How many of you expect for the PO to provide you with mailing and packaging supplies for free. How many of you TAKE the priority and express mailing envelopes and use tem not to ship products or contracts with but use them for filing or to offer papers to potential customers with. THIS IS WRONG AND IT COSTS THE PO A SMALL FORTUNE AS YOU STEAL THEIR OFFERING FOR PERSONAL REASONS AND USES!

OR how about all of those who bring thier packages to the PO expecting them to package it for you, box it, stuff it and tape it all for free. Sure the clerks will do so, while the line gets longer and they loose funds simply because YOU are too cheap to package it yourself. The other day a woman was there, with 3 kids, her Sherpa coat, pearls, fur boots and way too much make up. She held that line for over 20 minutes as she manipulated the clerk to repackaged her box for her at the Postal Services expense----only because she was too damn lazy and cheap to do it herself and literally expected her SERVANTS at the PO to do it for her as he kids ran a muck.

I take all my packages already packaged and taped and labeled to the PO WHY COULDN't she or any of those out there who expect the PO to be your servants who offer free stuff for you too abuse. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!

Therefore Dear Post Master,

Please request that all patrons stop stealing from you to SAVE THE PO. And please request that all packages be packaged and labeled before entering the building or they will be charged $10 per package for the clerk to do so for them.

And lastly, please stop printing stamps in pretty colors as it cost you much more to print in color then in B&W and you will save a small fortune by doing such and possibly save the PO!

J Moore:

The Civil Service test is a memorization test... The more you get right the higher the score. Then you're put on a register list. When your score percentage is at a hiring phase, then there is much to learn if you are hired as a Clerk or Letter Carrier. Within a 90 day probationary period there are no guarantees to pass all of the training. Ask anyone who's been through it. That's the process. And the workforce has been cut from the employees who actually process or deliever the mail, and service the Public. The positions that are not cut are management position. This company cuts from the bottom up, instead of the top levels down, like most companies do.

As some Career Retiree's only make $1,500 a month, with healthcare expense drastically rising every year. Reducing monthly living expenses. It takes 30 years working and putting in towards retirement. So anyone who says retiree's should give up their pensions, speak from lack of knowledge or understanding of working 30 years towards these earned retirements.

The comment by J Moore makes zero sense. Let's pretend for the sake of argument that every single one of the postal workers is an affirmative action hire. Are you saying they're not doing their jobs efficiently and well? You are saying that if the postal service was made up of "white and/or male" employees, it would be solvent? I call bullsh*t.

Though the problem isn't minority hires, it's undeniable that the USPS is providing a spectacular service at heavily subsidized rates. I agree with Postmaster General Donahoe that this is an unsustainable BUSINESS MODEL. Now, if we viewed it as a service that we as a country had to have at these low rates, then that's a different story. In the article, the Postmaster General states:

"Customers are looking for affordable and consistent mail service, and they do not want us to take tax money."

Any customer who thinks that the USPS can continue the current shockingly low letter and media mail rates and NOT take tax money is a fool. I'm not going to waste hours arguing that we need to keep a nationalized, subsidized postal service in the age of email. But I'm also not going to be surprised when people become angry that it has to behave like the self-sustaining business that it is forced to be by Congress.

Congress stealing and using the USPS money is why the USPS is now hurting. Congress requires the USPS to fund future employees health benefits up to 70 years ahead of hiring them. Then uses that USPS future funding to make the budget look smaller then it really is.

Time to fire, arrest, and then prosecute the congress. They are domestic enemies of the USA.

What has been lost in the political debate over the Post Office is why it is losing this money. Almost all of the postal service’s losses over the last four years can be traced back to a single, artificial restriction forced onto the Post Office by the Republican-led Congress in 2006.

At the very end of that year, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under PAEA, USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten-year time span”; meaning that it had to put aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees it hasn’t even hired yet, something “that no other government or private corporation is required to do.”

As consumer advocate Ralph Nader noted, if PAEA was never enacted, USPS would actually be facing a $1.5 billion surplus today: By June 2011, the USPS saw a total net deficit of $19.5 billion, $12.7 billion of which was borrowed money from Treasury (leaving just $2.3 billion left until the USPS hits its statutory borrowing limit of $15 billion). If the prepayments required under PAEA were never enacted into law, the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion.

This $19.5 billion deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011.

The current deficits attributed to the USPS do NOT come from from falling revenues, overly generous employee compensation, or too much capacity, but do come from accounting transfers to the Treasury mandated by Congress. The plain and simple fact is that Congress, essentially the owner of the postal system, has extracted billions of dollars of profits and value from the Postal Service. The bottom line is that the Postal Service is not only doing fine - its surpluses are being taken by Congress and used to mask other budget deficits.

Knine

You put it all out there BEAUTIFULLY . Problem is most people refuse to believe it . You know their game , Not my Guy or Gal , it was the other party that did it . Some day maybe these people will wake up and smell the coffee . Till then we are stuck with them .

bob

Postal Pension: The current thought of most americans is the Post office is a "Privilaged" Job.

Fact: The annual pension that is paid "75 years forward" is an outrage. That money is going into the BIG FEDERAL PENSION POOL. 5.5 Billion dollars that the federal government is gutting the US Postal Service to fund all Federal Pensions. That is criminal.

More excited that I am about the continuance of the socialized healthcare for profit system we have now. The need is to control the cost of health care not the cost of health insurance which is driven by and in turn drives health care cost. Neither party seems to understand that.

USMCVET

This was Bush and repubs google postal reform.

I will be excited when we take this corrupt congress and fire them (we can as they couldn't even keep the Oath as required for such a lucrative position they currently occupy), arrest, and prosecute. I know a lot of you do not believe it do to the propaganda of "we can only change things through elections". But when they commit an act, or do not commit an act required of them, they no longer meet the requirements of the job and can, SHOULD be replaced ASAP.

What Oath, a lot of American citizens are asking: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

If you want I can break it down and post the definitions of the Oath, including the definitions of the words "support" and "defend". They are required by our Constitution to take the Oath and keep it until they either die or forswear it. Not keeping it means they no longer meet the requirements for them to sty in the positions they currently occupy, plus it makes them domestic enemies.

(President: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.)

That makes them arrestable, prosecutable, and (deliberately and knowingly) not currently meeting the requirements of the position they currently occupy. It si time for us, the American citizens to replace them.

Domestic enemies pursue legislation, programs against the powers of the US Constitution. They work on destroying and weakening the Rights of the People guaranteed by the Constitution. Plus they create laws, amendments, etc that goes against the restraint on the three branches of our government by the Constitution

Lol. 100,000 = big city.

Oh the horror - you might have to wait 7 days for a CD or a new shirt?!! What is the world coming to?

I would like to know what holidays the postal service gets that no one else gets????? The last time I checked they work even on those "federal holidays" i.e. Martin Luther King Holiday, Presidents Day and Columbus Day. BTW Those holidays that I mentioned have schools closed, banks closed, all govt. building closed etc...

Unless you've worked for the postal service you have no legitimate complaint about their speed. Unless you're tracking your packages how do you know when they were actually shipped. Currently most in-state letters, in most any state, are delivered next day, for 44 cents. Most of the rest of the country 2-3 days, for stil yoet, 44 cents. Of course packages do take longer. Mail generally comes in around midnight or 1m to a processing center from the smaller post offices, usually by truck and then it keeps coming in from further destinations during the AM hours. It is sorted as it comes in and held until all the mail comes in that day the mail is sorted by region and then sent back out by truck, where it is then driven to smaller post offices, for that days delivery, or to an airport if necessary. You can only get things to certain areas so fast. Then at 5pm when the mail boxes are emptied and all the days mail at all the post offices is ready to go the cycle starts again. The mail doesn't start really going anywhere until end of business, and then you get what can to the nearest processing center, and you have to allow drive time to each destination. You can only get something so far in so many hours. Unless you are a recluse in a cave, everybody gets mail. Those other companies dont have to stop at every mailbox every day. You're not comparing apples to apples when you compare the speed of these other companies. I've worked for the postal service before and if the public only knew what goes on in a processing center you wouldn't complain. There was nothing slow in the center I worked at.

USA, never got any of the holidays you mentioned working to the private sector.

Slow to anger-I did work for the PO just after my discharge from the Marine Corps in Nov. 1968.

I know it would be nice to blame Bush-much more palatable for the Dems but check it out first. The Congress changed accounting standards and created this current problem in 2007. Dems took full control of both houses of Congress in 2006. It's not an 'us against them' issue. Congress has used these tactics to make their favorite projects look good for a long time. That's why the term 'what's the opposite of progress-congress' came about. Don't play the blame game-it's the cost of doing business in today's political world. Make the other party look bad at any cost-screw the public.

Ummm...last time I checked Bush was still president in 2007, so no matter who sent the bill to him he (a republican) had to sign the bill.

Ummm...Last time I checked Congress voted overwhelmingly to pass this so Bush couldn't veto it.

Ummm....did he even ATTEMPT to veto it? He never was known for having very big balls, so I'm guessing the answer to that is NO.

Bush probably did not ATTEMPT to veto it because he has other IMPORTANT things to deal with. How dare he NOT waste tax payers time nor money on TRYING to veto a bill he knows he could not win. Thanks for FINALLY educating the public on how the Demonuts thought process is!!!!

It is funny to see people blaming a President or Party for the post office problem. It like blaming them for the diapearance of the Pony Express. If people really wanted to use the Post Offioce it would be able to sustain itself. That is why capitalism is so great. If the public really wants a product, they will pay a reasonable price for it. People complain about paying 42 cents to send something 3000 miles and the complain again it took more than a day. We are all like alive Dilbert Cartoon-- and we are all the ones in charge.

Some of you must have learned have just learned to read when Bush became president. Other wise you would have known the Post Office has had serious problems long before that. They are good for cheap snail mail and thats about it. It has been that way for 50 years-- or more. We just never noticed it before Fed Ex and others AND the internet arrived.

Congress made this mess with a law in 2006 ( Republican congress ) and they can easily reverse it!
NO other agency is forced to PRE-FUND pensions 75 Years in advance and be given 10 years time to do it.

wcritiquiny

I'm not sure where you got your information on the post office. The problem did not start in 2006.It started with the postal reorgination act in 1979. That is when the retirement system changed and when congress said that they were responsible for all retirement under the old system and the post office was responsible for the new retirement system. Congress lied. IT doesn't matter if the dems or the repubs are in controll they all want to get in your pocket and take money and in this case, the told billions. do you remember who was president in 1979?,