Postal service could run out of money in ’09

[sabra]

Source: MSNBC/AP

Postmaster General seeking permission to cut mail delivery service


WASHINGTON - Postmaster General John Potter told a House subcommittee Wednesday that without help the U.S. Postal Service will run out of money this year.

The post office is facing a severe financial crisis that will not ease any time soon, Potter said, adding that the lingering question is: Which bills will get paid and which will not.

He said he will make sure that salaries are paid, but also said other bills might have to wait. Potter is seeking permission to reduce mail delivery to five days a week and wants to reduce other costs.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29877702/

[SOS]

1. $2 trillion for Wall Street, $96 million for USPS*

Our priorities are absurd.


*"Around $96 million is budgeted annually by Congress for the "Postal Service Fund." These funds are used to compensate USPS for postage-free mailing for all legally blind persons and for mail-in election ballots sent from US citizens living overseas. A portion of the funds also pays USPS for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies, and for keeping some rural posts offices in operation."

[tularetom]

2. I just sent an overnight letter with UPS

It went 150 miles and cost more than 20 bucks. 40 some cents for a first class letter is a hell of a good deal in my opinion. No matter how much we spend in subsidies for the USPS.

My only gripe is with their delivery contractor in this isolated area. We had a lady that delivered our mail for like 20 years. She retired and some other dipshits took over the contract. Sometimes they don't get here until 5 or 6 in the evening. Other days the mail is here by noon. Once or twice they didn't show up at all and our mail didn't get delivered until the next day.
We'd rent a box but the post office is over 20 miles from here.

I'm still a supporter of the postal service however.

[blue_onyx]

16. Yeah, it's a pretty good deal

I have one issue with the postal service. When you send a package, you have to pay extra for insurance to protect yourself in case the package gets lost. That pisses me off. Isn't it implied in the fact that I'm paying to send a package that it actually get to its destination? Why should I have to pay extra to ensure they do the job I'm paying them to do? The package not arriving is their fault and the USPS should be the one to pay.

[fascisthunter]

3. fee... I Wonder Why... thanks GOP

and all you wonderful Wall Street fascists...

[merh]

9. Go look at your local post office

There are all these "gadgets" and "gifts" for sale - the USPS under Bush did what all federal agencies did, they found ways to enrich the private contractors - buying junk to sale in the post office (teddy bears, gift bags, enlarged elvis stamps in a frame). They turned their money collections over to private credit card/atm services (which earn a percentage on each transaction).

The waste that has yet to be uncovered is the percentage of profits given to private corporations who handle the credit card transactions for our government. Before bushco you used to be able to pay by check or you could expect to be paid by check if you earned it from the gov, now all payments are made and received via credit cards and those credit cards get a percentage of the profits or charge to handle the work.

[fascisthunter]

13. kinda blows their whole claim that privatization bring prices down

it's a lie... socilaizing is the cheapest most efficient way for all citizens to pay for things we really need. We can even vote for legislators who can have an effect on our services, but under a private system, we have no oversight... and we pay much much more.

[merh]

22. privatization is just piratization

spreading the wealth is enriching cronies

If a profit can be made at a government task that profit should go into the government coffers and not some private corp.

[Tab]

4. Call for Help: Postal chief says agency crashing

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Postmaster General John Potter said Wednesday the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service will run out of money this year without help from Congress.

The only lingering question, Potter told a House subcommittee, is which bills will get paid and which will not. He did say ensuring the payment of workers' salaries comes first. But Potter also said other bills may have to wait.

Potter's appearance came as the agency, which has lived on a reputation of serving through wind, rain and all sorts of obstacles, seeks permission to reduce mail delivery to five days a week. It also wants to change the way retiree health benefits are amassed to save money.

"We are facing losses of historic proportion," he said. "Our situation is critical."

The Postal Service was $2.8 billion in the red last year and is facing even larger losses this year due to a sharp decline in mail volume in the weak economy. Potter broached the possibility of cutting mail delivery from six days to five in January, but the idea has not been warmly received in Congress.
...
Lynch said the financial stability of the Postal Service is "critical to the American expectation of affordable six-day mail delivery."
...
"We are not here today to ask for a taxpayer bailout, but we are here to ask the Congress for help," William Young, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said in his prepared testimony.

"At this moment, the survival of the Postal Service — a venerable institution that is literally older than our country — hangs in the balance," he added.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090325/ap_on_go_ot/postal_woes

[kestrel91316]

5. I think forcing the USPS to completely support itself was the most boneheaded move ever.

They need an infusion of some cash, and we own the printing presses.

If they need to discontinue delivery on Saturdays, that's fine with me. I don't get why they don't try that.

[radfringe]

6. "We are not here today to ask for a taxpayer bailout, but we are here to ask the Congress for help"?

huh???

"We are not here today to ask for a taxpayer bailout, but we are here to ask the Congress for help.."

what else would it be other than a bailout??? Is Potter going to pass the hat around the House and Senate and ask them all to pony up a couple of bucks???

sheesh - of course it's a bail out - everyone get's bailed out (except us) - it's the NEW Economic Craze... the BAILOUT BUBBLE

[high density]

7. Cut Saturday delivery and get on with life

What is the history behind Saturday delivery anyway?

[zogofzorkon]

11. You might check out the history of the Post Office Dept

The current form was instituted under Nixon. It used to be a subsidized govt service, not a quasi private corporation. But why should I pay to have your mail delivered ( substitute your child educated, your road maintained, your beaches kept in order, your health restored or whatever I got mine, up yours position you'd like to take). It is perfectly fine to subsidize Cousin Ernie's arms mfg, Aunt Frannie's food service or Brother Fred's construction co. cause they are family; or to throw a few trillion at financials cause after all they got me where I am today (they got the guy living in the parking lot where he is too but that don't count).

[damntexdem]

20. The history is that the U.S. Post Office used to serve the American people.

And delivered twice daily on week days.

[snooper2]

8. Raise Stamps to a $1

nt

[dysfunctional press]

14. i think that they should try 50 cents first...

i always think it's silly when they make a big deal out of a 3-cent increase in the rate.
make it 50 cents- if that doesn't work, go to 60 or 75.

[Terry in Austin]

10. Two words

Junk mail.

[Baby Snooks]

12. One word

Email. Junk mail is about all the USPS delivers. Who sends letters anymore? Everyone sends email.

[dysfunctional press]

15. i still get lots of non-junk mail.

:shrug:

[onehandle]

17. Yep. 90% of my mail is junk mail. I've been paying my bills online for years and years.

I've killed paper statements on just about all of them.

I get my car tag renewal and some insurance odds and ends now and then.

That's about it.

[GoCubsGo]

21. And electronic bill payments...

I pay pretty much everything on-line or with automatic withdrawal. I rarely buy stamps anymore. I still get a couple of magazines, some catalogs, and a cat newsletter. There are some things I just prefer have in paper form, and the USPS is the only way of getting them delivered. I hope they don't have too much trouble getting the funds they need to keep going.

[benld74]

18. USPS has allowed themselves to get behind the times, this has been coming for a long time

[damntexdem]

19. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night ...

stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. but we gotta have money or else.

[Donnachaidh]

23. So how much of a cut in pay and perks is the postmaster taking to help the problem?

Wonder if he has a leased vehicle that he runs around in, on the taxpayer's dime. Let's see some top-down belt-tightening before we offer to throw money at another problem. Visible, checkable belt-tightening from the top down.