To show how "socialized" programs don't work, a RightNoid says the Postal Service is a failure

[zulchzulu]

OMG... OK... I was skipping through the usual channels and saw Stephen Moore on Glen Beck's show (I know.... :puke:) say that getting "socialized" healthcare is going to be a failure. "After all, look at the Postal Service...", he pined.

What?

The Postal Service? OK, they don't spend money on fancy furniture and yes, Virginia, you might get in a line sometimes during the holidays... but the one thing I can count on when it's four feet of snow and -20 below here in Madison is the mailman leaving off the mail and even giving my yapping pup a treat.

It's like peering into the window of an out-of-control insane asylum with these people...

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. It's their latest talking point

I get my mail every day and without problem.

We also have the cheapest postal rates in the world.

This is an argument they cannot win.

[WCGreen]

2. Plus, the Post Office has been around since the beginning of

the republic.

[Staph]

6. Yep, it all the fault

of that old communist/socialist Ben Franklin.

[BOSSHOG]

3. police and fire departments and the military

are all socialized programs in our country. Unless some conservative can point to me the successful private sector establishments thereof that do a better job then those we have now. Oh, and don't forget the interstate highway system.

Yo lurkers, you are constitution hating morons who don't deserve to live in the land of the free.

Our USPS mail lady is wonderful and we get our mail right on time every day.

[zulchzulu]

8. Libraries too... but I don't think Glen Beck's shadow darkened the door of any for years...

... and OTHER college dropouts like Limp Pole and InsHannity probably don't go to libraries because they might have to wait in line with brown people...

[Kber]

4. We have lower postage rates compared to some other countries

and pretty reliable service.

And the postal service is a pay as you go organization that is not tax subsudiezed but has to run entirely on fees (i.e. stamps) they sell.

And they are unionized and pay fairly well, comparitively.

So, um, keep talking Glen.

[baldguy]

5. The USPS has been on the short end of a host of unfair trade practices for 30 yrs

But they're still able to deliver a letter from 3000 mi away usually within 5 days and for less than a half dollar.

[Abq_Sarah]

7. I'd like to see them

Point out ONE company in this country that would be willing to provide universal service 6 days a week. Do they think Fed-Ex can move a letter from Atlanta to Anchorage for 42 cents?

[baldguy]

16. Fedex will do that - for $12

Maybe not to a place like Wasilla though.

[zulchzulu]

17. If the USPS wasn't around, it would cost $25...

...or whatever you'd be forced to pay...

Kind of like the healthcare situation now...

[nevergiveup]

9. I ship hundreds of priority mail packages

per week and it has been 2 years or more since they have lost a package. If this is what socialism does for you then I say "bring it on".

[zulchzulu]

10. That would make a great ad

Actually using the Postal Service as a template for how "socialized" programs work could be a persuasive tact for universal healthcare reform.

[Adelante]

11. USPS is one of the wonders of the world

He should try living in some other countries and wait for his mail.

[gmoney]

30. Or a country where virtually every package gets stolen...

In many countries there are huge problems with theft of mail and postal packages... if you dare insure it, it's just a red flag saying "steal me" and it's worthless to try to collect insurance once something goes missing.

[wryter2000]

12. I love the USPS

I have kind of a weird address. I'm on the border, and the houses on the other side of the street are, literally, in another city. The numbers are different over there. It confuses FedEx and UPS to no end. I'm constantly fighting with them to get packages delivered. Only the USPS can find my house.

BTW, ask one of the for profits to deliver a letter across the country in three days for .42 and see what they say.

[Peace Patriot]

13. The U.S. Postal Service gives superb service, at a bargain price. It is extraordinary,

and it links low population and remote areas to high population urban areas, across a valley or across 3,000 miles of the country--and across the Pacific and up into the frozen north--with the same basic service at the same cost. This is an ESSENTIAL public service, and should never, ever, ever be market-driven. Unfortunately, that Grover Norquist evil intention to "drown" our government "in the bathtub" resulted in semi-privatization of the Postal Service, that is resulting in rates continually going up, while general wages and incomes in our country have stagnated for most people (or disappeared), and small businesses that use the mails are going under at a disastrous rate, and is also resulting in cutbacks on service. This policy needs to be reversed. The Postal Service is an ESSENTIAL service, like the road system, linking all of our people and all of our businesses together. It should be subsidized. It needs to remain affordable for everyone. It should serve everyone. That is what it IS--a public service to the nation! It should NOT have to compete with private services. It should NOT have to keep raising its rates to survive. That is the evil of privatization, that Norquist, Reagan and their ilk brought us, which has now infected the very voting systems that count our votes with 'TRADE SECRET' code. It is menace. We need to fight back! We need to undo these assaults on the common good.

[LiberalPersona]

14. The USPS has never failed me

I trust them more than I do UPS or Fedex.

[Cha]

15. It works for me..and

they better shut up about my post office.

[rucky]

18. The USPS is self-sufficient!

as in not subsidized!

When will these assholes learn the meaning of "Socialist"?

http://www.nalc.org/postal/perform/selfsufficient.html

[WinkyDink]

24. THIS is what I'd bet 90% of Americans do not know.

[Political Tiger]

19. The USPS receives no tax money at all

Not a dime. So that alone shows what idiots they are.

[tonysam]

20. USPS handling of the mail

is far, far cheaper than Fed-Ex and UPS, which of course deal in parcel items. Can you imagine how much it would cost to mail a letter if USPS were privatized?

Republicans are total morons. They will NEVER give up their religion of Friedmanism.

[begin_within]

21. The USPS gives universal coverage, a bargain price, and abysmal service.

Long lines at every post office I go to, misdelivered mail, weird delays, and nobody takes responsibility for anything. Other than that, it's a great deal!

[earth mom]

23. FYI-The USPS has been forced to cut back on service plus there is a hiring freeze. That is why

you may not be getting your mail when you expect it or why you run into other issues.

The fact of the matter is that USPS employees are overworked and pressured to shave time off their routes so they can cover other routes that they are NOT assigned to!

USPS management is at the center of the fuck ups, and I'm sure it's being done because of pressure by UPS & Fedex who want to get their hands on the USPS in the worst way!

Make no mistake-ALL this shit is being done to make the Post Office & it's employees look bad so that there can be a stronger argument for privatization-which UPS & Fedex are lobbying hard for.


And it blows my mind that you want to throw something away that actually functions well despite the bullshit being thrown at it and that is an absolute BARGAIN to boot just because once in a fucking while you are inconvenienced! :wtf:

I hope you like paying $10 to $15 for a letter to be mailed a few hundred miles or more if it's cross country. :eyes:

[begin_within]

28. but the problems with delays, misdirected, lost and damaged mail have been going on for many years.

[WinkyDink]

25. Go at less crowded times (say, not noon) and accept that people don't write legibly half the time.

Or pay more(the USPS has the same services as FedEx for extra $$).

[zulchzulu]

29. Where do you live?

Curious...

When I lived in SF, there were sometimes some issues with long lines and some misdeliveries due to so many apartments and such. But in towns like Madison, the service is flawless and the people at the post office are very friendly... depends on how big the city I guess...

[begin_within]

32. San Diego, which is now a very large city.

[grantcart]

33. I live in San Diego have no problems with mail delivery (mail 30 pieces a day)

and have no problem with waiting at the post office because I go when there are no lines.

[Undercurrent]

22. Not only is

the US Post Office a good deal, it was established in the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 7).

Freep idiots bray day in, and day out about how they support the Constitution, yet it's obvious it's meaningless to them. Of course this was made abundantly clear when Bush said it was just a goddamned piece of paper, and instituted programs, and policies to trash it at every turn.

[Enthusiast]

26. Republicans always complain

about the USPS, unless they work there. I wish to God we had healthcare as efficient as the USPS.

[and-justice-for-all]

27. Really..? Perhaps he should talk to EU officals about socialized programs

because they work when implemented correctly and with proper oversight. repukes can suck it.

[gmoney]

31. Stephen Moore is the biggest moran around...

...and the most disingenuous. I joined his "Club for Growth" (a $1 donation) a while back just to see what they were up to, and boy, did THEY send me a lot of stuff through the US Mail. I don't recall them ever sending me anything via UPS or FedEx though. Hrm...

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. The P.O. has some terrible management issues in the upper echelons. My dad was

a rural route carrier for years and years and knows firsthand the issues they have.

That said, he never said it should be tossed out entirely. Just managed with some common sense.