White House Pressured To Fix Postal Budget Crisis

The Hill:

Postal workers say a congressional plan to fix the budget shortfalls at the United States Postal Service (USPS) is short sighted and have asked the White House to broker a better solution.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[whodoyouvoodoo]

10:29 PM on 07/19/2009

Can't wait till the government controls healthcare...

[LLisaLL]

05:35 PM on 07/19/2009

What isn't in dire need of repair in the country? Maybe it would be quicker to make a list of the things that don't require any fixing and start to work on everything else. Every time I read about another area else that has been seriously mismanaged, I go back to Bush and wonder if the issue ever crossed his desk or if his 'team' was monitoring ANYTHING other than the Iraq war and the general fallout thereof ;)

[ReealOne]

05:13 PM on 07/19/2009

Maybe it's time that the Feds audit the postal service. They have been raising their rates, with their "cry wolf" rate hikes at seems like 2 times a year since forever, but the service seems to be getting worseand now they're supposed to be "strapped" for cash?

Maybe they're stashing the cash, and crying broke so they can get in on the "bailouts". I say we demand an audit effective immediately, as something is stinkin' in Denmark up the post offices throughout the country.

P.S. I'm still stewin' that I paid for EXPRESS, NEXT DAY MAIL, that FINALLY turned up in the back of one of the mail trucks, and delivered 11 days later, and all I got was "stuff happens".... Or all the times I go to the post office, thinking it's only going to take a minute, and end up standing in long, slow lines, with two registers open, and I'm supposed to feel sorry for 'em? Please!!!

[ZDuck]

02:57 PM on 07/19/2009

Such an easy fix would be to stop Saturday delivery!

[wonketteRAWKS]

01:36 PM on 07/19/2009

Losing $6 billion a year is because like no other entity, the government requires the Postal Service to pre-fund their retirement benefits.

Suggestion: Put out a freakin' Michael Jackson stamp immediately. Apparently, the general public will eat that up!

[njgal4obama]

11:07 AM on 07/19/2009

I am a frequent customer at the Osborneville branch of the USPS in Brick, NJ.

The postal workers there smile, call me by name, always find the lowest shipping rate, and in every respect give exemplary service.

The experiences I've read about here sure aren't typical of my experiences with the USPS.

[Myrell002]

10:56 AM on 07/19/2009

They're too slow and they always lose my mail. I'd rather spend extra money and send everything fed-ex.

And what's up with their bad attitudes?!

[Kassandra]

11:44 AM on 07/19/2009

Overworked...Since all the $$$ goes to the top, they've been laying off workers...just like every other company in America who's "streamlining" to maximize profits.... of course.

[wonketteRAWKS]

01:34 PM on 07/19/2009

True. I think the people who actually get paid the most don't even touch the mail, carry it on their backs or get wear and tear on their body.

[rkreyn]

09:20 AM on 07/19/2009

They work at a snails pace and their attitudes are the worst I have ever encountered. They are overpaid for what they do and I gladly pay extra to Fed X or UPS to avoid them.

[Hollywooddeed]

10:11 AM on 07/19/2009

At the post office in my community (pop 5000), there is one at the counter, one in back sorting mail and two sitting on their butts, bs'ing.

[VikingQuest]

10:38 AM on 07/19/2009

So the question is, why do small communities need this?

Losing 6 billion per year is unacceptable.

[Rangergirl]

08:52 AM on 07/19/2009

Let them have a 4 day work week...I really think the postal service does a good job...They should try to some how streamline their business model....

[123dee]

09:52 AM on 07/19/2009

agree.

[VikingQuest]

10:38 AM on 07/19/2009

Are you not familiar with unions and how they work?

[popart]

06:17 AM on 07/19/2009

I was a letter carrier for 20 years. First of all eliminate a few supervisors in every office and remove all the asst. Post masters. Then reduce the pay of Post masters or give them work to do....end Saturday delivery thus no longer needing "swing men" to cover days off of the regular carriers...raise the cost of mailing bulk rate mail. Finally reduce the size of routes so that no overtime is required on heavy mail days. Give bonuses or other incentives to carriers who are able to return to the office early on light mail days.

[DixieMelody]

07:38 AM on 07/19/2009

Are you kidding?!?!

Common sense solutions to the problem?

They will NEVER go for it.

It is the nature of the USPS to hemorrhage money and end up in the red year after year without ever implementing any real solutions other than cut services

(will no longer pick up mail from my mailbox or let me put it in a USPS dropbox . . . with correct postage affixed. . . if it is over 13 ounces after 911 because "IT MIGHT BE A BOMB"!!! Rather I have to drive to the PO, stand in line and personally hand it to the employee)

and raise the price of a first-class stamp while letting tons of unwanted junk mail travel through the system at bargain basement prices.

The higher-ups in the USPS are not looking for innovative solutions and wouldn't recognize one if they heard it.

[Kassandra]

11:06 AM on 07/19/2009

They're running it on the corporate model of "the cream rises to the top" What do you expect? when I heard the price of postage went up so the Postmaster General could buy a private jet, I thought "Well, THAT"S par for the course."
It's basically a private business with taxpayer subsidies...like all the rest of them in this "free market" screw the consumer business climate in the USA

[coolhandluke2]

08:00 AM on 07/19/2009

don't understand why I have to cut out coupons from www.slickbudget.com and the government can just raise taxes when they are short money. Why don't they do what every family does, cut back.

[Truelee]

02:33 AM on 07/19/2009

Healthcare and pensions were part of the US government when USPS was a federally run entity. The US government should have taken on the burden of the keeping healthcare and pensions under their umbrella as they split off USPS as a private entity. The cost of healthcare and retirement pensions are what is preventing USPS the flexibility it needs to operate efficiently. Either bailout USPS or take back healthcare and pensions.

[Kassandra]

11:07 AM on 07/19/2009

Well, we can do that now, can't we...IF we get a decent healthcare reform dealy.

[liberalsrheros]

01:45 AM on 07/19/2009

eliminate saturday delivery and pay overtime on monday and tuesday. try another idea. carriers have a demanding job and i have a lot of respect for them.

[fcsakes]

01:02 AM on 07/19/2009

The post office must be taking a tremendous hit with the advent of email - they are trying hard to make it work, but reality is tough. Couldn't they at least try canceling Friday and Saturday deliveries before thinking of more drastic solutions? (I support unions but hey, let's do something that makes sense). Consolidating some post offices may be okay, but it will have an effect opposite of what is desired if they do too much. In my town they have already consolidated so much that going to the post office is a nightmare akin to cleaning the oven. I have seen the line clear out the door with ONE clerk behind the counter time after time. That is inefficient and it turns off customers.

My experience with the post office has been a very positive one my entire life. Nothing has ever been lost or destroyed, they go out of their way to get me my mail (I don't live in the easiest place in town to reach), the clerks are always pleasant no matter how crowded or irritable the customers. I would hate to see them shut down. They still are the cheapest way to mail anything anywhere, they are reliable, and they do a good job.

[Kassandra]

11:11 AM on 07/19/2009

Agreed. And they're STILL 3 times more expensive than say China which gives it's business customers shipping breaks to send US all their junk. I had to buy something direct from China and it cost the $15 for EXPRESS MAIL!!! Taht would have cost me about $45 from the USA.

This whole privatization of government which the neocons love so much is killing America. Everything costs twice as much and is done worse and overbudget.

[DRaymond]

12:55 AM on 07/19/2009

The biggest problem with the post office is their legacy costs, particularly for health care. Once again we see a problem that if we fix health care costs would dimish as well. Our entire economy, not simply the post office, is burdened by having to pay too much of every dollar we produce for health care, and most of that is because of inefficient practices and profits.

[joceeco]

08:11 AM on 07/19/2009

One of the reasons we should all get behind this President and support universal healthcare or at least a public option! Common sense seems to be something that we Americans lack.

[graceland9]

08:50 AM on 07/19/2009

Great poist! Thanks for that!

[LemonMeringue]

12:06 AM on 07/19/2009

I miss the time when a mailman brought the mail to my front door.

[StaggerLee]

01:29 AM on 07/19/2009

I'm lucky if it lands in my box as he tosses it out the window.

[joceeco]

08:12 AM on 07/19/2009

They still do, you just have to work so hard to keep that door, that you are never at home to see him.