A picture IS worth a thousand words. I’ll delete my draft post now

Judging by the large and growing number of letters we get in our company box that actually belong to another boxholder, and the large and growing number of letters addressed to us but put in other boxes, it would seem that the post office is trying to save money by hiring people who cannot read.

Great idea. Let’s give the USPS managers a nice “golf applause.”

, Post Office closures and may not be available in your committee

“But, look, anything that is in Article 1 Section 8 of our constitution, anything that Madison had waxed enthusiastic about it in Federalist 42 — the postal roads that have kept us together — as an old-school guy, I don’t want to see it die.

“As a conservative who believes in the market, it ought to die, but as a conservative that believes in tradition and stuff that really holds us together, I would subsidize until it dies a natural death in the next generation. But for old guys like me, keep it going for a while. …”

via NRO’s The Corner.

Ok, I get it-it is fun to bash ay move at all by the government while under the Obama administration, but bashing this move is just….silly.

Look, this is a case where the post office is recognizing that it is running at a huge deficit and is making (for it) painful decisions about cutting back on the amount of services it can offer. It is a recognition of the modern reality that much of it’s services have been rendered obsolete by the advent of electronic communication and financial transaction. I applaud the decision for this government agency to stop spending so much money.

It is a simplistic argument to make that somehow the private sector would “get more business, more income- Possibly lowering prices, getting better at what they do, or creating more products and features that people want to buy?” I suggest that it is far more likely that in this day and age the private sector would simply downsize and lay off employees, or even offshore as many jobs as possible. In case you haven’t noticed the private sector of our economy is not exactly covering itself in glory these days.

Furthermore, what this move would do in effect is to turn over more postal work to the Fed EX, UPS and the private sector. Isn’t that what you want a government agency to do? Or would you prefer that they simply borrow and spend more money in at attempt to grow and take more business from the private sector?

… and you get the point I was trying to make.

“Look, this is a case where the Government Health Service is recognizing that it is running at a huge deficit and is making (for it) painful decisions about cutting back on the amount of services it can offer.”

At what point should I take the Pain Pill in lieu of getting services from the Post Office?

The postal workers union had this presser yesterday –

APWU President William Burrus condemned USPS proposals to reduce mail delivery to five days per week, saying, “It would be the beginning of the demise of the Postal Service.”

“The assertion that the Postal Service must initiate major changes in its business plan to survive a grave crisis is false,” he said. “It masks the central cause of USPS financial difficulties: the congressionally-imposed requirement to pre-pay retiree healthcare obligations.

“Absent this crippling financial burden, the Postal Service would have experienced a cumulative surplus of $3.7 billion over the last three fiscal years, despite declining mail volume, an economy in chaos, and electronic diversion,”

O.K. so that’s the workers side of it. BTW, the release says collective bargaining is set for August.

You can find the whole thing here if your so inclined.
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http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2010/10-018-five-day-100304.htm

As a former Postal worker, I, and many carriers have advocated for years that mail delivery be curtailed to 5 days a week. Saturday delivery is unnecessary because most business are closed and a sufficient number of people are out of town on weekends and could care less about getting mail on Saturday. Billions of dollars can be saved by cutting out Saturday delivery and closing the post office on that day. Immediate savings would be realized by the reduction of thousand of unneeded employees, full time and part time personnel. The adverse impact of the reduction of personnel would be minimal in that it can be done through attrition, such as, retirement. Inaddition to the personnel issue, astronominal saving will also be realized because not having to expend funds on the wear and tear of vehicles and all that goes with that, including accidents, and the high cost of gasoline to keep them running. The top Letter carrier receives about $55000,00 a year, in straight pay which does not include the overtime pay they receive.Cutting out Saturday Mail Delivery should not be considered “Rationing” but common sense and an outstanding business decision. The time is here, NOW.

or so to the USPS’ personnel costs. You either have to have relief employees to get that sixth workday in a week or you have to pay overtime over 40 hrs. They probably use a combination of relief and OT to make the sixth day and that OT becomes an entitlement; that’s why the union is howling in addition to losing a good chunk of dues.

Why this attack on our loyal men and women in the postal carrying service? Are you not aware that it was one Clifford C. Clavin who was single-handedly responsible for bringing Scott Brown to victory in the great state of Massachusetts. Of course Massachusetts isn’t all that great compared to Florida. Interesting fact about Florida….

The cartoon was not and is not a dig at the carriers. It is a dig at the government running too much stuff.

When you raise prices and cut service (i.e. as customers to pay more for less), customers will look increasingly at alternative methods. Simple economics.

And if the unions don’t like that the post office has to fund pension benefits (rather than expect to dump costs on the general taxpayer), then they need to negotiate as less expensive pension plan.

about state workers retiring at 50, and getting juicy retirement pensions and benefits? The postmaster in our post office retired at 50. Only just a few years before, he built a new house, and, purchased new vehicles for he and his wife.

If I am not mistaken, these 50 year olds can still go and get another job without harming their pension and benefits. Please correct me if I am wrong.