Should the Postal Service shut down?

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Should the Post Office shut down?

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Guns Guns Guns

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The woes of the Post Office are about to go critical thanks to a combination of recession and the internet:




Sometime early next year, the agency will run out of money to pay its employees and gas up its trucks, officials warn, forcing it to stop delivering the roughly three billion pieces of mail it handles weekly.

The causes of the crisis are well known and immensely difficult to overcome.

Mail volume has plummeted with the rise of e-mail, electronic bill-paying and a Web that makes everything from fashion catalogs to news instantly available.

The system will handle an estimated 167 billion pieces of mail this fiscal year, down 22 percent from five years ago.

It's difficult to imagine that trend reversing, and pessimistic projections suggest that volume could plunge to 118 billion pieces by 2020.

The law also prevents the post office from raising postage fees faster than inflation.


http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/whither-the-post-office/244633/


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They should run it like a business. Instead we have another example of what happens when public sector unions are in the mix.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, in testimony on Capitol Hill...

He told Congress that the fundamental problem is the service is restricted by law from doing the kinds of things a business would do to address financial shortfalls. He said the Postal Service needs to have the ability to operate "more as a business does." The rise of email and online bill-paying, as well as the economic downturn, have taken a heavy toll on the agency. Donahoe has proposed a host of drastic changes, including ending Saturday mail delivery, but would need congressional action to enact them.


Current agreements, for instance, prohibit layoffs. Donahoe wants to cut 120,000 jobs, and would need legislation in order to do it. He also has proposed overhauling employees' health care and pension systems; reclaiming billions in supposedly overpaid pension payments; and closing down thousands of post offices.
 
webbway said:
They should run it like a business. Instead we have another example of what happens when public sector unions are in the mix.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, in testimony on Capitol Hill...

He told Congress that the fundamental problem is the service is restricted by law from doing the kinds of things a business would do to address financial shortfalls. He said the Postal Service needs to have the ability to operate "more as a business does." The rise of email and online bill-paying, as well as the economic downturn, have taken a heavy toll on the agency. Donahoe has proposed a host of drastic changes, including ending Saturday mail delivery, but would need congressional action to enact them.


Current agreements, for instance, prohibit layoffs. Donahoe wants to cut 120,000 jobs, and would need legislation in order to do it. He also has proposed overhauling employees' health care and pension systems; reclaiming billions in supposedly overpaid pension payments; and closing down thousands of post offices.
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Oh, please. Like problems with the U S Postal service just started happening on Obama's watch. It's needed revamping for several administrations, now.
 
That's what disgusts me about wingnuts like Dweebway. Everything is the fault of working people, minorities and thinking people.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
That's what disgusts me about wingnuts like Dweebway. Everything is the fault of working people, minorities and thinking people.
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Aren't you the one that consistently bitches about the unions just 'getting what the market will bare'???

This is the postmasters point.... the market no longer will bare as many workers as he is FORCED to keep. He needs the ability to run it like a business.

Also.... he didn't say it was the fault of the 'workers'.... he said it is the fault of the PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS.... the UNION... not the workers within the union.

The postal system should be converted to start with into a format where business mail is Monday-Friday and residential mail goes to Tuesday, Thursday and Sat (at most). Residents should have the ability to opt out of junk mail. If this means a reduction in revenue for the USPS, then residential mail can be cut to one or two days a week and business down to three or four. With electronic transactions, scanning, better faxing, electronic signatures etc... there is no need to continue on the antiquated postal system. The USPS has served us well, but it needs to be brought into the 20th century..... then we can work on bringing it to the 21st.
 
poet said:
Oh, please. Like problems with the U S Postal service just started happening on Obama's watch. It's needed revamping for several administrations, now.
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Out of curiousity where did he state or where was it implied that trouble with postal service started on Obama's watch?
 
\\(\()/)// said:
The woes of the Post Office are about to go critical thanks to a combination of recession and the internet:




Sometime early next year, the agency will run out of money to pay its employees and gas up its trucks, officials warn, forcing it to stop delivering the roughly three billion pieces of mail it handles weekly.

The causes of the crisis are well known and immensely difficult to overcome.

Mail volume has plummeted with the rise of e-mail, electronic bill-paying and a Web that makes everything from fashion catalogs to news instantly available.

The system will handle an estimated 167 billion pieces of mail this fiscal year, down 22 percent from five years ago.

It's difficult to imagine that trend reversing, and pessimistic projections suggest that volume could plunge to 118 billion pieces by 2020.

The law also prevents the post office from raising postage fees faster than inflation.


http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/whither-the-post-office/244633/


​
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Shutting it down on weekends would be a good start...nobody needs mail delivered on Saturday...
 
Yurt said:
what gives you the authority to speak for everyone?
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cawacko said:
There may be some people who need it on Saturday's but he brings up a good point that has been much discussed which is not delivering on that day.
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Ya see, if Yurt was capable of rational debate, he might have responded with something resembling a coherent thought.

Unfortunately his hatred for me runs so deep he is incapable of rational debate.

And you're right...some may need mail delivered on Saturday...they could either get a PO Box at their nearest postal substation or they might possibly agree to pay more for special "weekend delivery"...ala UPS...options are there for anyone willing to discuss them rationally.

I can say for certain my life would indeed go on, even without weekend delivery of my mail.
 
cawacko said:
There may be some people who need it on Saturday's but he brings up a good point that has been much discussed which is not delivering on that day.
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that is my point, zappa claims "no one needs saturday" mail...that simply is not true. it is far different to say we can't afford to deliver mail on saturday than to claim to speak for everyone by saying no one needs the mail.
 
They could ban unsolicited mail, but postal workers have lobbied heavily against it. I mean, I feel sorry for those who will lose their jobs once the 60% or so of mail that consists of junk is banned, sure, but this is the broken window fallacy. We shouldn't break windows on purpose to keep more glaziers employed. This is simply something that should've been done long ago.
 
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