Forum Post: US Postal Service
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 7, 2011, 11:22 p.m. EST by gillian
(1)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Also, the US Postal service needs help. How can we address this & help in our movement?
Demand that the PO become more efficient? Demand the stop to ALL overtime? I worked in IT as a contractor to the PO and it is not uncommon for the PO employees to double their base by working overtime or penalty overtime (after 45 hrs they get double pay). Part of the issue is that congress requires them to pre-fund retirement to the tune of billions each year and part of those retirement funds cover veteran retirement. The PO is typical in the way the government operates in the fact that they get a yearly budget and regardless of whether or not they need something they spend the money because the thought process is that the next budget that comes through will represent a decrease due to the fact that they did not spend the previous years budget. It is horribly bloated with stuff. After 911 and the anthrax deaths (2 people) the knee jerk reaction was to install "sniffers" at the P&DCs at the cost of 35 million per unit that did only 1 thing, detect anthrax. More carriers die on the road in their vehicles delivering mail each year than have died from anthrax in the entire history of the post office.
The post office serves the smallest towns which maybe we city dwellers that would not be profitable but are the core of collective care. It also funds itself amazingly. Yes there are some radical changes. It is also low cost way to transfer real bits of matter. Do you really want to give all your money to FEDEX and UPS when you absolutely have to ship something. Yes, that ipad or cellphone or laser cutter or the heirloom seeds.
Now I know most people in this movement are technologically minded, and so use emails and texts for 90% of their communication needs.
However the USPS does provide a much needed service, mostly it delivers the old fashioned kind of mail called letters (sorry cheap shot). Yes it also delivers a lot of junk mail, but without the USPS people would not receive letters from loved ones, care packages, or even the dreaded bills (I know many people here believe that everything should be free).
So how to save the USPS? There are options, we can always buy more stamps and send out more letters, but that would only ever be a short term fix. After a while people would return to emails and texts leaving the USPS in the same situation as it is now.
Cutting mail out of the weekends, now that is a good idea to save a lot of money, but not enough. the USPS can condense routes and invest in hybrid/electric vehicles instead of jeeps, massive savings on fuel.
USPS could also look at re-introducing mail trains across the USA, instead of using 18 wheelers to move the mail from major city to major city, the rail tends to be able to carry more for less. Leading to more savings.
you know not of what you speak. The USPS utilizes all forms of transportation, including trains. They operate on the hub and spoke model and it is very efficient. I have met with the district manager of the southeast region and talked to him about opening up the distribution center to the public semi annually so that the public can see how efficient the machinery is ( it is the human factor that creates the inefficiency). The PO buys vehicles in bulk and reliability is a key factor in the purchase. most all mail delivery vehicles are ford truck chassis with 4 bangers under the hood, no a/c. some have been converted to LPG. The fleet is maintained for years before removal from service. Too many unknowns for electric or hybrids regarding maintenance and repair.
OK thank you for clarifying that. I was unaware of many of these things.
They need to modernise realistically the jobs aren't just going to get away .They need to turn into focus on business Mail Boxes and the such and provide small business opportunities and networking assistance and be utilized as mini local centers to post updates.
And the US Postal service needs help why?
well because in the 90s we made the post office a private sector company but regulated their budget far above and beyond what the government could legally do to other similar industry competitors. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-238 knowledge is power homie.
The USPS in it's current form is a dead, it just doesn't realize it.
Send USPS money orders instead of using credit & debit cards to donate to OWS
Also, tell your Congressperson that you don't agree with the requirement they imposed to wit: that the Postal Service had to create a cash reserve to fund worker pensions 75 years into the future. Many don't know this is what is behind the "deficit" in the USPS. This is a created crisis on the part of Republicans who want to privatize our Postal Service.
Nope, was caused by a change of paradigm, a shift to email rather than snail-mail, and the post office was unable to adjust. It has been a dinosaur for a long time, it needs to re-evaluate what services have to be provided and downsize.
First class letter mail is down, but packages are up because of ecommerce.
The pension mandate is a huge burden, if not for the amount of money they had to set aside for this in the current year they would have a surplus. Sorry I can't offer a link to this info but I read it last week in the NJ newspaper.
Maybe the first thing you could do would be to move OWS's postal services from UPS to the USPS. But, wait. UPS must have provided a better and more economical service than the USPS. DAMN those corporations for improving our lives!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the UPS store is just closer to Zucotti Park than the nearest post office, plus you have 24 hour access, usually
That's my point. More convenience and better service at a price you are willing to pay. The fruits of capitalism are terrible aren't they.
Yea, it'll be hard to convince me that UPS is overall better than USPS, though. I've used both for shipping in my business and I prefer the postal service.
I'm not trying to trash the USPS. I'm just pointing out how almost everything the protestors have has come from the capitalism. Damn those capitalists.
Well, how could it not? This is the world we live in.
No economic system in the history of the world has produced as much wealth for its entire populous as has capitalism. It is the only system that grows wealth and provides opportunities simultaneously. It's not perfect, but it far surpasses anything else. And you want to destroy it?
Here is a more thoughtful reply. Since you talk about how prosperous we have become with things they way they are, I looked for the world prosperity ranking:
http://www.prosperity.com/rankings.aspx
We are number ten on that list, not number one.
The countries who are above us are all Western, first world countries who have incorporated some aspects of "socialism" into their way of life, yet are still free countries. They are all more prosperous than we are.
They offer things to their citizens that right-wingers make fun of, but trust me, I have family members in Europe and they laugh at us.
Young people are being mocked because they are complaining about student loans, yet small countries like France & Italy offer young people a free university education.
And need I mention free healthcare?
So yeah, I'm not here to talk about completely tearing things down or turning this country into Russia & China - but do things have to be SOOO unbalanced that having your tax money spent on "corporate welfare" and crony-capitalist defense contractors but for a private citizen to expect any kind of fairness for the middle class and working people. I know some of you super-pro-capitalist types hate that word but look at the 9 countries that rank as more prosperous than us and see what they do for their citizens.
Sorry, but I don't naturally assume a ranking to be gospel. Let's take a closer look. First, it was funded by money from Dubai. That doesn't mean that is bad, but the money came for the proceeds of an international cartel made up of an oligopoly of oil producing nations, little of which has trickled down their 99%. That alone doesn't make the date bad, but I'm just saying......
I find it interesting that the US is ranked No. 1 in Health. The ranking took place in 2010, so it was either entirely based on the existing healthcare system, which certainly has flaws, or was based entirely on a prediction of what Obamacare will do. If that is true, it is as flawed as Obama's Nobel. Either way, when you are in a discussion of healthcare in America, I hope you brag about out No. 1 healthcare ranking in the very same poll that you brag about Norway's overall No. 1 ranking.
The US's lowest ranking was for "Safety and Security". The fact that there are radicals who are willing to die to kill some of us, doesn't make us a bad society. Perhaps, just the opposite.
Perhaps I don't understand the rankings, but, with equal weights applied, we have a lower score than the two countries ahead of us. What gives?
But finally, in summary, those are some fine countries ranked ahead of us. But, I don't see masses of people walking through the wilderness to get to Finland. I have never known anyone to dig a tunnel under a fence to enter Denmark. And am not aware of millions of people in Norway, who entered illegally and who are now demanding citizenship in the most prosperous nation on earth. Rankings are just that, rankings by humans. The collective actions of millions of people speak volumes.
no just faster
certainly not cheaper
I sell mail order, USPS ships more quickly than UPS in most cases.
sorry
I always went with USPS because it was cheaper
I just figured people used UPS for some reason
Yea, priority mail is usually cheaper, too, you are correct.
keep inviting the unions to your rallies...
In March, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) reached a contract agreement that preserves jobs and provides a 3.5 percent pay raise for three years. Labor costs represent 80% of USPS expenses, a very high percentage in this day of automation. The agreement protects APWU employees against layoffs and provide a 3.5 percent wage increase over the life of the contract. There will be no changes to health care benefits in 2012. From 2013 to 2016, there will be a slight increase in employees’ share of the health care contribution. The USPS spent $4.3 million on employees who did nothing, called “standby time,” because of union requirements. The amount paid for so-called standby time has “significantly decreased.” In fiscal 2009, USPS employees logged over 1.2 million hours in standby time, costing the agency more than $30 million. This declined to around $20 million in 2010 and is on track to be less than $10 million this year.
http://conservativedailynews.com/2011/09/usps-is-going-broke/
You brag about saving 10 to 20 million? USPS is bleeding 8 BILLION a year. And those labor negotiations didn't save any jobs. The labor contract for the carriers says that no positions can be cut without the approval of congress. Now, that is job security. When the USPS is losing 8 billion you can't preserve the cost that makes up 80 percent of the total. That math doesn't work.
err.. that is why I provided the rest of the link. I agree with you
umad?
uglad?
ujelly?
ijam
Me too. What do you play? I play the drums.
just like to dance and wiggle about , mainly
What would Lysander Spooner do? http://tiny.cc/aesrr
Offering ongoing financial support to institutions shouldn't be a plank in this movement.
i only brought this up because look those postal workers are also part of the 99%, whether you agree or not, they technically are. yes, email has superseded snail mail, but every country has a mail system (and everyone still enjoys mail). there has to be a postal service and it should not be privatized. many things, packages and legal documents, must be mailed, not be emailed.