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Here's the deal about the Post Office

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
Some of you guys on this great site know that I work for the USPS and have been going on 27 years. The USPS is going thru some hard times during this resession but who hasn't. Certainly technology and email have been to blame but there are other reasons as well.

Joe says, 44 cents to send a one oz. letter!!! Ok, have you guys noticed how much cars,food,gas,appliances,shelled corn(lol) tires,airfare,etc...(you get my point) costs have gone up!!! Just sayin'! I bet if you ran the numbers on the inflated cost on any of the things that I named above as well as stamps or the USPS shipping costs, you'll find the the % increase in stamps are pitin's compared to the others.


Here is a BIG reason why the USPS is hurting so please read if you give a shit!lol

The ‘Big Lie’ about postal ‘bankruptcy’

Yesterday, in a mandatory stand-up talk, Postal Service management all across the country told letter carriers:

“If we were a private company, we would have already filed for bankruptcy and gone through restructuring—much like major automakers did two years ago.”

The Service repeated this claim in a press release distributed to the nation’s news media as well.

Of course, it’s not true. But the USPS seems to think that if it repeats this “Big Lie” often enough, most people—and especially members of Congress—will think it’s true.

So, let’s set the record straight: If the Postal Service were a private company, it would not have to file for bankruptcy because it would not be subject to a USPS-specific congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. As it is, it is the only federal agency required to do so: It must pre-fund these benefits some 75 years into the future on a massively accelerated schedule.

This postal-only mandate, which costs the USPS $5.5 billion per year, accounts for 100 percent of the Postal Service’s $20 billion in losses over the past four years. It also accounts for 100 percent of the rise in the Postal Service’s debt in recent years. Without the mandate, the USPS would have been profitable over the past four years and it would have significant borrowing authority to ride out the bad economy. It would not have had to file for bankruptcy.

In fact, no private company in America is required to pre-fund future retiree health benefits, either by law or private-sector accounting standards. The $47 billion the Postal Service has deposited into its retiree health fund over the past four years would have been available for operating costs. And those companies that voluntarily do pre-fund would never have adopted a crushing schedule to pre-fund 80 percent of future retiree health costs in just 10 years. Nor would they mindlessly stick to such an onerous schedule in the middle of the worst recession in 80 years.

Congress, aided and abetted by the Office of Personnel Management and the General Accountability Office, mandated the destructive pre-funding policy in 2006. The common-sense solution is obvious: Let the Postal Service use the massive surpluses in its pension plans, found by two independent audits, to cover the cost of pre-funding. Indeed, 181 members of the House—from both parties—have co-sponsored legislation to adopt this solution (H.R. 1351). But thanks to the dysfunctional nature of Congress, the bureaucratic blindness of OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, and the single-minded stubbornness of the Congressional Budget Office, which “scores” any change in the pre-funding provisions as increasing the deficit even though no taxpayer funds are involved, the Postal Service now faces a financial crisis in September when the next $5.5 billion payment is due.

Don’t believe the “Big Lie.” The Postal Service is not going bankrupt. Rather, Washington politics is killing it.


Oh, I was also told that the USPS 5.5 billion dollars a year goes toward ALL Federal retiree health benefits counting the military,fire,police,political office personel,etc...


Thanks, If you gave a shit! lol
 
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Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Thanks for the explanation on health benefits, I knew that was a big portion of their projected 10 billion in losses. But 44 cents to mail a piece of paper is still too much. It only cost a $1.25 to put a bag of skittles on every store shelf in America; and they actually had to, purchase ingredients, make, package and deliver them..
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
I hope that your job will be ok and that you can make that 27 years to be 30 or 35 and get some of them benefits!

About a year ago I started collecting articles and was suppose to write an editorial (circulation something like 20,000) on this issue...ran out of time and never did it, would have been at least sent to a national market. Boy I wish I had done that now!
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
Again, thanks for the info. I had to laugh a bit when I first learned about the benefits pre-pays and other oddities the USPS has. I hope everything works out for you at the USPS Ric.

To me the postal service will die because it is basically subsidizing every piece of mail for the "greater good". Hard for me to put into words but... Lets say I am mailing a letter from Maine to Hawaii. It is the same cost as mailing from Cleveland to Cincinatti. Now how does that make any sense?

I don't mail anything anymore. Bills are all automated pulls from my account or paid online. We may mail a birthday card or two a year but that is about it. I just don't see how it is going to be viable especially at the scale it is currently. The only thing that I use regularly is the "if it fits it ships" boxes.

Beentown
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
yea but like I said, what are you going to do when the internet dies?

Be self sufficient. If the internet is down so is everything else. That means I am not going to pay my bills anyway. Thank goodness I dig guns and being prepared.... Is it bad that this actually sounds promising to me? lol Please tell me there are going to be ZOMBIES!

Beentown
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
yea but like I said, what are you going to do when the internet dies?

You can't kill the internet. By design it's an improbability. There isn't a single point of failure. And the hodge podge of brands, security devices, operating systems, routers, etc ensure there isn't a sole vulnerability that can be exploited. Now, Individuals can be taken down, small segments can be taken down, legs off the topology can be taken down etc. But in the scope of things that's a grain of sand on the beach. Almost everyone with anything of value has a failover environment in standby geographically separated from their running environment, and well documented disaster recover plans to get things running at that other location.

Here is a map of the internet as of 2003. It's grown considerably since then.. All the different colors are like net, ca, us com, org mil, gov, edu
jp, cn, tw, au de, uk, it, pl, fr br, kr, nl unknown


 
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Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
politicians like to obviously skew the truth to meet their agenda. Teabaggers, demorats and relieacans... all junk and bunk. They now want everything to run like he private side...except for making a profit go figure..no way to change it boys but were all being lied to...this game has to end. America has a MASSIVE infrastructure of roads, bridges, mail, water, sewer etc...we cannot walk away from it. its has to be tended and maintained. where the problem lies in the care and expectations of the people. for instance roads...what the hell good does it do anyone to pave a 3 mile road that has 5 houses on it? there also needs to be some realistic expectations like snowplow that 3 miles or road for 5 houses...WHAT? why they chose to live out there 10 miles form anyone and they want the street plowed? come on man deal with it and the consequences...for which there are none in this w america anymore...
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Dang Lope, you ruined my dreams of Mad Max times ;)

Beentown

All you have to do it take down facebook and there will be ravaging hordes of teens in the streets... Actually FB will give you 500 bucks if you can hack them.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
politicians like to obviously skew the truth to meet their agenda. Teabaggers, demorats and relieacans... all junk and bunk. They now want everything to run like he private side...except for making a profit go figure..no way to change it boys but were all being lied to...this game has to end. America has a MASSIVE infrastructure of roads, bridges, mail, water, sewer etc...we cannot walk away from it. its has to be tended and maintained. where the problem lies in the care and expectations of the people. for instance roads...what the hell good does it do anyone to pave a 3 mile road that has 5 houses on it? there also needs to be some realistic expectations like snowplow that 3 miles or road for 5 houses...WHAT? why they chose to live out there 10 miles form anyone and they want the street plowed? come on man deal with it and the consequences...for which there are none in this w america anymore...

I say to hell with plowing at all.... Every vehicle should be rated by ODOT to have a class. Class I II or III...... If it's a level II snow emergency and you drive a Level I Prius, you'll get a ticket for being on the road in a vehicle unfit for the environment you live in... ... People don't ride the crotch rocket to work in the snow, WTF makes them think it's ok to ride a fuggin Prius and blame the county snow plows. I say don't plow at all. And if it's a Level III and you don't have 4x4 tough tits.
 

Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
i agree completely Jlope. deal with the environment you live in. all country roads should be gravel period. no sense in it at all. of course thats the problem with america's system, any idiot can get elected and do what they please with no checks or balances except to vote them out or catch them drinking and driving or beating up their wife or soliciting sex on faceplant... the LEAST qualified people can get the most important jobs...go figure..
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
15,973
135
America has a MASSIVE infrastructure of roads, bridges, mail, water, sewer etc...we cannot walk away from it.

I'd agree, but I also think that some privatization is an option as well, such as the turnpikes - Mitch Daniels pulled it off in Indiana, Kaisch (I know how much you love him) wants to do it in Ohio, and Rendell could have in PA.

I read an article last week that a rancher in Montana fixed 5 miles of road and sent the county a bill for it...of course he didn't get paid, but he did it with him equipment and only billed for materials (no time).

i agree completely Jlope. deal with the environment you live in. all country roads should be gravel period. no sense in it at all. of course thats the problem with america's system, any idiot can get elected and do what they please with no checks or balances except to vote them out or catch them drinking and driving or beating up their wife or soliciting sex on faceplant... the LEAST qualified people can get the most important jobs...go figure..
^I agree with that completely1
 

Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
there is a huge mix of issues with each items listed that goes so deep it could not possibly be covered in any depth on this website. No flippin way should he sell the trunpike. thats as ignorant a decision as i have ever heard. you don't let a private profit driven entity control a major access road that supports your business infrastructure be out of your control. what they should do is lease he rights to operate it and share costs so that they don't have the employee overhead to deal with and any repairs that need to be done get BID on and everyone gets a shot at the best price to operate and maintain it. Private industries will ruin EVERTHING into the ground if you let them. look at what they did to the mississippi river.