US Postal Service to end Saturday letter delivery
Jeanwah
Posts: 6,363
For a gov't agency as inefficient as the USPS, it's about time they're doing something about things. It's not in stone yet though, the employee union will of course fight it; as unions are usually against all business reform and are only looking out for the workers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21357663
The US Postal Service plans to end Saturday delivery of first-class mail by August, in its latest cost-cutting drive.
The move would save about $2bn (£1.3bn) a year, according to the agency.
But the USPS will still deliver parcels six days a week, a service that has grown by 14% since 2010.
The financially troubled postal service lost nearly $16bn last year and has defaulted twice on required payments to the US government.
"Our financial condition is urgent," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told reporters on Wednesday.
The 237-year-old institution is in the middle of a major restructuring, although it is projected to remain in the red this year.
'Disastrous idea'
Since 2006, the agency has reduced its costs by about $15bn and cut its workforce by 28%, the equivalent of 193,000 jobs.
Most of the mail agency's financial woes come from mounting mandatory costs for future retiree health benefits. The USPS has asked Congress to reduce the payments, but lawmakers have not acted.
The new proposal may require congressional approval. Although the USPS does not receive taxpayer funding, it is subject to government control.
Mr Donahoe said the service reduction could be carried out through a combination of employee reassignment and attrition.
He also pointed to research that suggests seven in 10 Americans support the shift to a five-day schedule.
But Frederic Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said it was a "disastrous idea".
It "would have a profoundly negative effect on the Postal Service and on millions of customers", he said, adding that businesses, rural communities, the elderly and disabled were just some of the groups that depended on Saturday service for work and communication.
Analysts say the postal service is making the change because it has little other choice.
"It's unclear whether the USPS has the legislative authority to take such actions on its own, but the alternative is the status quo until it is completely cash starved," James O'Rourke, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame, told the Associated Press.
While the rising healthcare payment made up $11bn of last year's $16bn loss, the agency has also been weakened by the internet and competition from rivals such as FedEx and UPS.
But parcel deliveries have grown as consumers order more products from sites such as eBay and Amazon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21357663
The US Postal Service plans to end Saturday delivery of first-class mail by August, in its latest cost-cutting drive.
The move would save about $2bn (£1.3bn) a year, according to the agency.
But the USPS will still deliver parcels six days a week, a service that has grown by 14% since 2010.
The financially troubled postal service lost nearly $16bn last year and has defaulted twice on required payments to the US government.
"Our financial condition is urgent," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told reporters on Wednesday.
The 237-year-old institution is in the middle of a major restructuring, although it is projected to remain in the red this year.
'Disastrous idea'
Since 2006, the agency has reduced its costs by about $15bn and cut its workforce by 28%, the equivalent of 193,000 jobs.
Most of the mail agency's financial woes come from mounting mandatory costs for future retiree health benefits. The USPS has asked Congress to reduce the payments, but lawmakers have not acted.
The new proposal may require congressional approval. Although the USPS does not receive taxpayer funding, it is subject to government control.
Mr Donahoe said the service reduction could be carried out through a combination of employee reassignment and attrition.
He also pointed to research that suggests seven in 10 Americans support the shift to a five-day schedule.
But Frederic Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said it was a "disastrous idea".
It "would have a profoundly negative effect on the Postal Service and on millions of customers", he said, adding that businesses, rural communities, the elderly and disabled were just some of the groups that depended on Saturday service for work and communication.
Analysts say the postal service is making the change because it has little other choice.
"It's unclear whether the USPS has the legislative authority to take such actions on its own, but the alternative is the status quo until it is completely cash starved," James O'Rourke, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame, told the Associated Press.
While the rising healthcare payment made up $11bn of last year's $16bn loss, the agency has also been weakened by the internet and competition from rivals such as FedEx and UPS.
But parcel deliveries have grown as consumers order more products from sites such as eBay and Amazon.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Bingo.
I know. The first time I heard that the US got mail on Saturdays I thought someone was talking about some fantasy land.
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
i've been wondering this for years and i live here
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
I looked it up and the crazy thing is that Canada stopped doing Saturday delivery in 1969. Which made perfect sense since at the time if you got a piece of mail on Saturday that needed you to do something you couldn't do anything until Monday anyways. I mean if you got a bill or a cheque in the mail you couldn't cash it because banks were closed and there was no ATM. If the US had gotten rid of it then, it probably would have been an easy sell to the people.
A couple problems with that are that the people who use the mail the most for letters are the same old people who always vote and if their representative in government tries to disband the post office he wouldn't last long in office. Plus as far as packages go my understanding is that in the US for any kind of rural area that is not a major city if you send a package via UPS then UPS will fly it to the major city then they will just contract the postal service to handle local delivery. If the postal service was gone, package service would either become more expensive or not be available to a large portion of the US population.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Because of the union.
My husband is a letter carrier, and when he found out years ago that Canada had no Sat. delivery, he immediately wanted to look into movingl
Double Bingo.
Is everyone sure about bingo, because here's the next sentence: "The USPS has asked Congress to reduce the payments, but lawmakers have not acted."
who secured the health benefits for the retirees?
interesting article on it
http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/ ... ays/60381/
"A Government Accountability Office study analyzed several approaches to a prefunding mandate for the benefits, finding cuts to what USPS must pay in the near future will result in a larger liability farther down the road..."
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
Actually this is why:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Acc ... ct_of_2006
99% of our mail consists of catalogues, real estate solicitations, credit card applications and the like.
All get tossed.
What a waste, on so many levels.
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
pay now or pay later, large payments to cover retiree benefits still have to be paid
It is terrifying when you are too stupid to know who is dumb
- Joe Rogan
doesn't sound contradicting. the mail trucks will be off the road, the office's will still be open so you can mail shit and do other shit that requires people
Isn't the mail in Canada delivered by horse and dogsled anyway? It's not difficult to be profitable when you don't have to pay the animals.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
That's as good as a Yank saying you don't have a gun problem.
The poison from the poison stream caught up to you ELEVEN years ago and you floated out of here. Sept. 14, 08
it sure is ... its always funny watching americans crossing the border with ski's on the roof of their cars in August
Or maybe it's easier to be profitable when you charge the appropriate amount for a service instead of always running debt ...
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Plus my understanding is that in Canada if you buy a new house in a newer sub division, you don't get service to your door. There will be say a bank of post office boxes at the end of your street and you will get a box in one of those and a key. Does the USPS do anything like that? These things seem super simple but it would seem obvious that they are huge money savers.
I hate the post office in America.
My comment was a slam on Canada in general.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I seriously doubt bingo is the financial answer to this problem.
Bingo and a bake sale.... maybe
but not just bingo alone.
And as usual, some prefer to ignore the issues that some unions bring.
I just don't get the bad rap these people get. Never will.
I have my reasons. Most of them have to do with dealing with the miserable, grumpy folks who work there and don't deal with people well. Also, a line of 3 people shouldn't take 25 minutes to get through.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.