Financial collapse of the United States Postal Service is coming

[mystery-ak]

Financial collapse of the United States Postal Service is coming
By Kevin Kosar, opinion contributor — 05/17/19 04:00 PM EDT

The United States Postal Service (USPS) will run out of cash in five years. Postmaster General Megan Brennan shared this news in testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee earlier this month. The immediate consequence of USPS becoming insolvent would be that the world’s largest postal system — which still moves 150 billion mail pieces per year, or 412 million pieces per day — would be dead in the water. This is something that has never occurred in the Postal Service’s long and storied history.

If you think these primary effects would be devastating, the secondary effects would be catastrophic. More than half a million postal workers would be without wages. Magazine companies, which send millions of glossies per month, would be stuck trying to find local deliverers. Retailers — particularly those that sell via catalogs — would see their main advertising medium vanish. The paper and printing companies they work with would see their revenues plunge. Prescription-drug deliveries would be disrupted, as sellers scrambled to find alternate means for delivery. Jury summons, voting materials (including ballots for overseas troops), and international mail and shipments would stop flowing.


During the hearing, Representative Mark Meadows demanded USPS produce a turn-around plan by July that would save the Postal Service. To date, the agency’s plan has consisted of trying to trim costs, mostly by reducing the hours worked by employees, and reaping more revenue by delivering more parcels. As Postmaster General Brennan noted in her testimony, these efforts have not solved the problem.

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https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/444316-financial-collapse-of-the-united-states-postal-service-is-coming

[IsailedawayfromFR]

So obvious.

As an example, I normally use Amazon for ordinary items but decided to use Walmart to order up some SD cards.

Instead of a two-day delivery, I found out Walmart subbed out the job to another outfit that used USPS.  The company got the items to the post office on May 9 which acknowledged receipt.

Here, 8 days later, it has yet to arrive.

Why use such an antiquated model of inefficiency?

[ABX]

If it weren't for all our Amazon Prime and Pantry deliveries, we would get zero decent mail. We get a ton of mail, don't get me wrong, but it is all crap and goes straight into the recycle bin.

Maybe they should up the prices on junk mail distribution.

[Bigun]

So obvious.

As an example, I normally use Amazon for ordinary items but decided to use Walmart to order up some SD cards.

Instead of a two-day delivery, I found out Walmart subbed out the job to another outfit that used USPS.  The company got the items to the post office on May 9 which acknowledged receipt.

Here, 8 days later, it has yet to arrive.

Why use such an antiquated model of inefficiency?

I ordered an M2 hd from Amazon yesterday around noon.  Just installed it a few minutes ago.

[mountaineer]

Multiple unions represent USPS "workers." That may be part of the problem.

[sneakypete]

The biggest cause of this is Affirmative Action hiring requirements. They even hire foreigners that can't read or write English,and allow them to have translators with them to take the entrance exams.

Some of these people are so hopeless they are paid to sit in the station and just answer phones,despite being hired to deliver mail,which means the USPS has to hire someone else to do the work of someone they are already paying for that job.

Want to get ahead quickly in the USPS? Be a blind,cross-eyed crippled pregnant black woman with orange hair and a speech impediment,and join the union the first instant you are hired. They can't fire you and they can no longer afford to hire more people to do the work they are already paying you to do,so they will promote you to management and give you an office to sit in to get you out of the way. As soon as you have enough time in to retire (5 years,IIRC),they will retire you on disability to save money and get rid of you.

[The_Reader_David]

The problem is the onerous pension funding requirements that Congress saddled the USPS with.  Moving the USPS to a defined contribution pension plan would fix the problem in short order.

[Wingnut]

We will always have the post office. 

[andy58-in-nh]

We will always have the post office.

Otherwise unemployable people without social skills or political influence deserve job opportunities too, you know.

Besides, what do you think Bernie Sanders would be doing without his Red Diaper Baby parentage? That's right: he'd be losing your electric bills under the seat cushion.

[Wingnut]

Otherwise unemployable people without social skills or political influence deserve job opportunities too, you know.

Besides, what do you think Bernie Sanders would be doing without his Red Diaper Baby parentage? That's right: he'd be losing your electric bills under the seat cushion.

Andy. If you love the DMV you have to love the USPS.

[andy58-in-nh]

Andy. If you love the DMV you have to love the USPS.

I don't know about you, but I haven't been to a post office in twenty years, at least.  And in my state, I only have to go to the DMV every five years to get my driver's license renewed. It's pretty efficient. In and out in ten minutes. Just like my love life. 

[Wingnut]

I don't know about you, but I haven't been to a post office in twenty years, at least.  And in my state, I only have to go to the DMV every five years to get my driver's license renewed. It's pretty efficient. In and out in ten minutes. Just like my love life. 

I go to the PO once a week.  I tip my Postal Carrier $20 bucks every Christmas.  But I am in small town America.  Fly over country. You know.... Where the morons live.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

The biggest cause of this is Affirmative Action hiring requirements. They even hire foreigners that can't read or write English,and allow them to have translators with them to take the entrance exams.

Some of these people are so hopeless they are paid to sit in the station and just answer phones,despite being hired to deliver mail,which means the USPS has to hire someone else to do the work of someone they are already paying for that job.

Want to get ahead quickly in the USPS? Be a blind,cross-eyed crippled pregnant black woman with orange hair and a speech impediment,and join the union the first instant you are hired. They can't fire you and they can no longer afford to hire more people to do the work they are already paying you to do,so they will promote you to management and give you an office to sit in to get you out of the way. As soon as you have enough time in to retire (5 years,IIRC),they will retire you on disability to save money and get rid of you.

In a nutshell, Trump has it right in seeking those with merit rather than the identity game.