Is it time for the USPS to close shop?

[corbe]

Close the USPS, Cut 600,000 People and 31,000 Offices

Douglas A. McIntyre - 5h ago

The U.S. Postal Service, a thing of the past for several years, is slow, inefficient, poorly run and can be replaced by private enterprise. It has 31,000 offices, some of them in areas that have so few people that they do not get enough foot traffic to support them. It employs over 644,000 workers, over half a million of which have extremely high benefits, primarily negotiated by the American Postal Workers Union. The cost of these benefits alone, for both current and future retirees, is enough to swamp the USPS financially. The labor situation is similar to that of the car companies before they went under.

Shuttering of the USPS would allow the federal government to move mail delivery to FedEx and UPS, each of which is highly profitable and would not rely on government funding. Together, they are certainly large enough to handle the business. FedEx has 600,000 workers and revenue of about $100 billion annually. UPS has 540,000 workers and $90 billion a year in revenue.

The 31,000 locations the USPS has could be sold and the money sent to the Treasury. Alternatively, UPS or FedEx could lease them as service centers. The operating cost of each of these offices would be eliminated.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/close-the-usps-cut-600-000-people-and-31-000-offices/ar-AAUaEoX?ocid=msedgntp

[rustynail]

Where would the rude black people 'work'?

[Cyber Liberty]

I don't think so.  The USPS parcel delivery is pretty good, and competes with UPS and FedEx keeping their prices in check.  That said, the handling of regular mail is getting to be an overhead problem.

[libertybele]

[Kamaji]

[240B]

When I was 12 caught a green-snake in the garden. Put in out mailbox. The mailman almost had a heart attack. He suspended mail service to our address for a week or so. USPS did not suspend the service. The mailman was afraid to open the box. So he didn't. Maybe he swapped routes or something, but a little while later everything was back to normal.

My father spoke to me about it, but he couldn't stop laughing. "Don't do it again" was all I got.

[libertybele]

When I was 12 caught a green-snake in the garden. Put in out mailbox. The mailman almost had a heart attack. He suspended mail service to our address for a week or so. USPS did not suspend the service. The mailman was afraid to open the box. So he didn't. Maybe he swapped routes or something, but a little while later everything was back to normal.

My father spoke to me about it, but he couldn't stop laughing. "Don't do it again" was all I got.

 

[240B]

I guess I accidentally traumatize him. From that day on he couldn't open a mailbox without first wondering what was in there? It was just a small green snake. They eat crickets, grasshoppers, and worms. But some people overreact.

[EdinVA]

The issue isn't the USPS, it is the chains that Congress placed on them and refuse to remove.
The USPS cannot price it's services without approval from Congress regardless of profitability. (FEDEX/UPS have no requirement)

Congress MANDATES that the USPS deliver mail to every address in the US 6 days a week, even in the bottom of the Grand Canyon so every day the USPS mule team carries mail down into the canyon and brings mail out and has to maintain the cost of the mules and personnel. (FEDEX/UPS have no requirement)

Congress mandates that 1st class mail must be delivered, within I think 3 days, with required the USPS to design and purchase hybrid OCR/sorting equipment to the tune of many millions of dollars and Congress additionally mandated that if these OCR/sorting equipment breaks, the USPS only has a few hours to get it back up and running.  Since these OCR/sorting machines are one-offs, the parts are so expensive there is a critical parts center in the Indiana to securely store the parts and there are jets standing by to fly replacement parts anywhere in the country which means the care and feeding of the planes. (FEDEX/UPS have no requirement)
Congress mandates funding levels for the USPS retirement fund much higher than private companies which causes a huge cash flow drain on the organization.  (FEDEX/UPS have no requirement)
The labor unions drive much of the issues the USPS has to deal with and with a very low margin product/service pennies count.
Congress will not allow USPS to diversify services, like ebillpay etc.  I wash helping USPS put these things in and UPS and the banks cried to congress and congress shut us down.
The list is long but I think you get the idea.

So, true USPS could use some efficiency/organizational work, but congress is the biggest obstacle to the USPS being successful.

[Gefn]

I hope not. My dad was a philatelist and it rubbed off to me.