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Postal Service Searches for Ways to Stabilize Costs and Shrinking Mail Volume

The Worst of Both Worlds

GEO
FED
Wed Sep 9, 2009 12:16 PM

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The PS is often criticized by the RWNs of this country and held up as an example of failed govt.

But if they receive no taxpayer funding, do they also get the tax breaks and writeoffs that FEDEX and USPS get? I suspect not. So if they need to shut down PO's on Saturdays like USPS and FEDEX do, then do it. Quit with the studies. Let them fully compete as a non-profit corporation if they are still to be a govt. entity. It is so ironic and sad to see a FEDEX box at the entrance to many Post Offices. It must be an insult to the postal workers.

Postal Service Weekend Shutdowns

IT Specialist
Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Wed Sep 9, 2009 3:53 PM

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The postal service should be able to close on the weekends, if the mail volume does not warrant the expense. However, if the businesses who generate bills do not change their billing practices, it would seem that the citizens who need the PS services will not have these services available to them. They will be the ones who get charged late fees for payments that didn't get to the correct destinatons before the deadlines. Whether anyone has noticed or not, bills are late on Sundays and holidays now, even when accounting departments are not even open to receive the mail. Even after the mail reaches its destination, who knows when the mail is processed. This means that the person mailing must not only pay attention to the amount he owes, but also to the calendar to determine the date as well as the time a late fee will be charged. It seems that businesses no longer give the same amount of time between the billing date and the payment deadline.

Re: Postal Service Weekend Shutdowns

Geo
Fed
Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:07 AM
When your payment gets credited is a problem even with internet payments! I got charged a late fee of $30 this month on a credit card payment in August. I set it up by internet to pay automatically on the due date, which happened to be a sunday. Last weekend I got a call from a person (apparently in India -could barely understand her), asking me to change my payment date and they would drop the charge. I'm still waiting on a paper statement to make sure they've done that. The problem is the credit card companies and any other company that can't figure this out or is out to gouge their customers, its not a post office problem.

Re: Postal Service Weekend Shutdowns

retired
irs
Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:54 PM
It seems the credit card companies are not bound by the Internal Revenue Code. Any tax obligation on which the due date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, (or a Monday Holiday), the due date is the first business day following, either Monday (or Tuesday following a Monday holiday). Also, the time for filing is midnight (assuming you can find an open Post Office), whereby the required time on a credit card can be 7:59 AM, when they open at 8:00. (payment received at or after 8:00 AM on the due date is considered "late".

USPS

Just passing by
Treasury
Wed Sep 9, 2009 7:13 PM

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If the volume of mail is decreasing by ~ 10% ( 20 billion less mailing out of 195 Billion ) then simply raise the cost of sending mail by 10 % ( or 5 cents ) Heck, let's increase liquidity even more and raise the price of sending something by 20% - or a dime more for a letter.
Personally I could care less if I received mail. Like many in this country I am to blame for this trend, since I pay bills online and send emails and text messages instead of letters through the USPS. I also seem to remember the price of a stamp going up a few years ago, with the post office saying that the increase would keep them financially intact for some years to come ... seems the entire concept of paper mail, etc. is a dinosaur anyway which is slowly becoming extinct ( Do you think USPS will be around in 10 years ? )

Are you kidding me?

retired letter carrier
USPS
Wed Sep 9, 2009 8:24 PM

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Way too little too late. 3200 closures minimum. 25K buyout in lieu of 15K to stimulate retirement. 5 day delivery an absolute necessity. Unions should give back ALL negotiated pay hikes under existing contract, and agree to NO future pay hikes or COLA's (moot anyways for the next 2-3 years) in future negotiations UNTIL the USPS breaks even. Probably way too late to save this country's bail out mentality anyways, but it's worth at least a try. Base any and all future pay raises on the profitability of the post office. Reduce number of managers to be in line with best run private corporations, if there is such a thing left. Reduce health benefit allowance to rest of government employees, approximately 70%. If ALL of these meaningful cuts are not adopted, then the taxpayers will continue to bail out the post office in perpetuity. I'm sure the unions will agree to none of these cuts. Why even bother to give input. Where is a good benevolent dictator when you need one?

Re: Are you kidding me?

Paralegal Specialist
USPS
Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:41 AM
I don't know how long you've been retired, but the Federal Government has NEVER bailed out the Post Office. To the contrary, Congress is a major cause of our current difficulties, due to the 2006 legislation that required USPS to permanently prefund all of its potential future retiree health premiums in a 10-year period. No other entity has ever been under such a draconian requirement. Without it, we would have made money the past 2 years, not taken a huge loss. We are the only government agency that generates large revenues, and every time we approach Congress for some type of relief -- usually, from one of their earlier bone-headed acts -- they see us as a cash cow, and require us to pay into funds to balance out some of their overspending. No one is talking about closing Post Offices on Saturdays, just ending mail delivery, except for P. O. boxes. If someone absolutely requires Saturday mail, a P. O. box is a cheap way to receive it.

Postal Service Closing Stations

Program Support Assistant
Forest Service
Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:20 AM

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Of course the Postal Service only admits to the obvious reasons for why their revenues are dropping. Their stated delivery times are not reliable. I have better luck sending packages and "overnight" (Express, or whatever name you use) mail via FedEx and sometimes UPS. The stated delivery times of these service are much more dependable, and to many locations, are cheaper. price is not the only reason to use another carrier; dependability ranks higher in my book. I believe many other folks are aware of this also, and the effect of everyone using the various other commercial carriers must have an impact on the total revenue of the USPS.

Postal Change Choices

Program Analyst
DCMA
Fri Oct 2, 2009 10:10 AM

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All this talk about reducing services to meet demand are not new, but any options being looked at are also not new. Why not consider an alternate three-day delivery to residential customers? A Monday/Wednesday/Friday with the alternate Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday delivery schedule would allow immense coverage without reducing services. Allowing businesses to continue six-day delivery at a premium is cost effective. Many new postal customers opt for electronic mail in lieu of Snail Mail anyway so this would only require a short phase-in period that would most likely show the cost benefits and alleviate the concerns of elderly customers who have always had daily service.

Reducing postal costs

Engineering Technician
DoD
Tue Oct 6, 2009 2:56 AM

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The USPS can stop whining about rising costs and start reducing costs by eliminating the fat bonuses that were recently given to upper management officials.
You can't cry about rising costs if you can afford exhorbitant bonuses! Shame on you!

Total Comments: 10
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