US Postal Service facing 28,000 job losses

[The Northerner]

Source: BBC

The US Postal Service is shutting more than half of its mail rooms in a £3bn (£1.9bn) cost-cutting drive expected to result in 28,000 job losses.

Vice-President David Williams told a news conference that the closures were designed to stave off bankruptcy next year.

Out of 461 mail-processing centres across the US, 252 will be shuttered starting from next April.

The move is expected to end next-day delivery of first-class mail.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16037668

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Privatization, here we come!

The neocons' plan is well in motion.







/misspelling

[femrap]

6. Yep....and it'll cost a

fortune and be less reliable than our current postal service.

Whoever is making this decision deserves to be pink-slipped.

[apnu]

11. I live in Chicago, nothing is less than reliable to our mail service.

I could strap a letter to a random dog and it would get to the recipient faster than our mail service here. Its awful.

[femrap]

19. I'm in Central Ohio and

our mail service is great. I lived in Chicago for one year (1989). It's a tough city.

[No Elephants]

24. Somehow, I find that very difficult to believe. Boston's is very reliable and local variations

should not be that great.

What's your point in connection with this thread, though?

[pinboy3niner]

7. And no more pesky unions!

Looks like a twofer for conservatives, if they can get away with it.

Cutting facilities and personnel is the first step to a downward spiral in service and quality--and thus, competitiveness. Hamstringing USPS like this is just a way to drown it in the bathtub, killing the unions and paving the way for corporate takeover of USPS functions..

[fascisthunter]

22. now watch how much more expensive it will be to send mail

when it is privatized completely.

[kestrel91316]

2. Next-day delivery of first class mail hasn't happened in Los Angeles in decades.

Took 5 days for a letter to get from Encino to Pasadena once 15 years ago.

[plumbob]

8. We routinely get two day delivery from Odessa, Texas to the LA area.

We mail 10-15 items a week there first class.

[Ruby the Liberal]

3. Yet pensions are prefunded through the year 2150.

:grr:

[doc03]

13. With the job cuts it will result in early retirements

putting a strain on the pension fund and that funding may not be enough to keep the pension solvent.

[No Elephants]

4. Sad rec for visibility and solidarity, but have nothing substantive to add

to the recent LBN thread on the USPS.

On that thread, my bottom line was that the Republican appointments to the Postal Regulatory Commisision made by President Obama seem to suggest that he is very much on board with all this.

This applies especially to Republican Commissioner Taub, who was an architect of the 2006 postal service legislative "reforms" that seemed designed to end in killing the one federal department mentioned in the Constitution of the United States.

And reappointing another Republican Commissioner, Hammond, whose term would otherwise have ended, ensured a Republican majority, as in customary under Republican Presidents, when the deciding vote could have been given to a Democrat.

Part of the power of the Commissioners is to allow--or not--increases in postage rates. And, they've refused.

All of which prompted an article from the Save the Post Office Organization entitled, "What were you thinking, Mr. President?"

http://www.savethepostoffice.com/what-were-you-thinking-mr-president-obama-nominates-hammond-prc

Of course, the article contains an acknowledgment that, while the President's actions were indeed a huge disappointment, the Republicans are worse.

Seems to be de rigeuer these days.

[msongs]

5. repubs act like repubs = normal. democrats acting like repubs = worse nt

[No Elephants]

26. Sometimes, I think all the whoop de doo about the bitter divisions are kabuki.

We've been marching fairly steadily toward one economic result no matter who has control.

""The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences..."

"The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds' central banks which were themselves private corporations..."

"The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups." Tragedy and Hope: A History of The World in Our Time (Macmillan Company, 1966,) Professor Carroll Quigley of Georgetown University

"The Council on Foreign Relations is the American branch of a society which originated in England (RIIA) ... ... believes national boundaries should be obliterated and one-world rule established." Dr. Carroll Quigley



"As a teenager, I heard John Kennedy's summons to citizenship. And then, as a student, I heard that call clarified by a professor I had named Carroll Quigley." President Clinton, in his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party's nomination for president, 16 July 1992


"As a teenager, I heard John Kennedy's summons to citizenship. And then, as a student, I heard that call clarified by a professor I had named Carroll Quigley."President Clinton, in his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party's nomination for president, 16 July 1992

Read the full book "Tragedy and Hope" here:
http://www.archive.org/stream/TragedyAndHope/TH_djvu.txt


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRj-wL2GoqI

[FarCenter]

9. Near-Bankrupt US Postal Service Plans Unprecedented Cuts To First Class Mail

The cuts would close roughly 250 of the nearly 500 mail processing centers across the country as early as next March. Because the consolidations would typically lengthen the distance mail travels from post office to processing center, the agency would also lower delivery standards for first-class mail that have been in place since 1971. Currently, first-class mail is supposed to be delivered to homes and businesses within the continental U.S. in one to three days; that will be lengthened to two to three days, meaning mailers could no longer expect next-day delivery in surrounding communities. Periodicals could take between two and nine days.

The Postal Service already has announced a 1-cent increase in first-class mail to 45 cents beginning Jan. 22.

About 42 percent of first-class mail is now delivered the following day; another 27 percent arrives in two days, about 31 percent in three days and less than 1 percent in four to five days. Following the change next spring, about 51 percent of all first-class mail is expected to arrive in two days, with most of the remainder delivered in three days.

The consolidation of mail processing centers is in addition to the planned closing of about 3,700 local post offices. In all, roughly 100,000 postal employees could be cut as a result of the various closures, resulting in savings of up to $6.5 billion a year.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-postal-service-cuts-bankruptcy-2011-12

[zbdent]

17. Thom Hartmann pointed out that the main reason the Postal Service is bankrupt

is because the Republicans forced legislation on the P.S. which said they have to have the pension fund fully funded FOR 75 YEARS IN ADVANCE!

[FarCenter]

20. That will probably work out for retirees in the long run

The problem with pension funds is that they assumed something like 8% return on investment. For a variety of reasons, that is unlikely to happen.

If they are heavily pre-funded, they might be able to actually pay out their pension obligations, given a more realistic 3 to 4% return on investment.

[hack89]

25. It was bipartisan legislation - Henry Waxman was a co-sponsor.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-6407

[No Elephants]

27. Yep, that and the Postal Regulatory Commission will not let them raise rates to where they need to

be. However, as hack pointed out, this was bi-partisan legislaton. And, according to the Obama WH, a Republican named Taub played a very significant role in structuring that legislation. And President Obama recently appoint Taub (and another Republican) to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

So, blaming it only Republicans does not really tell the whole story.

I wish I could say otherwise.

[eppur_se_muova]

37. Passed by the LAME DUCK Repuglican Congress --

their little parting shot after they had lost the election, and wouldn't have to face the consequences.

Ed Schulz pounded this point home repeatedly a couple of weeks ago.

[workinclasszero]

10. I can see it now...

5 bucks to send a letter. And it will take two weeks to get there!

[doc03]

12. You gotta deal with reality the USPS is going the

way of buggy whips. I pay most of my bills over the internet, the vast majority of my mail goes straight to the trash can. I live in a small village with a post office and it is also served 5 other rural routes from 5 different post offices.

[ellisonz]

14. The Postal Service still provides an essential national function.

Would you trust UPS with your absentee ballot?

:(

[No Elephants]

28. Your bill payments were never the isse, though. they never kept the Post Office going; and

and the Post Office could survive very well without them forever.

Try running a catalog order business without mail, though. Or ebay. Or, well, you get the point.

If you have not read the thread, give it a shot and find out what the real issues are.

[tabasco]

35. Not true.

The decrease in first class mail volume is the most crippling blow to the USPS finances.

[blaze]

36. Not the requirement to fund their pension plan

for 75 years?

[zbdent]

31. Probably the real loser in this will be the greeting card industry ...

and with a "local" celebrity (Bernie Kosar) having bankrupted his greeting card company, I can see him whining about it ...

(of course, his divorce might have influenced the "bankruptcy", too ... assets being key in a divorce ...)

[lbrtbell]

34. You're not the only person in America, you know

The USPS is important to rural Americans for things like delivery of prescriptions and many other essentials. And you can't live in TOO rural an area, if you can pay all your bills online. In real rural areas, many utilities can't afford to accept credit/debit cards, let alone set up shop online, so you have to mail checks to pay your utilities.

And perhaps your mail goes into the trash can, but those of us with lives actually receive important mail.

[ellisonz]

15. This is fundamentally un-American and foolishly wrong.

Cut defense, fund the post-office.

[bossy22]

16. I'm not too bothered by this

I feel bad for the employees bu t the truth is the postal service has been decreasing in mail load for the last 10years and seems to háve significant over capacity. Mail (unless for packages) is on it's way out thanks to electronic communications. The postal service is not a jobs program.

[CreekDog]

18. but you make it sound like this is to address the USPS's decline, but it's not

it's caused by a structural problem that forces them to prefund their pension obligations beyond what any business or government is expected to do.

your mail service, which people use to pay bills, and paying bills relates back to our economic problems --remember? your mail service will be cut because of an imposed, not actual problem.

that makes it wrong.

[fascisthunter]

23. this is another attack on Unions and our Commons

you just watch how much more expensive it will be to mail stuff once the US postal service is completely privatized. The Postal Services demise is directly related to a political extremist ideology... not because it fails to do what it is supposed to do.

[They_Live]

30. +1

correctomundo

[No Elephants]

29. The post Office processes tons of mail and could still compete with the likes of Fed Ex very easily,

if the assholes in D.C. let it.


And if you are not bothered by this, it is because you have not given the ramifications much thought.


It is not only the employees who will suffer. The economy will. And that is only right off the bat.

Businesses, small and large, will have no choice in the future but to pay whatever exhorbitant rates private carriers, who no longer will be competing with the post office, feel like charging.

When it costs small businesses $25 to mail a $50 jacket, things will really get interesting.

Play out some scenarios.

[NashVegas]

21. Betcha Junk Mail Delivery Won't Change At All

[lynne]

32. A shame they didn't cut Saturday service a while back, maybe -

- it could have made a difference. I've no problem with 3 day a week delivery and it might end up coming to that.

The USPO didn't respond to the advent of the internet as it should have. I've not been to the PO in years. Pay all my bills online. Quit sending Christmas cards years ago. Most packages I receive are via FedEx. My office does 90% of its business online, too. In the midst of this change the USPO didn't figure out a way to remain competitive and have pretty much made themselves extinct.

There are always victims of progress. Just ask my great-grandfather, the 1920's-era wheelwright.

[unkachuck]

33. why....

....do we try to run and fund the Post Office like a business? It's a governmental agency....

....like the military....does the military ever need to show a profit or have it's books balance?

....give the US Postal Service what it needs to serve the American people....

[Dover]

38. They are DETERMINED to kill the U.S. Postal Service! Congress caused this, NOT the postal service.

And notice that the MSM doesn't mention WHY they are struggling so badly!

Both Dems and Pubs are big on privatizationn in general because it serves BIG corporations.
And you can bet prices will go way up with only a couple of major carriers. Same ol' same ol'...
Here's the REAL story (in TruthOut)
U.S. Postal Service - Death By Bathtub Drowning

Strangely, while the president did make reference to refunding the $6.9 billion the Postal Service made to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), he failed to address the $50 billion to 75 billion in overpayments to the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).

Audits performed by the Postal Service's Office of Inspector General and the autonomous Postal Regulatory Commission both confirmed that the Postal Service has been bleeding money by overpaying into worker pension funds, placing the figure at between $50 billion and $75 billion.

It seems odd that the president would recognize the one area of hemorrhaging (FERS) without mentioning this second, far greater source of revenue loss, especially considering the White House's own proposals stand to save the USPS "only" $20 billion over the next few years.

The New York Metro Area Postal Union views this failure to focus on an obvious way to save the USPS as a sign of ineptitude, a nefarious desire to see one of America's oldest public services destroyed, or an unhealthy mixture of both. As a result, the organization put out a statement demanding that Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe resign immediately. If Donahoe fails to resign, the group states, they will call upon the Postal Board of Governors to fire him.

The press release makes specific reference to Donahoe calling upon Congress to nullify part of the union's contract in order to allow him to lay off 120,000 workers. Less than three months earlier, Donahoe had praised the agreement with the APWU, which he claimed would save the USPS $3.8 billion.

Additionally, NYMAPU calls for an independent investigation into the "unprecedented sweetheart retirement package" given to Donahoe's predecessor, former Postmaster John E. Potter.

While the USPS scrambles to save itself from harsh austerity measures, Potter is currently enjoying $3.1 million in pension benefits, in addition to a separate pension established for him by the Postal Board of Governors in 2001 (estimated at $1.35 million,) and accumulated deferred compensation in awards and incentives (another $881,000).

cont'd

http://www.truth-out.org/postal-service-death-bathtub-drowning/1316542679



I hope OWS and other occupiers will pay attention to this along with the rest of us. If these kinds of moves are nipped in the bud before they
erode further our rights we will continue to be victimized by our own corporate-owned government.

[Islandlife]

39. Well, let's hope this will improve cost/effectiveness of the postal system

Can we ever afford trade-offs? I think so.