What Roosevelt did about the Post Officeexpenses in 1934......

[dixiegrrrrl]

he cancelled postal contracts and had the army fly the mail around.

Feb. 23, 1934, historical note from the Mobile Press Register.

So we got this privatized UPS whose boss gets 800,000 a year, and rate increases are now annual.

Ahem...Dear Mr. President ....are you listening?

[Abq_Sarah]

1. And a lot of people died

The change proved disastrous. Army pilots had not been trained for cross-country or bad weather flying, and their aircraft had no landing lights or navigation instruments found in civilian aircraft. During training alone, three pilots were killed. A storm in the first week of operation killed two more pilots, injured six, and destroyed eight planes. The Air Corps stopped flying for a week, then tried new aircraft such as the Martin B-10. More crashes followed. By March 10, 12 pilots had died in 66 crashes or forced landings. Costs to fly the mail quadrupled, rising to $2.21 per mile. The administration came under scorching criticism.

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/1930-airmail/POL6.htm

Rate increases are to be expected in an age where people can log onto the internet and pay their bills instead of buying stamps. The mandate of the USPS doesn't go away just because people use e-pay and even receive "paperless" statements.

[liberal N proud]

2. Military planes are a little more up to date now

And $800 K is a little bit exuberant though.

[Abq_Sarah]

3. Actually, he didn't get 800K

As a salary. They had to throw in benefits that would boost his "salary". Remember, the USPS as a semi-private organization is in competition with companies that pay their CEOs millions. You do indeed get what you pay for and if you go on the cheap, you're going to get a cheap result. I know a lot of people bitch about Potter but in my previous life I was a letter carrier for 15 years and honestly, I don't think he is doing a bad job in an environment that invites failure. The problem with the USPS is that it is an overwhelming bureaucracy vastly overstuffed with management. There are far too many holdovers from the whips and chains management style days and they need to be removed. Any serious post office restructuring should have involved firing every single supervisor, postmaster, district manager and pencil geek in DC.

[Captain Hilts]

4. It was also intended to spur development of aviation for defense purposes.

Just as NYA kids were taught to fly and repair aircraft.

[barb162]

5. All the planes are in Iraq now and Roosevelt wasn't fighting a war in 34