Will Deadbeat USPS Take Saturday Off?
Tuesday February 19th, 2013 • Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:20am PDT • 11 Comments
The hefty raises given to U.S. Postal Service bosses did not prevent losses of more than $15 billion last year. The postal bosses now want to reduce those massive losses by eliminating Saturday mail delivery, a congressional mandate dating from 1981. But since 2007 first-class mail volume has declined by 37 percent, giving way to email, online bill-pay, and other electronic conveniences. Roughly 70 percent of Americans now favor five-day delivery, also backed by the Obama administration.
Postmaster General Patrick R. Donohoe, whose pay rose from $384,229 in 2011 to $512,093 in 2012, said “this is too big of a cost savings for us to ignore.” Trouble is, allegedly cost-conscious postal bosses are running into furious opposition.
Some lawmakers claim the USPS can’t drop Saturday delivery without approval from Congress. Rep Jose Serrano, New York Democrat, called for a “restructuring and reform package” that boosts efficiency “while maintaining vital services like Saturday delivery.”
Some businesses want to continue Saturday delivery but the strongest objection to ending it comes from government employee union bosses. Fredric Roland of the National Association of Letter Carriers said ending Saturday delivery is a “disastrous idea” that would hurt business, the elderly and the disabled. Government employee unions wield considerable clout, and that kind of rhetoric targets Congress. So whatever the cost savings, ending Saturday delivery is far from a done deal, even with support from the president and the people.
The USPS has been closing post offices, reducing hours, cutting staff and raising the price of a first-class stamp, which drew no object from Congress. Yet the USPS remains a big-time loser and government finds it hard to let the deadbeat take Saturday off. That should tell embattled taxpayers that prospects for serious reform in all federal agencies remain dim.
Meanwhile, if legislators want to reform the postal service they should end both Saturday delivery and the USPS monopoly on first-class mail. That would be real change people could believe in.
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Siegfried A. Revelo says:
What I really think is that this is a trick, and some how they will continue Saturday service with a big price tag; than is going to give the people no choice to pay all in the name of progress. Eventually it happened but not this year; opening a web page USPS mail Saturday with higher fees and ways to track your mail 24/7.
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sue vandegenachte says:
USPS monopoly on 1st class mail? Do you want some other “mailing” company who hires some low class jerk to have access to your mail on the day that you get a check or some legal papers that you HAVE to have. We now have sanctity of the mail. It is now a federal crime to go into someone else’s mailbox. Period. That will be gone. Also, Fed-x and UPS do not want our 1st class mail. Actually USPS delivers a lot of their packages, so while you are paying them more than we would charge, we are delivering it for them. The reason we are broke is because of Congress. Read up on what Congress is doing to the Post Office before concluding that the Post Office is totally to blame. Also, we DO NOT GET TAXPAYER MONEY. Check your facts first next time.
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jerry smothers says:
We know the government messes up everything it runs. We can look forward to healthcare disaster, fiasco.
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R Webber says:
The problem of cost-cutting is not being dealt with in a serious manner. Higher-ups in USPS, who sit in their fabulous offices & who probably have never delivered a piece of mail in their career, are continuing to make ridiculous decisions & policies. Those who know where the cost-cutting can be done, who deal with the actual mail & the customers, are the folks that can make it happen. The carriers & the clerks can tell you exactly where the cost-savings could be. And I am not speaking as a union member, but a practical employee. You can start by giving pink slips to the over-paid management, who contribute nothing to the process except for alot of hot air. The carriers & clerks already deal with 2 days worth of mail on Mondays. If you cut Saturday delivery, we will then be handling 3 days worth of mail. Throw in a Monday holiday & we will be trying to deliver 4 days worth. Not possible in a regular 8-10 hour work day. Don’t penalize the average postal worker. Cut the fat at the top!
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If Congress is funding the USPS, then it is their right to tell the USPS what it must do. If they are not funding the USPS then they need to butt out of the scene and allow the USPS management to make its own financial decision.
It is good to see the USPS in financial trouble. They are not awake and aware enough to know that their competitors do not make customers wait until 3pm, 5pm and 7pm before doing collections to forward the mail. As a manager I would add collection times of 8am, 10am and 12 noon. Then get the mail moving not just pile it up awaiting delivery.
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I don’t mind stopping Sat deliveries until I find out the Postmaster General got quite a raise. What’s this about? If they’re in such dire straits apparently he doesn’t deserve one. How can he in good conscience take that much of a raise? I say fire him with no severance & rehire someone that would appreciate a decent wage
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DB says:
The author of this post is obviously ignorant of the truth about the goings on of the USPS and the Congress imposed debt that it carries. The losses the USPS has had recently are the directly the fault of Congress! The letter carriers union is not that strong and its getting weaker all the time. Do your homework dude!
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Sue, Why should anyone be forced to pay a monopoly to deliver a message for them? And your claim of privacy is completely false as the USPS intercepts mail on a regular basis and allows various government agencies to see it and without warrant.
We have also shown that the USPS receives federal funding as well as special privileges that no private firm is allowed.
The USPS is a socialist scam for the benefit of government employee unions who ruthlessly fight against any competition and the ending of their government privileges.
The fact that these unions now want a taxpayer-funded bailout is Exhibit A.
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[...] workers, useless departments such as the federal Department of Education, the elimination of Saturday mail delivery, and wasteful military hardware programs, among countless [...]
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[...] lost nearly $16 billion last year and has been attempting to cut costs by, among other measures, ending delivery of mail on Saturday. This simple, common-sense step has proved difficult and now Congress is backing off from its plan [...]
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