Does the U.S. Postal Service Deserve a Bailout?

Losing Money Isn't the U.S. Postal Service's Only Problem


By BRUCE WATSON
Posted 5:30 PM 03/02/10
Economy, UPS, Federal Express, Retail


While your mailman may brave rain, snow and dark of night to deliver your mail during the week,
it's looking like he'll spend Saturdays watching cartoons.
Faced with an estimated $7 billion shortfall in 2010, the United States Postal Service (USPS)
is contemplating radical cuts that would slow down service, eliminate Saturday mail delivery,
dramatically alter the post office's workforce, and raise the cost of postage.

Although there are multiple reasons for the USPS's current budget shortfalls, its biggest problem
lies in its bizarre relationship with the federal government.
While the Postal Service is expected to finance itself, it is not allowed to set its own rates,
choose its own hours, or determine its internal policies. To turn the problem around, the USPS
will either need to be directly funded by the government (as is the case in many countries) or
it needs the freedom to set its own prices, policies, and hours.


Problem Number One: Congress Is in the Driver's Seat

Read all about it

and the government wants to control healthcare?

i look at it this way. if it wasn't for the post office, a branch of the federal government, Kriss Kringle never would have been proven as the one and only Santa Claus

KK wrote:

and the government wants to control healthcare?

i look at it this way. if it wasn't for the post office, a branch of the federal government, Kriss Kringle never would have been proven as the one and only Santa Claus

Around here all of the rural mail carriers are private contractors anyways.

NO !!!!

(at work)


I don't even use the the regular mail much at all anymore


I check my mailbox about once a week and it's junk a bunch of advertisements and flyers
maybe if they quit sending all that crap through the USPS the companies could lower prices with the savings



but I do hate to see a bunch of jobs lost right now

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

my mail is NEVER right. my neighbors get my mail or no one does, i get their mail all the time. it is just crazy, but i dont want the mailman going postal so i smile and say hi and curse him under my breath.

in short, NO.

java wrote:

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

i say let it run as a private enterprise.

jamesjchrist wrote:

my mail is NEVER right. my neighbors get my mail or no one does, i get their mail all the time. it is just crazy, but i dont want the mailman going postal so i smile and say hi and curse him under my breath.

in short, NO.

They never mess my mail up. I don't know of a single thing that's ever been dropped. Must be a NY thing. Since I moved though I've started getting a lot more junk mail.

KK wrote:

java wrote:

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

i say let it run as a private enterprise.

The only exclusive they have is for first class mail. I don't want to get my first class mail from Fedex or UPS. More efficient to have it all handled by a single carrier.

The government has how many years to get the postal service right? NO BAIL OUT!

I wish they'd just raise the price of stamps and stfu about it. The biggest cost right now is probably going to be in paying for the big bureaucratic mess of them sitting around whining and begging for bailouts.

java wrote:

KK wrote:

java wrote:

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

i say let it run as a private enterprise.

The only exclusive they have is for first class mail. I don't want to get my first class mail from Fedex or UPS. More efficient to have it all handled by a single carrier.

they have too much real estate, to many local post offices and they go door to door everyday. that's a huge undertaking

KK wrote:

java wrote:

KK wrote:

java wrote:

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

i say let it run as a private enterprise.

The only exclusive they have is for first class mail. I don't want to get my first class mail from Fedex or UPS. More efficient to have it all handled by a single carrier.

they have too much real estate, to many local post offices and they go door to door everyday. that's a huge undertaking

Have them deliver 3 days a week and make them part time.

Joebert wrote:

KK wrote:

java wrote:

KK wrote:

java wrote:

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

i say let it run as a private enterprise.

The only exclusive they have is for first class mail. I don't want to get my first class mail from Fedex or UPS. More efficient to have it all handled by a single carrier.

they have too much real estate, to many local post offices and they go door to door everyday. that's a huge undertaking

Have them deliver 3 days a week and make them part time.

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman

KK wrote:

Joebert wrote:

KK wrote:

java wrote:

KK wrote:

java wrote:

I like snail mail and they do employ a lot of people. Not the worst way they ever came up with to spend our money. 44 cents for a first class letter to anywhere in the US isn't a bad price when you consider how much it would cost to hand deliver it.

i say let it run as a private enterprise.

The only exclusive they have is for first class mail. I don't want to get my first class mail from Fedex or UPS. More efficient to have it all handled by a single carrier.

they have too much real estate, to many local post offices and they go door to door everyday. that's a huge undertaking

Have them deliver 3 days a week and make them part time.

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman

They should pay me personally for allowing them to choke my mailbox with all that crap. I would sue if I could.

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman[/quote]They should pay me personally for allowing them to choke my mailbox with all that crap. I would sue if I could.[/quote]

which is in part why it should carry a higher rate. it's a non essential which is driving up the rates of everything else

KK wrote:

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman

They should pay me personally for allowing them to choke my mailbox with all that crap. I would sue if I could.[/quote]

which is in part why it should carry a higher rate. it's a non essential which is driving up the rates of everything else[/quote]

I agree 100% they need to raise the rates on junk mail and drop the price of stamps. It makes me sick when I see what they charge some of the junk mailers. Check the envelopes and it has the cost sometimes. I alwways look for the pre paid envelpope and send it back to them. That way they have to pay for it twice.

Joebert wrote:

KK wrote:

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman

They should pay me personally for allowing them to choke my mailbox with all that crap. I would sue if I could.

which is in part why it should carry a higher rate. it's a non essential which is driving up the rates of everything else[/quote]

I agree 100% they need to raise the rates on junk mail and drop the price of stamps. It makes me sick when I see what they charge some of the junk mailers. Check the envelopes and it has the cost sometimes. I alwways look for the pre paid envelpope and send it back to them. That way they have to pay for it twice.[/quote]

And then there are those jackasses who drive by and throw those freebie newspapers, which are mostly just advertisements, in your driveway. If I drove around throwing stuff in peoples driveways that they didnt want I'd get a ticket for littering. Whats up with them being able to do it?

BMG wrote:

And then there are those jackasses who drive by and throw those freebie newspapers, which are mostly just advertisements, in your driveway. If I drove around throwing stuff in peoples driveways that they didnt want I'd get a ticket for littering. Whats up with them being able to do it?

I don't get that either but in the town where I last lived one of them was called the "Shopper's Weekly" and I came to find out that the Shopper's Weekly was partly owned by the ex-mayor of the town. I used to stack them neatly in the sidewalk so people would know I was home. One of my biggest gripes about it is that it marks the houses where nobody's home for any potential home burglars who might happen to drive by.

Joebert wrote:

KK wrote:

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman

They should pay me personally for allowing them to choke my mailbox with all that crap. I would sue if I could.

which is in part why it should carry a higher rate. it's a non essential which is driving up the rates of everything else[/quote]

I agree 100% they need to raise the rates on junk mail and drop the price of stamps. It makes me sick when I see what they charge some of the junk mailers. Check the envelopes and it has the cost sometimes. I alwways look for the pre paid envelpope and send it back to them. That way they have to pay for it twice.[/quote]

ok here's a little trick to get some of the junk mail idiots off your back. you'll notice a lot of junk mail comes with a post paid return card attached for you to respond with out having to pay the postage. well tape a brick to it an mail it back. they have to make good on the postage based on the weight. it will cost them about $20

KK wrote:

Joebert wrote:

KK wrote:

charge a higher rate for junk mail. that needs to cover the cost of the postman

They should pay me personally for allowing them to choke my mailbox with all that crap. I would sue if I could.

which is in part why it should carry a higher rate. it's a non essential which is driving up the rates of everything else

I agree 100% they need to raise the rates on junk mail and drop the price of stamps. It makes me sick when I see what they charge some of the junk mailers. Check the envelopes and it has the cost sometimes. I alwways look for the pre paid envelpope and send it back to them. That way they have to pay for it twice.[/quote]

ok here's a little trick to get some of the junk mail idiots off your back. you'll notice a lot of junk mail comes with a post paid return card attached for you to respond with out having to pay the postage. well tape a brick to it an mail it back. they have to make good on the postage based on the weight. it will cost them about $20[/quote]

I don't have that many bricks but I do stuff the envelopes with as much junk as I can. It at least gets them over weight.

tape it to your recycles and send them back

Sssssssssnnnnnnnnfz,

postage , Art work paid for ,cool ,
then the RED DYE used for junk mail goes right next tom recycled rubber !

alivegenieII wrote:

Sssssssssnnnnnnnnfz,

postage , Art work paid for ,cool ,
then the RED DYE used for junk mail goes right next tom recycled rubber !

i should take some pictures of some of the stamps i've got -amazing art work