It’s the biggest civilian employer after Walmart, but apparently the U.S. Postal Service is not too big to fail. Today, the Postal Service said that without Congressional action, it could be bankrupt by the end of next year.
“We will continue our relentless efforts to innovate and improve efficiency. However, the need for changes to legislation, regulations and labor contracts has never been more obvious,” Postal Service Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett said in a statement.
The venerated 235-year-old institution is deep in the red. It lost $8.5 billion last year, shedding 105,000 jobs. In the next ten years, the agency could lose a whopping $238 billion.
Could it really be that the second oldest agency in America, created by Benjamin Franklin to help bind the nation together, is in danger of going out of business?
While not obsolete, mail carriers are certainly carrying less and less mail.
In the 2010 fiscal year, mail carriers delivered 6 billion fewer pieces of mail than in 2009.
Not only is the loss of business a blow, but the kind of mail postal workers are carrying is changing.
The average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year, according to 41pounds.org, a nonprofit organization working to eliminate it.
Junk mail, like advertisements, isn’t as lucrative as first-class mail but it is increasingly the only mail that carriers have to deliver. In 2009, 59 percent of what was stuffed in your mailbox was advertising.
First-class mail, like personal letters, bills and payments, has traditionally generated more than half the postal service’s total revenue, but it continues to drop.
Snail mail is on the same fast track to death as the Yellow Pages and classified ads, all thanks to the Internet.
The post office does not receive tax money to operate, but taxpayers could be on the line if the agency defaults.
Some have suggested privatizing the service, but for now the post office still answers to Congress, and Congress has been reluctant to approve measures like closing local branches of the post office, a move that would save the institution money and help pull it into the black.
The Postal Service has asked Congress to approve other cost-cutting measures such as ending Saturday service, raising the prices of stamps and cutting its obligation to future retirees.
(Source: ABC News)
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17 Responses
Why is it a surprise that a govt entity is WAY in the red like the govt itself?????
Perhaps they should charge more for junk mail that we all throw out anyway.
Boils down to one word. Unions. The amount they are over paying because of the union contracts is out of control. Thanks to our liberal politicians
Raise the price of stamps, or the gov’t should tax emails and use that to support the postal service. Perhaps people will think twice before forwarding rumors and other spam.
IY”H we should have many more simchas in the frum community to send many invitations out by postage, to help the ailing postal service.
3, Your idea is utter lunacy! You need more govt intervention in your life?? I sure as you know what, DONT!
3 (cont)
you must be a lib because by a lib, the answer is ALWAYS a tax and gah’fahbid the govt should STOP SPENDING!
#2,
You fool! United Parcel Service is essentially 100% unionized and is very profitable. Stop blaming the workers, blame incompetent management!
Didn’t Obama, when trying to explain why he thinks Obamacare can work, point to the Post Office as proof that Government agencies CAN compete with the private sector? Seems he is pretty out-of-touch with reality.
#7 charliehall – you little mechutzif.
Be nice to your fellow Yidden, rather than calling your brethren “fools”.
who needs it?
mark levin – Erm, saywhat? No, actually not. I’m not a liberal. I was joking. Way to lose your cool for nothing.
There is something terribly wrong with the management at the United states Postal Service. They should be raking it in. They provide GREAT SERVICE.
I ship with USPS on a daily basis. Time & time again they have proven themselves to be right on time. First class mail from NJ to Los Angeles? 2 – 3 days, ALWAYS. Yep, every time.
If they are losing money, they need to throw out their managers and revamp. There has got to be a reason why everybody else is profiting and they’re not.
#4 – amein!!!
Is anyone surprised that the Post Office is going broke? Has anyone in the upper USPS management stepped inside the Kensington 11218 Post Office Branch. It doesn’t take an outside consultant to see how the place is mismanaged. The tellers are frequently rude and lazy, the supplies are always empty, the place is always dirty, and to top it all off, the manager is a real rude fellow with a bad attitude. Several years ago I looked online to find a number to call the branch to voice my displeasure. What I found was many websites dedicated to how poorly run the Kensington Branch is. Well several years later, the tellers have gotten lazier, the place has gotten dirtier, and the Manager now curses customers in front of others. Now the USPS wonders why their loosing money?! Sheesh!! I now us FedEx
#9 myfriend,
In the comments to another news item, you saluted an attack of vandalism on the property of a fellow Yid, congratulating the perpetrator of the attack. And you criticize ME for not being nice????
If they would charge the same price for junk mail as they do for dirst-class, 2 things might happen.
1. the volume of junk mail will decrease sharply thereby helkping to stop the loss ( a good thing both ways.
2. Fewer personnel will be required to run the poast office – another savings.
Also, I believe that the average postal recipient will be much happier.
Really #7 the usps is profitable? It is funny because according to every number I have seen its not. Oh yeah and that is after having a near monopoly on the mail system. Pretty pathetic they cannot break even.