The United States Post Office at its' finest

[ths61]

What part isn't true?

http://www.carper.senate.gov/public/...myths-vs-facts

"... By some reports, the Postal Service is losing $25 million a day. ..."

"... the Postal Service began borrowing money from the U.S. Treasury Department to deal with its troubles ... reached its borrowing limit of $15 billion in September 2012 ..."

"... She argued that health benefits are not part of the Postal Service’s operating expenses. ..."

Since when has employee's wages, benefit and retirement packages not been an operating expense (Answer: when someone else pays for it or you are playing games with the financial statement to obfuscate the company's true fiscal status) ?

"... The Postal Service wrote in a November 2012 press release that it had a record fiscal year deficit of nearly $16 billion. The agency attributed about 70 percent of that net loss to the health care requirement. ..."

Who is going to pay for the bailout and promised benefit/retirement plans of a company in the red (or bankrupt)?

Where does the government get "its" money to "loan" out? Whose taxes funded the loans ?

[shooter]

Shipped a buddy of mine that was down on his luck some spare -- parts I had laying around. He waterjets them with custom logos and resells them. Shipped them 2 day in a flat rate box. 2 weeks later they ran tracking in them. Told me the GPS was at my buddy's house when it was delivered. However the package wasn't there. 9 days later it arrived.

[jaygollner]

Maybe its time to do the right thing...
Break up USPS, give half to FedEx and the other half to UPS, and save the taxpayers a lot of government waste.

Section. 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

[shooter]

"... By some reports, the Postal Service is losing $25 million a day. ..."

"... the Postal Service began borrowing money from the U.S. Treasury Department to deal with its troubles ... reached its borrowing limit of $15 billion in September 2012 ..."

"... She argued that health benefits are not part of the Postal Service’s operating expenses. ..."

Since when has employee's wages, benefit and retirement packages not been an operating expense (Answer: when someone else pays for it or you are playing games with the financial statement to obfuscate the company's true fiscal status) ?

"... The Postal Service wrote in a November 2012 press release that it had a record fiscal year deficit of nearly $16 billion. The agency attributed about 70 percent of that net loss to the health care requirement. ..."

Who is going to pay for the bailout and promised benefit/retirement plans of a company in the red (or bankrupt)?

Where does the government get "its" money to "loan" out? Whose taxes funded the loans ?

I may be wrong but I don't believe that wages and benefits are the reason they are in the red. I've heard people say that about the car companies. When I worked for GM in the eighties , at our plant in Wentzville MO , only 6% of the total cost of the car was attributed to autoworker wages and benefits. GM numbers , not the union. No , with the postal service it is mismanagement from the top to the bottom. In my local PO you can hang meat in the summer. I've checked it with a laser thermometer at 65 degrees. In the winter you can cook a turkey , measured at 78 degrees. That's 24 hrs per day. Wasteful. They run road tractors transporting the mail to hubs. I've seen them unload. You could carry it in a van. Road tractor gets about 5 mpg. Van gets 15. Wasteful. Our local PO has a person hired full time to clean and mow grass. 15 minutes to mow , grass is minimal , how about a lawn service once a week. Cleaning service for 2 hrs a night would do the trick. They don't try to be frugal. Its not their money.

[ths61]

I may be wrong but I don't believe that wages and benefits are the reason they are in the red. I've heard people say that about the car companies. When I worked for GM in the eighties , at our plant in Wentzville MO , only 6% of the total cost of the car was attributed to autoworker wages and benefits. GM numbers , not the union. No , with the postal service it is mismanagement from the top to the bottom. In my local PO you can hang meat in the summer. I've checked it with a laser thermometer at 65 degrees. In the winter you can cook a turkey , measured at 78 degrees. That's 24 hrs per day. Wasteful. They run road tractors transporting the mail to hubs. I've seen them unload. You could carry it in a van. Road tractor gets about 5 mpg. Van gets 15. Wasteful. Our local PO has a person hired full time to clean and mow grass. 15 minutes to mow , grass is minimal , how about a lawn service once a week. Cleaning service for 2 hrs a night would do the trick. They don't try to be frugal. Its not their money.

The point I was trying to make from the article is 3-fold:

1) They are bleeding red ink and not covering their expenses.
2) They are borrowing money from taxpayers.
3) They are playing games with the books to tell a different story (analogous to BHO & Company instructing the CBO to score BHOCare, but leave out a significant portion of the cost so the "cooked total" comes in at or under his quoted figure). The magic is all in the presentation, don't look behind the curtains.

Where they spend the $$$ is TBD. At my PO, the counter workers perform at the speed of molasses in winter (a.k.a. the DMV).

[shooter]

I'm watching the Pickers. I just saw a 30 second spot for the post office. WTH. They have a monopoly almost. How much are they spending on ads?

[F6B1911]

I agree that a private, commercial firm can generally do a much better job (FEDEX, UPS, DHL, ABF, etc).

I purchased an item from fellow member Coop Creek here, let him tell you how USPS delivered the package.
The package tracking list was like a comedy of errors.

[srt8-in-largo]

9 days for the USPS package.. in contrast to 2 days for a package from Australia. I received them both today.

[Old Ryder]

Here is some pen refills I bought on EBay. I don't know where they are. Est delivery was June 11---today is the 17th.

I printed this sheet and took it to the PO yesterday to see if they could tell me where it was or when it would arrive. 3 people looked at it and handed it back to me and said there was no way to tell. Makes you wonder why the whole purpose of tracking exists.

Btw-----it is the attitude that gets me. Here in the rural sticks, there are high paying jobs. In the city, maybe not, but last I heard there is an estimated 5 year wait for those who pass their stupid test.

[DaWadd]

I've had generally good results using USPS when shipping goods from the US to Canada. Most recent was an order from Rivco, took only 5 business days. UPS and FedEx are way too expensive but usually quicker.