Monday, September 19, 2011

President steps in, backs postal stability

Without being political, what do you think about this? Will it help? Comment here.

According to Reuters and the Washington Post, the administration has submitted a plan designed to help put the Postal Service back on firm foot.

The plan went to the congressional “Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.”

"Bold action is needed to ensure that USPS can continue to operate in the short run and achieve viability in the long run,” said President Obama in his message to the committee. “The Administration recognizes the enormous value of the Postal Service to the nation’s commerce and communications, as well as the urgent need to reform to ensure its future viability.”

The President’s plan includes the following provisions:

·         Restructure the Retiree Health Benefit Fund’s pre-funding requirement to reduce USPS payments.

·         Provide USPS over a two-year period a refund of the $6.9 billion in surplus funds it has contributed to the Federal Employee Retirement System.

·         Reduce the Postal Service’s operating costs by granting authority to reduce mail delivery from six to five days per week.

·         Allow USPS to offer non-postal products and increase collaboration with state and local governments.

·         Give USPS the ability to better align the costs of postage with the costs of mail delivery.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds good

Anonymous said...

Hallelujah! Never mind that the "administration's proposal" is pretty much what the USPS has been asking for; let the USPS have those working points and let us get on with it!

Anonymous said...

This makes sense for the American people, but the forces that have been planning the destruction of the USPS for the last 20 years or so (CATO Institute and Heritage Foundation, for example) will fight against it. They can almost taste the "profits" from taking the USPS apart and giving the money-earning bits to their friends, like PSI and UPS.

Anonymous said...

This is a good step, but I still don't see how a service organization can improve it's position by reducing service (Saturday delivery and closing offices). Judging by the people I've talked to, this seems to be a City verses country issue. City people don't think Saturday delivery is important and rural residents do think it is important. Maybe Saturday delivery should be stopped on the city routes and kept on the rural routes. This doesn't have to be an all or nothing deal does it?

Anonymous said...

Just having Sunday off even doubles the mail for Monday.
It makes for a longer hours.
Need to always be open 6 days a week.

Anonymous said...

I, too, still object to stopping delivery on Saturdays. In my small rural office, Saturday's volume is second highest for the week, Monday's is the highest. Combining these volumes into one day's delivery would be a nightmare. It would be like having a federal holiday every week!

I could get behind the idea of no city delivery on Saturdays. This makes more sense anyway, since mgmt's whole argument is that businesses are closed on Saturdays. Rural routes usually don't have a lot of businesses that close on Saturdays, so let them deliver on Saturday and avoid the headache (and overtime!) on Mondays!

Anonymous said...

There are hard questions with difficult answers which need to be monitored for the survival of the nation's top communication link--I like email too, but love to go to my real mailbox for mail. It is very difficult to know that American innovation like the car, phone, camera, have been left behind by cheaper and better international corporations--it is sad but the hard truth. I appreciate that Congress knows that the USPS needs to remain viable--now how to make that work--well, my grandchildren will read about it in history books and then we will know how everything turned out and what could have been . , , ,

Anonymous said...

So much for all the talk, talk, talk! While everyone is waiting for someone else to make a decision to "DO" something the Post Office is going deeper in debt! It's time for all those just sitting on their duff to go out and deliver some mail and see what is going on in the REAL WORLD!

Anonymous said...

About time. However, because the USPS wants to change 1c mail commitment to 2-3 days, that will help spread that Saturday and Monday mail a little more evenly throughout the week. I hope?

Anonymous said...

I think that this will help. But, it does not go far enough. There are union employees, who have a "no lay-off" clause in their contract, who are sitting in a room doing nothing & collecting their full pay & benefits. They need to be put to work or sent somewhere that there is work. We are told that when they close our small PO's, that they will TRY to find a place for us to land. If they cannot find a place for us, we will be terminated. I would like to know where that room is that I can go to & sit & still collect full wages & benefits! EAS & craft employees need to be treated the same when it comes to termination!.

Anonymous said...

I to would like to find that room where I can sit and collect wages and benefits.This needs to stop.In my small very rural office we are always working.Leave us alone and let us do our job.

Anonymous said...

Yes, when the mail is an hour late to the office or more there are city carriers that have to go sit in a room and get paid until mail arrives is distributed to their routes then they go to work casing and then delivering the mail and most will get overtime because the mail was late getting to them. Most rural carriers will pitch in in the small offices when the mail finally gets to the office. They help separate and case the mail and throw back what goes to the PO Boxes. So anytime we have late mail there is a lot of carriers,clerks supervisors and Postmasters that do not have much to do until the mail arrives. With the consolidation of the Mail Processing plants the mail will be trucked father and if we have a bad winter the mail will be getting to offices even later and we are going to be sitting around longer with nothing to do until the mail reaches our offices.

Anonymous said...

Now is not the time to tear apart the network that USPS has built, but to preserve it. We have the ONLY network in the US that goes to every address 6 days a week. That truly puts us at an advantage over our competitors. And has anyone thought, that in the event of a national emergency, where information, supplies and meds need to be distributed ASAP to large regions--who will be the shipper of choice? I hate to say it, but based on that alone, perhaps the USPS should be receiving some sort of subsidy from Homeland Security.....

Anonymous said...

In my opinion this is a bold step in helping USPS get back on track. They should have gone to five days a week last year!

Anonymous said...

can you say .. BAILOUT ... look what has happened when "the administration" has gotten involved... $14 TRILLION and counting...

Anonymous said...

I think this is a terrific first step. If only it would stop the tidal wave of small, rural Post Office closings, which are going to destroy so much of our hard-earned customer loyalty and revenue.

Anonymous said...

The majority of you sound as if you are too stupid to deliver the mail.
We cannot follow a postmaster who has sold out our service like this.
I call for a full investigation into corruption and collusion between the bigwigs at UPS, FedEx, and USPS.

Anonymous said...

Comment 17, you sound like EAP would be a good stop for you.

Anonymous said...

A good start, but as stated many times previously, we have to trim the management starting at the top. After HQ is pruned some more, why not eliminate districts? Most of their support is already gone and replaced by computer applications. With the elimination of so many of the smaller offices, a number of the MPOO (managers) positions could also be eliminated.

Exhume said...

I do understand about the Saturday Delivery - frequency. If you change the Delivery Standard "overnight in your area" to two or 3 day delivery area that means you are willing to close "proposed" processing plants. I do not know but I can only speculate that not all Credit Card companies will not be within one of the remaining processing plants. Which puts them in a 2-3 day delivery area. I think that means the normal 3-5 days to reach its destination each way plus the 2-3 days to deliver...means my bill would be in transit for at least 10 days. That just does not sound like a good idea. I think once people get a late fee or two they will switch to paying their bills online...never mind their interest rate going to 24% or higher.
As far as Netflix, or any other service that relys on the Postal Service for timely delivery, they will see their service & profits dwindle. If mail back a Netflix on Tuesday..they get it on Wednesday and I get it back on Thursday. Now I mail on Tuesday they mail back out Wednesday and because I am in a 2-3 days are..chances are I will get it Monday. I myself will see going from 4 discs a week to 2 discs a week...not much of a deal. I will just cancel and stream all content.