How Stupid Are They?

[webenda]

one Governor

Who is the "One Governor?"

[Tom Dempsey]

Well, they couldn't when they had a full board. This whole Post Office issue goes back to the first few years of the Reagan administration. Eliminating the Post Office has been a Republican Party agenda item since the sixties. It's a slow attempt to make the Post Office unprofitable so they can then justify eliminating it in favor of private industry, sorta like fighting wars with civilian contractors when you lack the political intestinal fortitude to mobilize I guess. It'll probably happen eventually and work out for the average US citizen just as well.

[webenda]

Thank you Tom, that explains why the USPS is being strangled to death by politics.

To add to what you said, remember the 2011 proposal by the service to close 3,600 supposedly underused post offices? That created such an uproar that the plan barely survived into 2012 before being abandoned. A subsequent proposal to end Saturday letter delivery also died a miserable death under congressional opposition. The USPS’ ability to carry letter mail even to the farthest reaches of the U.S., regardless of the cost, is a matter of national pride; the establishment of “post offices and post roads” is one of the enumerated responsibilities reserved to Congress under Article 1 of the Constitution. These days, the only initiatives Congress dares to take regarding local post offices is to pass resolutions naming them after local luminaries. They want to destroy the USPS but are afraid of voter backlash.

Hopefully, President Trump's cabinet will reveal the truth to him as to why the United States Post Office is losing many billions of dollars a year. Maybe he will even take back that tweet claiming, "The Post Office [is getting] dumber and poorer?"

[webenda]

Fletcher Martin mural detail from the San Pedro, California, post office.

There are too many opinions on how to fix the post office. [opinion]
(Is it OK to have an opinion on opinions?)
I am all for appointing a USPS Board of Governors and tasking them with fixing it.

Would having a full board enable the Postal Service to change policy set by Congress?

No Roy, the USPS BoG has to operate under the laws passed by Congress.

[Seaboard Air Line Fan]

Stupidity doesn't stop at the boarder of DC, here's what my hometown is doing with our tax dollars:

(from The Virginian Pilot, Nov 29, 2017)

PORTSMOUTH

Council members on Tuesday voted to have city leaders give more than 600 retirees a one-time $500 supplement.

According to a proposal drafted by Chief Financial Officer Alice Kelly, the city will spend about $332,000 for the payment, which will be given to certain members of the city’s closed retirement plans: the Portsmouth Supplemental Retirement System and the Fire and Police Retirement System. About 663 retired employees qualify, according to the proposal.

The money will be given to retirees with 20 years of service with the city or those who retired due to disability. The city expects to give out the supplements in January.

Council members voted unanimously in favor of the supplement, with Vice Mayor Paige Cherry abstaining. He cited his recent election to Portsmouth’s treasurer position, which he’ll assume in January.

How many retirees on this forum get a BONUS from the employer AFTER retirement?!?!?!?!

$332,000 is small beans, but d-a-m-n, especially when this city can't afford it

That's almost $4.00 from every citizen in this small city.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I am all for appointing a USPS Board of Governors and tasking them with fixing it.

Conceptually agree; practicality-wise to get anything done a committee should consist of 2 members, one of whom is absent. 9 members equals 9 directions and a slow train to Nowheresville for the PO. Really just perpetuates the slow death spiral.....

Stupidity doesn't stop at the boarder of DC,

For reasons unknown, most folks tend to think it does and that their local Gov't and such are not the source of problems. Little do they know......literally.

[Roy]

This whole Post Office issue goes back to the first few years of the Reagan administration. Eliminating the Post Office has been a Republican Party agenda item since the sixties. It's a slow attempt to make the Post Office unprofitable so they can then justify eliminating it in favor of private industry, sorta like fighting wars with civilian contractors when you lack the political intestinal fortitude to mobilize I guess. It'll probably happen eventually and work out for the average US citizen just as well.

I wasn't aware of the P.O. agenda, but it's certainly consistent with recent statements that the Republican party exists to cut taxes. I strongly disagree, that what works best for rich psychopaths works best for me. The Post Office, along with other federal services, are designed to serve all Americans. If you can add to what Benjamin Franklin came up with, fine. If you're bent on destroying them, strictly for the sake of cutting taxes on the rich psychopaths, I'd say your values are seriously off.

Regarding taxes, this is a rich nation. Rich individuals have big bank accounts, and the interest from them is where their income comes from. Like my father said, the only use of money, is to make more money. The U.S. should have trillions in assets by now. If it did, we'd all need to pay much less in taxes. Indeed, we might not have to pay taxes at all.

I've heard folks on this board suggest that the U.S. should just default on it's debt. If a default occurred, whatever government is left - whether it's the federal government, or a successor - will have to pay much more, to borrow money. This is one reason why Alexander Hamilton wanted us to have, and to maintain, the highest credit possible.

[Mitch]

So you make it sound like it's perfectly OK for any government program or entity to lose money. The new norm. Bullshit!!!
The post office should be profitable, and if they were charging Amazon and E-bay the same shipping rates, (or very competitive with) FedEx or UPS, they'd be a lot closer to the goal. It sounds like they have given those shippers such great rates that it threatens their own One Package Size/One package rate. And that's just the post office. Take a look at Amtrak! More'n 40 years in business and never once, not a single time, have they had a year with a profit, yet we keep dumpin' money into them. Stuffin' money down a rat hole, if you ask me. If more government programs were run like an actual business, you'd either have better programs, or they'd be gone. But like President Reagan said: "The closest thing to perpetual motion is a government program".

[Rufus T. Firefly]

So you make it sound like it's perfectly OK for any government program or entity to lose money. The new norm. Bullshit!!!
The post office should be profitable, and if they were charging Amazon and E-bay the same shipping rates, (or very competitive with) FedEx or UPS, they'd be a lot closer to the goal. It sounds like they have given those shippers such great rates that it threatens their own One Package Size/One package rate.

I don't know what the deal is with the PO and Amazon (or eBay? That one is odd - discount is pretty much the same as you get if you go on-line with the PO yourself with your own account), but I've never gotten anything from Amazon that was delivered by the PO. Everything has been UPS.

The 1st rate price is still way low........

[Tom Dempsey]

The post office has always been a private corporation run by the government at breakeven (theoretically) since inception. It was profitable right up to the 1980's and the cost of postage barely crept up for the first couple hundred years. Then, a certain faction of a certain political party decided that private business has to be more efficient. Really, go to any post office and you will see all the private delivery businesses dropping off their "shit stops" at the post office. Yes, that's what they call them, had a couple of brothers who had RPS (became FEDEX) routes and one who still drives parttime for big brown. If the post office goes away, your mailing costs will skyrocket and the quality of the delivery will become worse or non existant. The idea that a government should be run like a business just shows that the person holding that idea doesn't understand government or business. Fire away Mitch!

[Roy]

So you make it sound like it's perfectly OK for any government program or entity to lose money. The new norm. Bullshit!!!

Yeah, the military, law enforcement and CDC never turn a profit. So, shut 'em down!

[robert.]

Let me run the post office. I'll show them how to save money. First step would be mailboxes all on one side of the rd. Placed in clusters of 4.Money saved on brake pads alone would be huge. 2nd benefit would be reduced gas consumption. less yearly mileage driven. Saturday delivery is done. Problem is when you cut out Saturday you need less employees. About 16.5% less. Now those guys are on state paid unemployment. It's a hard one savings usually results in employment reduction. It's only a matter of time before the post office is not needed. Everything seems to be going paperless these days. Welfare is direct deposit. Food stamps are a debit card now that gets recharged every month. Post cards come on. Who sends them now. 2 clicks and your whole vacation is on FB. When you really look into it the post office is not environmentally friendly. It will be a big hit to the working man when it goes under.
Taking money in a lump sum from amazon is a good deal. This gives the post post office a guaranteed income. It's like a shot in the arm. A quick boost of capital. It's also no more labor intensive for the post office. They are going there anyway. I watched my mailman he stops at every mailbox. Even if he has nothing for that box. I asked "why". He said " if he comes back to early he would get more added to he run." He also said " people complain if he drops off their mail 20 minutes early" If he drops mail at a house every day around 3:10 and one day at 2:50. that schmuck will complain to his post master. All complaints stay in a letter carriers file. Even if they are semi good complaints.
Be prepared for my postal saving to raise unemployment rates!

[webenda]

So you make it sound like it's perfectly OK for any government program or entity to lose money. The new norm. Bullshit!!!
The post office should be profitable, and if they were charging Amazon and E-bay the same shipping rates, (or very competitive with) FedEx or UPS, they'd be a lot closer to the goal. It sounds like they have given those shippers such great rates that it threatens their own One Package Size/One package rate.

I don't know what the deal is with the PO and Amazon (or eBay? That one is odd - discount is pretty much the same as you get if you go on-line with the PO yourself with your own account), but I've never gotten anything from Amazon that was delivered by the PO. Everything has been UPS.

The 1st rate price is still way low........

The USPS delivers large, lightweight Amazon packages to Tucson residents.

This one contained circuit cards for prototyping in it, about 2 cubic inches volume. The box is 436 cubic inches. It had a lot of airbags in it.

Trump’s intention may not have been a full-frontal attack on the Postal Service anyway: Many Trump-watchers believe he was just airing a grievance against Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO and proprietor of the Washington Post, one of Trump’s least favorite news sources. (Remember Donald Trump vs Rosie O'Donnel?)

[HONDO74]

Trump’s intention may not have been a full-frontal attack on the Postal Service anyway: Many Trump-watchers believe he was just airing a grievance against Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO and proprietor of the Washington Post, one of Trump’s least favorite news sources. (Remember Donald Trump vs Rosie O'Donnel?)

Jeff Bezos and his Washington Post have been trashing Trump for 2 years.

The post office, USPS, UPS and Fedex all have unions. Amazon needs a UNION also.....

[Mitch]

Robert hit the nail squarely. "They are going there anyway"! And those extra stops cost UPS and FedEx money, therefore less profit. But why give it to the USPS? Because their rate is cheaper!! That's what allows UPS to suck off a bit of profit from the rate you're paying, and then foist it off onto the USPS. Everything I've gotten over the last year that I paid UPS rates for, has come by way of the Mail Carrier. (I haven't ordered anything heavy).

And Roy, if it wasn't for YOUR addled thinking, you would know that I'm not talkin' about the military or the Center for Disease Control.

Think about what the President, (a very successful business man), is doing right now in trying to shrink the size of government. The government workforce increased by 180,000 employees under the Obama administration, and so far it has only been shrunk by about 16,000 employees. Many of all government employees belong to unions, which in my opinion, should not even be allowed in government, simply because the union negotiating committees are not sitting across the table from the people who actually have to pay their wages and benefits. Most of the discharges are the result of early retirements, contract buyouts, and better employment opportunities out in the "real" world. Some have come because upper government management levels are now able to unload unproductive employees. It has been proven by the CBO that it takes 2.3 government employees to accomplish the same amount of work in an 8 hour day as it takes a single employee in the private workforce to do the same. Now, stop and think about the billions that go into wages, medical, and retirement benefits for all those unnecessary employees. And often times, wages are issued just to get the employees up to the national median wage, which means that the government is way over-paying anyway.