POSTAL SERVICE NEEDS TO GET REAL AND CHARGE THE CORRECT COST OF POSTAGE TO DELIVER ITS SERVICES, WHO CAN DO IT FOR $.46??? STOP THE WHINING!

The US mail system of the United States is "no longer financially sustainable," and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is looking for billions of dollars in cuts to its services.

Hello, is there nobody at this organization that has ever seen how a real business operates?

Here is the solution: charge what it costs to provide the service!!!!! Wake up USPS, you must charge what it costs, and then work on eliminating high existing costs.

Why charge 46 cents to mail a letter 2,500 miles when it costs you 95 cents????

Start charging the 95 cents! Yes you will have less letters, but that is the reality, nothing can continue to operate at a loss, and why does nobody in the government seem to understand that simple principle?

The business model must be changed to provide sufficient revenues to support itself.

After all, it is a monopoly, and the only monopoly that can not figure out how to make a profit...figures, it is run by unions and bureaucrats.

The postal service announced Thursday it was considering closing nearly 250 processing facilities, cutting equipment by 50 percent and slowing mail delivery in an extreme cost-cutting effort. It is looking for $3 billion in annual savings.

And as the president and Congress search high and low for ways to boost job creation, up to 35,000 people could be laid off as part of that effort.

"We are forced to face a new reality today,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic."

Since the advent of email and other electronic communication, the postal service has seen a steady decline in its use. More than 43 billion fewer pieces of mail are sent now than they were five years ago. First-class mail has dropped 25 percent, and the transmission of stamped letters is down 36 percent over that time frame. The postage purchased to send first-class mail is a primary source of revenue for the USPS.

The American Postal Workers Union blasted the move.

“The Postal Service should be urging Congress to address the cause of its problems – not slashing service and demolishing its network," union president Cliff Guffey said.

And lawmakers responded to the announcement by repeating their calls for legislative action to help shore up those ailing finances.

"Congress and the administration must act quickly to help the Postal Service save itself," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said. "Failure to act will result in the Postal Service being insolvent within a year, if not sooner, bringing more pain to communities across the country and wreaking havoc on our already fragile economy."

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said it was time for Congress to allow the USPS to act "more like a true business."

"Congress must enact decisive and comprehensive postal reform," he said. How about suggesting that they can raise the price of mail to something that makes financial sense to keep it operating. If Congress will end up giving them billions, what is the point???

The USPS is expected to hit its $15 billion borrowing limit by the end of September and has indicated it would not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due at that time. As the USPS seeks to delay that payment until the end of the year, those struggles are driving concerns that the agency could default.

COMMENTS:

The facts are crystal clear—The USPS is no longer financially viable. It must be cut by 50% to survive. Period!
The Postal Union's statement is nonsensical in the face of undeniable statistics and incredible $ losses.

The best buggy whip in the world is no longer needed if buggies are obsolete—same with the USPS.BY USPS AINT GONNA WORK
Bid it out to UPs, FedEx, and DHL. Quickly.BY Bad Karma
And yet, Karma—- it's in the Constitution.

Is UPS financially viable? Is Fed Ex? Can you mail a letter through either for 45 cents? Not quite. Huge giveAways in preferred rates to political parties and non-profits, and all the other little perks exposed last week in The Hill's article about potential reforms, identified the ship's leaks.BY Honest Abe

Let's just say the USPS, Karma, gets "bid out" and bought by FedEx. Heck—- let's even go so far as to say it's bought out by HalliburtonMail . Then, let's say China takes a commanding stake of the shares of HalliburtonMail . A foreign nation then boasts control of our nation's physical communications delivery system. Brilliant.BY Honest Abe

Just like every government run institution, medicare, social security, public education.. now Obamacare. Fat, bloated, inefficient, sinking like a rock. BY crazy hat

Get Obama to double down on the USPS.BY Jerry

Crazy—- you mean, sorta like Texas?BY Honest Abe on
Post Office? As in Wild Bill Hickok? When will all you nostalgic patriots face reality and let this bloated bison die? Maybe we could get the Pony Express up and running and let the postal workers feed the animals. I love you (Miss) America!BY RazzleDazzle
The government doesn't bail out companies that make reel to reel tape, buggy whips, typewriters or horse-drawn carriages. Why should we do it for the postal service?

Let USPS die and UPS and Fex Ex take over. They work faster and harder (I can get deliveries till 7 PM and the UPS guy jogs up the walk to my house, unlike my 300 lb. USPS guy, who never leaves his truck and moves in slow motion). BY Let it Die

If the postal workers union could be eliminated the USPS's financial problems would be far fewer. BY John

Its the same old story everywhere…we have a Union problem in our country. The current administration and the unions are co-dependent. Until we deal with this core problem, nothing will change…when we do deal with it there will be riots here when the unemployed union workers hit the streets…what are you going to do to prepare yourself…????BY Karl

It's a no brainer for Obama. 5-6 Billion to "save" or create 35,000 jobs. Much better result than the last few stimulus.BY Ben

“The Postal Service should be urging Congress to address the cause of its problems – not slashing service and demolishing its network," union president Cliff Guffey said."

Wow - I guess this d*psh*t means get rid of email and fax machines. Typical union thug.BY Robert Givenson
When whale oil lamps went out of fashion, people stopped buying whale oil. Who needs snail mail when e-mail, telephones and the Internet are available?

Shut it down!BY MrLogical
And this it the same US Government who wants to control our health-care?BY GWK

The union expects taxpayers to foot the bill for their ridiculous benefits and retirement. They don't care who pays for it, as long as they get what they believe is coming to them. Their management is no betterBY eric

The problem is cost not income for the USPS. The cost is associated with too many employees. The postal union has fought modernization over and over. The time has come to lay off union workers and increase automation. BY Only Me

Get rid of the stinkin' union and most problems would cease.BY tubaman
Abe.,

The phrase is "shall have". They shall establish PO and Postal Roads. They have with the world wide web and that new super postal highway called e-mail. As for actual Post Offices private enterprise thru FedEx and UPS have outlets with P.O. Boxes and every Christmas, truck after truck delivers my Santa Claus gifts with great precision. Private enterprise trumps gov't workers any day.BY OH REALLY

I'd have absolutely no problem with my mail being delivered once per week - but only if they GET IT RIGHT! I just waited 8 days for a first class letter from FL to PA…That's just insane.BY steve

What a joke. The USPS solvency "crisis" has everything to do with congress and the law passed in 2006 forcing USPS to fully fund future health care retirement obligations for 75 years in a span of ten years. With out the yearly contribution required USPS would be in the black.

This is something no other private entity would ever do, because the result would be the same, bankruptcy. Congress killed the postal service not the unions.BY Bob

I say cut pay by 15-20% and elimate all overtime work! This would be a good start. Then move on to reducing pension benefits.BY Keving

If the USPS is independent of the US government then why do they have to ask Congress permission to reduce operations to meet their needs? Doesn't a business normally do that when they find operating expenses unsustainable? If you don't need the infrastructure then you 'deep six' it.BY Perplexed

Not surprising! One of the most unpleasant places to go. I often wondered if a sour attitude and long face was required to work for the post office.BY Tamalezebra

It doesn't HAVE to be financially sustainable! This is one constitutional purpose of government. It needn't be profitable. It just shouldn't be wasteful! Sheeeesh…

The mail volume is down, and it's trending down (not a transient drop) then unfortunately, people need to be let go. The post office is bloated, and we as taxpayers can't afford this jobs program. It's time to "truly" privatize the post office.BY Tim

when the horse and buggy was replaced by cars, did congress "act" to subsidize buggy whip makers?

Its time has come and gone. Postal "workers" need to adjust, not look to me to fund their obsolete bloated union salaries and pensions.BY maryjokopechne

First of all, the USPS has laid off employees. I got it two and a half years ago. They just aren't touching the union employees. If they go to a 5 day delivery scheme that would allow them to eliminate 1 out of every 5 carriers. Carriers work a 5 day week, the sixth day has to be covered by a sub. No sixth day, no sub. Add to that the fuel savings for the fleet of vehicles that won't be used for one more day.

Next, keep normal retail business hours. The retail counters where the money comes in the door usually open after people are at work and close before they get home. They need to adjust the operating hours to a more realistic schedule so people can actually use their services. Also, for simple transactions, put the vending machines back in. They were eliminated a few years ago because some bean counter figured that if they were eliminated they could eliminate the clerk job that traveled around and maintained them to save money. Now customers have to stand in line for even a stamp. I could go on and on. They don't want to change. They really just want a hand out from congress. Most of upper management is just riding the bus for retirement.BY Formal USPS Employee

The Post Office is one of the few businesses that is FORCED to balance it's pension requirements yearly…vs. local, state, and federal agencies that simply "push forward" the reckoning day of union contracts bloated retirement benefits. So the crisis comes to light…in real time. Wish ALL union contracts had to be funded in real time…would avoid the empty "lock box" of social security and union/ taxpayer agreements.BY Joe Rumm

Ever wait on an endless line at a post office? Notice the snails pace that union workers work at? This and other poor management policies together with the postal service's inability to identify its market place and compete with private companies such as FedEx and UPS have rendered the system ineffective. Like in so many other industries, if you get rid of the union requirements and over inflated benefits and pensions, the system would do just fine. BY Paul R

The Postal Service is profitable. But the current financial problem stems from advanced payments to the postal union retirement fund - that's the $5.5B payment mentioned at the end of the article. This was part of a deal with the union signed several years ago - which is now bankrupting the Post Office. Like a parasite, killing it's host…BY Jay

as one who grew up with a dad in in USPS pre-FedEx, UPS, DHL, online bill pay, days..

This is an example of private firms doing well and public entities not. While i do hope my dad's retirement is safe, it pains me to see a once viable service driven to extinction, but that it way things evolve.

While my dad has long since retired, I tend to think 1st class mail is the only thing left keeping the USPS around.

Someone with moxy enough to figure out how to make a profit on 1st class-down to bulk and media mail will probably been the death nail ..

Social Security, Medicare are similar things where private companies can provide similar services at a much lower cost. Maybe it is time ALL federal bureaucracies face the same fate as the USPS.

Unions? What unions?BY Jewfromhell
Union labor/pensions costs are surely a major reason the Postal Service going bankrupt.BY snapboy

The inane comments of the postal union president reflect the moronic, head in the sand mindset that led to the situation in the first place!BY Bill Spahr

Isn't USPS the only service that allows a user to send a message with total anonymity?BY JMorcan

Sell it to Walmart, they know how to run an efficient distribution system and make money doing it. BY ScottShot

I wonder how many people are going to starve, freeze or die without a post office branch within 2 miles of their house. BY Joel

The only thing the USPS can do on time is deliver junk mail.
Try sending a package within a state from one side to the other and it takes the Post Office a week. Use UPS and it's a day and you can even track it.
The USPS is a dead horse and all the Unions can do is want more out of it when they already have too much.
Let the horse die in peace and quit trying to feed it.
If the USPS can't operate as a business without Government intervention and operate within its means then they should close the door.BY Richard Head

BY Carrier Pidgeon
"Congress and the administration must act quickly to help the Postal Service save itself," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said. "Failure to act will result in the Postal Service being insolvent within a year, if not sooner, bringing more pain to communities across the country and wreaking havoc on our already fragile economy." … Tell me I didn't read this! This is precisely the horse manure that we've been fed on every facet of our economy…everythi ng is doomed if we don't pour money into keeping it running.

Well, let's take a different approach. Let the USPS be the first government agency to die a natural death. It is a business not unlike buggy whip manufactures at the turn of the last century. It's outdated and provides an unneeded service. Sen. Carper, shame on you for even suggesting these slugs get even one more penny!

As for the mail. Let granny learn how to use Hotmail or Gmail. And no, we won't buy them computers, and give them subsidized government classes on internet use. We'll let this be classified as a private problem - one that government should stay out of.BY Mike_in_Kyiv

"Having the power to…" does not mean "It must…". We need a reform of the postal service which may, indeed, dismantle it for much of the urban US. As for selling off to "Halliburtonmail " and China buying it, if we allow the market to compete then there will be many who will compete to deliver the profitable mail and no "foreign power" can corner the market. Also with the constitutional power on the post, Congress can forbid foreign investment in the system. The currently unprofitable post — well for most things there is email. For the rest, there are couriers.BY Dire Wolf

Holy cow! If the post office has a 20% shortfall charging .44 for first class mail, why isn't anyone proposing raising postage to .55 cents?

[GASP!] You mean [GULP!] CHARGE Americans what it actually COSTS to deliver the mail????! Oh, the horror!BY Ohmaar

The Post office should only operate 3 Days a week NORMAL Delivery. If you want more Delivery's Pay Extra for each Day. 5 or 6 day normal delivery cannot be justified in any way.BY Heythere
Union president Cliff Guffey said, “The Postal Service should be urging Congress to address the cause of its problems – not slashing service and demolishing its network."
The union pay, staffing and pension requirements, along with their owned stooges in Congress ARE the cause of the problem!