Tell Congress: Save the post office

[paularoid]

Even though I live in the second or third largest city in my state this issue hits me and all around me here to a -great- degree.

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Subject: Tell Congress: Save the post office
Dear Friend,

We need to save the post office. The Postmaster General wants to close over half of the mail processing centers and over 3,000 mostly rural post offices. And his plan includes laying off almost 220,000 workers. In this economy, that's the last thing we need.

Rural post offices in particular are important institutions. Closing them, especially in areas with little or no access to broadband internet service, could have a major impact on the communities they serve. And closing them won't save much money.

Collectively, all the post offices being considered for closure account for a miniscule amount, four-tenths of one percent, of the postal service's annual budget. As one former Postmaster General said, "That's not even a drop in the bucket. The bucket won't ripple."

I just signed a petition telling Congress to save the post office. I hope you do, too.

You can find more information and sign the petition at the link below.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/...fzWx&rc=paste1

[DaveM]

More than 800 of the post offices to be closed are in Minnesota. Some I can certainly understand--we have towns of a couple hundred people (or less) that have a "post office" in a convenience store that is open two hours a day (I know of one town near my old home which maintains a "post office" for six customers who come in to pick up their mail!). Others....for now, the post office in my home town (pop. 3500) remains open, but for some reason, most of their mail carriers have been laid off and replaced by extending the routes for carriers in the next town over. This is leading to 12 hour days, which means overtime--I do not understand how that can be a net savings.

If necessary for the bottom line, I have little trouble with an increase in the cost of postage (though I hope it will be across the board and include junk mail, which currently ships at a fraction of the cost of First Class Mail) or the discontinuation of Saturday mail delivery (which was the norm some years ago). But if people are to be deprived of services....that I cannot abide.

It will sound strange, but I have often wondered if a new look should be given at shipping mail via rail (currently commercial airlines, the Postal Service's fleet of cargo jets and trucks, and commercial trucks carry virtually all mail). I cannot imagine that it would result in a significant slowdown in delivery time (trains actually travel faster than trucks in some situations), especially for Parcel Post and the aforementioned bulk (junk) mail. Rail is the most efficient method of transportation on earth. It would almost certainly save money for the Postal Service AND provide a badly-needed cash influx to railroads. And in time, perhaps something of a return to the greatest mass-transit system this country ever had.

The Postal Service is vitally important to me since I sell things online and since I ship worldwide, UPS (the only available local alternative) simply cannot compete. My business suffers now because a two pound package that cost $3.20 (Priority Mail) for many years now can approach $10. The difference is essentially reflected in the prices people are willing to pay for items (multiply that amount by 60 or so packages a month and it adds up!). Indeed, lower-priced items rarely sell at all. I, and I believe my customers as well, would be perfectly happy to wait a day or more for their parcels in exchange for reliable and perhaps even cheaper service.

Edited to add: if the savings incurred by closing post offices is that small, one does have to wonder why they want to bother. The paperwork involved will probably offset any savings.

[paularoid]

The whole problem is that a previous (under Bu$h I believe but I could be wrong) administration passed some bull$h!t law that says that the post office has to PRE-pay all the costs of medical benefits or something like that for some great period of time. I may not have that all exactly correct but I know it's something like that.

Even the folks that work at the USPS are saying that this thing that they have to do (by law) is what's breaking them and just getting rid of that or modifying it to be reasonable will solve all the problems. Simple and straightforward.

Many think that this is just a way to privatize the whole thing the way a certain political party wishes to do.

[DaveM]

Actually I think I recall a postal clerk mentioning that--something like three years ago at least. He expected the P.O. to be bankrupt within a few months. And it was because of the pre-pay issue.

[razal]

Thank you for this, Paul.

The Postal Service was never meant to be a profit making enterprise, but a service for all the people. It is the reason someone can send a letter to Timbuktu, Alabama or NYC for the same price. Despite technology, it is an integral part of our infrastructure. The powers that be deregulated banks and airlines and look what that got us. The pull and tug is to privatize the PO. How much do you think a letter to or from Timbuktu, Alabama will cost then?

As this article states, "Wake up America, they're coming for the Post Office".
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate...-destroying-it

[DaveM]

Funny thing is, during the 19th Century it was fairly popular for anti-government folks to start their own postal services (Lysander Spooner did so for over a year and made a profit). While the Postal Service is now supposed to be "semi private", it is still regulated in much the same way as the former Post Office when it was a government department. This prevents many cost-saving measures which a truly private business is permitted. Partnerships with other shipping companies come readily to mind--the Postal Service does have a "limited" partnership agreement with Federal Express, but it is limited indeed. And by law, no one can ship First Class mail unless they charge at least the same price as the Postal Service.

Perhaps what the Postal Service needs is fewer restraints and a bit of help from others already in the same business. I've never been all that crazy about UPS due to its habit of smashing packages, but they and others have the infrastructure in place to "assist" the Postal Service in many ways. Perhaps they could take over some mail delivery in some areas served by tiny Post Offices. After all, UPS prides itself on going and being everywhere.

The ultimate, of course, would be to let Jehovah's Witnesses deliver the mail. They just might do it for free,

[Bat]

Gee, Dave, Do Jehovah's Witnesses believe in the Post Office??

[DaveM]

Ummmm....I've never bothered to ask, actually.

[lucille]

I may be wrong, but I think I read somewhere that Australia's post offices are booming. We have a lot of little agency post offices in local shops and news agencies, and within about a 2 mile radius of me there are 3. The boom is due to the amount of people shopping online. My 'parcel postie' has just about become my BFF, and says he has never been busier.

[janisian]

You know, I could save them billions of dollars with a few simple steps:
-- When I was a kid, first class mail arrived in 2-3 days, not overnight. We don't need it that fast. Especially in this age of email, bring back slower postal delivery! The USPS may think their competition is FedEx or UPS or other overnight-availability services, but in the main, that's not it. The competition is because it's so easy to send via those companies (usually), and to track.

-- The old customs form was one sheet of paper, green and white, easy to fill in. The new one is five pages - even my local post office doesn't know what to do with all of them! It's impossible to fill out unless you do it two or three times. The excuse is that it's for "security", but I personally think it was just some idiot in Washington who never has to mail his own packages. Bring back the old one and save all that paper - and time.
-- We don't need mail on Saturdays. Let the people who are working those days do other jobs that fall behind, sorting, forwarding and such.
-- Last and most important, charge junk mail at regular rates. Not news magazines, not stuff like National Geographic -- but the thousands of pieces of crapola mailed out every day to "XXXX or current resident", and the dozens of catalogues I get that I just dump in the recycling bin. If they even had to pay media mail rates, that would dry up - and what didn't, would provide a lot of extra income.

I love our local postal service. I hate that they're controlled by a government that's completely out of touch.
Just my two cents.