abcnews.go.com — Battered by the economy, the post office is offering early retirement to 150,000 workers, cutting management and closing offices, the agency said Friday. The Postal Service lost $2.8 billion last year and is facing even larger losses this year, despite a rate increase — to 44 cents for first-class mail — scheduled to take effect May 11.
Mar 21, 2009 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountMar 21, 2009
This is getting worse
ndiggnationMar 22, 2009
I live in Cat's Peoria HQ, f**k you man. :)
mrbabymanstfuMar 22, 2009
I have no problem with a 5 day delivery cycle, especially if they nix Tuesday. They'd save a ton in operating expenses by being able to have mail build up for a day twice a week; this would be especially true in very rural areas where often the trucks go out not even half full...assuming that rural route even has physical delivery.
ptherouxMar 22, 2009
Your statement makes no sense. Fedex and UPS make a fine profit delivering far fewer packages than the mail volume of the USPS. There is more to beaing able to break even beyond sheer volume. You need firm to have an incentive to innovate, and right now the post office does not have that incentive.But, let's say you are right, and it would be impossible for any competitor to make a profit. That means there is no harm in legalizing competition, because no one would bother competing anyway.
fedakMar 22, 2009
Junk mail allows the myth that the postal service is cash flow positive to perpetuate.It basically is a form of government subsidized advertising. It wouldn't be cost effective if anyone with the USPS's tax breaks was doing it. Most folks don't want the crap and all other forms of uninvited solicitation (spam, phone solicitation, etc) have been curtailed by law.On top of that, its an enormous waste of resources to be printing the crap, physically transporting it to the populace, and then physically transporting it back to the landfill (or the recycling plant if you are lucky). An opt-out program would allow those folks, like myself, who immediately toss the daily packet of bulk rate crap in the trash unopened to stop getting the service. Then we'd actually see what kind of consumer demand exists for this type of advertising.
brad3378Mar 22, 2009
Talking about it makes it worse still.
omgwtflawlMar 23, 2009
@CRCCulver, comfort1872A government postal service is indeed in the constitution. However, I don't think it is legal or right to ban Fedex and USPS from sending letters/postcards and preventing them from using your mailbox.
alwaysawakeMar 23, 2009
If they are losing money & broke, where do people think they're going to go for money ? The banks & corporations like GM & AIG go to the US Government. And the Postal Service ?
importantnameMar 23, 2009
"Postmaster General John Potter's base salary climbed to $265,000 last year from $186,000 in 2007 and he received a performance bonus of $135,000, all approved by Congress."
notigAug 5, 2009
For the most part I agree except that netflix is pretty cool. Without the post office there is no netflix... and netflix is pretty popular.
rodgere1Aug 7, 2009
F**K THE USPS