Postal Service - Death Imminent

I worked for UPS for 4 years they are not a low stress job......

 

less, not low. huge difference.

 

ok, it took effect in 2007...that's where i got that.

ok, why did Rep. Waxman and another Democrat co-sponsor it and why hasn't anyone in Congress tried to fix it? does it have something to do with the pension payments going to the treasury and it's little more than sucking what little profit there is out of the USPS?

 

If postal workers are contributing $5000 per year today towards retirement and health care, there is an expected growth to these contributions, so that when a postal worker retires, their $5000 investment is then actually $15000. They certainly don't contribute $5000 expecting only to get $5000 back in the future since inflation alone will eat up the money.

Now if the USPS does not accrue the $5000 contribution, and does not earn interest on that cash, when the worker retires, the USPS must come up with $15000 in cash. So while we are told $5000 covers these costs we find out down the road it actually requires $15000 in cash to cover these costs. This also means today the USPS is understating it's actual costs to do business.

Would you give your employer $5000 per year, because they say trust me the money will be available to you when you retire, yet the moment they get YOUR cash instead of accruing it they spend all of it on operating expenses? Can you fathom the risk to the employees in this scenario?

I don't know the details of the USPS law, but in my business and in any business scenario, if I'm supposed to accrue other people's money, I'm going to accrue it...I'm not going to spend it to operate my business...

 

I have also proposed that regular delivery be cut from six days to three days per week (on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) because we can all live with a one day delay on 1/2 of our regular mail service. This would allow a substantial reduction in USPS employees as well as reducing or eliminating overtime for the remaining employees. Priority and Express mail would continue to be delivered six days a week except for holidays and the Post Offices themselves should be open six days per week except for holidays.

The problem is easily resolved so why hasn't it been?

 

I don't have figures available to me on the volume of mail that goes through, but do you think that limiting mail delivery to three days a week would lead to too much mail building up in post offices and distribution centers to feasibly be delivered in one day? I think the way to do it might be a more dynamic easily changeable method, where the post office can judge, maybe a week in advance, what their volume of mail is going to be. This would allow them some flexibility during higher volume times of the year like the holidays and mother's day. The downside of course is that with a dynamic system, things can easily get confusing or complicated.

I like your suggestion, I'm just not sure it would work because I'm not sure just how much mail would be building up on those off days.

 

• `(B) Not later than June 30, 2017, the Office shall compute, and by June 30 of each succeeding year shall recompute, a schedule including a series of annual installments which provide for the liquidation of any liability or surplus by September 30, 2056, or within 15 years, whichever is later, of the net present value determined under subparagraph (A), including interest at the rate used in that computation.
  `(3)(A) The United States Postal Service shall pay into such Fund--
  
  • `(i) $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2007;
    `(ii) $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2008;
    `(iii) $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2009;
    `(iv) $5,500,000,000, not later than September 30, 2010;
    `(v) $5,500,000,000, not later than September 30, 2011;
    `(vi) $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2012;
    `(vii) $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2013;
    `(viii) $5,700,000,000, not later than September 30, 2014;
    `(ix) $5,700,000,000, not later than September 30, 2015; and
    `(x) $5,800,000,000, not later than September 30, 2016.
  `(B) Not later than September 30, 2017, and by September 30 of each succeeding year, the United States Postal Service shall pay into such Fund the sum of--
  
  • `(i) the net present value computed under paragraph (1); and
    `(ii) any annual installment computed under paragraph (2)(B).
    
    
    I don't care what other companies do...the above policy is US law and applicable to the USPS for reasons which have been approved by Bush and Obama and Congress...you really need to ask them why they don't modify or appeal the law.
    
    No matter the prefunding requirement, the USPS is still losing $5 billion per year. This requires immediate action!

 

I just read yesterday that the USPS is now planning to do SAME DAY deliveries! I obviously don't know their business plan but if this brain-fart is not profitable then why are they doing this?

IMO it is IMPOSSIBLE in the USA to achieve consensus on something as complex as the USPS meaning the collective we are incapable of finding agreement on defining the mission of the USPS for the next 20-50 years.

If we can't define the mission then we can't fix the current albatross/dinosaur...

 

Read this; http://postal.oversight.house.gov/postal_surplus.html

No...do not repeal the USPS funding law. The USPS is losing $5 billion per year and this MUST be fixed ASAP!

The pre-funding must be achieved or the taxpayer pays for the under-funded parts of USPS retirement and health care. If we're going to have a USPS, then make it pay for itself.

Most organizations accrue cash to pay for future commitments. How much they accrue has to do with how much they must pay out versus their earning potential in the future.

No...do not eliminate the USPS pre-funding! The fact that the USPS is not funding itself means something is critically wrong with the program...