I bet dollars to donuts he has no idea!

http://www.apwu.org/issues/grand-alliance-save-our-public-postal-service

Americans Still Rate the Postal Service Best, Why the Calls for Privatization?

(This article first appeared in the March-April 2018 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine)

Once again, the U.S. Postal Service has been rated most well-liked federal agency by the American public. A recent Gallup poll asked Americans to rate the job performance of 13 key government agencies. Seventy-four percent of respondents rated the USPS as “excellent” or “good,” an increase of two points from 2014.

In more good news, for fiscal year 2017, the Postal Regulatory Commission reported that the USPS experienced an 18 percent increase in Parcel Select volume over 2016, and a 22.9 percent increase in Parcel Select revenue. In addition, First-Class Package volume increased 24.1 percent and revenue increased 34.6 percent from 2016.

Despite the rising popularity and increased usage of the Postal Service, corporate-backed think tanks are still on the offense and pushing privatization.

In a Dec. 14, 2017 editorial piece for Real Clear Markets, Ike Brannon and Jared Whitley of the Cato Institute, stated the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act’s plan to obligate the USPS to prefund retiree health care 75 years into the future over a 10-year period is “a sensible way to address their problem.”

In reality, it created enormous problems for the USPS – an unreasonable burden which has been the reason for financial losses. Furthermore, the bill hampered the Postal Service’s ability to innovate and generate new sources of revenue, such as postal banking.

Andrew Heaton of the R Street Institute and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance argued in The Hill in January that the “the best way to fix the Postal Service” is to privatize, just as, he noted, systems in Germany, the U.K., and other European countries have done.

“The mail still gets delivered,” in Britain, he wrote. At what cost? Royal Mail cut at least 11,000 jobs, and shuttered a fifth of its mail centers and five percent of its delivery offices in the nearly five years since it privatized.

This past October, 110,000 Royal Mail workers represented by the Communications Workers Union (CWU) voted overwhelmingly to strike, citing austerity measures by new management, including closing offices, choosing to provide better service to more profitable areas, closing the pension to new employees, and moving from full-time jobs to part-time and temporary jobs.

Shortly after the vote, CWU General Secretary Len McCluskey told The Mirror, “Royal Mail is looking in the rear-view mirror, taking us backwards. All they are interested in is minimizing costs and maximizing profits for shareholders.”

Ross Marchand, also with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (a pro-privatization group formed by members of right-wing organizations and think tanks such as the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC] and the Heritage Foundation), also wrote to The Hill in January. He decried the “ludicrous schemes keeping the agency in debt,” the worst of which, he said, is delivering packages for Amazon. However, that service – Parcel Select – generated more than $5.6 billion in revenue in 2017. That’s nearly $1 billion more than in 2016.

The Postal Service is as relevant and well-liked as ever in the era of e-commerce. The best way to move forward with a public Postal Service that serves and connects all households and businesses across the world, is to repeal the retiree pre-funding mandate; restore service standards to pre-July 2012 levels; halt post office and plant closures, and consolidations; appoint a Postal Board of Governors and members of the Postal Regulatory Commission who support strong public postal services; and for the USPS to expand services into postal banking.

Great article!

Postal service.

The same idiot greedheads that want to get their mitts on our social security and privatize it want to do the same w the postal service. Same outcome predicted, some profit, we pay more. We need to break through the fox noise to help our fellow Americans say NO!

It was the Bush Administration who put the USPS on said unstable path when they required the organization to fund pensions 75 years in advance.

I mean really?

Anyone interested can read about it in the two articles below that sum it up very well. The USPS was doing just fine before the Grand Old Pirates passed the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act" of 2006. They basically broke in their house and stole all their money and then turned around and blamed them for not being able to pay their bills. They are the ultimate racketeers and unfortunately the deplorables keep electing these disgusting con artists and thugs.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/14486-the-usps-media-fail

https://thinkprogress.org/a-manufactured-crisis-congress-can-let-the-post-office-save-itself-without-mass-layoffs-or-service-4da965b2bc63/

Last edited Fri Apr 13, 2018, 10:11 AM - Edit history (1)

how can we rob the pension money

Here's a hint, Donny, you asshole. Take away that law that makes them fund their pensions up front.

They really do.

Unstable financial path, is it?

Maybe that's because the postal service is a PUBLIC GOOD, which means that we need to fund it with public dollars to ensure that every American at home and abroad, and those to whom they mail letters, parcels or packages will get them undamaged and in a reasonable time.

Geez.

USPS has problems...squeaky wheel...could use a tune-up, but they've been managing. This is the least of the country's problems.

Trumpybear has a grudge with Bezos and Amazon, and it keeps his mind off the approaching Storm.

It's not broken, you have a bug up your ass about the USPS, Spanky. Don't fuck it up.

Rethugs have been salivating at the prospect of privatizing the postal system. I'd bet the Orange Fucktard is too damned dumb to think up this BS angle about Amazon taking advantage. It's all just another phony ruse to swindle American citizens!

Constitution

It is up to Congress to regulate the Post Office, not the executive branch

are ..T R I L L I O N S ..of dollars

Ripe for a GOP wacko to make a deal to stay out of jail.

Let Trump scare free and he'll make billionaires of May oligarchy

for a long time. first they forced them to pay their pension forward and now they want to finish them off.

Now they want to steal it all for some billionaires by taking it private.

he's got it in for Amazon so he will trash USPS, he's got it in for the FBI so he will pardon Scooter Libby, etc

for a report he can't/won't read for punitive reasons.

How can we privatize it so we and our buddies can make money off it.

is the one that is creating the problem with the USPS and the funding for over 75 years of pensions, and you do realize that you would have to have Constitutional Convention to remove the duties of the USPS ---------------you do fucking realize this..............dumb fucker.............


November 2018 cannot get here fast eough

Because Trump is so stupid and shallow, and a narcissist to boot, he is incredibly easy to manipulate by those who are smarter, more devious, and are willing to shamelessly flatter him in order to get Trump to do their bidding.

That's what we're seeing here. Privatising the USPS has been a longtime repug dream. Now that they've got a total idiot moron in the WH, they've seen their best chance yet.

I'll bet that the whole "Amazon cheats the Post Office" thing was part of the same carefully laid plan by the putative Wormtongue(s), rolling it out into moron Trump's ear a piece at a time.

I get uncancelled, denominated postage stamps at 60 cents on the dollar.

Let them raise rates. I don’t care.

Makes for more colorful letters, too.

An important function of the Post Office is often overlooked during political wrangling. The Post Master is often the vehicle for removing organized crime family members. Mail Fraud. Federal Crimes. Interstate Crimes. Cohen is facing crimes associated and/or related to mail fraud.

The are our countries back door to RICO and other types of crimes that may be feared by the crime family in charge.

Abusing his powers by using the Postal Service to hurt Amazon with . He's doing this with each department making them do as he says or else, then promotes policies to destroy anyone who won't bow down to his demands, or for revenge. Every postal worker, every law enforcement person in this country should be enraged how he's doing these agencies now. This guy is a total crook. Can you imagine the disasters, and crimes he'll commit if this guy gets absolute power with no consequences ever, and is allowed to do as he pleases, and it won't be good for anyone in a country with trump justice reigning terror onto the people with.

Staffed with people who believe Trump's rants, the commission will find exactly what he wants them to so he can justify getting rid of the post office in favor of private (i.e., more expensive) corporations.

The Post Office needs to hire this lawyer to protect their rights:

has a point.

If you look at the USPS financials highlights, the things that jump off the page are (for FY2017) are (in millions):

Net loss $ (2,742) <== this is just operations
Total net deficiency $ (58,724) <== this includes all the other financial hoop jumping
Unfunded retirement benefits $ 2,658 <== despite want many people think, funding pension and healthcare liabilities for the next 75 years makes a whole lot of fiscal sense so workers don't end up with the shitty end of the stick due to unfunded pensions and healthcare (google "unfunded pension liabilities" and look at the $5 trillion in unfunded state/local pensions)

In addition to those financials, the USPS has seen a drop off in 1st class, periodical and Marketing mail revenue but an increase in package shipping and international mail but the latter doesn't make up for the drop in former.

Despite this drop in revenue, there has been an increase in the number of employees and in increase in durable goods (mainly vehicles) purchases.

Looking at these issues and the changing face/needs of the postal industry, it makes a certain amount of sense to evaluate USPS operations and make recommendations to ensure that the USPS and the needs of their customers are headed in the same direction so in 5, 10, 15 years we turnaround and see a USPS that is operating in the 21st century with 20th century methods and vision.

make new ones. He probably think it makes him look presidential, and like he's accomplishing something.