Our mailman about privatization of the post office......scary.

It is apparently going on. He is hoping for an offer to retire. Several things mentioned, but this one really bothers me. He says that most likely they will stop mail delivery to homes. He said there might be a "cluster" box at the end of a block.

Our country is changing so much right now. I remember my mother trying so hard to keep living alone, nearly blind. She mailed her bills from her home when the postman came.

If you think this is ok, just wait. They "may" shut down many rural facilities and smaller post offices.

One day a neighbor said there was a knock on her door. A postal supervisor asked her what she and the mailman had been discussing two days ago when he brought the mail. She slammed the door in his face.

I love the PO. The Republican see it as competition for private companies which want to make profits.

There is no way a functioning society could run a post office for a profit. It's a loss leader so other commercial activity can take place profitably and efficiently. That's why it's best to socialize the costs, and pay for it out of progressive taxation.

If the PO had to operate on a profit that would satisfy any reasonable private investor, it would have to cut back on so much of what it does, and then there'd have to be multiple tiers of services, and rich people would get the best service, and poor people would get none.

Privatizing the PO is like privatizing roads. America is going to suck if this happens.

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Your sarcasm is not excused. Changes can and should be made without stopping home and rural delivery. Do not fall for those talking points.

They are overhauling our country until I don't recognize it anymore, and you are using sarcasm.

in the world turn a profit...NOT?

The post office is an essential service for the commerce of this country, and it delivers to everyone without discrimination based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, or location. It allows anyone to communicate with anyone else in the country for 37 cents, even if its someone living at the bottom of a canyon in Utah. It is one of the most democratic of our government institutions.

Why don't we require our roads to turn a profit?

it had to turn a profit that would satisfy a private company.

The benefits of the post office are so broad. You can't ask for those profits to flow to everyone who recieves mail AND to the person carrying it, and still have it cheap enough so that the people receiving the mail benefit.

I mean, this is like economics 101. How stupid are Americans if they think that they could pay a fair price to have someone come to their house EVERY DAY with the mail.

What do you think that would cost.

And it's so easy to monopolize price too. Who's going to set up a competing mail delivery service?

installing new equipment over the past few years. this equipment has cut costs dramatically, but still they have to be paid for first. The other big cost has been security mandated by Bush, but not funded. This security has cost the Post Office, and will continue costing the post office.

Actually the Post Office has been one of the most efficient government agencies. They take no tax money from the government, but the government can raid their coffers, then bash the Post Office for losing money.

The universal service also costs the post office. Unlike private companies, the post office has to service all areas, from the Florida Keys to Barrow Alaska. In fact some of the private carriers like FedEX and UPS drop ships to the Post office to make last mile deliveries to unprofitable areas.

also, the Post Office is part of our culture, it is part of what makes us Americans. In its own way, it unites us as a nation. this is why the Republicans hate the Postal service. It is non military, non political service to America. It is done as a service to the people, not to profit, not to power. The Republicans have no choice but to hate anything that is not serving the corporate masters.

The Post Office exists to deliver the mail in the most efficient manner possible--period. It can't do that if it also has to turn a profit. IMO, there is nothing in the world to compare to Express Mail. UPS sucks, DHL is corrupt, and Federal Express is limited to certain markets. But Express Mail is right there, every time. And not particularly expensive.

Your "free market" philosophy doesn't work in a world of Enrons and WorldComs, so why not give it a rest?

There's no way the P.O. can make a profit and still provide service to small communities. There's a reason Wal-Mart doesn't locate in Wamego, Kansas.

It's a farkin' GOVERNMENT FUNCTION. There's no place in GOVERNMENT for PROFITS.

Get a freakin' clue.

Eloriel

has the best chance to beat Bush in the general election. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to think Dems just love to lose. It gives them something to gripe about.

You are not a good representative of your candidate. You must turn everything into a fight.

You hit and run, never answer questions that are asked of you. You turn everything into a potential bash.

This post is about a tragic thing for our country. You are trying to turn it into a candidate bashing.

Shame on you.

I want to see if you appear on every post I make.

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NOW!

Just another way for the low wage republicans to eliminate several hunderd thousand UNION jobs. Fuck these rich bastards - Class warfare - you better fucking believe it and if we don't wake up soon - WE WILL LOSE

When a private company does something, the constitution doesn't apply.

Privatizing things left and right reduces the number of activities which fall under the umbrella of the constitution.

OK, I get it now. That was a joke.

Just wanted to say that.

and remove all doubt as to the idiocy of your statements.

Private companies do not have to honor many federal laws and regulations that government agencies do.

Your ignorance is simply astounding!

And the thing about the Postal Workers Union is that they're just giving lip service to anti privatization.

This is a VERY interesting article about the USPS, globalization, privatization, the union, etc. It's a long article, but ... well, take a look and see what you think.

Bush’s Postal Commission report: a blueprint for privatization
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/oct2003/post-o02_prn.shtml

A few snips ...

Although the report rejects immediate privatization, it does so from the tactical standpoint of the impact such privatization would have on large postal mailers. Business mailers represent a $9 billion industry. The commission cautions that “an abrupt privatization of the Postal Service is far too risky and would unnecessarily destabilize universal mail service. Privatization of a commercial entity the size of the Postal Service could seriously disrupt both mail service and the private postal marketplace.”

A consumer survey conducted for the commission found that a 73 percent of Americans believe postal operations should either remain as is or be improved through only minor changes, while a majority of 67 percent opposed privatization. The survey noted, “A remarkable 53% strongly oppose (privatization), which is an unusual level of intensity.”

-----snip-----

With the guidance of the PRB, the Board of Directors would carry out a systematic destruction of jobs and wages by taking “advantage of corporate best practices.” The report describes these practices as: aggressively outsourcing to the private sector, closure and/or consolidation of facilities into larger centralized operations, institution of a pay-for-performance system to reward management, the performance of pay comparability studies to enforce a pay cap and eliminate premium pay for workers.

Under the heading “Designing a Smaller, Stronger New Postal Network,” the commission proposes closing facilities through the establishment of a Postal Network Optimization Commission (P-NOC), modeled on the independent commission that closed military bases in the mid-1990s. The commission states, “With aggressive business strategies much of the Postal Service’s legacy network could be retired” (emphasis added). Listing distribution plants, airmail and bulk mail centers, etc., the report catalogues 446 such facilities that could be closed with their functions outsourced to private industry.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

-----

Sign the petition against privatization of the USPS at the Postal Employee Network.
http://www.postalemployeenetwork.com/privatization.htm

.rog.

Our mailman is just hoping for early retirement. He is very nervous.

I notice there are almost no mailboxes anywhere in town now. To mail a letter we can no longer walk to the nearby box, we have to drive quite a ways to the post office.

I live in a large metro area, but my dad lives in a small town in KS. There's no way they would keep the post office open there should this privatization continue. I've seen the signs for the past five years - fewer and fewer services, more "self-assisted" machines, etc. My dad doesn't have email, has trouble hearing on the phone - I don't know how I'll communicate with him if the mail is stopped.

Sigh.

if the Democrats aren't so stupid as to completely write off the red states.

Good political strategy? I don't know. But of the others, only Clark has been here, that I know of.

I think this philosophical struggle needs to be settled: Are there services that should be provided by government, even though the services are not and cannot be self-supporting?

I certainly think there are, but I don't believe Dean is the guy who is motivated to oversee their preservation or restoral.

The services that should be provided publicly (I prefer that phrasing to 'by government') are the ones that preserve wellbeing and ...for want of a better word, connectedness. Communication is part of that.

If we didn't have things backwards, the PO would charge much MORE for commercial mail, not less. Nobody needs another dead tree in their mailbox every week extolling the virtues of the same cheap mattresses and fast-food joints.

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Yes, they are making severe changes right now. Yes, it is just a matter of how long and how many.

Just keep rolling those eyes.

Have you sent mail by FedEx or UPS lately?

The last time I sent a letter by FedEx (which I occasionally have to do for my business) it cost $22.00!

FedEx and UPS deliver to every corner of the planet as long as its a town or city that they choose to deliver to. Plus you have to be there to sign for the delivery, and if you're not, you have to go out to some Godforsaken industrial park and wait in line.

Yeah, you have to sign for the delivery of certain things with the post office, but not for every blasted piece of mail.

Fedex is one of the few services that I know I can count on.

The late rates for postal overnight mail are ridiculous.

I think that is the word he used, or the delivery methods? He got confusing on this. He said something about combining the transportation methods? We were not sure exactly what he meant on this.
Still too stunned from hearing about the cluster boxes.

If not proable, that they rent/lease aircraft space back and forth to each other.

I know the phone carriers to it all the time. As an example AT&Ts biggest customer is MCI.

Given that they have to deliver hand addressed material to anywhere, I am very pleased with their service.

Very few letters of mine have ever been lost over the years.

More reliable than the local phone company.


Much better service than UPS.

according to the Consitution, only the Post Office can deliver mail. The repubs would have to dismantle the Consititution. Oops, I forgot, they already are.

Yes, they already have. Those who do not believe are the ones with the problem.
:hi:

in the Times-Argus about this very thing. He was trying to alert people to these profound changes being forced on the Postal Service. His piece was very well-written and had a sense of urgency. It appeared just at the time when I discovered DU, and I wanted to post a thread right away, but couldn't since I was just a beginner. Also, I lost my copy of the editorials page and I'm not sure exactly what date it appeared.
His argument was that under a privatised sorting/delivery process, the quality of service will go down and the cost to the consumer will go up. There are definite possibilities that service to small towns (what else is there in VT?) will be curtailed.

and found that a private company could not deliver first class for less than a dollar. No telling what it would cost now.

A good question is, would you want Ken Lay in charge of your mail delivery?

We have Ken Lays delivering our health care now, boy I wish that would change.

Another topic entirely, I know, but I'm just agreeing with your post using an example.

I'm sure the desire to get rid of their rights is at the heart of the desire to privatize the postal service, not profits/losses.

<snip>
An overwhelming majority of postal employees belong to either labor unions or one of the management or supervisory organizations. The 1970 Postal Reorganization Act authorized collective bargaining on wages and working conditions under laws applying to the private sector and provided for binding arbitration if an impasse persists 180 days after the start of bargaining. The ability of many postal employees to bargain over their pay rates is a right that is not enjoyed by other federal employees, although postal workers, like other federal employees, are still barred from striking.
</snip>

from http://www.federaldaily.com/postal/overview.htm

s_m

My sister is a mail carrier in So. Florida. She told me about four years ago that privatization was a possibility.

Can you imagine if Republicans took over the Post offices the way that they've taken talk radio? Who will feel their privacy is protected?

When I asked the mailman why, he said it was for security, but I never had any security problems.

I had not known of the cluster boxes being in neighborhoods yet. My daughter had one in her apartment complex though.

Priviatization != more efficient!

We need to keep essential services in the hands of the government.

I just love our overpriced privatived bankrupted chapter 11 power company here in Montana...

This is another of their propaganda lies just like deregulation is better or tax cuts mean more revenue. They lie and lie some more and the pity is a majority believe them. Most Government agencies are actually doing a much better job than any private company could manage for the same cost. It always amazes me how they can get away with their constant lying and No One Calls them on it.

I've see the mailbox clusters as late as 10 years ago.

Not in any of the affluent neighborhoods.

Is there jumping into overnight delivery to compete with already well established companys.

Fedex and UPS had been doing overnight for years (and quite well). Then the post office jumped in with heavily subsidized overnight delivery.

In this particular case, there was no need for a government funded service as private companys had already created and filled that need.

Besides, their overnight service is terrible anyway, and they've never come close to the quality levels that fedex has.