U.S. Postal Service Has Not Earned a Profit in Almost a Decade

Here's what I have learned thus far.

the USPS can lose 50 billion bucks, no one blinks an eye,no change in sight, and it's someone else's fault!

And people don't mind baling them out.

very i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t-i-n-g.

They are spending an awful lot of money upgrading their phones to VOIP ( for what cost savings benefit I don't know) for a entity that is hemorrhaging money. I walked in there and the server that manages the phone system had XP blue screen, with a big sign taped on it "do not turn off". They wouldn't let me reboot it "in case it doesn't come up again"
The guy who managed this retired over 1 year prior, and NOBODY knew anything. So they're buying all this $$$$ big Cisco equipment & farming out the management at big $$ since they have nobody competent to manage the system. The old stuff isn't resold, just thrown away.

Ordered an item for my kids for xmas, paid an extra $25 for "overnight", the stupid a-hole actually walked down my driveway on xmas eve, the man door at the garage was open ( and the normal carrier customarily places boxes in there ), but he left with the package clearly marked "overnight". The idiot could not put 2 & 2 together and figure out that this is some kid's xmas present. Had to get it from him on the 26th...

And this ain't my only story.

In my opinion, those who work for useless govt agencies are just collecting a different form of welfare. Adherence to the ridiculous rules is far more important than "customer service". The "service" is more comparable to when a farmer hires out his bull to "service" heifers. Nobody cares about special stamps or any of that crap, I would just be happy to have reliable service. Except for packages, everything else could be sent electronically. With paperless billing, who needs stamps, envelopes, checks.

They could compete if the bureaucracy was removed, but the idiots just add more layers of the same. They boned themselves with the forever stamp, a stamp really needs to be $2.50 for them to catch up.

If UPS or Fedex buys them be assured a good portion of the 500k will lose their "jobs", it seems to me they are just going through the motions.

You would think that with the trend towards online shopping they could capitalize on package delivery, but no. They probably even figured out how to lose money on the stuff they deliver on behalf of Fedex. It should definitely be sold off, maybe by region depending on the penetration of other carriers. It's the bureaucracy that needs to be removed, the pensions, all traces of govt mismanagement. If they can't provide a service with enough value to keep out of the red, we are subsidizing them. Just like welfare & unemployment with a different name. Just like the no-good teacher they can't fire who shows up every day and sits in a room by himself, collecting his paycheck & his pension later. Situations like this are everywhere you look, might as well start with the USPS.

I'm guessing they lost your package recently?

a reply to: neo96

Why'd they lose any money at all though? You don't want to look at that part.

originally posted by: Kali74
Why'd they lose any money at all though? You don't want to look at that part.

A big part is declining revenue due to changing market dynamics which are only going to worsen in the coming years.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: neo96

Why'd they lose any money at all though? You don't want to look at that part.

Because other OPTIONS exist.

THATS WHY.

Right 'blame' congress !!

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Kali74
Why'd they lose any money at all though? You don't want to look at that part.

A big part is declining revenue due to changing market dynamics which are only going to worsen in the coming years.

Right!

That is the part they don't want to look at.

Hell between other carriers, EMAILS those market dynamics.

It's 'congress's' fault!

a reply to: neo96

They are also inefficient in many of their practices, particularly purchasing and maintenance. As someone who sold to them in a previous role, where they were also our largest customer by far, we had visibility to many of the poor operating policies they utilized.

a reply to: neo96

50 billion in a decade vs:

$100 Billion of Corporate Welfare

How much welfare do corporations receive as a direct cash benefit from the U.S. government? According to a recently published Cato Institute policy analysis, it’s nearly 100 billion dollars. We mined the report to visualize which U.S. government agencies or spending categories are the biggest recipients of the largesse of U.S. politicians:

source

Now that's something to complain about!

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Please cite facts for your statement!!!

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

It did cause some loss but they would still be at decent profit margins if it weren't for that Bill.

a reply to: neo96

Other options which cost more for the customer and do not provide good paying jobs.

The USPS

Another fine example of thumb-twitiling administrators just doing their time to get that lucrative pension.

Massive collective failure.

While I believe there was a need for the USPS back in the day, technology has really called into question the need for government to provide mail service.

If we are to keep the USPS, they need to boost the price of a stamp to at least $1.00 if not more for first class mail. The thought that I can send a piece of mail across country for 49 cents is absurd, particularly when you consider most personal mail transactions are done by email these days. Businesses use priority or FedEx/UPS to send time sensitive documents.

The only people using the post office right now are old people and companies using junk mail as marketing.

Simply cutting delivery down to once or twice a week for first class mail and raising first class postage to $1.00 would probably do wonders.

originally posted by: neo96
a reply to: FamCore

What would be helpful is if people would read the article.

It would be NICE.

Actually, I did read the article. You are the one failing to see the absurdity of it.

1. The U.S. postal service is actually one of the powers of the Federal Government outlined in the constitution. So you are ready to start altering the constitution, then?

2. The U.S. postal service is not a business. It is a government service. It is not there to turn profits, but to provide an essential service for the functioning of the country. In fact, if any government agency starts turning a profit, that is when I start questioning it's true intent. Government is not business, and should not be run like a business.

3. So a bailout is inevitable. So what? If we can spend billions bailing out private financial institutions and car companies, a 50 billion dollar bailout is chump change, especially for an actual public institution that everyone uses and needs.

4. The USPS is a mess not because it is a bad or dysfunctional institution, but because we have been electing bad, dysfunctional people in office to run it. Somehow, I don't think the private sector is going to improve this.

a reply to: AlaskanDad

A few years back there was an accident on the NJ Turnpike where the mail ended up spilling into the Meadows. The Postal Inspectors determined the reason the packages went all over the roadway and fell to the swamp below was the mail was not properly tied down.

In response the BMC (Bulk Mail Center) in Jersey City began mandating that each truck have a certain number of nylon tie downs per linear foot. Each of these cost around $15 and the average per truck was 19 tie downs. The problem was instead of using the release latch to open them the employees used box cutters to slice the nylon straps off.

In one year we sold them over $1,000,000 in straps. My commission checks certainly appreciated the laziness.

originally posted by: Edumakated
While I believe there was a need for the USPS back in the day, technology has really called into question the need for government to provide mail service.

If we are to keep the USPS, they need to boost the price of a stamp to at least $1.00 if not more for first class mail. The thought that I can send a piece of mail across country for 49 cents is absurd, particularly when you consider most personal mail transactions are done by email these days. Businesses use priority or FedEx/UPS to send time sensitive documents.

The only people using the post office right now are old people and companies using junk mail as marketing.

Simply cutting delivery down to once or twice a week for first class mail and raising first class postage to $1.00 would probably do wonders.

That is actually a pretty good start, for ideas. 1.00 is nothing.

originally posted by: Kali74
It did cause some loss but they would still be at decent profit margins if it weren't for that Bill.

The issue is it is only going to get worse. They are an anachronistic organization whose business model is rapidly becoming outdated.

originally posted by: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

4. The USPS is a mess not because it is a bad or dysfunctional institution, but because we have been electing bad, dysfunctional people in office to run it. Somehow, I don't think the private sector is going to improve this.

I agree with all your points expect this one. It is very dysfunctional on every level. I have witnessed this dysfunction first hand and found the numerous inefficiencies to be a major factor is its poor fiscal operating record.

Nope, I don't expect government to turn a profit.

It isn't a business.

I want my government to provide the services I tell them I want, and I am willing to pay for those services. We are living the nightmare of elected government "servants" putting personal profit in front of public service. Pretty sure I don't want to make it a requirement for all of my government.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Can you provide citations to back this up?

Having worked in around the postal system I have found them unbelievably prudent and economical in all phases of their operations!