Rep. Issa proposes US Postal Service phase out door-to-door delivery. . .

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"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"
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.... Such have been the words associated with the United States Postal Service throughout it's history. They beat snow and they beat rain. They even beat gloom of night and countless other challenges. All to be screwed by one little Congressional axe man in California.

Now, thanks to Congressman Issa's idea...they may not even have to get out of their little truck to deliver anything in most cases!

In an effort designed to cut costs at the cash-strapped agency by up to $4.5 billion a year, Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is proposing the U.S Postal Service phase out door-to-door delivery and shift service curbside and to neighborhood cluster boxes.

The proposal — due for vote by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday — would affect about 37 million residences and businesses.

Well, on one hand, I CAN see the point. You know what though? There is a Congressional Gym and there are perks and benefits these turkeys get that make the USPS look like nobodies business on the benefit overkill scale. Let's trim a little fat off Congressional costs ...and there are MANY places for it.

"A balanced approach to saving the Postal Service means allowing USPS to adapt to America's changing use of mail,'' Issa said in a statement. "Done right, these reforms can improve the customer experience through a more efficient Postal Service."

No... This isn't about efficiency. If it were, they'd have every aspect of benefits and perks stripped to the bare minimums possible to sustain under Union demand before cutting one of the CORE aspects of the entire Postal Service.

In this case, even THEIR OWN Union is against this. I'm amazed I'd agree with them on anything, but this is cutting to the point of cheesy, all around.

The National Letter Carriers Union, which opposes ending six-day delivery, is also against ending door-to-door delivery, which is says would hurt jobs and harm elderly and shut-ins who would have difficulty receiving mail.

Source

- Kali, a member here, has a real problem with Issa ...and I've never paid THAT much attention to this man to really see why, either way. NOW I am starting to see why she and others have such an issue with him. Oh, seeing him outside the investigations which have generally drawn my attention? This guy is a Grade A, USDA certified Ass Hat.

"Cuts for thee but none for me!" That's HIS motto, apparently.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000

The National Letter Carriers Union, which opposes ending six-day delivery, is also against ending door-to-door delivery, which is says would hurt jobs and harm elderly and shut-ins who would have difficulty receiving mail.

Source

I agree with the National Letter Carriers Union; jobs would be taken away and the elderly and the disabled would suffer. I think Issa is a jerk!

My understanding for my rural area is that in August, Saturday letter delivery will be stopped. I can live with that idea.

Given the USPS is funded by its postage, etc, it may not be a big tax payer issue. Hopefully the USPS people will find a solution if the economics are slipping.

reply to post by roadgravel


Saturday Delivery, I've never been opposed to seeing end. Honestly, I don't much WANT Saturday delivery anyway. Not much good comes in snail mail anymore. Friends use Email and packages use FedEx. Who wants a bill or other bad news surprise on a Saturday morning? It can hold till Monday. THAT seemed a logical cut, to me.

Dropping door service though? Okay... Why even have delivery in most places then? Why not just build BIG annexes to every town's post office with a little individual P.O. Box for every household, as some gated and closed communities do for it.

...I better shut up. I'll give someone ideas and that'll be the next proposal we hear about. :shk:

Originally posted by caladonea

I agree with the National Letter Carriers Union; jobs would be taken away and the elderly and the disabled would suffer. I think Issa is a jerk!

Hmm... I live in a state with one of the oldest populations in the nation. Most of those people live in rural parts of this rural state. Very few get door to door delivery. It's like a thing around here to go to the post office and check your box and chat it up with the other geriatrics.

Not saying it wouldnt affect the elderly and disabled. Just saying I dont see it and I live in elderly/disabled mecca.

Offering to help them usually gets you slapped.

As far as the jobs thing goes...do we really want to artificially prop up jobs that dont need to be done? Gas pumpers in NJ come to mind. I suppose if it's admitted as being charity for the unemployable that's fine but these people like to pretend they're important, special and worth more than they actually are.

Looking at the 2013 USPS pay scales I have to wonder WTF?!?!?

Can you read? Can you sit on your ass for extended periods of time? Here's $50K!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


It was mentioned that the USPS would delivery packages on Saturday.

Can you image a large city with everyone going to the post office for mail. Out here, I would have to drive 20 miles to get to get mail. Ouch. That postage is to pay for it to be delivered.

Digital mail can be good but it is not very private and secure, in general. Encryption? How many will lose keys, etc. FedEx and UPS are a killer in price for a document.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

delivery and shift service curbside and to neighborhood cluster boxes.

I wasnt aware they still did door to door. We've been using the method Issa is talking about for, hell I dunno 20 years or something? Works out fine.

Maybe I am old-fashioned but I am one of those people who enjoy getting my mail. I can understand not getting Saturday delivery and I'm not against it but it seems as if this is just the beginning. Phasing out door-to-door, then phasing out individual delivery, then eventually deciding to receive mail online only, etc...

What happened to the joy of receiving a card in the mail? I enjoy reading hand-written letters, in CURSIVE (does anyone do this anymore? Is it still being taught in schools?) It is more personal and gratifying than a simple email.

I feel for the postal workers. Less jobs, less pay, falling into financial collapse. It's really sad.

Privatize the Post Office. Continue the door-to-door delivery, just make it a franchise and not a government program.

My 2 cents.

There are TV commercials running that say the USPS is not subsidized by taxpayers and gets its money solely through the sale of stamps and other services.

Therefore, it needs to be run like any other business. If the old model isn't working anymore, change it, revamp the model. Do what needs to be done to stay open. If you continue running a business using a model that is obviously failing, in time it will simply cease to exist.

Some exception process can be put into place to address the shut ins.

Originally posted by texasgirl
Maybe I am old-fashioned but I am one of those people who enjoy getting my mail. I can understand not getting Saturday delivery and I'm not against it but it seems as if this is just the beginning. Phasing out door-to-door, then phasing out individual delivery, then eventually deciding to receive mail online only, etc...

What happened to the joy of receiving a card in the mail? I enjoy reading hand-written letters, in CURSIVE (does anyone do this anymore? Is it still being taught in schools?) It is more personal and gratifying than a simple email.

I feel for the postal workers. Less jobs, less pay, falling into financial collapse. It's really sad.

lol@cursive I dunno if they still teach that. I had to learn it. I have some ideas about digital mail myself but all those details arent worked out yet. Proper stuff is not in place but i could see it at some point.

reply to post by queenofswords

Yes, USPS needs reevaluate itself. Going private will just up the costs to some outrageous amount. Never underestimate the greed of most higher ups running a business.

Want to send an average package. $10+ dollars now. FedEx a letter, about the same.

the republicans have been pushing to have the post office go bankrupt. their goal all along has been to privatize it. the reason that the PO is losing money was because republicans fast tracked retirement funding to the tune of 3 to 5 billion a year, instead of a more graduated form of funding used by every private business. my wife retired as a supervisor from the P.O. and even at her retirement grade, the healthcare costs are now at $550 a month for the 2 of us...why is the PO in this position?....because this is a federal entity that has worked just fine for decades, and if you are a republican, you can't bitch about how bad government works, if a part of it is successful, so they had to create a funding crisis. this plays real well to the stupid public, who only hear how the post office is losing billions a year.

I have mixed thoughts on this.

On one hand, it sucks for people that have limited mobility and rely on the mailman popping their mail in a box at their driveway or a slot in their front door. That is really unfair to them.

On the other hand...the USPS has done this to themselves in a sense. For decades the post office has paid very high wages and made big retirement promises that was just unrealistic. Especially as alternative delivery methods became more mainstream.

Couple that with the fact that they do not always hire the most efficient workers or the "sharpest knives in the drawer"...they get what they ask for. Yeah, sure...you take a civil service test...but...did you know...you get "bonus points" added to your test score for a whole handful of reasons...Veteran? Bonus points. Minority? Bonus points. Female? Bonus points. Handicapped? Bonus points. So...if you are a handicapped femal minority that is a veteran...you can fail the test and still score higher than someone who is not those things and actually passed the test.

The GOV is totally inefficient and overly expensive for stupid hiring practices like this...and "We the people" inevitably pay the final price for it.

reply to post by beezzer

According to the laws under which it now operates, the U.S. Postal Service is a semi-independent federal agency, mandated to be revenue-neutral. That is, it is supposed to break even, not make a profit.

Around $96 million is budgeted annually by Congress for the "Postal Service Fund." These funds are used to compensate USPS for postage-free mailing for all legally blind persons and for mail-in election ballots sent from US citizens living overseas. A portion of the funds also pays USPS for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies.

about.com

Not normally a source I would use but it had a pretty concise summary of the USPS and how it functions.

Here's the real crux of the problem.

It is true that USPS is facing fiscal challenges — it lost nearly $20 billion over the last four years and is at risk of not being able to meet a $5.5 billion mandated payment to the Treasury at the end of this month (which has been put off six weeks thanks to the last continuing resolution in Congress).
But what has been lost in the political debate over the Post Office is why it is losing this money. Major media coverage points to the rise of email or Internet services and the inefficiency of the post model as the major culprits. While these factors may cause some fiscal pain, almost all of the postal service’s losses over the last four years can be traced back to a single, artificial restriction forced onto the Post Office by the Republican-led Congress in 2006.
At the very end of that year, Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA). Under PAEA, USPS was forced to “prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten-year time span” — meaning that it had to put aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees it hasn’t even hired yet, something “that no other government or private corporation is required to do.”

thinkprogress

Almost seems like a conspiracy to eliminate the USPS doesn't it?

reply to post by Kali74


Interesting and suspicious.

Cant help but take a look around at all the other government and private jobs that dont have this requirement struggling or even defaulting on pensions and I have to ask if the only real affect this has is to demonstrate the inevitable.

It certainly is aiding in this current collapse of the USPS but we cant say with any certainty that the USPS would or could avoid this problem in the not too distant future anyway. What would make the USPS so special that a problem afflicting every other government office and many private firms wouldnt affect them?

Without some huge innovation or change in practice the decline of the USPS is on a track it cant hop whether or not this legislation were enacted.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
reply to post by Kali74

 

Interesting and suspicious.

Cant help but take a look around at all the other government and private jobs that dont have this requirement struggling or even defaulting on pensions and I have to ask if the only real affect this has is to demonstrate the inevitable.

It certainly is aiding in this current collapse of the USPS but we cant say with any certainty that the USPS would or could avoid this problem in the not too distant future anyway. What would make the USPS so special that a problem afflicting every other government office and many private firms wouldnt affect them?

Without some huge innovation or change in practice the decline of the USPS is on a track it cant hop whether or not this legislation were enacted.

edit on 24-7-2013 by thisguyrighthere because: (no reason given)

No other agency or business on the planet is required to pay a retirement package 75 years into the future. They are required to pay 5.5 Billion dollars a year to the Dept. of Treasury which holds the money in trust for employees that haven't even been born yet. How can you possibly say that legislation isn't the direct cause of their financial problems. Mind you the USPS can currently pay all it's employees just fine, it can pay all it's operational costs just fine, what it's defaulting on is that 5.5 Billion it's supposed to pay per year.

And what of that 25 Billion dollar trust? What happens to it when USPS collapses?

"Well uh see, what happened was..." "Hey look over there... Obama something something something, liberals blah blah marxism!"

reply to post by Kali74


Nice reply.

So the republicans forced a deficit onto the USPS.

Another reason, therefore, to have it go private so that either side won't use the USPS as a playing piece on the gameboard of government.

With the competition of FedEx and UPS, it's only a matter of time before they get pushed out of the way, regardless. Why not open it up to enterprise?

Originally posted by Nephalim
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

delivery and shift service curbside and to neighborhood cluster boxes.

I wasnt aware they still did door to door. We've been using the method Issa is talking about for, hell I dunno 20 years or something? Works out fine.

edit on 24-7-2013 by Nephalim because: (no reason given)

egad the piece of crap "super mailbox" from Canada post. oh sure it works fine (NOT), and hasn't since it's inception. lets see roads blocked due to cars all pulled over as people end up DRIVING their cars to pick up the mail (can sometimes be a block or two away from your home). getting wet picking up your mail when it rains, not to mention getting muddy from the fact that all the grass at the boxes gets trampled down and turned to mud. getting wet and dirty from slush and snow, as well as mailboxes becoming inaccessible sometimes after a snowplow plows them in. they are like a BIG apartment mail area with blocks worth of boxes inconveniently a distance from your home nicely placed outside in the open. having to wait in the cold as a neighbor fumbles around trying to get his mail in the freezing winter. using a lighter to try to thaw the frozen lock on your box. can't get your mail at night sometimes due to the teenage thugs hanging around possibly waiting to mug you, drinking smoking and doing drugs. also in some areas being place so far away from anything (to be more convenient for everybody) leaves plenty of time with no one around to see people trying to break into them, tip them over ect. i know one person who because their road is not plowed (out in the country) they have about a mile (and that is using a shortcut through a field) to hike through the snow to get their mail (or ski, snowshoe, or snowmobile) while freezing their family jewels off. oh what a nice thing they are.

so i guess the Americans can join in on all the fun they are. all to MASSIVELY cut down on people needed to deliver mail. i would much prefer say getting mail only TWO DAYS A WEEK instead of that B.S. or even like here where i might get mail once every week or two or so, most likely from my neighbor and then get to give them theirs. much shorter walk that way.

reply to post by beezzer


It was fine the way it was, leave the trust to pay out future benefits and repeal that stupid act. It is...was a revenue neutral agency, that provided good jobs, honest work for decent pay, one of the largest employers of veterans by the way. Just leave it the hell alone. It doesn't need to go fully private and doesn't need to go fully dependent on the government.