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

a reply to: Semicollegiate

And you would be just as wrong. Sorry.

Here in Alaska, many people would starve in the villages if the USPS wasn't able to deliver much needed food and supplies.

Why would we want to hand control over our post and mail to a private corporation that isn't answerable to the entire people of America? Is a private company going to make us all share holders? A private corporation could simply decide to restrict mail deliveries to a certain area as leverage, using t's power to strangle and hold people hostage.

Ultimately the people of America are the owners of the USPS, it answers to us. A corporation like FedEx answers to its board of directors and largest shareholders.

I'd rather have congress and elected representatives (despite being bought and paid for representatives) in control of my mail delivery, thank you very much.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

UPS and FedEx are getting out of the unprofitable e-commerce shipping sector,

Again another reason for the USPS it is public service that is needed, rather than a business which would cut services to increase their profits.

originally posted by: Montana
a
I'm sorry, but here I call nonsense. More than 25 years of railroad experience has made me an expert in railroad waste and excess. Please don't even try to blow that smoke. You would be fundamentally wrong.

Just relating my experiences in dealing with purchasing at the Class I's. They were pretty shrewd when it came to negotiating material. Our margins were always very thin with them.

originally posted by: AlaskanDad
Again another reason for the USPS it is public service that is needed, rather than a business which would cut services to increase their profits.

You obviously did not understand that article. Reread it.

They made it clear that it is highly unprofitable business and that it would lead to lower margins, higher end user costs or both.

originally posted by: Semicollegiate

originally posted by: Aloysius the Gaul
A good country-ide postal service is a social good - hence it is entirely appropriate for it to be taxpayer supported.

Private companies are happy to pick the eye-teeth out of profitable sections of it - but how many of them will deliver at affordable costs to all quarters of eth country?

Privatising post is just another right wing idiocy that ignores the need to have a functioning society with all the supporting services that required, in favour of allowing a few people to get filthy rich.

UPS and FedEx deliver everywhere.

Why wouldn't private mail?

Certainly they would deliver everywhere - for a price.

USPS is required by law to maintain a single price system that gives affordable postal services across eth whole country.

Private companies are not required to make anything affordable.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Your margins might have been incredibly thin, but the quantities were wildly inflated due to waste and excess. This is the difference between looking in and looking out.

originally posted by: Montana
Your margins might have been incredibly thin, but the quantities were wildly inflated due to waste and excess. This is the difference between looking in and looking out.

That very well may be the case. All I know is we sent track bolts, plates, MOW tools and various other items all over the systems. I did not have the opportunity to make it to all the various ship-to's but the ones I made it to it would have been hard for me to say one way or the other whether the material I saw there was waste or required.

Just out of curiosity who were you with?

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Send me a message, we are drifting the thread too much, I think.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Is the USPS more or less answerable to the people than the VA and the entire educational system?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: MystikMushroom

Is the USPS more or less answerable to the people than the VA and the entire educational system?

Basically the people 'want' train wrecks running off cliffs.

Just like every other government 'ventures'.

Fanny Mae,Freddy Mac, Student loan debt. Social Security,and Medicare,Medicaid,the ACA, pretty much EVERYTHING government runs is a cluster eff.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

How true!

For years UPS sent my packages 1,200 miles north of here, then the packages were sent back to me parcel post USPS on a barge that took 21 days or longer to get here, UPS charged us the second day air rate for this service!

As for FedEX I remember looking to buy a USB cord from New Egg, back when they only shipped FedEx, over $60 to ship one $3.99 4ft cable!

The business press back in the 1970's said that the railroads were never going to make a profit and would need to be subsidized for the foreseeable future.

As I recall the track maintenance and retirement benefits were too big of an expense to allow most railroads to be viable.

The railroads haven't had to make a profit in a competitive market since the ICC in 1884.

Since the Federal Government has subsidized the railroads overtly since sometime in the 1970's or 80's, there is no reason to doubt that the FG will subsidize the USPS when the time comes.

The OP article is pointing out that the USPS is not a real business.

BTW the USPS was used to censor or stop delivery of Democratic newspapers during the War Between the States and thus played a major role in the reelection of Lincoln in 1864. Much of Twentieth Century Totalitarianism claimed the Union victory as precedent for mystical collectivist national government.

Isn't it nice of them to deliver our mail.

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: Bluntone22

You aren't understanding. Congress passed a bill in 2006 that required the USPS to fund it's retirement, health and insurance for the next seventy years... within ten years time. No other federal, state or private entity is required to do that. It's absurd.

Well Congress passed a law. That makes it all better.

Some people had mortgages that required them to make house payments too. Guess what? That didn't work out so well.

If just having contracts and laws made everything work out perfectly, then there wouldn't be any problems. This is the same kind of magical thinking that makes some people think they can just mandate 100% of our energy come from renewable sourced within 10 years and it will somehow all magically happen, too.

Just because you wave your hand and decree it doesn't actually put any realistic solution in place.

It's like throwing gobs of cash at schools and saying, "There I fixed education." Even though there is no plan that goes with it. And everyone wonders why kids continue to not learn anything.

What are you going on about? I don't think you understood anything I said... even a tiny bit.

a reply to: Semicollegiate

Yep, the Civil War set the precedent for the end of true Republicanism in the country. A lot of the foundation for things that ail this country go back to actions set in place by Lincoln.

originally posted by: Kali74

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: Bluntone22

You aren't understanding. Congress passed a bill in 2006 that required the USPS to fund it's retirement, health and insurance for the next seventy years... within ten years time. No other federal, state or private entity is required to do that. It's absurd.

Well Congress passed a law. That makes it all better.

Some people had mortgages that required them to make house payments too. Guess what? That didn't work out so well.

If just having contracts and laws made everything work out perfectly, then there wouldn't be any problems. This is the same kind of magical thinking that makes some people think they can just mandate 100% of our energy come from renewable sourced within 10 years and it will somehow all magically happen, too.

Just because you wave your hand and decree it doesn't actually put any realistic solution in place.

It's like throwing gobs of cash at schools and saying, "There I fixed education." Even though there is no plan that goes with it. And everyone wonders why kids continue to not learn anything.

What are you going on about? I don't think you understood anything I said... even a tiny bit.

Do you ever watch South Park? There is a famous bit in there with critters called underpants gnomes. They had a plan.

1. Steal underpants
2. ?
3. Profit

This thing about passing a law that decrees the postal service must be solvent is very underpants gnomes.

1. Pass a law that decrees the postal service must be solvent
2. ?
3. Postal service is solvent

Do you begin to see the problem?

a reply to: neo96

So that's an excuse to privatize it an put it in the hands of corporatations that have NO accountability to the people?

At least the USPS has the proper channels in place for some kind of public accountability.

I suppose you all are for private police forces, private prisons, private court systems, private fire departments.

"Dang Gary, you should have upgraded to the platinum police plan --they won't respond to any act of violence unless it involves a firearm. You're leaving yourself pretty exposed..."

a reply to: neo96

And so our Native Alaskans should starve? Why? Because people are mad their ebay purchases don't get to them overnight? If there are wastes within the USPS, there are people responsible for them. Our elected officials obviously aren't putting enough pressure on the USPS to fix them. The entire system need not be scrapped because we aren't holding our government accountable.

If the government is screwed up -- it's you and I that allowed that to happen.

a reply to: ketsuko

Except that's not what happened. I don't know where you got this notion.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Something has to be done.

Do we want to become a government employee welfare service in addition to so many other welfare services?

The problem is that the market is so regulated that there are only a very few (like two) private competitors of any size working against the USPS. If the market were more open, there would be more and it would be easier for someone to start a regional or local service to compete if those big companies didn't adequately serve your areas.

So the real solution is likely something two-fold: a heavy restructuring of the USPS which might include shuttering a lot of stations and a loosening of regulations to make it easier for private competitors to enter the market and compete.