I've got a better idea to save money - Let's eliminate Congress !

Only a Government ran, union employed business would cut service when customers a using some one else. Anyother company would try to find a way to meet the customers needs, maybe cutting the fat and the union might save them instead... delivering packages to peoples houses instead of making them pick them up at the post office... who can take off during the day to go to the post office that opens after I leave for work and closes before I get home? Yup, poor service, poor hours etc, etc ... Cut the hours, cut the service and deliver nothing but junk...good bye...I use UPS and Fedex and never the USPS. Gee I wonder why????

Leave it to gubmint-hating right-wingers to complain about the Postal Service. Our mail system is competitive with the best in the world. I consistently receive mail when or before it's expected. I don't think I've ever had a piece of mail lost. When something's been badly packed and damaged in transit, I've seen the Postal Service go to great lengths to get it to me as intact as possible. Shipping rates are fair, and the personnel at every post office I've ever visited have been courteous, pleasant and professional. Texican complains about "the fat" - such as?? What is there to cut from the Postal Service that hasn't already been cut? It's operating on a shoestring budget as it is, and delivering exemplary service. Texican complains about unions - would an administration beholden to unions be implementing a plan that, according to the article, promises to cut 40,000 jobs? Give the USPS a break already - it beats any private service on any measure of performance per dollar. If they have to cut Saturday service, that is to be regretted, but it's not an occasion to heap abuse on this world-class service we enjoy for a very fair price.

And I don't know about where you are, but UPS and FedEx don't deliver in my area on Saturdays, either.

How many more millions will the PO go in debt before someone makes a damn decision?

Everybody mail a Priority Mail package to someone on a Thursday and ask your postmaster if the receiver gets it on Saturday! You're paying for a two day service! Funny how the postal union did not make any concessions at all like all the other government unions. But you can be sure they'll be getting those nice raises. I live in upstate NY and my state income tax refund check is being held for another month because the state is literary broke. On the same token, the state announced last Saturday that it approved a $478M in raises for state workers! Can you do the math?

Never lost any mail - LOL! As a small business owner who mails a couple thousand invoices per month - I have plenty of stories to tell. It has gotten so bad that I implemented a GO GREEN service - let me e-mail your invoice and you authorize a monthly payment by credit card or ACH (checking) payment and I will give you one month's free service. Works like a charm - I save the 44 cents to mail it - plus the cost of the invoice, return envelope and the envelope to mail it, not to mention the labor spent stuffing and posting them.

I never understood why Saturday delivery was "necessary" anyway. You are talking about only 1 more day.

AND WHY IS THIS A SURPRISE TO ANYONE? GOVERNMENT NEVER RUNS EFFICIENTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can ANYONE look at the abysmal record of our government and not understand it is totally incapable of being successful. It has no budget and still cannot survive. USPS, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Public Education and on and on,,,,FAILURES. And it's NOT because We The People haven't given them enough time to correct their incompetence. ALL of these programs have been in operation for DECADES, yet they keep failing and our government just keeps pumping more and more TRILLIONS into them.

Time to get rid of the big government socialist machine. We know what we need and will take care of ourselves.

Dave in NM - Good for you that you have never had a bad experience with a post office. I on the other hand have. Some of these workers are the most unhelpful rudest people I have come accross, right there with DMV. I will say, It seems that it is the old timers that are waiting their time out. But I have had too many bad experiences and not the same location. The service sector in this country is sliding fast.

The Postal Service, which forecasts a $238 billion budget deficit by 2020, says it would save about $3.3 billion in the first year from eliminating deliveries on one day and $5.1 billion a year by 2020.

What about the other 230B? And people think their stamp(s) pay for the delivery? What other entity could have all equipmrnt, trucks, etc... purchased for it with tax dollars. Have a monopoly on letters (so you can provide crap customer service) plus be able to run massive deficits year over year, and raise stamp prices whenever they want (without regard to compeititive pricing) and still fail?

Imagine all of those jobs moving to the private sector, where they contribute to tax dollars instead of being funded by them.

They could go to four day a week service if they want! Just cut out Wednesday and you'd have two mini-weeks!!

Do we really need the mail service 6 days a week? Or even the 5 they are proposing? I don't check my mailbox every day, sometimes only 2-3 times a week. I think they should go to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday delivery schedule, but always have an expedited service availiable for those who need it.

Time to get rid of the big government socialist machine. We know what we need and will take care of ourselves.

The postal service is an agency of the United States, it not part of a socialist machine. It was a service instituted by Ben Franklin. And mail that is delivered to the consumer is delivered at the expense of the sender, which means that the postal service operates on a profit margin. With the advent of the computer age, businesses and people are going on-line to pay their bills. E-mails have replaced the traditional letters and greeting cards. Cell phones and unlimited long distance calling have also taken a bite out of letter writing.

So, USA Rogue, stop and think when was the last time you sent a letter through the mail. Or do you just pick up the telephone, or send a e-mail? Do you write out checks to pay your bills, or do you do you do your banking on-line?

While I am guilty of e-mail service an unlimited long distance phone service, I still write out checks to pay my bills and I use the postal service to deliver them. It is not inefficiency on the part of the postal service that as caused the budget deficit, it is because of the lower volume of mail going through the system.

And Congress wonders why 67% of Americans don't want the Health Care bill that was recently shoved up our bums...

I have an idea why not privatize the postal service? Then we could get mail on-time every day of the week and save BILLIONS. UPS, FedEx, DHL and others run their companies efficiently and even have unions for their employees. They make lots of money. The postal service loses about $700,000,000+ annually. Must be those great salaries and benefits that the average American doesn't get: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=U.S._Postal_Service_%28USPS%29/Salary

As long as Congress gets to spend other people's money it will NEVER be efficient like a company is.

Here is a challenge to anyone... Find 1 singe government-ran entity that is under budget and meets its annual goals.

The post office tried years ago to go to a 5 day work week. The unions were adamantly opposed to it as it would have cost some jobs, or caused hours to get cut back.

If we see the postal service decreasing their deliveries by one day, does that correlate to a longer duration in postage increases for 1st class mail?

I doubt it...

I work for the US Postal Service and I can guarantee workers would prefer Wednesday or Thursday off instead of confronting a Tuesday from hell every week. Under this proposal, Monday would deal with the back log of Saturday and Sunday, and Monday's deliveries are already gargantuan.

I would much prefer to see our administrators successfully compete against UPS, Fed Ex and others.

I only check my mail once a week anyway, and usually on Monday or Tuesday.

Most of the mail I get is either junk or bills, and I'm certainly not going to open a bill on a Friday and have it ruin my weekend!

I'm fine cutting delivery to 5 days, but why not 4 days?

I'd bet a great number of the posters here wouldn't walk across the street to deliver a letter for 44-cents. The postal service will take that same letter from L.A. to N.Y. for 44-cents. Get a grip here folks. I also find it ironic that the harshest critics have a great deal of trouble spelling and composing sentences. I wonder when was the last time they even wrote a letter. More to the point, who wants a letter from an illiterate?

That said, the best plan I have heard yet is to deliver mail to customers on alternating days. Half the routes are delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The other half of the routes are delivered Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

All things considered - skyrocketing fuel prices, snow, wind, sleet, dogs, clueless abusive illiterates who couldn't run a lemonade stand, etc. - the postal service does a pretty darned good job for a darned good price.

5-day hospital service is coming to a town near you. All patients must make arrangements to go home at 4:00 PM Fridays and check back in 10:00 AM Mondays. Surgeries start no later than Wednesdays. And don't forget to bring your toothpaste.

"The post office tried years ago to go to a 5 day work week. The unions were adamantly opposed to it as it would have cost some jobs, or caused hours to get cut back." Therein lies another problem - unions! They've gotten way too powerful and need to be reigned it (although Obama will never do that!) Millions of Americans have lost/are losing their jobs. It's way past time the government cut the size of government and let those jobs roll over to the private sector.

as usual, you get the vastly over exaggerated posts implying the post office as an example of a government agency that can't manage itself. Another lie spread to further the agenda of Conservatives and Republicans. Maybe the drastic decline of postage stamp purchases due to email, and online communications and transactions are contributing the P.O.'s problems. Also, everyone seems to overlook the apparent fact that surely the success of private competition like Fed EX and UPS could have an effect on the P.O.'s bottom line. But wait...I thought you conservatives said that private enterprises like insurance companies and health care facilities couldn't compete with the government and would spell the end of capitalism in the U.S. Just more of "the sky is falling" hype spread by conservatives to further their cause. Put this in a box with:

Death Panels=Scare tactic BS proven to have no merit and quietly not mentioned anymore.

Abortion Issue=fixed/although it never really was an issue. Conservatives never mentioned that the chances of an individual receiving subsidies for insurance premiums for the insurance company that actually covers abortions would be extremely rare-but just enough to raise an objection just to stall the bill. I couldn't participate in an abortion. But if someone else wants or needs to do that, it's between them, their consience, and their God.

Illegals getting health coverage=never made sense in the first place, because don't you have to have legal documents for something like insurance. However, conservatives never consider the fact that most illegals are in the U.S. because American small business owners (the heartbeat of conservative america) will hire them for jobs. No one has a problem overlooking their illegal status, paying them pennies on the dollar under the table and denying them ANY benefits. But suddenly when they go into business for themselves and start underbidding you on contracts or needing govt funded programs...THEN, they are a nusiance!!! Go figure. If you REALLY want them to leave...just stop hiring them.

Government Mandates or "big brother telling you what to do" - Conservatives love to complain and moan about their loss of freedoms to make their own decisions or being told what to do. But in the same breath they want to tell a woman what she should do with an unborn child. Why is it okay to take away that freedom?

overwelming costs of health bill and shortage of doctors and nurses in the future - remains to be seen. however, instead of everyone going to college to learn how to be engineers and make missles and tanks maybe more people will start to get licensed in the medical field. besides...I'm not sure that everyone really needs to see an actual doctor for every ailment anyway. it's really just a formality for the insurance company to pay for the visit.

238 BILLION dollar deficit. The Government can not run anything efficiently! We do not want your health care bill!!

Okay, but what about Lay-off's and Salary-cut's to ADD to the National Statistics ???....

Chuck, know of any private businesses that can lose 230+B, per year, and continue to remain in business? It is simply another government black hole for our hard earned tax dollars.

I am not sure why the day off has to be Saturday. That gives us two days in a row without Mail Service. It would make more sense to do it on a Wednesday so we only have one day without service bracketed by 2-3 days of service. I guess this just gives them weekends off in addition to their great pensions.

Their PAY and their PENSIONS is why the PO runs at a loss.

I think Netflix will have to reduce their premiums if this happens since people will lose out on the amount of DVDs they receive each month.

So stamps will come down in price,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, right??

Chuck,

You're making too much sense here for the trolls and perpetually constipated.

I particularly agree about the illegals and shoddy business owners (no payroll taxes paid either, all profit for the owner), that's why Bush II wanted to give them guest worker permits. Can anyone say "hypocrites"? Sorry, but if you can't run a successful business in this country employing real American citizens (fair pay, no union BS), you shouldn't be in business here. As far as the illegals, hire thousands into the INS, grab them and throw them back over the border, and then build that great big wall, a great jobs works program!

Global @ "Chuck, know of any private businesses that can lose 230+B, per year, and continue to remain in business"

....Wall Street, thanks to their friends in Congress.

UPS and Fedex have zero interest in providing home delivery of letters and junk mail to private residences. Even in the very rural areas, sometimes residents must go to a Post Office in their little town and check their personal PO box - home delivery is expensive and repetitive, but most everyone would like it.

Area52 - I've got a better idea to save money - Let's eliminate Congress !

Thats a good one!

The best solution for their budget woes is just to go to a Mon-Wed-Fri Service. Who really can't wait one day for regular mail? Keep express mail and outsource the delivery to Fed-x or UPS.

Lastly, USPS should not be a congressional budget item. THey should be an independent, self-funded government organization. If they can't cut it, let them go bankrupt and replace them with fiscally competent policies. I mean, the government's already given them a monopoly, that should be more than enough for a reasonably competent manager to be successful.

Actually, I think in many cases the USPS does outsource delivery outside the States to Fedex.

Just go to the Post Office and check out their mailing labels. A number of these mailing labels actually indicate the Fedex icon and Fedex shipping number on the label. That's why you might as well go to Fedex, cause in many cases going right to Fedex is cheaper than paying the post office to use Fedex! (There is a very good reason why their are Fedex drop off boxes at many post offices!)

And besides, what would happen if everyone paid all their bills on line (it's going to happen anyway at some point in the future) and correspondence occurs through the internet? Doesn't that mean we won't need the post office anyway?

WAIT!!! Since we are moving toward a completely socialistic government, then no one should have to pay any bills, no one should ever have to worry about trying to get the best deal on a tv (since Obama will buy everyone the best there is), no one need read anything or try to educate one's self, so why will we ever need a post office anyway/

Or even an internet? Who needs news if you and me and Brad and Anjolina have all the same stuff?

It's funny.

Area 52 make the comment "that this is how health care will be ran" refuring to the post office, and I have heard it before that if the government can't run the post office how will they run healthcare???

But some how the government runs the country. So this is like missing the tree because of the forest. Do they run the country the same way as the post office? And if you think they do then do something about it, except for focusing on healthcare. (the tree)

The post office and healthcare is such a small piece to this large puzzle.

I for one am happy we have an option for public healthcare and the option for private health care. So now we have a choice, Post office or UPS, you make your choice and I will make mine.

Then their is the argument about where are the jobs? Well where is the health coverage for the people who lost their job? I can assume these same people who lost their job lost their health covarage too.

There is a ying and yang to both sides. But at the end, we do have a choice of public or private. If you don't like the public option then don't change your private covarage. But if I was you, I would shop around because you may find a better deal now.

Mostly it is junk mail everyday...

It will take a year to impliment because the US Government hasn't been real concerned with deficit spending in the last year (or the opinion of the lowly US citizens). I forsee a few meetings with Pres. Obama and the labor unions to make sure it is beneficial for them before any "change" happens.

The Postal Service, which forecasts a $238 billion budget deficit by 2020, says it would save about $3.3 billion in the first year from eliminating deliveries on one day and $5.1 billion a year by 2020.

Thats it.....CUT SERVICES first to fix the deficit problem on another failed Government operation. How about revamping the contracts first....uh oh....Unions.

Starting pay is $19 per hour, $39,520 per year, for part time flexible mail carriers. Mail handlers start at $13.92 per hour, $28,953 per year, and clerks start at $18.26 per hour, $37,980 per year. Mail handler workers are initially hired under the Postal Service's part time flexible pay scale and work 40 or more hours per week. The average pay and benefits for career bargaining unit employees was $63,771 per year, excluding corporate-wide expenses, in 2007. The largest pay system in the Postal Service is predominantly for bargaining unit employees. There are also Executive and Administrative Schedules for non- bargaining unit members, with pay ranging from $20,875 up to an authorized maximum of $108,166.

Source: http://postalwork.net/pay_scales.htm

I think I worked in the wrong profession. Wow, starting at $19 per hour, then add in all the benefits. I wonder when our postal carriers are going to be directed to wear PURPLE UNIFORMS !!!

I think you are right, Mark. Other "enlightened" countries did away with this idiot Sat. delivery YEARS ago. Like Australia

The PO cannot implement this plan for their future because Congress controls what the PO does even though it does not fund the mail services, retirement or staffing.

Anyone want to take bets on the Republicans voting NO on this proposal because it is a plot by the Democrats to sabotage communications in the United States????

confundus22 ya right and the Dems will pass a pay raise to the union that supported them and hire more "postal" workers with stimulus money with our taxes, then say employment is up and things are in the green baby!! Ya go libtards go!

Leave it to the right wing nut jobs complain about the U.S. Postal Service. Let's see UPS or FedEx deliver letters to every door in America for under $.50. They would go broke! Your answer is to cut their pay and benefits ( take away their medical and retirement benefits) pay them minimum wage because $13 an hour is real big pay in year 2010.

The underlying problem with the Postal Service has nothing to do with inefficiency, they have been very efficient for 200 years. The problem is, the Internet has created online mailings, advertisements and letters to grandma and the amount of paper letters being sent has gone way down over last few years because of it. (good for the trees bad for postal demand)

Watch how loud you people cry if they got rid of the post office completely and give it all to UPS or FedEx. You would pay probably over a buck a piece to send your Christmas cards. Then you'd really be crying and whining.

If you right-wingers had your way you would corporatize everything in this country by taking away the all peoples benefits,health care only for the rich, pay everybody minimum-wage, change the laws so you don't have to pay taxes, make the Postal Service-fire department-police department and the army all private for-profit. Then you can sit on your hill to watch the whole country go down into flames.

Kudos!

1. Obama will need to meet several times and talk about the problem.
2. Then he will have 37 National Broadcasts of speeches about the postal service and how it is a part of America and how the people are affected by no more Saturday deliveries.
3. Then he will meet again to discuss the influence his speeches made on the people.
4. Then he will discuss a bailout to all of the workers who will be affected by the cuts.
5. He then will tax the rich for any additional costs.
6. Then they will cancel Saturday deliveries.
7. Obama will hold several meetings about how Bush and Cheney caused the postal service to be less effective.
8. Obama will appoint and independent organization (800 Government jobs) to find ways to save money while paying the inspectors 3x the normal salary.
9. The organization will conclude that by privatizing the USPS the country could save about $1.5 Billion annually.
10. Obama ends the investigation by making no changes to the USPS citing job loss if the USPS is privatized.

Just say Hell No to BIG GOVERNMENT!!!

More typical right wing rhetoric! The use of sarcastic hypotheticals, twisted predictions of the future, fear tactics and outright bull crap. Do you guys ever use Facts??

Blame Obama on problems with the post office that have been getting worse since e-mails came into existence. Go back to listening to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh so you can here some more of these BS sarcastic what-if's!

The last I heard, the post offices made up of Americans, citizens of this country.

Just say HELL NO to CORPORATE (for profit - paid by taxpayers) GOVERNMENT!!!!

Why not obama blames everyone else under the sun , except for his ridiculous BS policies!

Dave in NM

...Our mail system is competitive with the best in the world. I consistently receive mail when or before it's expected. I don't think I've ever had a piece of mail lost. When something's been badly packed and damaged in transit, I've seen the Postal Service go to great lengths to get it to me as intact as possible. Shipping rates are fair, and the personnel at every post office I've ever visited have been courteous, pleasant and professional. Texican complains about "the fat" - such as?? What is there to cut from the Postal Service that hasn't already been cut? It's operating on a shoestring budget as it is, and delivering exemplary service. Texican complains about unions - would an administration beholden to unions be implementing a plan that, according to the article, promises to cut 40,000 jobs? Give the USPS a break already - it beats any private service on any measure of performance per dollar. If they have to cut Saturday service, that is to be regretted, but it's not an occasion to heap abuse on this world-class service we enjoy for a very fair price.
And I don't know about where you are, but UPS and FedEx don't deliver in my area on Saturdays, either.

Ditto!

I have shipped over 2,000 packages (domestic and worldwide) in the last 5 years and every single one has been delivered and was undamaged! I think the PO gets a bad rap especially when they find a letter behind some filing cabinet after 40 years, but overall, you can't beat it with a stick.

USPS is my preferred method of shipping, as well as my customers. I do give them a choice and unless it weighs more than 4-5 pounds, it goes via the PO. UPS and FedEx do not deliver on Sat and not sure about FedEx, but UPS will not deliver to a PO.

Email is the largest contributor to the PO deficit...I wonder how many people dissing on the PO realize that the PO is the ONLY gov't office that has to pay it's own way (through postage increases) unlike other offices that dip into SS, etc. Too bad every gov't office doesn't have to do the same...we wouldn't be in this mess.

Adjusted for inflation, that 44 cent stamp is a bargain.

As for Saturday delivery...it will not be missed and if it helps their bottom line, so be it but the 40k job loss is a pisser...hopefully most will go by way of attrition.

duncancl - Love your post, you forgot one thing though.....need to throw in a Czar or two to oversee everything! Does anyone else find it distrubing that we have no idea how much these Czars are being paid and with OUR tax dollars! I thought we are in a terrible recession and the rest of us our cutting back on our spending..... not ourgovernment......SPEND, SPEND, SPEND AND KEEP ON SPENDING!!!!

Forget it Skup. Their din will be so inaudible over the MILLIONS of other umemployed, union or not. Let's all get real here. Our standard of living is & has been going down slowly since the 1970's. Like a stone rolling down hill, it is only now that it has picked up speed that we begin to notice. It will be a cold day in Hell before any union strikes-seriously-again like the USW did back in the 1950's. Or the UAW, the UMW, or any other big group of people. We are in a world economy & frankly, we just don't matter that much anymore. Example: city workers including police & fire strike or threaten to unless more is offered at the table. But the area has lost literally THOUSANDS of jobs in the last 30 yrs. as the coal mines & steel mills went out of business. The tax base is basically operating on State & Government "grants." Can't get blood outta stone. Two choices-take it or leave it & I'm betting most people have families to support, so they will take what is offered & be glad they HAVE a job.

This makes my physically sick, but it is not just my opinion anymore. It is fact & I'm seeing it evefry day.

Speaking of unions, there is a lot of dead wood among the leaders. They make a lot more money than they would if they were holding down the job they have retreat rights to and about all many of them do is travel around and give speeches while the paid staff do the real work. Government employee unions especially, have a lot of fat to trim and a lot of new faces needing to come in. There are 4 main craft postal unions and at least 1 for supervisors, and many smaller unions. Need to put the spotlight on those union leaders.

Amen to that!? So many carriers f*cking milk the clock and get paid for doing jack sh*t.

What the postal serivce needs to do is weed out the dead weight.

They don't have a big enough shovel to weed out the deadweight.

If you think postal workers are milking it, look at UPS.

maybe its his lunchtime and he likes pizza

maybe it his lunchtime and he like pizza

Now lets not get reasonable here. This is bash your local letter carrier day. We all know that they love to drive and walk in extreme weather conditions and boy then there are the dogs that don't bite, or how about the letter carrier that got tripped up by a kid on a skate board that was being pulled by a couple of dogs. Yep he laughted when he woke up in the hospital later that day. He missed three days of work and had a heck of bump over his right eye. I don't think he has visited the pizza palace this week.

There is an easy solution it is called GPD tracking on all letters/packages/vehicles and then you can start to optimize and fire people.

"If you think postal workers are milking it, look at UPS."

I don't believe I've ever seen Buster with a waist bigger than 34 inches but it's hard to judge because they don't stand still long enough.

notsosmart - My sister works for the Postal Service as a carrier and I KNOW she works very hard throughout the day and barely has time to take a break and/or eat lunch. You must live in a small town to have your carrier sitting in a Pizza Shop most of the day........

1K Traveler:

Remember it is Congress that sets the rules and the PO that must follow them even without government funding.........hence the deficit that Congress is so expert at constructing in everything they touch.

It is obvious that many small one room post offices in teeny weeny communities should not exist.......................but there is that Congress to deal with and their "constituents" that only care about deficits at election time when they can conveniently blame whatever party is in the majority at the time............and after all they NEED that community post office

This problem did not spring up overnight so there should be no Republicans pointing fingers that are not already stained with this long term situation they helped to ignore.

Just as long as they don't close down the one that is just a mile from my office!

Ya confundus...only give half the statement huh? The Democrats are at fault 100 % with the Republicans as well as the leadership and unions in the PO.

1 K Traveler

Maybe, just maybe they could look at closing some of the numerous branch offices they have. In my area (with a population of just under 300,000) there are 18 US Postal Service owned branches and all are located under 15 miles from each other. That doesn't include sub-stations located within numerous grocery stores in the area.

Each of the Postal Service owned branches could like fetch a decent profit in a real estate sale (which would also put the property back on the tax rolls in the community) and they could then cut staff through retirements, attrition and relocation. If they did that across the country I'm sure they would realize a lot more than the mere $3-$5-billion a year in savings from eliminating Saturday delivery.

In my area, they put up a sign at the PO stating that they are looking for a new site to lease. I was shocked, as I though the gov't owned their property for PO...guess not. What kills me is that this location is perfect for a PO and can't think of another in our area that can come close. I just have to wonder at the owner of the property...I realize the lease must've expired and they're not renewing it, but jeez, it will be many, many years before this particular spot will develop (condos/mixed use/retail) to the point of where real estate was just a couple of years ago...I'd choose to go with short term lease (3-5 yr) with the PO...no developer will touch it with a 10 foot pole. At least what few developers we have left that have $$$.

Ah! Another Ayn Rand fan! Have been for years! I'm "browbeating" my grown sons to read it!

I'm 47 and my dad has been after me to read it for years also. I'm on chapter 7 and I love it! It is so relevant to what is going on today! I own a small business in CA , I encounter the bureaucracy, red tape, permits, taxes, regulation, low expectations, low productivity EVERY DAY! I'm no Dagny, but I can totally relate to her.

Junk mail is their largest source of revenue. All of those bulk rate accounts add up.

+10!!!! Someone earlier stated that the bulk mailing is what keeps postage prices down.

I disagree. It should be a "no brainer" that if the carriers were not hauling around literally tons of literal junk mail that is going right into the trash, maybe recycled, maybe not.

I think that the bulk mail companies should be paying MORE for the govt to transport their garbage. It should fall under the "no unsolicited" calls rule, like the do not call list.

If I have not contacted the company to do business or request info, then do not waste everyone's time and money delivering something that I nether want or need. At the same time they are telling us that we have to recycle, and conserve water, and turn off lights, etc, etc. yet here is a costly wasteful practice that is not only clogging up the mail system but furthur taxes the land fills and trash collection. Think about the tons of paper that gets moved from one part of the country to the other only to wind up taking up space in somebody's landfill. And WE PAY FOR IT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!! I'm just saying...

You mean like selling it to the private sector?

I thought we were still paying them for seven days? Remember a few years back when Congress wanted to attach a tax for e-mails?

Do you not realize we work 7 days a week???

Not from what I've seen.

I went to a PO to mail a package overseas recently. The teller kept ripping up the labels I was filling out and telling me that I wasn't doing it right. I kept asking the teller to tell me what, exactly, I was doing wrong, but she wouldn't, she would just rip up the label and tell me to get back in line.

Finally, I said I'd just go to Fedex, and I did. And they were nice there and cheaper.

I can't recall the last time I went to my post office and found 2 windows open, even when the line is all the way out the door. Does anyone actually believe these union workers will make less money even working fewer hours, their rank and file would never accept it. We will end up getting less service(if possible) and paying them the same amount...they will come out the winners.

Because it is losing so much $ now that at least 1 day a wk. would be the least amt. to try cutting. Sat. w/o mail means most can leave for the wkend. & not have to worry about mail piling up.

I agree. I live in the country and only make it to the PO box once a week.

Three times in the last 2 weeks the mail Carrier claims to have tried to deliver my fist class package weighing less than 1/4 lb and that they were unable to deliver it. Today again I was to receive the same item delivered just last week without a problem on a new order. Funny they had no problem delivering a bunch of Junk mail and several bills. I was at home on each of these attempts and the Mail Carrier handed me the mail today. I received an email tracking the order that stated that they left a notice to pick up this item at the PO. Not the first time this occured. I have a Mailbox on the Front of the House Large enough to accept all but the Largest Priority Box, which can fit between the doors. No wonder people use FedEx or UPS when the Mail Carrier can't even read an Address. On a number of Occassions my mail was delivered to another Houise on another street whose spelling is as different as Murphy and Murray. They may as well cut service and have Stores Sell Stamps and accept Packages as they did on the old west.

Myopinion-13:

Good thought and I guarantee that NONE of the folks posting negative comments complain when that letter in the mail is a check and not a bill.

Our PO people in Kitty Hawk are great and I believe that many PO employees in other communities are just as loved as ours.

My mailman is also an exceptional and conscientious carrier.

I love NC OBX, BTW.

Our mailman is great. My dog doesn't even bark at him :-)

What with all the mailman bashing I see in this thread, thought it was worth mentioning that there are definitely some good eggs out there!

You are correct. I have a number of friends that work for the PO and they've all been generally hardworking and truthful individuals but I've heard more stories than I care to count of the inefficiency and waste that is allowed because of union intereference. I won't say that unions hurt all industries but it doesn't do much good for the USPS.

While I've said I know a number of good postal workers, I am also sad to say that I know one particularly bad one. He was a veteran and given a wide amount of responsibility and trust until it came out that he'd been stealing trays of mail and opening them for gift cards and whatever else he could find. In the end, authorities were unable to figure out just how much mail he dumped into the river but the nicest estimate was in the thousands if not tens of thousands given how long he'd been breaking the postal code. Long story short, it wasn't until after he was convicted, I believe, when they allowed him to resign. If it hadn't been for the union then he'd have been fired a long time ago. There's no telling how much grief he caused and when everything finally came out, he got off nearly scott free with only ten months in jail. He got lucky. When everything came to light the prosecutor wanted to go back and add a lot more to his sentence but by then it was too late.

Guess every profession has their bad apples...

Every once in awhile you'll hear of some nutty worker that stuffed his mailbag's mail up in the attic or something, overwhelmed. It always catches up with them.

(Even Neuman,a mailman on the Jerry Seinfield show, got into a mess and had Kramer (?) delivering for him one day.)

and I thought it was just "BO" roflmao

Albert-1500489

Do it today! Is the 9 month wait so we can see more false information about how BHO is creating jobs? I guess adding 40,000 jobs today would hurt his "look at me and what a great job I am doing".

Well, technically speaking (BamBam speak, that is), he 'saved' 40k jobs...until the hatchet falls!

Oh but they will. I actually found an old letter from a few years back and whistled when I saw the price on the stamp. 34 cents. I can't remember when it was under 40!

Alex-1337762
Oh but they will. I actually found an old letter from a few years back and whistled when I saw the price on the stamp. 34 cents. I can't remember when it was under 40

In 2006 they raised it to 39 cents. The 34 cent stamp goes back to 2001.

Adjusted for inflation, 34 cents amounts to 41 cents in 2009 dollars.

This is a stupid comment. It would be great if she didn't have to work Saturdays? Get over it. The whole world doesn't get Saturday off. Someone has to be working.

It's natural to viciously trash people you dont know anything about when you're sitting comfortably at home, isn't it?

I've been a temp for 3 years for the post office, with no benefits and no days off,(except Sunday) and I'm expected to do more work than the regular carriers. I'll be the first one to lose my job if this is approved.

Do you have any idea how hard I try to do right by people? I work 10 hours a day sorting and delivering the mail, I don't have time lunch or even a bathroom break, they told me to carry a cup with a lid if I have to go. I handle about 6,000 pieces of mail a day TWICE, first sorting it and then delivering it, to 1500 different addresses. Do you know how hard it is to read and sort mail in a moving truck, while you're trying not to get rear-ended or cut off, and have little kids running out in front of you all the time? If I put one letter in the wrong box out of 6,000, isn't that .0166 percent, or a little over a 100th of a percent error. That's the one letter people will remember for years, not the thousands that were correct.

I'm on call as a backup for 4 different cities, about 100 different routes, maybe a half a million people, I have to go by the address on the mail because I have no way of remembering everyone, or knowing who moved in with who, I have to make my best guess as to who lives there.

Being a mail carrier is hard on your body, I'm getting bad hips, bad knees, and foot problems from parking and getting out of the truck about 600 times a day. cracked knuckles, rotator cuff issues, cuts, illnesses from handling the mail and not having time to eat right, and no help with insurance if I need to see a doctor or get medicine.

I try doubly hard to be polite to everyone even though people take their frustration out on me for just about everything, including their own money or legal problems, or just frustration with the govt in general. What does the POST OFFICE have to do with HEALTH CARE, by the way? Don't blame the health plan on us! I enjoy helping people and bring the mail as efficiently as I can, but it's a thankless job. And no matter how fast I go, it's never enough for my supervisor. I promise you, I earn my pay and then some. Yet many of you would like to see me lose my job without knowing what I do.

I don't have any say in what we deliver, advertising mail is cheap to send and makes money for the sender, but I also deliver important documents, checks and certified letters, and perishable items, that can't wait an extra couple of days for people to get them. Some of you say you wouldn't miss Saturday delivery, but you sure would if you were waiting on something important!

Here are a few points I would like to make:

1. It's cheaper to send a letter now, (with inflation factored in) than it ever has been.

2. The post office has supported itself for many years with their postage, and has never gotten behind or had to ask for money until recently.

3. It's cheaper to send a package anywhere in the country through the PO than it is by FedEx or UPS, especially the flat-rate boxes that don't go by weight.

4. We don't charge anything extra for Saturday delivery like the other companies do.

5. In the past 20 years the number of carriers has gotten less but the number in management has almost doubled!

6. No company has flourished by reducing services, Saturday delivery is one of the advantages of using the PO, not a liability, and cutting it off will make us LOSE money, not SAVE it. If we stop delivering, another company will take up the slack.

7. management goes out of their way to make up rules that make our jobs harder and less efficient, so they can justify their jobs. The way to save the Post Office is to streamline the management and take out some of the time-consuming red tape they've created.

Having our own supply system for gasoline, without all the taxes that are put on it and markups at the pumps, might save us alot too-- just a thought.

Please consider all sides of a situation before taking the easy route and venting on the people that are only trying to serve you.

THANKS!!!!!

Losing Sat. service will have a ripple effect on some delivery-dependent businesses. So yes, first trim the fat and the dead. Other businesses have to deal effectively with waste and inefficiency or they go under. This is just s-l-o-w death. It's only a matter of time till we get another rate increase, learn of more losses, and then are floated the idea of no Wed. service.

and then you will cry because it costs more to mail your letters and packages. bulk mail keeps YOUR cost down!

Hey Blue, The junk mail is what's keeping them going. Email handles the most important mail for most people now. The 3 pounds of ads we get in the mail now used to come in the Sunday paper. Five days is a reasonable cut to save money. I've rarely had problems with USPS. Now let me tell you about the less than stellar performance of FedEx.........