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U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

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Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#51

Post by imchillyb »

curiousgeorgio wrote: post #31
cjsawyer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“The Postal Service receives NO tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.” https://facts.usps.com/top-facts/

> ...for operating expenses Weasel words. See https://fortune.com/2015/03/27/us-postal-service/

> Laws that bar any other shipping service from delivering mail and packages directly to residential and business mailboxes. Shapiro estimates that this gives the Post Office a $14 billion annual boost...

I believe you may wish to re-read your own link. What he said is correct. What you stated is patently incorrect.

The above quote is from your own article and states that is a 3rd party estimation and not-at-all a tax donation that the American populace pays for, which is what you also stated.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#52

Post by throwaway185205 »

gruez wrote: post #29
throwaway185205 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USPS functions almost exclusively to deliver unsolicited advertisements. Its "delivery confirmation" is outright fraud.

> Its "delivery confirmation" is outright fraud. elaborate?

"Hello, merchant? I haven't received my package, but the tracking info says it was delivered at 9:00."

Do you know what the merchant says, because they deal with this _all the time_?

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#53

Post by Reedx »

cjsawyer wrote: post #2

Unrelated to this specific article: The USPS is a crucial part of the US infrastructure. The thought that we could loose it over mail in ballot voting is a sick joke.

At the same token, we probably should rethink the USPS from first principles.

We want delivery to every address, but certainly there is a problem when ~50% of what's being delivered is junk mail[1]

1. https://facts.usps.com/table-facts/

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#54

Post by ralph84 »

Judging by the comments no one is actually reading TFA. Article is about the 2001 anthrax attacks. Two USPS employees died. Article is basically complaining that the USPS didn't upend their entire way of doing business in response to an isolated terrorist attack.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#55

Post by learc83 »

m0zg wrote: post #39
learc83 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the type of mail the USPS has to publish rates 90 days in advance, and there are regulatory limits to increases.

Perhaps ease the limits then? What's the endgame here? Let it die? Keep spending tens of billions on it each year in perpetuity while it delivers packages for Amazon and Chinese overseas sellers for next to nothing? Neither is a good outcome for anyone, left or right.

>Keep spending tens of billions on it each year in perpetuity while it delivers packages for Amazon for next to nothing?

According to the Post Office they aren't delivering packages for next to nothing. They are delivering them for competitive rates and if they increased them they would lose business, revenue, and profit.

Now this could be temporarily different due to COVID-19, but if that's the case then emergency funding would be appropriate.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#56

Post by toomuchtodo »

SolaceQuantum wrote: post #49
curiousgeorgio wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No one else does what the USPS does They certainly could if it weren't for laws preventing them from delivering to people's mailboxes.

What are the laws preventing UPS from delivering to extremely rural areas?

Economics.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#57

Post by analog31 »

sio8ohPi wrote: post #45
cjsawyer wrote: post #2

Unrelated to this specific article: The USPS is a crucial part of the US infrastructure. The thought that we could loose it over mail in ballot voting is a sick joke.

It's weird to me to hear comments like this. To me the postal service just seems like a slow email service with no spam filtering. (Sure they can delivery packages, but they're not unique in that regard). I get the utility of certified mail and associated services, but I don't really understand why we need first-class/marketing mail service in the 21st century. I agree it was important infrastructure 250 years ago.

If we get rid of the post office for last-mile delivery of anything to anywhere, we can be virtually assured of having to bail out the major package delivery services every few years.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#58

Post by jellicle »

m0zg wrote: post #7
learc83 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a bipartisan plan to include 30 billion in funding for the Post Office in the 2 trillion dollar stimulus bill. But the administration said they wouldn't sign anything that included emergency funding for the USPS. That doesn't prove what the administration's motives are, but they certainly seem hostile towards the USPS.

I don't get why it has to lose money at all in the first place. Sounds to me like they're offering a unique, highly in-demand service, in a market that is currently booming. Perhaps they should consider reworking their pricing structure? Just a thought.

Their pricing structure is set by Congress, which has refused to allow them to do so.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#59

Post by throwaway185205 »

yellowapple wrote: post #46
throwaway185205 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USPS functions almost exclusively to deliver unsolicited advertisements. Its "delivery confirmation" is outright fraud.

What? USPS is the single largest parcel carrier in the US (dwarfing UPS and FedEx by package volume). That ain't even including the numerous packages that UPS and FedEx delegate to USPS for last-mile delivery (via SurePost and SmartPost, respectively). Hell, a lot of rural communities are entirely dependent on USPS for parcel delivery because they're outside of the service areas of other carriers. I don't know where…

> What? USPS is the single largest parcel carrier in the US

They're the only unsolicited advertisement carrier in the US.

Re: U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

#60

Post by Spooky23 »

osrec wrote: post #8
TechBro8615 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody in power has suggested this as a possibility. It’s fearmongering by the democratic media.

Not a US resident, but as an outsider, it does seem like the government is not doing all it can to save the postal service, especially given the corporate bailouts they're looking to hand out.

It's a specific long-term strategy called "Starving the beast", implemented by the conservative wing of the republican party. Control of the US Senate makes it easy to persist policies for a long time. It's a somewhat unusual philosophy where you collect less revenue and borrow to cover the difference to encourage fiscal prudence.

The USPS is a target for a variety of reasons. Think of it as a leveraged buyout target... they have a ton of assets, from information assets to real estate. Carving up the real estate alone would make for a ton of patronage. There are also some extreme positions (which have prominence these days in some circles) that the post office and civil service is a manifestation of big, Federal government exerting too much influence over local affairs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast

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