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Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

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Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#241

Post by ghaff »

phkahler wrote: post #231
lotsofpulp wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retirement benefits should be funded as they are accrued. That is not the problem. The problem is the USPS doesn’t have the power to price their products appropriately in order to pay for their expenses (including payroll which includes retirement benefits). If anything, all entities promising retirement benefits should be forced to do it the way USPS does. In fact, non government entities were forced to via the Pens…

>> The problem is the USPS doesn’t have the power to price their products appropriately in order to pay for their expenses Technically that shouldn't matter. It's a government service and if postage doesnt cover the cost the federal government should. But I'd be happy to see first class mail stop subsidising other stuff.

A lot of the other stuff subsidizes first class mail whose volume has dropped enormously. The USPS also still has to maintain post offices that have very low volumes.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#242

Post by joe-collins »

skuhn wrote: post #84

The underlying motivation here is to accomplish two things: 1. Destroy the viability of the post office as a business (a long running campaign) 2. Disenfranchise voters (a relatively recent campaign) Tens of thousands of people were disenfranchised during the primaries because their ballots were received too late, even if they were postmarked on time. [1] Tax returns are considered to be submitted on the date of thei…

The USPS is, by definition within the US Constitution, not a business. It is an agency of the federal government. It has no intrinsic responsibility to be profitable, or even self-funding, any more so than the Department of Transportation or the Census Bureau or the military.

All arguments and restrictions along those lines serve only the private businesses that would benefit from its de facto dissolution.

Per the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970:

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

> The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, and supported by the people. The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities. The costs of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#243

Post by Borealid »

jellicle wrote: post #219
lotsofpulp wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know what this “prefunding” word means, but the USPS was only required to save for accrued benefits. Which every non governmental entity is required to do in the US due to ERISA and PPA 2006. https://www.cnbc.com/2011/10/24/the-truth-about-the-post-off... > Although accounting rules require the postal service to calculate future liabilities, including those for projected future employees, the law only require…

The point is that on the day that the USPS hires a 20-year-old employee they immediately need to set aside money for this worker's healthcare at age 90, which is an astronomical sum (as projections of future healthcare costs are inevitably astronomical). And no, no private entity in the US is required to prefund retiree health benefits.

Let's say USPS has promised to pay for a 20-year-old employee's health care for the next 70 years. Let's say the total price of that health care is going to be $10M over the 70-year course.

What should they do that neither involves setting sufficient money aside today nor a significant chance of failing to fulfill their obligation?

Keep in mind that USPS' core business can't turn much of a profit due to Congressionally-defined price caps, so it is a very poor place to "invest" money.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#244

Post by tedunangst »

phkahler wrote: post #233
throwaway5752 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I hadn't mentioned the pension, because it takes away from the immediate and much worse problem that the governing party is trying to stay in power by preventing members of the other party from voting.

How are dems more likely to vote by mail? And what are the percentages for each party?

Dems are more likely to be affected by polling station closures and consolidation, so that e.g. all of Detroit has to vote in a single location.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#245

Post by eggsmediumrare »

jb775 wrote: post #234
chillwaves wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will need to find some evidence of voter fraud for mail in ballots. Many states have it as an option and it hasn't happened. The military regularly votes by mail and it hasn't happened. It's funny you open your reply about "absurdly dramatic" then lay an equally absurd claim about vote-by-mail having a problem with fraud. Your reply also conveniently ignores the historical pattern of voter suppression coming from…

You realize the polling places WILL BE OPEN. No one is taking away anyone's constitutional right , you're just playing the victim card. The left only cares about this bc they want the votes of the bottom-feeders of society, who are too lazy to vote. It's also why the left wants criminals in jails to be able to vote. Chasing those votes shows you right there the misguided mindset of the democratic party.

Right, the bottom feeders... The people slaving away at two minimum wage jobs trying to make ends meet? The criminals... The small time weed dealers who decided they didn't want to work two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet? Demeaning these people shows you right there the misguided mindset of the arrogant.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#246

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

pstuart wrote: post #195
johnchristopher wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Wasn't that referendum settled in 2016 ? Trump is 30 years in the making. Unless there's a swing back to restoring democratic norms there's no reasons the coming years are going to be much different, no matter who is elected president.

No, this is different. Trump at that time was a "why the fuck not" to people who hated the current climate and wanted "change". He was an "unknown" as far as the governance he would provide. If Biden is able to take office I expect work to be done to try to salvage things.

> "Trump at that time was a 'why the fuck not' to people who hated the current climate and wanted 'change'."

Absolutely nothing prevents that from happening again. The economic, social, and political forces that disadvantaged large swathes of the public, riling them up enough to make them take a chance on Trump, are all still there. If anything, the fact that the COVID-19 recession is likely going to hit full force during the next administration and make their situation even worse makes voting for demagogues even _more_ likely. Biden isn't going to be able to wave a magic wand to fix the world even if he wins, which is not a given.

We're in for a bumpy ride.

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#247

Post by bluedino »

jonathankoren wrote: post #58
bluedino wrote: post #27

It’s terrible. It’s due to Coronavirus. People are calling in and not going to work at the processing centers, which are mainly in urban areas. Trucks aren’t taking the mail to or from post offices. Carriers are understaffed. There definitely is overtime going on, I’m not sure where the article gets that confused. You can have all the hours you want if you work for the post office right now. We went party invitations…

I don’t know why you think overtime is continuing to be authorized when there are multiple reports of it being eliminated, including the release of the internal memo explicitly eliminating extra and late delivery trips, and directing staff to leave undelivered mail on the floor. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2020/07/usps-warns...

Father in law is a carrier and still working overtime

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#248

Post by waldoh »

jb775 wrote: post #234
chillwaves wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will need to find some evidence of voter fraud for mail in ballots. Many states have it as an option and it hasn't happened. The military regularly votes by mail and it hasn't happened. It's funny you open your reply about "absurdly dramatic" then lay an equally absurd claim about vote-by-mail having a problem with fraud. Your reply also conveniently ignores the historical pattern of voter suppression coming from…

You realize the polling places WILL BE OPEN. No one is taking away anyone's constitutional right , you're just playing the victim card. The left only cares about this bc they want the votes of the bottom-feeders of society, who are too lazy to vote. It's also why the left wants criminals in jails to be able to vote. Chasing those votes shows you right there the misguided mindset of the democratic party.

It's not often someone (100% sure you're a republican) just admits that they think some people's votes are more valuable than another.

All lives matter, right?

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#249

Post by SuperPaintMan »

tyingq wrote: post #145

International shipping delays are pretty interesting right now. Because a fair amount of that was handled by now drastically reduced passenger flights, it's a crazy guessing game as to when a cross country shipment will arrive.

Tell me about it. I run a keyboard shop out of Canada and just trying to get parcels around is a nightmare near the Can/US border. It's getting to the point where packages heading to the EU/UK are actually arriving before the US counterparts.

Add in the extra shenanigans that is the state of air cargo and different routes opening/closing and it's a very strange time to be trying to manage worldwide shipments.

[1] https://www.gboards.ca/

Re: Mail delays hit Philadelphia residents, short staffed USPS struggles to keep up

#250

Post by faitswulff »

phkahler wrote: post #233
throwaway5752 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I hadn't mentioned the pension, because it takes away from the immediate and much worse problem that the governing party is trying to stay in power by preventing members of the other party from voting.

How are dems more likely to vote by mail? And what are the percentages for each party?

They are not. Republican leadership is convinced they are but consider this quote from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/510040-gop-fears-trump... :

> The R Street Institute, a think tank dedicated to free markets and limited government, recently released a study titled “Why conservatives should embrace sensible measures to expand absentee balloting.”

> The study cast doubt on claims that Democrats benefit from expanded mail-in voting, pointing to three states Trump carried in 2016 — Utah, Arizona and Montana — where about 70 percent of voters cast ballots through the mail.

GOP leadership is just totally unhinged.

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