Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comPostage rates going up but not for most letters
Seeded on Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:36 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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More business for Fed-X and UPS!
LOL. Instead of 80 cents for a letter to Mexico, you can pay $9.95 to UPS it. Sounds like a deal to me. Listen, I got this bridge...
I'm tired of dittoheads citing the USPS as an example of a poorly run otufit. Allowing Fec-X and UPS to steal the cream of the delivery business is what screwed USPS. Require Fex-X and USPS to stop at every home and business in the country every day to check whether they have a package to send and see what happens to their profits.
There is no comparison. The USPS was founded on the principle of providing service to the country. This is not what corporate greed is about at all.
Did the postal service get rid of the CEO salary to shore up it's budget crisis against inflation? Most of the problems with the system is they are not in a position to stay in business as the internet will always now be the forefront of how the world communicates.
They should trim themselves to shipping and compete with UPS, FEDEX and offer postage mail as a side service. Changing their core focus on new infrastructure which could rise them to competitiveness with UPS, FEDEX would be the way we would change the company.
When the Post Office is operated as a business, (be able to stand on its own) instead of a service, (subsidized) then and only then, will the Post Office make sense!
Republicans keep talking about the "founding fathers", well those founding fathers created the post office to provide a SERVICE to the country and not wallow in corporate evil, selfishness and greed.
@Te4rry,
The reason for the increase is that FedEx and UPS are shipping a rapidly increasing amount of parcels by USPS. This is because the USPS is cheaper. So the UPS computers will automatically route it between UPS offices when that is cheaper.
Since the USPS is required to charge the same rate regardless of where in the USS the package us sent to. So, more and more, UPS and FedEx are shipping via the USPS while leaving their customers thinking that the package is going the whole way via them. Sneaky, no?
The reason the USPS is going broke is that it is required by law to ship to anywhere in the US or its Possessions for the same flat rate. So if you mail a package across the street it costs you the same as if you shipped it to Point Barrow, Alaska. UPS and FedEx are free to cherry-pick and only deliver to the destinations they choose and for rates that depend on distance. If you want to ship a package to Point Barrow, USP and FedEx used to send you to the Post Office because they do not deliver there. But now, they mail the package to a "correspondent shipper" in Point Barrow and pocket the difference.
And for @MtnMike, The USPS is a special form of corporate entity which is actually run like a business except that Congress must approve its rates. That came about under Nixon when UPS, FedEx, and DHL spent millions lobbying the Congress (primarily GOP members) to remove the Post Office from being a cabinet-level position to being an external quasi-independent "public" corporation like TVA.
Considering that the Post Office is very restricted in how they operate (for example they are not allowed to charge by distance or remoteness of the destination, they are significantly more efficient than either UPS or FedEx.
The USPS was set up by Ben Franklin who considered it to be his greatest contribution to the new country. He warned repeatedly that it must remain a cabinet-level (though not actually in the cabinet) position and that it should be run off the books of the US government. He repeatedly warned that it must remain a monopoly because even in Franklin's day you had packet ships that plied between east coast ports and could deliver packages and letters to selected ports more cheaply than the Post Office could.
I find it strange that people in politics think they are smarter than Ben Franklin. He was a premier publisher, postmaster, postmaster general, scientist, statesman, politician, and all-round good guy. I see no one in politics these days who even come close to one of the last of the true Renaissance men.
I understand the post office needing a rate increase every year as EVERY business does. What I don't understand is how they can justify giving away FREE priority boxes and envelopes. They could charge at least enough to cover the costs and they would be surprised how much revenue it would bring in. No one should argue about paying for a box or envelope. Put how much do you want to bet they won't see my point. Private businesses would close their doors if we operated this way.
The price of the box is included with the price of Priority mail. The abuse comes from people taking the boxes and using them to ship UPS and FedEx which is against the law -- but FedEx and UPS don't do a damn thing about it. They should reject the packages. Everytime I get a package delivered via UPS and Fedex in a Priority Mail box I file a complaint with the postal service. They do follow-up. An online retailer (now defunct) was doing this and got busted by the Postal Inspectors. People try to scam the Post Office left and right then complain because it costs 44-cents to mail a letter.
LMAO Rob the USPS uses FedEX to move the mail.
@jean,
The cost of supplies is factored into some classes of mail. But you cannot, for example, ship a "parcel post" package in a free priority mail box. That said, I do see that lots of people turn the Priority Mail boxes inside out and then use them to send packages by the cheaper Parcel Post. THIS practice whould be cracked down on.
Good for them, they can price themselves right out business. UPS has so much more to offer. The post office fought to keep the junk mailings we all love so much, because that's their bread and butter, then, they turn around and say they have too much mail. I hope they go away soon, they cost us all. I had to stand in line 45 minutes on Monday to mail a package that I had already paid the postage for online, because of the new security rules. Not worth the trouble.
UPS has so much more to offer? Except priority 2-3 delivery. And Saturday delivery. UPS is the dark ages of mail service. I swear they need to dress their drivers in iron mail with broadswords.
What we need is a 24x7 mail delivery service that just runs everybody. Let China do it for us!
Yeah, let's see UPS deliver a letter cross-county for 44 cents. Keep living that dream and let me know how it works out.
to pt994836: If you were to understand that idiots send all kinds of materials in the Postal Syatem then you would realize that requirement... If that is not your case and the item was done by Click and ship you would have scheduled a FREE pick up... Or better yet, ask UPS to pick it up for you and see what their standards are. You have options!! By the way "junk mail" is NOT the bread and butter you speak of, it only allows mailers to innundate the mailstream with advertisements. It only takes a few customers to subscribe or buy that offer to pay ofr that advertisers mailing the rest is their profit....not the USPS. Direct mailers lobby the Postal Rate Commission with "millions" of dollars and perks to get that break. We have to STOP that practice and Charge the same rate as the paying public does. Then 2 things happen. !. The advertaisers pay and get their product advertised or 2. Do business elsewhere!! Where you ask? (will UPS or FED-EX do it NO) Maybe the local paper or a magazine but that would cost them too much. How else, I am not 100% sure but in order to generate revenue and pay salaries, charge a competitive rate for direct mail or "junk mail" .....
It is past time to PRIVATIZE the United States Postal System! What a waste of money!
Wake up call! The USPS has already been privatized and does not cost taxpayers a penny.
Get your facts straight before you COMCAST yourself and the rest of us into much higher prices.
You tea baggers gotta get a grip. . .facts won't hurt either.
Uh, like the article says, the USPS loses billions every year. Exactly who makes up for that if not the taxpayers?
Listening! Listening! Listening! Deafening silence.
Hey, all they have to do is lose their unions and they'll stop losing money. There are thousands of unemployed who are more than educated enough to drive a truck down streets at half the price of the current union rate.
Unions are the enemy of civilization. They simply demand an alternate universe that is not real or sustainable.
rrobeson
Is there something you don't understand about, "The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for its operations." Or, did you just want to have your say about unions to see if you can get a rise out of the other posters?
Yep, let's privatize them. Then we can pay $5 to mail a letter, and if you live in a rural area just forget about it. Do you realize that UPS and FedEx use the Post Office to deliver rural packages because they don't want to do it? You expect them to START doing it when they are running the show? I'm sure they will, just be prepared to pay for it.
Im still waiting for someone to answer rrobesons question of who picks up the billions and billions they are losing. I wondered the same when the article ended with "The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for its operations."
Maybe they just print more stamps and cash them into themselves to cover the billions and billions they are operating in the red.
Its time to let more of the postal workers go, start with some managers, supervisors and continue on down. We should run the postal service with a majority of part-time and temp workers, the requirements to perform the job are simple and require no skillsets. The one thing I always notice at the Bolingbrook,IL postal office employee parking lot, is the number of imports the Union employees drive, its truly a shame.
The United States Postal Service first began moving the mail on July 26, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the nation's first Postmaster General. In accepting the position, Franklin dedicated his efforts to fulfilling George Washington's vision. Washington, who championed a free flow of information between citizens and their government as a cornerstone of freedom, often spoke of a nation bound together by a system of postal roads and post offices.
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.
UPS smallest letter pack is over $5. Also if you privatize mail delivery, like cable, you will have to pay to get your mail delivered as well as pay to send it. The USPS is in a limbo position being a quasi private federal entity. They don't control their own rates and are required to subsidize certain rates such as mail delivery in Alaska to the tune of 500 million a year. Everything moved in Alaska is " mailed ". Even Palin wouldn't want that spending cut. They cannot make a profit. All profits, when they have them, are returned to the treasury. As Franklin said ( to paraphrase ) the mail system links the country together and is worth the expense as a government service, which it was until 7/1/71.
OK so it sounds like the only way to cut costs are to begin letting more employees go and start with the Wage, benefit and pension cuts for each and every one of them. The head Post Master should be banking no more than $150,000 a year, you work for the people we should not be working for you.
@coverwiz,
A small additional point. The original Post Office under Franklin was also responsible for building and maintaining Postal Roads (now the Federal Highway System.) Most people don't know that most federal highways in the east were built by the Post Office.
And for @UAW, Postal workers already make much less than their UPS and FedEx counterparts (who are mostly subcontractors and receive few benefits.) What would be the point of cutting their wages? I do agree, however, that the Postmaster General should not make more money than the highest paid cabinet officer. Because the USPS was privatized in 1974, the USPS Board of Trustees sets his pay, and since it does not involve taxpayer money, the Congress has no say-so in his compensation. When they USPS was privatized, all control over compensation was given to the Board of Trustees. The only oversight Congress has is that they must approve rate increases. The USPS is revenue-neutral. It does not cost the taxpayer a dime of general revenues. All of its income is generated through the sale of services and stamps.
 I can send & receive email letters at midnight. I can receive important letters and packages by FedEx or UPS by 10:30 am. But my daily USPS mail does not arrive until 5:30 PM. That's right - 5:30 PM and in the winter the mailman uses a flashlight strapped to his forehead.
What's wrong with this picture? USPS! But my mailcarrier can retire earlier, with a government medical and pension, while I have to work until 65 to get my Medicare and Social Security.
Well, see you have the option of paying 10 times more and getting your mail a few hours earlier. America is a great country, but it does not prevent fools and their money from being parted.
To an Illionois Voter: You should ask your mailcarrier if you can follow along one day and find out why he comes by late?? I would also ask him how far his $897 a month pension after 20 years service, before taxes, would last each month ( taken from the actual pay scale on the Postal Service website) and then ask how much of that is left AFTER he/she pays their health insurance costs. Which they do pay for and is not given to them by the Postal Service. Then by the way ask what his rent or mortgage payment is along with other bills?? He has to contibute into his 401K and manage that before he is eligible to collect HIS/HER social security like everyone else....
That mailperson has to do 30 years AND be at least 55 yrs old for retirement if under the Civil Service system. If under the newer system FERS, then his minimum retirement age is 56 yrs old and must have 10 yrs service but that would not net that minimum figure of $897.00 a month.
Just eliminate the "dincount" for junk mail!!! Have those who send those annoying "Great offer" and "Enroll now" "junk" mail pay the same postage as "regular" letters. Also those flimsey news paper type adds---$.44 each and nothing less.
That would either /or
1. increase income for the USPS
2. decrease the amount of junk mail that I throw away each week
3. save a few trees
You fail to realize that so-called junk mail is what pays for the majority of the postal service. Without that junk mail the full cost of mailing that birthday card to Aunt Marlmalade would be passed on to you. Be careful what you ask for, you may get it.
Plus, many people, especially in rural areas, depend on catalogs and other mailings to order things. Not everyone has access to high-speed internet or a Wal-Mart.
Everyone, I repeat everyone in this country can have access to the internet via satalite internet. Just because Obama says its not available does not mean its not available. Besides, Aunt Marlmalade is fine with a phone call and/or an ecard now adays.
There should be an option for each address as to whether or not we want to receive that junk mail. Select no and the postal service does not deliver and recycles it, select yes and you get that junk mail. They need to stop being so limited, I do not want junk mail.
GED Teacher, you clearly don't understand automated mail. The reason bulk mailers get a discount is because they do a lot of the processing themselves thus reducing the burden for the USPS. If you don't want to receive 'junk' mail, you can register with the DMA to have your name suppressed from solicitations.
@Rob Stinnett,
You are wrong. Bulk rate mail is subsidized by first class mail by order of Congress. It costs the same to deliver as first class, but charges far less. This is because mailers have long lobbied Congress to keep their rates low, even at the expense of first class mailers. They also forbid the USPS to have any sort of junk mail "opt-out" system.
@Usula,
Pre-sorted mail is what you are talking about, not bulk rate mail. Pre-sorted mail gets a two-cent break for sorting it so that it is ready to insert into the postal system at the "concentrator" level.
The DMA is a group run by direct mailers. Their lists are ignored and have been long used as a way to keep Congress from any anti-junk mail legislation. Putting your name on the no junk mail list will do exactly zero.
@UAW, The only satellite internet service of any consequence is Hughes. It is very expensive and the further north you go, the more unreliable it is. It does not work well in bad weather and uses multiplexing over your phone line for sending. I don't know anyone who has retained Hughes after their initial contract ran out. They all went back to dial-up.
Chris, most direct mailers suppress the DMA pander list (a little over 4 million names) - no need to waste package and postage costs on someone who doesn't want to receive your mail. And 'bulk' or 'presort' are the same thing - all part of a work-share program.
http://pe.usps.com/businessmail101/getstarted/bulkMail.htm
I ship with the USPS every day and have since 1996. I am a dot com businessman. There is NO ONE who can ship small packages globally for under $3 or nationwide in 2-3 days for $5 and that makes the USPS a huge bargain.
Some of you folks are severely misinformed. I suspect FAUX news. . . .
I agree. I ship my product using postal priority and 99% of the time my customers receive it in 2 days and the rates are much cheaper than UPS, plus I don't have to call UPS and wait for them to pick it up.
good man a combat veteran
Even UPS and FedEx are shipping more and more by USPS. The USPS currently charges less than UPS and FedEx costs for longer distance destinations. So both are more and more shipping your UPS/FedEx package at least part of the way by the USPS and just not telling you. They charge enough more that they make a tidy profit by charging customers and then shipping by USPS.
2 observations:
(1) We need a "forever" stamp for the next ounce.
(2) Raise the rate for junk mail. This will force the mailers to be more selective. My sister-in-law, who died two years, is STILL receiving mail at our house!
I bought a 'log roller' that makes fireplace logs out of newspaper, junk mail, etc. I think it's fantastic that I can suppliment by heating bill with junk mail. What value!!! The junk mail subsidizes my postage, and heats my home. What a great country America is.
DrRWKline
In regards to (2) at comment #9
I still get mail at my house addressed to my ex-wife who has not lived here since March 1999. But you know what? The U.S.P.S. has nothing to do with that. They deliver to the address on the item. They don't even have to look at the name. They couldn't care less and why should they?
DrRWKline
I shamefully withdraw my statement at #9.2. I must not have read yours correctly the first time. Your point was to force the 'mailers' to be more selective. That is a point with which I agree wholeheartedly.
Again, I apologize.
>I had to stand in line 45 minutes on Monday to mail a package that I had already >paid the postage for online, because of the new security rules.
to : PT-994836
Wrong PT, the "new security rules" that require face to face meeting with a postal employee is for anonymous packages 13 OZ or more that are paid with adhesive stamps, your IP address & your online paid account identify you as a known customer allowing you to drop heavy pieces in the mail drop bypassing the line. although you are allowed to voluntarily make the line, YOU ARE UNNECESSARILY MAKING THE LINE LONGER FOR OTHERS.
I found out a long time ago that at post offices that hit the 45 minutes line, there are multiple time slots during the day/week, when I find no line, those are the times I go, but don't ask me, I want to keep that to myself. ---clue--- In life you should learn to stay clear away from the majority. When choosing lines, stay away from the crowd, join the minority. The ones in the long lines are the losers that even if informed of my little secret will always wait till the last minute.
The post office will pick your package up for free -- no lines, no waiting. Just call them.
I wonder if the Post Office realizes that every time they raise the rates they loose customers, or is that the plan?
Your kidding, right? They lose customers to whom? Who out there can deliver a letter to anywhere in the US for 44 cents? For that matter, who can deliver a letter to anywhere in the US for under 5 dollars?
Looking, we will just not mail that letter we will send an email or pay that bill online thats how the volume demand has dropped. Its time they make more cuts to personnel.
RANDOLPH E. SCHMID - I was so surprised at the end the article, "The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for its operations." Federal dollars have covered the USPS’s net losses and they've been losing billions of dollars quarter after quarter, year after year. Since there's little way for USPS to recover, much less to the point of 500% profit margins, in order to repay these federal payments, these back-end shortfall payments are bona fide tax dollar receipts on an potentially unending basis.
Cite source, please.
Check the GAO. The GAO notes that the Post Office ...
They BORROW money to be paid back. Your precious tax dollars aren't being spent. Every dime they borrow must be paid back.
Read my original entry. How is the USPS going to make such a turnaround that they can earn a 400-500% profit and pay this staggering amount of money back AND find funds for pensions? Unless they can miraculously do that, these are not loans but payments of tax dollars to support the operation of the postal service. You must surely agree with that.
Wow WhoopTeeDo, I knew the Postal Service was in bad shape but not even that bad. No way we will ever see that money they have loaned. Its time for more personnel cuts along with wage, benefit and pension cuts for all the current employees. Once again the true taxpayers will get the shaft when its all said and done.
Some of what is going to happen is centralized mail delivery. Home and office delivery cannot be maintained as is and eventually will be replaced by centralized postal boxes for EVERYONE.
It is impossible to continue to deliver every piece of mail to its exact destination for every address in this country. The cost is too labor-intensive and pension requirements too staggering, not to mention airline costs, vehicular fleets and maintenance, sorting and distribution centers and the cost of the past decade's marketing through national broadcast ads.
"The Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for its operations."The statement Is correct.
When you average all the years the PO brakes even.
If the USPS does not accept tax dollars, then where do the billions they lose every year come from? Get rid of the unions, and make these people work for a living. Lower their benefits, especially retirement benefits. Stop Saturday deliverys. Stop the bleeding!
I smell moron in the air.
I work for the USPS and I dont get a retirement. I contribute to the 401k. All employees hired after 1983 dont get a retirement. Only those before them, who are civil service, get a pension. And there aren't many left.
you nut job get rid of your computer..this is tea party talk a combat veteran
I agree with Paul on all counts. Liberals always turn to childish name calling because you KNOW he's right and just want to change the subject.
I agree with Paul on all counts as well. Its time for more personnel cuts as well as wage, benefit and pension cuts.
You do realize the UPS is union as well, don't you?
@Paul,
Just as with all not-for profits, operating losses are carried forward to the next year. The end result is that many things are underfunded or never bought. They do what any not-for-profit does -- they make do.
What happened to the talk a year or so ago about eliminating one day from delivery service? Skip Saturday. Businesses do not necessarily need it, and private citizens certainly don't.
Nah, they don't need it... except...
* Elderly who get medicine delivered via mail (very common in rural areas)
* People who do business through the mail and are open on Saturdays (this is a global economy)
* People who use the Post Office for more than mailing letters -- packages, Priority Mail, etc.
1) They'll make it an extra 2 days. People with critical medical needs would keep a stockpile just in case.
2) Businesses will wait until Monday. They're used to doing this for UPS or Fedex
3) Ditto
The unions probably want Saturday because they can get overtime (for doing 1/2 the work of a typical worker). It's all about the union.
Why don't they just have one 44 cent stamp? That would save money, and prevent the person at the counter from spending 10 minutes choosing what colorful stamps they want while we all wait.
Lonnie is right, we can do without Sat delivery.
Another reason why UNIONS are destroying America!
Every wonder why the DOW is going up by leaps and bounds? Profits are up, up, up. Of course the workers are not benefiting from these profits. Never mind, you would not understand.
I don't have a problem with the rates going up. But I would like to see Customer Service at the local Post Office go up too. The service is awful and I go there everyday for the company I work for. I just dread it...so unorganized and rude employee's. Mail put into wrong boxes "everyday" and waits at the courtesy can take of to "20" minutes. I would not use the postal service if I had another choice!
Hey, U.S.P.S. ----- Just what are the new prices for advertising pieces and other "junk mail"? Let advertisers carry more of the load of postal costs. If they find the cost increases to be too much, then mail less, or better yet, mail NOTHING AT ALL ! The average citizen has shouldered a disproportionate amount of the burden for FAR TOO LONG. Cut down on delivery days, and let a large number of federal employees go. Personally, I would favor UPS to build a division dealing strictly with the U.S. Mail. Current postal employees COULD APPLY for positions in the new entity, but NO ONE would get automatic employment, or be grandfathered in for any reason. I would guess that only a small percentage, VERY SMALL, would be able to meet UPS standards and requirements. All employees hired would have to become part of the union(s) which affect current UPS employees. The current U.S.P.S. system, and union, would go the way of the carrier pigeon. Our mail would be handled by FEWER employees and they would be much more efficient. Everyone wins, except the "workers" who have fed at the public trough for FAR TOO LONG.
Got any facts to support your claims?
@Diisabled,
Did you not know that the USPS is required by law to ship letters and parcels to every address in the United States, its Territories and Possessions for the same flat rate? Any number of studies have shown that the USPS is slightly faster than UPS or FedEx and handle packages significantly more carefully (they do this by mailing seismographs around the country.) And, of course, overall the USPS is far cheaper than UPS or FedEx.
UPS and FedEx actually cause some of the higher rates by cherry-picking just profitable routes. They do not deliver everywhere. If you want to send a letter to Guam, the USPS will do it for the same rate as mailing it across the street. UPS and FedEx will just hand it back to you and say, "Sorry."
More and more, both UPS and FedEx are using the USPS as their preferred "method of carriage." They take your package and if the Post Office is cheaper, they just mail it. Some goes into your mailbox directly and some just point-to-point within the UPS or FedEx systems. This is because the USPS is that much cheaper and just enough faster to make it impossible for UPS and FedEx to charge the same rate and make a profit. The current estimates are that within 5 years around 40% of all UPS and FedEx parcels and letters will go some portion of their trip via the USPS.
The story of UPS and FedEx and the USPS and their various labor problems are one of the most complex, crooked, and politically bizarre. I won't even try to go into it, but both FedEx and UPS have spent many millions lobbying Congress, not just for breaks for themselves, but to place restrictions on both the other company and the Post Office to their own advantage. There are "special" union rules for UPS, FAA injunctions against FedEx, and all sorts of political back-stabbing and chicanery.
And most of those guys in the UPS and FedEx trucks are not employees. They are contractors. This is how both companies get around unions and are able to keep labor costs low. The UPS truck that did $1100 in damage to my lawn was driven by a subcontractor and the original contractor went bankrupt before paying my claim. At first UPS said that they were completely uninvolved, but later they agreed to pay for the damages after they saw what had been done.
People want to rank on the Post Office. But I have no idea why. Most packages I receive are shipped via USPS and I have never had to file a claim or trace a package. I have had UPS packages left at other peoples houses (claiming that they were signed for), packages left in the rain, and have had to trace a number of them. The primary reason seems to be that both the UPS and FedEx GPS systems have my address mis-plotted. Very frequently, UPS just says it cannot find the house and sends it back.
I would like to see a level playing field. And restriction, such as having to deliver to any address in the United States, its Territories or Possessions for one flat rate should be required of both FedEx and UPS. UPS and FedEx should be forbidden to use the USPS to ship parcels or letters unless they pat a $.50 per item surcharge for letters and $2.80 per package. UPS and FedEx should be required to count Saturday as a business day, just as the Post Office does. (That's how they claim to be faster than the USPS --- they get an extra business day a week.) And last of all, FedEx and UPS should be required to deliver junk mail at a loss.
Somehow, I don't think UPS and FedEx would want to compete on even ground. They already have politicians convinced that they are "unfair" competition because they do not have to show a profit to stockholders. UPS especially claims that this is why they have to charge up to twice as much.
STOP making postage stamps with movie stars, fruit, flowers, buffalo...etc. We pay for those designs, we pay for the print work, the tool & die workers...We continue on the same path, with the same costs. Then, we are told to "shell out" more money!
I will not be bullied into doing business on-line with companies. I want a paper-trail. I do NOT want a hacker from "wherever" getting onto my private transactions.
The Postal Dept. has ripped us off for years, having everything their way. Mail is lost...mail is torn.....junk mail continues.....and, yet we PAY more!
I hate to say it, but I can remember when a stamp was a single digit....(as a child)....I don't want to keep on paying for more lobbysists to hit the Post Master General's staff with a request for "lightbulbs" on a stamp! Three choices of one animal, one flower, and one flag works just fine for me and my wallet.
And if you remember correctly, the candy bar you now pay a dollar for cost 5 cents, the same as a postage stamp.
That so-called waste for the "movie star" stamps? Those are bought by collectors -- yes, some of us collect stamps instead of iPhones and iJunk -- which are never used for postage, which is pure profit. Not only are they bought by Americans, but by folks around the world who collect stamps.
Please do your research before you throw out information that is just plain wrong.
In the 25 years I've been receiving mail I've never had one letter lost -- I had ONE that was torn, and it was re-packed and included a note from the post office explaining what happened.
I don't know why they won't just bite-the-bullet and cut back on the number of days they deliver mail. Three-days out of 3 they only deliver junk.
You want to save big dollars in the government? Privatize mail delivery in the US and shut down the money gobbling monster that is the US Postal Service. They are another Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac parasite foisted upon the American people. Lousy service, at a high price , with great benefits for themselves! That's the the new motto!
Hey idiot, the post office doesn't get your tax money. So don't use them (take your mailbox and throw it away) and you aren't paying for it. Problem solved.
Then when you want to mail something to someone take your happy ass to UPS and pay them $14 for the priviledge of doing so.
So who is ultimately going to pick up the hugh tab the Postal Service is racking up. It will be the true taxpayers of this country that is who.
Who needs the post office. Shut em down. Pay bills on-line & email.
I would like to know why, when the USPS gets a rate increase because there is an inflation rate of 1.7%, we were told we are not getting a social security COLA because there is no inflation. Just asking.
Perhaps they were measured at different times? It is a good point though.
From what I understand, the inflation rate used to calculate the social security COLA was from the last quarter of 2009. The problem with that is , we are not living in the past, we are living in the present. I guess they must use a different criteria to benefit the USPS and hope no one will notice.
The level of quality and service you receive from your local post office often is dictated by where you live and the type of employees there.
Rob S. I guess you are just lucky with the fact of no lost or destroyed mail. The regional director though, did agree with me....about lost mail. Same situation as mail was not only rifled in Orlando last summer, but money that I sent to someone was missing.
That's why I say, "how lucky you are". As to stamp collectors needing to purchase stamps for their collections or profits therof, I still do not want to pay for them.
As with "my collections", they do not cost anyone other than the buyer.
The last I checked, the only people who paid for stamps was those bought them. Just how are you subsidizing other people's stamp purchases? Don't want them? Don't buy them. Simple as that. You have no clue whatsoever ow much collector stamps bring in for revenue for the Post Office. The Simpsons stamps last year alone were sold out within 3 weeks at most postal locations.
If you are stupid enough to send cash in the mail, something the Post Office has WARNED against repeatedly since at least the 1950s, then I have no sympathy for you.
So, the post office makes stamps that they sell for .44 and up that cost them just a few pennies to manufacture that are purchased by collectors and never redeemed making the USPS a profit of about 99% on these items and you think that's a poor business decision?
While I agree that there are things that the USPS can do to reduce their costs, ie. limit number of delivery days, stop home pickup of mail, etc. The choice is very easy, if you don't like using the USPS to send mail, then use a different carrier.