The nation’s postmaster general says delivering mail six days a week may no longer be feasible for an agency facing deficits in the billions.
John E. Potter told a congressional panel Wednesday that cutting mail delivery by one day a week may be necessary to curb a projected loss of more than $6 billion for this fiscal year. He asked a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee to lift the six-day delivery requirement mandated in 1983.
“It is possible that the cost of six-day delivery may simply prove to be unaffordable,” he said.
Potter attributed the Postal Service’s $2.8 billion debt at the end of fiscal 2008 to decreased mail volume and higher costs. The service has been hit hard by an increase in e-mail usage. Mail volume dropped by 4.5%, or more than 9 billion items, last year, to about 202 billion items, according to the service.
But lawmakers aren’t convinced that reducing service days is the best solution.
“Rather than helping it recover, I believe cutting services would ultimately be a death spiral for the postal service,” because business would look elsewhere, Collins said.
In case you didn’t know, stamp prices are scheduled to go up in May.
#26, Even a monopolist (the USPS is one) sets his prices based on demand and supply (marginal revenue and marginal cost), he just doesn’t set it at the equilibrium.
But does it have to be Saturday? I know that Monday through Friday are important days for businesses, but if they take Saturdays off too, that’s two days in a row I won’t get mail. That means a stockpile of mail on Monday, some of which is two days old.
#21 tcc3 said:
“Unless that affects netflix of course. I need my movies. =)”
I read a report on dvice.com this morning, Netflix’s CEO was saying that their video streaming service was gaining ground on it’s dvd mail service.
named, while I enjoy reading some of your posts you need to remember that you are American as well.
I’m just sayin’
Delivering the mail and maintaining the roads is what the government is supposed to do. The rest is pork.
#35, you’re kidding right? You’re worried about a stockpile of mail on Monday, some of which is TWO DAYS OLD? OH, THE HORROR!
#13–Paddy-O-Dumbshit Troll says: “Don’t know. If someone wants me to have the job of solving that business problem, they can pay me.
Funny how that works. You want exec level answers, pay exec level price…” //// I fell off my chair. LOL!!!
You’d have to pay me to read any drivel you might infringe from some other tangentially related post from the dysfunctional right wing blog-o-sphere.
In fact, your BS is wearing thin here as well. Others might righteously disagree but I think in isolation your drivel is “tolerabble” if you would just back it up with a link every other time rather than say “look it up and guess what I’m thinking?”
Surely even you do that just to piss everyone off at your waste of time? I don’t think its a sense of humor, but with each joke, your stupid hole gets deeper.
# 41 bobbo said, ““look it up and guess what I’m thinking?””
Do you really like wearing your lack of education like a badge?
Amazing.
#42–Paddy==better on a badge than posted on a blog for all to see. hahahahaha ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!
Paddy—-pull up, you’re gonna crash!!!!! Still time to stand up on your hind legs and join the human race.
I vote for no mail on Saturday!
If I gone for the weekend, I don’t want my mail sitting in my mailbox. I dout no saturday mail will have much of a effect on how the postal mail is used.
What happens if the credit card due date falls on a Saturday? Do they get to charge a $20 late fee if it is not there on Friday then?
This will hurt Netflix.
The real problem is the union work rules and pensions. They just expect the taxpayers to pick up the slack, just like Amtrak.
38,
I’m American? *looks around* The moose, beavers, poutine and bacon say otherwise. Though I am from North America…
With the express mail price increases, I think they are approaching FedEx and UPS levels.
#25, Cow-Paddy,
Thanks. I’ve set up subsidiaries up there, worked with the Gov’t on security issues and visited.
You do realize no one believes that.
Some of the most beautiful land on the face of the Earth.
Could that possibly be because you are still here?
#36, Cow-Paddy,
You find it “odd” that a person, who is forced to give money to a fund, at gun point, wants some of it back?
And who was pointing the gun at your head?
Talk about comprehension problems. ROFL
Can you comprehend that no one likes you? Maybe you don’t comprehend this point, but people can see right through your bullshit.
45,
“What happens if the credit card due date falls on a Saturday? Do they get to charge a $20 late fee if it is not there on Friday then?”
So, I’m to assume you cannot pay it on, say Friday? Or Thursday? Or at your bank? Phone? Interwebitube? Additionally, I’ll bet that they’ll just shift the due date forwards or backwards the one or two days? Don’t your corps account for holidays? Leap years?
#49–Fusion==I “like” Paddy, I just get constantly disappointed he so often comes up short. Unnecessarily shooting himself in the foot for what pleasure I don’t know.
Anyway, yes, if you don’t pay your social security taxes you can be put in jail after being arrested by agents pulling their guns on you. Actually a very reasonable characterization of the governments power over all of us with their taxing and enforcement policies. Also an excellent retort to anyone criticizing someone for taking their Soc Sec benefit as some sort of welfare. It is only welfare after you start receiving more money than you paid in==and on average, most do.
# 51 bobbo said, “It is only welfare after you start receiving more money than you paid in==and on average, most do.”
Correct. I have no problem with that characterization. Just as I have no problem with people who would rather opt out and go it alone.
How about a compromise? We let the USPS go to 5 days a week, in return we repeal the law that gives the USPS a monopoly on mailbox delivery.
If FedEX or UPS can do sat delivery and make money, then the law should not be blocking them from doing so.
Yeah right privatized mail, that’ll work. I can imagine it now, let’s see, since most of the sent mail is bills and junk they’ll get bulk rate, and in order for that to be cost effective anyone who lives outside of town will have to go pick up their mail at the post office or pay to have it delivered. Sheesh I sure wouldn’t want to live in a rural area, imagine having to pay the postoffice to deliver a wad of junk mail and bills. Hell it’ll probrably end up that way anyways. You see, Private companies will screw ya just as hard and fast as the goverment run institutions. Maybe faster, after all they have to show a profit to survive.
Privately run enterprises aren’t a panacea.
A profitable post office would mean it cut certain types of services that are a core to it’s purpose.
We could also try to make building roads profitable by making them all toll roads or make the military profitable by outsourcing.
Public services by definition are profitable for the public as a whole and must be paid for by the general public, not individual users.
A “free market” post office wouldn’t charge just the sender, but also the recipient.
#55, My problem is not that public programs exist in areas where it would not be economically profitable for private enterprise to operate (see deep space exploration as an example), but when public programs directly compete in areas where it is, especially given that they enjoy the decidedly unfair advantage of the government’s power to compel behavior.
#52, Bobbo,
if you don’t pay your social security taxes you can be put in jail after being arrested by agents pulling their guns on you.
Not quite. Failure to pay taxes is a civil offense. That means you will be summoned to court. Ignore a summons or a court order and that is a criminal offense and yes you will be arrested. That however, is only because you chose to commit the crime of ignoring a court.
Actually a very reasonable characterization of the governments power over all of us with their taxing and enforcement policies.
No again. I guess you missed it but we had this major election back in November. If you didn’t like the way taxes are collected THEN was the time to do something. Today though, is when you accept the democratic process and go with the flow.
Also an excellent retort to anyone criticizing someone for taking their Soc Sec benefit as some sort of welfare. It is only welfare after you start receiving more money than you paid in==and on average, most do.
Wrong again. Social Security is an insurance program. If you die early you don’t collect much. If you live long then you get a lot. I pay a lot of auto insurance every year. I also hope to never need to collect. But if I ever do need it, will you be calling that welfare too?
#56, Hmeyers,
Public services by definition are profitable for the public as a whole and must be paid for by the general public, not individual users.
Excellent point. Only the individuals see too much of what return they get so they become all huffy that they aren’t getting their share.
Apparently the USPS could opt to close either Tuesday or Saturday delivery. Both are low volume days.
Saturday seems to make the most sense. Many of their emploeyees could then enjoy real weekends, and many businesses would be only marginally affected.
Taking tuesdays off would both cause problems for businesses and leave managers with scheduling nightmares, and employees not enjoying real weekends.
I’m betting that they close off tuesday delivery.
# 58 Mr. Fusion said, “Not quite. Failure to pay taxes is a civil offense.”
Umm, no. Federal tax evasion is a criminal felony.
Stop sending me the coupons. I’m not going to drive an extra thirty miles just to save fifty cents on a can of Pringles.
Stop sending me car advertisements. I can barely get approved for a line of credit that I want, let alone afford a car loan.
Stop sending me pre-approved credit card offers. I’ve already got the line of credit I need/want at the rate I want, what makes you think I’ll need another, and be able to pay it back?
——-
80% of the mail I get is all junk. Commerce? It seems like the postal service is so buried because of all the machinable junk mail that all these companies shove through.
I don’t like the idea of cutting mail delivery days to five a week, merely increasing costs for bulk mailing (IE: Credit Card offers, coupon offers, etc.) I mean, these days all of that is going to be done online as a cheaper method of getting your brand name out there, and in the case of Credit, faster approval too.
Holy ****… are we looking at a snail-mail version of Net Neutrality?
I say, GREAT! Why the hell do we need to get f-ing mail on Saturday, anyway? I would welcome TWO days without having to open unwelcome bills, solicitations, or government meddling.
I say, GREAT! Why the hell do we need to get f-ing mail on Saturday, anyway? I would welcome TWO days without having to open unwelcome bills, solicitations, or government meddling. Oh, and of course, the postage will go down, right?
One thing I’ve noticed here is the angst towards unsolicited mail. I wonder if you know how it works?
In Cannuckistan, it’s illegal to send unsolicited mail through the post. Canada Post does it regardless since it makes a HUGE amount of money for the postal service. HUGE. It’s a subsidy on the delivery of mail since 52c is not a reasonable reflection of the total cost. In fact, some union members of Canada Post refused to deliver admail / spam / junk mail and were sanction heavily by the corp (Canada Post) with the full support of the union backing the CORP!
So, no matter how many days of mail you get, admail is a revenue stream that they will not relinquish. Good thing is that since its unaddressed it can go straight to recycling.
Tax to a government is like heroin. You can say you “quit” but you never do.