Jump to content
Head Coach Openings 2024 ×
  • Current Donation Goals

    • Raised $2,716 of $3,600 target

A Coronavirus Bailout Won't Save (or Fix) the USPS


Muda69

Recommended Posts

https://reason.com/2020/08/17/a-coronavirus-bailout-wont-save-or-fix-the-usps/

Quote

Congress has proposed a $25 billion bailout for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as part of the latest COVID-19 stimulus bill, but it's unlikely that any amount of cash will be enough to stabilize the agency's finances. Postmaster General Megan Brennan told the House Oversight Committee in April that the postal service stands to lose $13 billion this year. That's an acceleration of an ongoing trend, not a new problem created by the coronavirus pandemic; the post office has lost $69 billion since 2007.

In May, a report from the Government Accountability Office called the agency's business model "not financially sustainable"—a conclusion it had reached before the impact of the coronavirus was factored in. The report called for Congress to make changes to "critical foundational elements" of how USPS operates. In other words, COVID-19 might be an easy scapegoat to justify a federal bailout, but the pandemic is not the main problem, and a bailout would not be a permanent solution.

Thanks to congressional mandates, the USPS has been unable to adapt to a changing marketplace. First-class mail has declined 44 percent since 2006, but Congress has rejected proposals that would free the postal service to operate more like a business, instead requiring the agency to deliver mail everywhere six days per week regardless of cost efficiency.

Second, like many government entities, the USPS has overpromised and undersaved when it comes to employee retirement benefits. At the end of 2019, the postal workers' pension fund had $50 billion in unfunded liabilities—the gap between what the fund expects to owe beneficiaries over the long term and the revenue it expects to collect from paychecks and investment earnings. Meanwhile, the fund that covers health care expenses for retired postal workers is facing a $69 billion unfunded liability. The pandemic's economic impact has made both situations worse.

President Donald Trump has called for the USPS to raise prices, particularly on packages. He believes the agency is giving a free ride to Amazon and other online retailers. USPS has already tried that—the shipping price for the agency's largest flat-rate box has gone from $14.50 in 2010 to $21.10 this year, for example—but price increases are limited by market conditions (since the USPS does not have a monopoly on package shipments) and congressional mandates.  

Rather than more bailouts or slightly different mandates,Congress should set the postal service free. Privatizing it in whole or in part would allow the USPS to make smart changes to its business model while guaranteeing that taxpayers aren't on the hook for yet another massive bailout in a year or two.

Free, free, set it free.  To succeed or fail on its on merits and not at the political whim of Congress.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

https://reason.com/2020/08/17/a-coronavirus-bailout-wont-save-or-fix-the-usps/

Free, free, set it free.  To succeed or fail on its on merits and not at the political whim of Congress.

 

A - Fricken - men.......

Today's postal employees are working right now to pay for the past employee's pensions that were unable to be funded, and it isn't even enough nor will it ever be to compete with the other major carriers.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently ordered an item from the Netherlands. It shipped Monday on DHL. Delivery was suppose to be Friday, imagine my surprise when it showed up Thursday morning, for 15 bucks to boot. USPS will spend a week getting my Dollar Shave Club package to me from Covington, KY. In their defense, they do have to cross the Ohio River during the two hour trip.

Poor management, frequent long lines, poor service, and rude employees, hard to imagine USPS is bleeding red ink, and has been for years.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I recently ordered an item from the Netherlands. It shipped Monday on DHL. Delivery was suppose to be Friday, imagine my surprise when it showed up Thursday morning, for 15 bucks to boot. USPS will spend a week getting my Dollar Shave Club package to me from Covington, KY. In their defense, they do have to cross the Ohio River during the two hour trip.

Poor management, frequent long lines, poor service, and rude employees, hard to imagine USPS is bleeding red ink, and has been for years.

 

Daffy, your ignorance knows no bounds. 

  • Disdain 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I recently ordered an item from the Netherlands. It shipped Monday on DHL. Delivery was suppose to be Friday, imagine my surprise when it showed up Thursday morning, for 15 bucks to boot. USPS will spend a week getting my Dollar Shave Club package to me from Covington, KY. In their defense, they do have to cross the Ohio River during the two hour trip.

Poor management, frequent long lines, poor service, and rude employees, hard to imagine USPS is bleeding red ink, and has been for years.

 

I have the same experience with package delivery from USPS as opposed to UPS, DHL, or FedEx.  The latter three will always deliver on time and occasionally even early, while the USPS package deliveries are 1-2 days late approx. %50 of the time.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Indulge me. Explain USPS's efficiency vs. private carriers.  Or better yet, explain the history of red ink, long before Trump took office. 

Post office was fine until Trump got in there.....Next thing you know, they'll be kneeling for the post office they helped destroy........because Trump, and .....Coronavirus.......and stuff........

Nate Jackson: Slave-Trader Garb and Juneteenth Flap Reveal ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Indulge me. Explain USPS's efficiency vs. private carriers.  Or better yet, explain the history of red ink, long before Trump took office. 

The fact that you, Daffy, label DHL as a private carrier is where it starts.  

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DanteEstonia said:

The fact that you, Daffy, label DHL as a private carrier is where it starts.  

So after Deutshe Post became privatized and began acquiring shares of DHL, a private American company, eventually buying DHL out=DHL a government entity?

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DPSGY/

1 hour ago, DanteEstonia said:

You also have to remember that the USPS uses several private contractors to move mail between offices (Beco and Hoovestol, being two examples). 

So the fact that USPS uses sub contractors to haul mail=losing 69B dollars, as I stated poor management. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said:

losing 69B dollars, as I stated poor management. 

Or, Daffy, being required to fund 50 years of retirement for each employee, up-front. That did the majority of it.

But you lack the brain power to understand that, so there. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

So poor management. 

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

Passed by a lame-duck Tory Congress, and a Tory President. 

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

FYI Scooter, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Daffy, I love WB cartoons.

It's an apt nickname for a daffodil like you. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, DanteEstonia said:

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

Passed by a lame-duck Tory Congress, and a Tory President. 

It's an apt nickname for a daffodil like you. 

FTA: Between 2007 and 2016, the USPS lost $62.4 billion; the inspector general of the USPS estimated that $54.8 billion of that was due to prefunding retiree benefits.[9] By the end of 2019, the USPS had $160.9 billion in debt, due to growth of the Internet, the Great Recession, and prepaying for employee benefits as stipulated in PAEA.[10] Mail volume decreased from 97 billion to 68 billion items from 2006 to 2012. The employee benefits cost the USPS about $5.5 billion per year;[11] USPS began defaulting on this payment in 2012.[9] The COVID-19 pandemic further reduced income due to decreased demand in 2020.[10]

 

But, yeah......I guess they're right, it's Trump's fault for trying to fix it.;....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, swordfish said:

FTA: Between 2007 and 2016, the USPS lost $62.4 billion; the inspector general of the USPS estimated that $54.8 billion of that was due to prefunding retiree benefits.[9] By the end of 2019, the USPS had $160.9 billion in debt, due to growth of the Internet, the Great Recession, and prepaying for employee benefits as stipulated in PAEA.[10] Mail volume decreased from 97 billion to 68 billion items from 2006 to 2012. The employee benefits cost the USPS about $5.5 billion per year;[11] USPS began defaulting on this payment in 2012.[9] The COVID-19 pandemic further reduced income due to decreased demand in 2020.[10]

 

But, yeah......I guess they're right, it's Trump's fault for trying to fix it.;....

Did he end the pre-funding of pensions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Meh, just more MSM manipulation and twisting of what Mr. Trump actually said:  https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/postal-service-election-controversy-trump-comments-fuel-wild-conspiracy-theories/

Quote

When President Trump claimed in a Thursday interview with Maria Bartiromo that the Postal Service was “not equipped” to handle “universal mail-in voting,” the media seized on the tidbit as confirmation that Trump was hijacking the USPS ahead of the 2020 election.

....

Headlines in outlets ranging from the Associated Press, to Business Insider, to Slate warned that the president “admits” to blocking post-office funding to bolster his reelection chances. FactCheck.org issued a correction to a “baseless election conspiracy” it had previously covered. “Joe Biden’s June 23 remarks that President Donald Trump ‘wants to cut off money for the post office so they cannot deliver mail-in ballots’ have been confirmed — by the president himself,” the post explained.

But Trump’s comments amounted to his typical bluster and do not reflect the current state of play within the post office. While the USPS is still dealing with the financial difficulties that have plagued it for years, it does not need a cash infusion to handle the election. In its most recent fiscal quarter report, filed in June, the agency said it has “sufficient liquidity to continue operating through at least August 2021.” In July, it also reached an agreement with the U.S. Treasury for a $10 billion loan “should the need arise.”

By taking Trump’s words at face value, however, the media turned has sown distrust in the post office’s ability to ensure a free and fair election, despite multiple guarantees from post-office officials that the USPS has both the funding and the capacity necessary to handle the expected surge of mailed ballots in November.

USPS spokesman David Partenheimer told National Review in an email that “the Postal Service’s financial condition is not going to impact our ability to process and deliver election and political mail” — a statement he also made to FactCheck.org in June.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told the Postal Service Board of Governors earlier this month that the agency is “not slowing down election mail or any other mail” and has “ample capacity to deliver all election mail securely and on time.”

The day before Trump’s viral interview, USPS’s chief logistics officer David Williams and general counsel Thomas Marshall penned an op-ed in USA Today assuring the public that “the U.S. Postal Service is well prepared and has ample capacity to deliver America’s election mail for the upcoming general election in November” and explaining that the USPS estimates mailed ballots “will account for less than 2% of all mail volume from mid-September until Election Day.” Even if every single registered voter — approximately 158 million people — casts a vote by mail in November, the resulting mail would constitute a drop in the bucket for an organization that already delivers 471 million pieces of mail “on a typical day,” according to its 2019 report to Congress.

 

Nevertheless, the narrative that Trump’s refusal to provide additional funding to the USPS will imperil the election has only snowballed since his ill-advised comments.

“New Postmaster Hasn’t Yet Met Election Officials About Mail-In Ballot Concerns,” reads a story from NPR, without mentioning that the Postal Service distributed a “2020 Official Election Mail Kit” to 11,500 election officials in March, two months before DeJoy was even appointed.

When news broke that the USPS had warned 46 states in July their current deadlines for requesting ballots were too late and ballots submitted close to the deadline might “not be returned by mail in time to be counted under your laws,” Democrats such as Ayanna Pressley and Ed Markey claimed the effort was coordinated by DeJoy, even as the Post reported that the letter “[was] planned before the appointment of Louis DeJoy.”

Viral tweets of mailboxes being “locked” or apparently removed have turned out to be completely fake. And prominent Democrats have now demanded that the FBI investigate DeJoy over the reforms he has tried to implement to keep the USPS solvent, while hundreds of activists have staged in-person protests at his home to demand the Postal Service not hamper the remote vote in November.

What makes the whole situation more bizarre is that the media, as an institution, prides itself on debunking Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks; see any number of the fact-checks scrutinizing the president’s baseless claims about the coronavirus pandemic. But in the end, their hysteria may actually persuade voters not to mail in their ballots, ironically accomplishing Trump’s wishes along the way.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just gonna post this right here.....Facts are a stubborn thing.....Not that anyone on the left cares.....

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/17/fact-check-obama-biden-removed-at-least-14000-mailboxes/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

 

CLAIM: President Donald Trump is trying to rig the 2020 election by removing mailboxes so people can’t vote by mail.

VERDICT: FALSE. The removal — and replacement — of mailboxes is a constant part of U.S. Postal Service operations.

 

Democrats are trying to claim that President Trump is crippling the U.S. Postal Service because he opposes universal vote by mail, and that the removal of mailboxes in several locations throughout the country is evidence of that evil intention.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, gave credence to that conspiracy theory on Saturday: “I wonder if you’re outside trying to hold down your mailboxes. They’re going around literally with tractor trailers picking up mailboxes. You oughta go online and check out what they’re doing in Oregon. I mean, it’s bizarre!” he said.

But there is nothing nefarious about removing mailboxes: Biden did it himself.

More specifically, the Obama-Biden administration removed 14,000 mailboxes over the five fiscal years ending in 2017, according to the U.S. Postal Service Inspector General.

More were likely removed before that. In 2009, cost-cutting was urgent at the postal service, with the postmaster general considering reducing delivery to five or even three days per week.

As the Blaze and others noted, mailboxes are removed from locations where they are underutilized, and either retired or relocated elsewhere.

U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Kimberly Frum, told The Hill:

“It is a fluid process and figures can vary from day-to-day,” Frum said. “Historically, mail boxes have been removed for lack of use and installed in growth areas.”

“When a collection box consistently receives very small amounts of mail for months on end, it costs the Postal Service money in fuel and workhours for letter carriers to drive to the mailbox and collect the mail. Removing the box is simply good business sense in that respect. It is important to note that anyone with a residential or business mailbox can use it as a vehicle to send outgoing mail.”

The claim that removing mailboxes is somehow an attempt to steal the election is nothing more than a conspiracy theory, as Breitbart News noted — one that is being pushed by Democrats to motivate voters, and excuse a possible 2020 defeat.

In any case, the U.S. Postal Service has halted the removal of mailboxes until after the election, to avoid controversy.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...