Good News of the Day: USPS warns it might have to shutter by June

How we gonna mail in ballots?

No wonder Nasty-Nancy wanted to bail them out.

This has less to do with their business model (God bless the USPS on adapting to the times) and more to do with their union and draconian pension requirements.

Now, there is no way the government will let it happen. They will be bailed out.

Rinse, repeat.

quote:

---

Weren't they forced to pre-fund their retirements for the next 75 years?

---

Nah, just normal government incompetence and 75% of their workers getting paid to do nothing.

So, run shite like a business and lay staff off...

quote:

---

Nah, just normal government incompetence and 75% of their workers getting paid to do nothing.

---

And they were required to pre-fund by Congress in 2006:

quote:

---

Then there is the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), which some have taken to calling "the most insane law" ever passed by Congress. The law requires the Postal Service, which receives no taxpayer subsidies, to prefund its retirees' health benefits up to the year 2056. This is a $5 billion per year cost; it is a requirement that no other entity, private or public, has to make. If that doesn't meet the definition of insanity, I don't know what does. Without this obligation, the Post Office actually turns a profit. Some have called this a "manufactured crisis." It's also significant that lots of companies benefit from a burden that makes the USPS less competitive; these same companies might also would benefit from full USPS privatization, a goal that has been pushed by several conservative think tanks for years.

Paying retiree obligations isn't the issue here; rather, being singled out as the only company with a congressional requirement to fully fund those obligations is. It puts the USPS at a huge competitive disadvantage. Yes, a retirement crisis is brewing; most private-sector pensions are wildly underfunded. But the solution is to mandate that ALL companies cover a higher percentage of their future obligations -- not just one entity.

---

LINK

quote:

---

No way a private outfit could run home delivery mail service at a profit.

---

I don't get people's blanket disapproval of public services. I like having a post office and library in every town.

I think privatizing all of those things would mean many services would disappear from small towns, and ultimately the small towns themselves would go away.

quote:

---

run shite like a business and lay staff off...

---

That's what the largest hospital in Arkansas is doing. They are laying off staff because of the virus because they are now not getting enough on the "other" type hospital business so they say they are losing money and will have to make adjustments.

The US Mail was never intended to be a profitable enterprise. It is an essential government service.

Time to replace the Postmaster General.

quote:

---

This would work but no way would unions/government go for it. Hell you could go down to twice a week.

---

I only check my mail once or twice a week anyway.

For years, I've heard that USPS isn't allowed to turn a profit. I'm not sure what that's in reference to.