Imagine A Saturday Without Mail

We currently get mail on Saturday?

Guess I never get down to the mailbox on weekends.

I would also cut out mail delivery on Wednesday and raise junk mail to $0.50 and first class mail rates to $1 each.
The USPS is now pushing package services, hopefully that will save them.

Why do you want to save them, isn't that like trying to save telegraph companies?

Th

Something the Dog Said wrote:

posteryoyo wrote: If the private economy has a method to deliver letters and packages, then we should let the PO go....

Keep in mind we have a govt. to take care of what we cannot take care of ourselves (or at least we used to). I know this will sound odd to the 285 corridor, which like big gov and likes replacing the private economy with govt. services, but the private economy can always serve you better, at the right price, even if higher, it is the right price.

Let's see, private company (fedex) charges $6.93 for 3 day delivery within Colorado, USPS charges $.44 for the same service. so much for the efficiencies of private companies.

Did you even read what you wrote....that makes about as much sense as saying it only costs your $1000 in property taxes a year to educate your kid. You forgot about the 10-20 other citizens that paid under threat of being kicked out of theirs homes...to educate your kid.

If fedex is under competition, there is a pretty good chance that $6.93 is the right price. So when you mail for .44, you are expecting someone else somewhere to pick up the balance (laim, laim, lazy), just like the parent living off their neighbor's money. Not cool, it is appropriate to pay the market price or we all loose via socialism.

Also if we think about it, since the PO has dominated the letter market and we have used other peoples' money (taxes) to subsidize it and then overpay postal employees (that is why they go postal, the job pays so much they can never leave, if they do, they get a 70-100% pay cut)....these other companies have had trouble getting in the market.....So 6.93 is not the right price, but you can mail much more than a letter for that price. So once the unneeded socialists get out of the way...there will probably be an appropriately priced $2 letter mailer avail from UPS or FedEx or god forbid another company that will pop up once the USPS gets out of the way and stops consuming an otherwise healthy private economy (like most other govt jobs and services).

I don't know what you do, but would you be ok with the govt stepping in and doing it for 1/10 the price even if you knew they were loosing money. Surely everyone else would benefit by you getting fired and the govt doing your job for cheaper...just not good for you, but you are one and we are many so, thus, socialism.....so pay your own way via the private economy and don't be part of the problem....and keep YOUR job. Everyone's jobs and weath are threatened by our socialist, other people pay trends, even the current public employees. When the economy fails because these folks have been lobbying and sucking us dry, they will become the new group to hate on. Humans are really good at hating on people that stole their livelyhoods, even if it was just rumor (see hating Blacks, Jewish people, Mexicans, etc.), I bet soon civilian public employess will be on this list, esp those doing work that could have been done better in the private sector (say 80% of them).

Remember, the prices of everything would fall and work would come home if we dropped the min wage. No price contols on products, no price controls on wages. More govt workers, more price controls, the more you work for less.

posteryoyo wrote:

Something the Dog Said wrote:

posteryoyo wrote: If the private economy has a method to deliver letters and packages, then we should let the PO go....

Keep in mind we have a govt. to take care of what we cannot take care of ourselves (or at least we used to). I know this will sound odd to the 285 corridor, which like big gov and likes replacing the private economy with govt. services, but the private economy can always serve you better, at the right price, even if higher, it is the right price.

Let's see, private company (fedex) charges $6.93 for 3 day delivery within Colorado, USPS charges $.44 for the same service. so much for the efficiencies of private companies.

Did you even read what you wrote....that makes about as much sense as saying it only costs your $1000 in property taxes a year to educate your kid. You forgot about the 10-20 other citizens that paid under threat of being kicked out of theirs homes...to educate your kid.

If fedex is under competition, there is a pretty good chance that $6.93 is the right price. So when you mail for .44, you are expecting someone else somewhere to pick up the balance (laim, laim, lazy), just like the parent living off their neighbor's money. Not cool, it is appropriate to pay the market price or we all loose via socialism.

Also if we think about it, since the PO has dominated the letter market and we have used other peoples' money (taxes) to subsidize it and then overpay postal employees (that is why they go postal, the job pays so much they can never leave, if they do, they get a 70-100% pay cut)....these other companies have had trouble getting in the market.....So 6.93 is not the right price, but you can mail much more than a letter for that price. So once the unneeded socialists get out of the way...there will probably be an appropriately priced $2 letter mailer avail from UPS or FedEx or god forbid another company that will pop up once the USPS gets out of the way and stops consuming an otherwise healthy private economy (like most other govt jobs and services).

I don't know what you do, but would you be ok with the govt stepping in and doing it for 1/10 the price even if you knew they were loosing money. Surely everyone else would benefit by you getting fired and the govt doing your job for cheaper...just not good for you, but you are one and we are many so, thus, socialism.....so pay your own way via the private economy and don't be part of the problem....and keep YOUR job. Everyone's jobs and weath are threatened by our socialist, other people pay trends, even the current public employees. When the economy fails because these folks have been lobbying and sucking us dry, they will become the new group to hate on. Humans are really good at hating on people that stole their livelyhoods, even if it was just rumor (see hating Blacks, Jewish people, Mexicans, etc.), I bet soon civilian public employess will be on this list, esp those doing work that could have been done better in the private sector (say 80% of them).

Remember, the prices of everything would fall and work would come home if we dropped the min wage. No price contols on products, no price controls on wages. More govt workers, more price controls, the more you work for less.

The government is not subsidizing the Post Office. The Post Office has been an independent agency since 1971, and does not receive any government subsidies. It is governed by by a board of directors who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It has five distinctions from private sectors companies. 1) It is not allowed to raise its rates based on market conditions, it has to receive permission from the board; 2) it must serve every American resident uniformly and at the same rates, it can not cherry pick customers or charge different rates due to different conditions; 3) it must deliver six days a week; 4) only it can use mail boxes (although private companies can leave mail at the door, nonpostal mail boxes or at designated locations); and 5) it is able to borrow directly from the Treasury. The first three conditions place it a great disadvantage to private sector companies. The taxpayer does not subsidize the Post Office despite your implications, other than loaning it money at a reduced rate, which is paid back. So the fact that the Post Office is able to deliver articles of mail at 1/10 the cost of the "more efficient" private sector tells a lot. It can easily make up the deficit if the rates go up to $.50 per article of mail, as it delivers 177 billion articles of mail per year.

But to go back to your "point", the US Postal Service is not subsidized by the taxpayer, it is simply more efficient than private sector companies. Try comparing the increase in postage as compared to the increase in Fedex rates over the last 20 years.

Thank you for the info, I assumed it was taxpayer money, and we are simply loaning the money and it all gets paid back....

Can you answer me then, why does Fedex and UPS exist, why does everyone keep paying more than the govt rate to ship? Are people really that stupid?

Do you really think it is more efficient than a private company that is always driven by profit to reduce costs? How is this so. I would really like to see some numbers.

I still believe that if UPS decided to get into the the letter biz after the PO got out that they would be able to do it for less.

Also if the PO constantly looses money each year, what are they using to pay back those loans (that by the way are loans that cannot go to other companies and people)?

Where does the U.S. Post Office get it's cash it requires when it losses tally to the billions of dollars?

Where O Where will the US Postal Service get the cash required for these 2011 payments?

The Postal Service has two substantial cash payments scheduled for September and October 2011: the previously-noted $5.5 billion due to the PSRHBF on September 30, 2011; and approximately $1.2 billion due in October 2011 to the Department of Labor (DOL) for the Postal Service’s annual payment on its workers’ compensation liability.”

Page 71 of the annual USPS report, they are kind enough to point out that they have cash obligations this year of $6.7 billion. They have already borrowed to their statutory limit of $ 12 billion. They are out of cash.

Welcome to 2011 - Bailout for the U.S. Post Office....your $.44 stamp really costs $ 7. Pay now or pay later. Americans chose to pay later. Welcome to U.S. Health Care.... 2020. Pay now nothing or pay later 30% of your pay

It's all good...it's FREE! Just tax the wealthy.

And my ultimate point is that the govt should not be in any business that the private sector would address at any reasonable price. We do not need a govt except to do the things that we cannot collectively do ourselves, please think about that.

I believe the true definition of socialism is when the govt does more than that...like the current PO, public schools, LURs etc. These are not needed, they are wanted and at the specific expense to others for your wants.

In CO there is a strong undercurrent for govt for govt sake and people forget the benefits of a private economy and the price of having everyone employed by the county or the PO. It only screws everone else out of wages and earned monies. Remember time is a variable. Tomorows wealth and security is currently being used to pay county employees today. We'll talk again in 10 years and it will make more sense.

Eventually most will realize that we gave up everything for a government we only needed little tidbits of, the rest was just want....it is like people saying they need cell phones and cars or they could not live, but you need food and warmth and that is it, the rest are just wants. My govt does not need to address your want of something that many companies and even I would provide to you at a reasonable or even high price. Price controls have always hurt us. Look what the min wage did for American Jobs....now everyone thinks that service jobs are acually jobs and does everything they can to keep their kids from actually working on more than a computer.

It is not about low prices, low prices and price controls have given us everything we hate. It is about free markets and conseqence for the long term. Why didn't Reagan axe the PO?

The USPS has requested a rate hike of $.02 to raise postage to $.046 to reduce their deficit. The board of governors has yet to grant the increase. As I stated earlier, the Postal Service is able to borrow directly from the Treasury. They are now revising their business model due to the decrease in the amount of articles of mail due to email and other factors. They should be able to reduce their expenses and also to raise their rates by a modest amount to pay back their loans and get into the black. Again, we are talking about $.46 per article compared to $6.43 by private sector companies.

If they were allowed to operate as a private sector company and charge the actual costs of delivery to rural locations, close postal centers such as in Pine and other locations, and operate as a profit driven company, then they would clearly be able to lower their expenses dramatically and operate profitably. But Congress has mandated that they charge the same amount to all deliveries and to delivery to all residents of the US, restrictions not imposed on private companies. The USPS is a remarkably efficient company. Postage rates have doubled in the last 25 years, while Fedex has annually raised rates from between 3% - 7%, a much higher rate.

The Founding Fathers intended for the government to provide postal service per Article I, section 8, clause 7 which authorized Congress to set up a postal system.