Customers line up at the Post Office at 540 N. Dearborn St. (Credit: CBS)
UPDATED 12/05/11 4:24 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) — If you still mail a check to pay your bills, it’s going to take longer for them to get where they’re going starting in January.
As CBS 2’s Susanna Song reports, the U.S. Postal Service on Monday morning announced major budget and service cuts.
As a result of the $3 billion in cuts, first-class mail that used to take just one day to deliver will now take two to three days. Stamps will also rise in cost by 1 cent to 45 cents, starting next month.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports
The cuts would force the closure of 250 of the nearly 500 mail processing centers around the country, as well as some 3,700 local post offices this coming spring.
Several Chicago processing facilities will be affected. The cuts are expected to close the Irving Park processing center, at 11560 W. Irving Park Rd. near O’Hare International Airport, as well as the Fox Valley and Gary, Ind., processing centers.
Operational changes are also expected to the Main Post Office at 433 W. Harrison St.
But the workers at those facilities will not lose their jobs. They will be reassigned to other locations.
At the Post Office at 540 N. Dearborn St. Monday morning, many people were lined up dropping off letters and boxes. But that does not reflect the overall situation at the Post Office, which is facing bankruptcy and needs to cut its budget dramatically.
This means slowing down the delivery schedule, and thus, check payments, Netflix DVDs and other time-sensitive mail will arrive a day or two later than usual with the change.
Such a thing has not happened since 1971.
Kylia Kummer, a small business owner who is a regular at the Dearborn Street post office, said, “I mail a number of different packages to different countries around the world on a really regular basis.”
Kummer owns Lavender in Brown, a shop that specializes in handmade clothing, jewelry, accessories and home goods.
She ships many of her products through first class mail, but with the changes coming to mail delivery next year, she said she’s “a little worried, because that – the price affect – will definitely affect the amount of money that I have to charge for the packages.”
Mark Reynolds, spokesman for the Chicago district of the post office, said the changes are being driven by a lack of revenue and volume.
“In 2006, we handled 213 billion pieces nationwide. Now that number’s down to 170 billion,” Reynolds said.
Even though the growing use of email, social media, smart phones and other technology for communication is a large part of what has led to the declining use of the Postal Service, Reynolds said postal officials are not worried more people will turn to the Internet because of slower mail delivery.
“No, I don’t think we’re totally worried about that. The changes in itself aren’t going to drive people further,” Reynolds said. “What we are trying to do is put ourselves in the position to be profitable again.”
Even for those who rely so much on the Internet, they’re willing to use the postal service a little more regularly.
“I’ll continue to mail things and if it has to be two days later, three days later, I’ll still come here and do it, because you’ve got to support them,” said Tyler Herrin.
In addition to the postal facility closings, a total of roughly 100,000 postal workers nationwide could lose their jobs. That number doesn’t affect Chicago area workers. They would be re-assigned to other facilities.
Speaking to reporters in Chicago after addressing a meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday that he had mixed feelings about the cuts.
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Durbin accepts the inevitability of changes at the Postal Service, especially with email taking so much of the communications business away.
But he fears for people and businesses that will be affected by the cuts, even in his hometown of Springfield.
“I’m not happy. I think Illinois gets hit a little too hard here, but I think we are naïve to believe that there will not be significant changes in the Postal Service,” he said.
Durbin said it’s clear the post office needs a new business model for the 21st Century, to help stave off bankruptcy; so things like slowing first class delivery a bit might be necessary.
However, he said he’s concerned about the closing of mail processing centers, especially since one of the centers that could close is in Springfield, where Durbin lives.
“That’s one of them they’re talking about and I worry about that, because if you called (Illinois) Secretary of State Jesse White’s office, he’ll talk to you about the millions of things that they mail out of Springfield … every year,” Durbin said. “And now they have to be shipped down to St. Louis on the postal trucks.”
He also said he’s concerned about talk of possibly ending Saturday mail delivery.
“I’m willing to put that on the table as a part of an overall solution. It hurts some areas and businesses more than others, so I think we need to try to work on an approach to it that may have some form of delivery available, particularly for commercial users where Saturdays are critically important,” Durbin said.
Everyday postal customers likewise had mixed feelings about the planned cuts and changes.
“I can understand why they might be having problems, with e-mail and everything; it’s more convenient to pay bills online and things like that,” said postal customer Samantha Ashley, “but I do think it’s important that we have the Post Office and that they continue to function, because there’s a lot of things that we just really need the Post Office for, and there’s a lot of really good jobs that are created by having the Postal Service, so I would have to see it cut significantly.”
“It’s people’s jobs at the end of the day, but I don’t know what to say about it,” said postal customer Tyler Herrin. “I use this Post Office all the time, so I’ll see a big difference. But I’ll continue to mail things, and if it has to be two days later; three days later, I’ll still come here and do it, because you’ve got to support them.”
The Postal Service is expecting a record loss of $14.1 billion next year amid steady declines in first class mail volume.
Small town mayors and legislators in states including Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania cited the economic harm if postal offices were to close, eliminating jobs and reducing service.
Small business owners in many other states also were worried.
142 Comments
You are kidding!! Slow mail down more?? The amount of items being mailed has fallen to a record low and they still cannot deliver on time. How is it you need all those people to deliver half of what was being processed in the past!! This is Bu!!U#(!#$P. We have to cut down you have to cut down. No favorites!! The USPS was always slow we will not feel a thing.
December 5, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Unfortunately this is probably what has to happen. There is several economy issues and at this moment not many fixes/answer.
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
!
December 5, 2011 at 4:29 pm
“The amount of items being mailed has fallen to a record low and they still cannot deliver on time.”
Yes. It’s common knowledge among the union rank and file that you should always slow the pace to a point which will increase the chances of getting overtime. This is just one of thousands of union tactics designed to increase wages and benefits, and drive the company slowly into the ground.
December 5, 2011 at 4:45 pm
Agreed Steve.
But they serve one purpose wonderfully – driving businesses to Right-to-Work states like mine.
I don’t use the USPS anyway, the private sector always has been and always will be superior.
December 5, 2011 at 4:57 pm
@ Steve – great comment! Good to see some like-minded people posting on this.
December 5, 2011 at 8:12 pm
The Union’s are the problem. I worked at a facility where the union boss literally stood around, when he wasn’t on the phone, and talked left-wing politics all day while I sorted around him. The black workers stood around talking while the white workers grumbled about the double standard. That plant is slated to close next month and I couldn’t be happier for the lazy slobs. They can all go to H#ll as far as I’m concerned.
Next year, after all the closings, it’ll take twice as long to get a package somewhere. Use their competitors.
December 5, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Slow mail down- really- only in the government could you possibly think that being less efficient could save your employer money. INCREDIBLE.
December 5, 2011 at 8:55 pm
One or two days to two or three days? Who cares? This isn’t going to change my life at all. Whatever they need to do to turn a profit. 90% of what I get in my mailbox is junk anyway. As far as package delivery, with UPS, who even needs the postal service? Anyone who complains about this, just likes to complain!!
December 5, 2011 at 2:05 pm
This is foolishness. You don’t have any idea what you’re saying. UPS is overpriced and has terrible service. A package that takes a week (7 days) to get across the country via UPS for $12 costs us $4.75 and arrives in three days with US Mail. We ship packages every day and we send 95% of them via US Mail. They’re faster and more accurate than both UPS and FedEx. Consumer reports did a study last year and found that US Mail was a better service as well. Check your facts before your spout your drivel. Believe me, if you didn’t have the post office delivering packages, your Amazon.com “free shipping” would be a thing of the past.
December 6, 2011 at 3:06 am
Strange, all my Amazon free shipping comes via Fed-Ex.
December 6, 2011 at 6:18 am
Two to three days? So they’re going to speed up delivery?
December 5, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Maybe if they just got rid of all the unions, they could stop making cuts to service, that make it even more likely they will soon be irrelevant. The bloodsucking unions got them where they are now. Get rid of the parasites first.
December 5, 2011 at 4:41 pm
We need to crush all unions just on general principle, anywhere and anytime. They’re just corrupt, greedy, government-subsidized extortion rackets.
December 5, 2011 at 9:47 pm
How does delaying mail save them money? They should go ahead and raise the cost of first class letters to $1.
Side note: To anyone who wants government running healthcare. This is what you have to look forward to.
December 5, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Erik, they’re not deliberately delaying mail to save money. They’re saving money by shutting down about 200 processing centers. The delay will just naturally occur because of this.
December 5, 2011 at 8:20 pm
The ought to do what other businesses do when the economy stalls…have a sale!
December 5, 2011 at 4:54 pm
it is those bloted central processing centers that slows things down. , B4 them mail from Georgia to West Virginia was always 3 days now it is 4-5 plus news papers mails first class get piled up to the point sometimes we get 6-7 all at once. The more we pay the worse service becomes
December 5, 2011 at 4:55 pm
It is government ineptitude that slows things down.
December 5, 2011 at 5:06 pm
You know that the USPS has been privatized for years, right?
December 5, 2011 at 6:28 pm
@Denny You know that you’re wrong, right?
December 5, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Denny, then why can’t FedEx deliver first-class mail?
December 5, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Outsource to china will be the next step.
December 5, 2011 at 4:55 pm
I thought my mail already went through China, en route to my home… which might explain why it takes a week to go 35 miles.. the junk mail fills my box 99% of the time.. or maybe the Chinese haven’t converted the sorting machines out yet to read English addresses… which might explain how my neighbors mail goes into my mailbox….
December 5, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Criminal ‘Collaboration’ between Congress, and the USPS Management,
has caused this, Stolen BILLIONS.
December 5, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Darn it….now I’ll get all my Bills later and have to wait a few more days for my “Publishers Clearinghouse” Junk Mail……………..
December 5, 2011 at 5:02 pm
I bet the government isn’t going to wait a few more days about collecting the taxes you are paying for USPS though.
December 5, 2011 at 5:07 pm
The USPS has not funded by taxes since the 1980′s.
December 5, 2011 at 6:33 pm
@Denny This is mostly correct, they do get some tax payer money but only to offset costs that the USPS takes on for certain govt initiatives. So, yes they are supposed to operate with $0 profit or loss and no tax dollars.
December 5, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Take down your box if its that bad and you dont have to complian anymore.Oh forgot you might need the USPS
December 5, 2011 at 6:14 pm
That reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Cramer tries to stop his mail and gets dragged into the Postmaster General’s office. The General was played by Wilford Brimley, one of the funniest Seinfeld’s of all!
December 5, 2011 at 10:42 pm
I have 2 Priority Mail packages that were late. It turned out these packages were sitting inside the USPS sort facility for a week WITHOUT anyone notice. This is despite the packages were wrapped with PRIORITY MAIL tape all over them. You think someone would care to find out why the priority packages were sitting unattended. Apparently, taking initiative isn’t part of union job description. Good riddance.
December 5, 2011 at 5:10 pm
JoeKlip, I understand your frustration, but to say this happened because of “unions,” seems a bit unwarranted. I have mailed thousands of packages (2 on-line businesses), and only three transactions out of approximately 4,000, have ever not reached their destination. I”m not saying it never happens, but your anger at unions, is misdirected. People make mistakes–private employees, government employees, self-employed people. I might agree with you that typically a private business has more incentive to solve your problem, but my experience is that many folks at the post office care and want to do a good job. There are certainly some that don’t.
December 5, 2011 at 7:37 pm
And what Post Office is it that YOU go to ????
Secondly, you obviously have never worked for both a union shop and a non union shop because, friend, there is the utmost world of difference, like day-n-night!
December 5, 2011 at 7:50 pm
I sent a small PAckage from Longview, TX to Little Rock, AR via UPS. Cost was $11.21 and it took two days to arrive. After the item was repaired, it was returned via USPS Priority Mail. Cost was $22.79 and it took 15 days to arrive.
December 5, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Yeah right tell another lie someone might believe you
December 5, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Well Tiim, I do have the receipts. The mail carrier even commented about the lenght of time that it took.
December 5, 2011 at 5:56 pm
Erick do you have some ocean front property in Little Rock you can sell us too?
December 5, 2011 at 6:07 pm
UPS rates are cheaper. I mailed a box (18x12x12 and pretty weighty) today from a UPS store and it was only $13.51 and with standard shipping it will be delivered to a stae over by tomorrow they say! Even with priority mail it would not go that fast or be that cheap. Before you feel this person is telling you lies, go mail some boxes from both and then compare.
December 5, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Here a couple of whoppers for ya, Tim:
The USPS is an efficient business oriented company ran like a well oiled machine.
The USPS only runs in the red because of new communications technology.
The unions have nothing to do with the USPS problems.
ETC…
December 5, 2011 at 7:55 pm
So, as efficient, profitable companies race to automate and reduce workforce, the USPS has decided to reduce automation and maintain its already bloated workforce. Can a logical business rationale for this move be offered? I didn’t think so. Any obsolete business model that tries to improve itself by reducing service to its customers will be handed its head on a platter. Will anyone be surprised when the USPS is still sucking wind next quarter and beyond?
December 5, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Befitz, your analogy is either unfair or inaccurate. When those processing centers close down, the employees that worked in them will be laid off.
The problem with the Post Office is that they charge less than the cost of actually delivering a letter/package (lump in salaries and benefits). Anytime you charge less for a product/service than it actually costs you to produce/deliver that service it’s a recipe for certain bankruptcy (case-in-point, GM and Chrysler). It’s only matter of time (how much time depends on how much cash reserves you have).
December 5, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Disregard my second sentence. I apparently skipped over a key sentence in the article.
Wow talk about a government boondoggle. Labor costs account for nearly 80% of the USPS budget, yet they’re not firing one employee? If I were a government bureaucrat, I guess that would make sense.
December 5, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Everyone – please make an effort to stop using the US MAIL – altogether.
Send Christmas and Easter “E-Cards” – make sure all your bills are paid online.
Put ‘em out of business. .
December 5, 2011 at 5:27 pm
Easier way dummy take all your mail boxes down. sorry i ment Dan
December 5, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Tim you are just postal, quit smelling you underware and realize that USPS is soooooo yesterday. Service at the large city postal offices suck and the employees let you know it. 20 peopele walking around with 50 people in line and 1 person working the desk. Take your OZ like world and KMA
December 5, 2011 at 7:14 pm
what are you smoking guy?
having the post office helps keep postal rates low.
it’s called Competition. what do you think UPS rates would be without the post office providing the same service.
Do you have any idea what it would cost you to mail a letter with UPS.
dollars not 44 cents.
December 5, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Obviously we’re not smoking the same stuff you are. Let me see… There is UPS, FedEx, DHL… I think that should about cover it. Those are the one that can certainly run rings around the USPS in both price and service.
December 5, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Excuse me, Mr love the post office, but the reason UPS and FedEx rates are what they are is because, under federal law, they’re not allowed to compete with the post office and have to maintain delivery prices set at a certain percentage (set by gov’t, rates vary) above what the post office charges.
But, seriously, I honestly have no problem with the Post Office. I just think it isn’t necessarily managed properly. Obviously with the advent of the Internet the demand for their services has dropped dramatically. The problem is that they haven’t sufficiently paired down their workforce to match.
December 5, 2011 at 8:14 pm
how dare you knock the unions…. they are the snap shot of the federal gov as a whole….just as efficient and useful….. we have the king of thugger-re in the WH. and support coming from the home of the unions cheaters…. Chi town.
December 5, 2011 at 8:22 pm
If only it was that simple. They have borrowed $10 Billion from the US Treasury that we know about. Who knows how much the Dems in Congress have shovelled in through the back door.
December 5, 2011 at 10:49 pm
It’s the cost of expensive union LABOR that is the Post Office’s problem. Cut the bloated salaries, bloated benefits, and superfluous positions. THAT is the “reset” that the Postal Service AND the US economy needs.
December 5, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Once all the baby boomers die off, the USPS wont have any customers anymore.
December 5, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Congratulations to the Postal Workers Union and your greedy, unsustainable pension demands. You union folks weren’t content to stop at destroying the public education system and the domestic auto industry, so now you can lay claim to having achieved the demise of yet another part of the American way of life. Can’t wait to see what sector you parasites target next.
December 5, 2011 at 5:40 pm
sounds pretty truthful to me..
December 5, 2011 at 5:49 pm
Glad to see the Postal workers having to feel some of the pain. As far as slowing down the mail………….please…………get a grip…………I mail about 5 letters a year now that we have technology that doesn’t hold us hostage to the slow fat slob called a mail person.
December 5, 2011 at 5:45 pm
All the negative comments on the USPS but yet how many of you support Obozocare?
December 5, 2011 at 5:47 pm
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It is about time that the Government (such as it is), stopped this “drain”, and farmed out the mail to either UPS or FEDEX. Better, faster service, AND employees who “hustle” not loll around taking their time at work!!!!
December 5, 2011 at 5:57 pm
I use the post office every week to run a profitable, small business. As for where the post office finds itself currently, it has everything to do with Congress’ requirement that fund like 70 years of pensions now. No other business has this burden. You all seem to hate your post office and post office workers in general. I’m not sure why. My mail carrier is a great guy and the folks at the local post office are friendly, fast and professional. Typical, right-wing, knee-jerk responses. Predictable and tired.
December 5, 2011 at 5:58 pm
How do you know these people are right-wingers Doug? Is it because Communists are used to long lines and inefficient service so they would never complain?
December 5, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Pyramid, Simple. Note the comments that are tried and true Tea Party, Fox News-approved talking points. The Grover Norquist drown in in the bathtub mantra. Take a look at Mike B’s, Erik’s and more comments if you have any doubt where they stand. The Post Office is private anyhow and helps many small businesses acquire new business and retain their current account base. It’s pro business and I can tell you that if many small businesses had to use Fed Ex or DHL, etc, they’d be out of business. Many Americans still depend on the mail. I use email, e-cards, the web, Pay Pal, on-line billing, but there’s still a need to have mail delivery. I guarantee you if the US Postal Service was shuttered tomorrow, you would see massive, costly fallout to the US economy.
December 5, 2011 at 7:29 pm
Doug, so you’re saying if people use rational thought and have some sense of what business is about they must be conservative. I’ll take that as a compliment. Thanks.
December 5, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Raise the stamps to 50 cents, and let’s not hear anymore about it. No more raises, they either keep up, or close, someone will fill the void. If you think you can get it there cheaper, start a delivery service, or drive that birthday card all the way across the country and hand deliver it yourself. Fedex won’t deliver it for half a buck.
December 5, 2011 at 6:09 pm
But not a penny cut from the postal pension plan, and no layoffs.
December 5, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Are you kidding me? They are closing multiple facilities, no new hiring, working less employees more hours, and raising rates. They are where they’re at mainly because of unreasonable pension funding requirements made by Congress.
December 5, 2011 at 7:39 pm
When I worked at a facility, there was one gal who showed once a month and got paid for the whole freak’in month. Turns out she was banging a supervisor. I also know of a supervisor who was riding the time clock for her boyfriend. Nearly everyone in this plant had at least one family member working there as well, some had several. The first supervisor I mentioned had several, including one who was subsequently fired for lying on her job application. This supervisor actually had a 68 year old relative “hired” as a regular, but who had to quit because it was too strenuous, so then he hired her husband to take her place! One night, the man who was also around 70 was so pale in the face, I was sure he was going to drop dead. He quit soon after.
The Plant Manager got his job because his dad was a PostMaster nearby. He got his wife a job as PostMaster nearby. They make $200,000 between them that I know about. Who knows how much they’re stealing.
December 5, 2011 at 11:08 pm
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It’s fine with me. We don”t need saturday delivery and I would agree to raising the regular to 50 cents to get the post office on a stable budget.
December 5, 2011 at 6:15 pm
I own a direct mail company and am intimately involved with the USPS. I can tell you right now that THE #1 cause of their downfall is their bloated salaries and benefits packages AND that they have too many employees.
I regularly visit the facilities they discuss here and I can’t tell you of how many idle workers there are regularly. Additionally, I know several postal employees who have retired or are about to retire and they are getting enormous amounts of money and benefits.
And I’m not talking about the carriers who everyone sees out all day delivering mail. I’m talking about the guys inside these large facilities that no one in the public sees. The inefficiency total disregard for customer service is mind blowing. NO successful business operates this way.
What needs to happen is a more competitive atmosphere, get rid of the unions, renegotiate contracts and a lot of firings or “early retirements”. If it is run more like a business, I guarantee you the service would not have to suffer and it would not be in the red every year.
December 5, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Michael, This is not my experience at all. The three various post offices that I visit only have one person up front and they have told me their managers are doing everything they can to cut down on OT and only having one line open to service a lot of customers. I agree that there are definitely some folks lacking a solid work ethic, but I don’t see anyone milling about. I find they do care about customer service, in fact many are “secret shopped” and ranked. I agree that their benefits and pensions might be a little too generous, but the argument seems to be let’s strip more and more people of a decent wage or job and bring them down to our level. There are some inefficiencies to be sure and I don’t completely disagree that some reforms are needed, but they are mainly insolvent and in trouble due to the extreme burden of funding all their pensions something like for 70 years.
December 5, 2011 at 7:47 pm
There was a black lady who worked in the front office who had the title of Employee Relations Specialist. She was knocking down around $60,000 a year for walking around the plant talking to other employees all day. There is no way this job would ever exist for a white person, unless his rich daddy owned the plant.
December 5, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Good news, you are correct. Congratulations.
Bad news, the Union will be picketing at your house and place of business tomorrow. Oh yeah, the liberal mainstream media will be there as well to highlight their plight and paint you as the villain. You should leave the country and drop from the grid while you still can.
/sarcasm_off
December 5, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Michael,
I too own a mailing service and your comments are accurate.
December 5, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Well I retired last December after 22 years and I don’t get an “enormous amounts of money and benefits.” My monthly annuity is $1160/month. Out of that I pay $431/month for health insurance, $66/month for dental, $21/month for vision, $21/month for $10K of life ins and $20/month for fed tax. To save you the touble, I get $599 in my pocket. Most employees are now under the FERS retirement system that provides a 1%/year of high 3 annual salary annuity. We do contribute to the Thrift Savings Program which is similar to a 401K. I don’t consider that “enormous amounts of money and benefits.”
December 5, 2011 at 10:56 pm
And further more, just because you own a direct mail company does not mean you are intimately involved with the USPS. You bring your stuff to the dock where it is weighed and leave. Maybe they gave you a tour years ago when you brought your business to the USPS, but other than that you shouldn’t be allowed access to the operations floor. Secondly, the day shift for the most part in large processing facilities is when maintenance is done on the equipment with little if any mail sorting. Mail processing runs from 3:00PM until about 6:00AM or when the last of the first class mail is dispatched.
December 5, 2011 at 11:07 pm
I read the entire story, and NEVER once did I read the word UNION.
This is mostly brought about by the uion’s arm – twisting, knee-cap busting tactics used over decades for wages, benefits and a retirement that the averagd Joe would never have — and here we go again, (see Wisconsin) the AVERAGE JOE, who works for less than half of what they are paid, are paying the postal workers and their health plen.
This goes against everything FDR said against unionizing federal employees.
In the words of that famous Chicago preacher: THE CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST !
December 5, 2011 at 6:20 pm
All of the people who don’t use the post office and do online banking are the perfect patsies for the new wave of terrorism which is aimed at wiping out online savings and checking accounts. Word of advice – MAIL your bills folks. Much safer.
December 5, 2011 at 6:33 pm
While I enjoy paying bills and conducting many financial transactions on-line, there is some danger if our financial system was compromised by hackers in China, North Korea, the former Soviet Union, etc. it would be devastating to people who don’t have everything backed up or in the cloud. I still want and retain paper statements just in case. Trust, but verify.
December 5, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Doug, while I agree with you, I simply print my statements if I want a paper copy. The way I see it, there’s no reason for a utility or bank to spend 47 cents to send me a statement that I can print myself for about a penny per page.
December 5, 2011 at 7:42 pm
Cindi, your argument makes no sense to me. If they can wipe out your account, it means they have access to the bank’s servers. Whether or not you do you banking online or via snail mail is irrelevant, because the BANK SERVERS ARE STILL THERE, regardless.
By the way, you do understand that your connection to the bank is ENCRYPTED, don’t you? And trust me, some hacker won’t be cracking a 256-bit cypher key. It was somewhat possible with the old 128-bit keys, but to crack a 256-bit, would require several super computers working in parallel several thousand years.
Show me a conspiracy theorist and I’ll show you someone that hasn’t any idea what they’re talking about.
December 5, 2011 at 7:53 pm
For years, I got a mail delivery between 7-10:30 at night. I wrote letters to the postmasters (they change every few years) and things would get better for a couple of days, then he would go back to his same old ways. I would call the office (Austin Station) and I would speak to the manager only to be literally cursed out and have the phone slammed in my face. (Her name was Ms. Little) I have many relatives that have worked at the post office over the past 50 years and the pride that use to be associated working for the post office is now gone.
(The carrier would be at the Esquire Lounge on Madison or the dope house at Jackson and Kilpatrick.)
December 5, 2011 at 6:34 pm
When you hire mentally deficient morons that can’t be fired, unless they go postal, and you continue this insanity for decades, this is what you get.
http://911essentials.com
December 5, 2011 at 6:39 pm
As usual, the leadership fails to address the real problem: payscale and benefits. This article implies a threat to curtail service just as county officials do when they threaten to close fire stations and police patrols when they want a tax increase.
Maybe, if all the employees agreed, they could take a pay cut so that nobody loses their job.
December 5, 2011 at 6:47 pm
America, Please wake up!! They are trying to run the post office underground so everyone will do online savings and banking. It will be easy for ANY government agency (or nation-state) to empty savings and checking accounts. If we continue on this path, we deserve what happens to us.
December 5, 2011 at 6:49 pm
I think it’s time to lay off the Alex Jones for a little bit.
December 5, 2011 at 7:38 pm
She is correct Bruce. It’s time for you to lay of fluoridated water, put down your Aspartame diet coke, stop eating your MSG McDonald’s and turn off your mind numbing TV, as you sound as a sheep ready for the slaughter house.
http://911essentials.com
December 6, 2011 at 4:44 am
Unions = severe case of ticks.
December 5, 2011 at 6:57 pm
fools, it is your congress who bankrupt the postal service with it’s PreFunding requirements for health care, paying for 75 years in a 10 year period.
without those requirements the post office would have show a profit year after year.at the same time providing some the lowest postal rates in the world, at no cost to tax payers.
where do you think the excess money goes? where else but to help balance the budget of the United States. which is 15 trillion dollars in debt.
talking about bad management.
you don’t know what you have until you lose it.
do you think for one moment private companies will provide the same universal service for less money. dream on.
December 5, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Matt, you are correct, but most folks are impervious to facts, science, logic–things like that. The people posting to this board just plain hate government and the Obama Administration, so you can’t really engage them.
December 5, 2011 at 7:33 pm
So, rename it to second-class mail. Just like the feminized US today is second class. La-de-da.
December 5, 2011 at 7:16 pm
You mean it’ll take longer for my junk mail to arrive. Please, pass the tissue.
December 5, 2011 at 7:34 pm
Do any of the posters on this forum ever order from Amazon, Ebay, or other on-line retailers? With Cyber Monday setting new records, it makes me wonder how many of you enjoy receiving your new book, DVD, video game, etc? Does anyone here use NetFlix? You never mail in a payment, send a Christmas card, etc?
December 5, 2011 at 7:41 pm
When I was working on the “100″ sorting machine, I was constantly amazed at how many bill payments were left in the bottoms of mail tubs(the square ones). It was always payments people were sending in, never personal. One time, while working mail by hand I noticed that a business letter had gone 350 miles to the Hampton Roads facilty and then sent back because 1 digit was off on the Zip Code. That letter had been in the mail stream for over a month and was within a few miles of its destination and was then sent almost all the way back to its origin over one misplaced digit! It made me wonder how many times a letter can make a 350 mile round trip in a month’s time. No doubt there are thousands doing this right now!
December 5, 2011 at 11:33 pm
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The Postal Service, as expected, is not doing what it should and that is reduce the cost of governement: the cost of paying retirement benefits is too high & they should eliminate all of the non-productive, redundant jobs. Increasing the cost of stamps is not the answer because it will drive more business away. 99.9% of the mail I receive is junk mail. If I want to mail a packing I have to drive 45 minutes and wait in line an hour to send it on its way. On the way to the post office I pass five UPS of Fed-X stores and give them my business and I am in and out in less than five minutes. The Post Office should be elimiated and or turned over to the private sector (who would want it)!
December 5, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Mr PO BO
did you every hear of the delivery of the last mile.
UPS in order to cut costs, turns the delivery over to the US postal service to
finish the delivery. other wise it would cost a lot more to mail a package.
I believe UPS picks the packages up at a central location and leaves it up
to the USPS to deliver to your home. they do the easy part, and leave the
hard part to the post office.
December 5, 2011 at 10:31 pm
the postal service is going away just lke the typewriter and the stagecoach. We are keeping people around and not changing with the times.
December 5, 2011 at 8:08 pm
The USPS is closing post offices in 44 towns in Wyoming. All of the affected towns voted for McCain in the last election
December 5, 2011 at 8:11 pm
That would make Wyoming the only state in the union that tabulates votes by city, not county.
Nice try, though.
December 5, 2011 at 8:40 pm
This is just another reason to make all of my bill paying paperless.(what is already)
Millions of folks will just stop using mail all together. Leave it to a quazi gubment union ran institution to try to cut cost by delivering slower service, yeah that’s the ticket. This will be a boon to UPS.
December 5, 2011 at 8:19 pm
This will only drive postal customers to FedEx and UPS. Are they too stupid to realize this? All they need to do is offer a guaranteed email service or something competitive. Are they all idiots?
December 5, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Labor costs account for 80% of the Post Office budget. Any they’re going to close half of the processing centers and cut NO staff? The same number of workers, with a lot less work to do. What a boon to efficiency that will be. Great plan!
The unions are killing the Post Office, just like they eventually kill every industry that they take over.
Did you know that at FedEx, labor costs account for 32% of the budget?
December 5, 2011 at 8:40 pm
In what universe did First Class letters ever get to their destination in one day?
Typical government attitude: In the face of growing competition do they increase service and reliability? Nope. Raise prices and lower service. Wow. Just wow.
Best line ever heard at a post office — true story. Guy asks if they have overnight service. Postal drone responds, “What do you mean by overnight?”
Any questions as to why USPS is broke?
December 5, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Think mileage rates for rural delivery are in excess of 50 cents per mile. Rural delivery should be Mon, Wed, Fri and alternate Tues,Thurs and Sat with carriers
reduced 50 pct. If union rules require holiday pay/overtime substitute carriers should be used to protect every other day delivery. The office should be kept open all 6 days for customers to access service.Mileage costs would diminish close to 50pct. Most customers with a little forethought would not be badly hurt.
December 5, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Has anyone ever seen the mail deliverer or post office employee in a hurry? Sauntering is a way of life for those unionized putzes – you’d think they were college professors (except that postal employees make more money). I’ll gladly wait another day or two for my catalogs, and sacrifice Saturday mail too, if it will balance their budget.
December 5, 2011 at 9:05 pm
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What did you expect besides worse “service” at a higher price? People who can only get government jobs can’t even run a monopoly.
Who needs ‘em. We need to take as much a possible away from Big Stupid Government. Do it electronically, do it underground, do it black market – strangle the cashflow of these parasites.
December 5, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Bump up 1st class postage to 50 cents and cease Saturday delivery and see where we’re at!!! Then, and only then, can we evaluate the situation.
December 5, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Maybe if being dumb, lazy and rude was not a requirement to work at the Post Office they might actually turn a profit and get the mail delivered on time.
December 5, 2011 at 10:08 pm
Wow. So many of you folk do not have a basic understanding of the Postal Service. First, it is a “service”, it is not named the US Postal Business, and it does NOT use tax dollars. If we allow these closings, the only mail that will be delayed is your first class mail. All of the “junk mail” as you call it will continue to arrive on-time, because the post master general is in bed with the “big business mailers” – and they get major discounts to mail their “junk”. I am amazed at how many people seem to think that UPS/DHL/FedEx can replace what the USPS does. They are only profit driven, and do not deliver to areas that are less than profitable – they have the Postal Service deliver for them. Keep in mind that all of the competitors together do not have the resources to sort a fraction of the mail the USPS does, transport it, and deliver it to every US address on a daily basis. They can’t do it.
December 5, 2011 at 10:11 pm
I will gladly forgo the tiny trickle of First Class mail I now receive, as well as all the junk I receive, to know that the evil, thieving crooks I worked with are reduced to minimum wage, which would still be too high for most of them.
December 5, 2011 at 11:44 pm
Up until about 6 months ago I got my mail delivered before noon. Now it arrives after dark around 6 PM, and the mail man sits and scratches his balls, for a few minutes before delivering my neighbors. Must be working OT. My daughter now has her mail delivered to my house, because gift cards, and cash for kids from last Christmas, and birthday’s never make it to her townhouse mailbox. Call the local post office, and it’s well have multiple mail men delivering there, and we can’t do anything about it…. My UPS deliver driver can out run my mailman 5 times over carrying a box, instead of a letter, and it actually gets here…
December 5, 2011 at 10:16 pm
really
UPS delivers to a few homes in the neighbor hood.
the post service delivers to every home.
I mailed package using the flat rate box, from the west coast to the east coast
it arrived in three days, for less money than UPS would charge and it would have
taken them 5 days. to deliver.
do more research and you will discover the post office is force to close post offices and processing plants because they have to pay of over 5 billion dollars a year to prefund health care for 75 years in a 10 year period no other private business is force to do that. Do you think UPS can afford to 5 billion dollars a year and remain profitable. Its your congress sucking the life blood from the post office to balance the budget, In fact the post office over paid 50 to 75 billion
dollars more than they should have and they can’t get the money back.
December 5, 2011 at 10:51 pm
What does the post office and kenny shoes have in common?
10,000 pairs of black loafers.
Told to me by an ex postal worker
December 5, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Affirmative action at its best. This is what happens when you cannot hire by ability alone.
December 5, 2011 at 10:34 pm
You poeple do know that allot of your Fedex and UPS packages get deliveryed by the USPS?
I didn’t think so.
December 5, 2011 at 10:37 pm
Tell the rest of the story. Fedex carries the PO’s Priority Airmail. Been this way for several years. So, if your package if travelling coast to coast in a few days while it takes a week or two on either side of the Miss. river, you can thank Fedex.
December 5, 2011 at 11:52 pm
“Tell the rest of the story. Fedex carries the PO’s Priority Airmail. Been this way for several years. So, if your package if travelling coast to coast in a few days while it takes a week or two on either side of the Miss. river, you can thank Fedex.”
That is because the Postal Service is not allowed to own or operate aircraft. They have to hire it done.
December 6, 2011 at 12:44 am
The processing plants use a computerized system that scans the labels on trays and tubs and automatically books those items on available flights. They don’t use just Fedex or UPS flights.
December 6, 2011 at 4:12 pm
ignorance is bliss
December 5, 2011 at 10:40 pm
blame it on fat union pensions. same thing is happening to cities and states, cities are dumping their police depts. and using the sheriff because they cannot afford to payoff the unions. democrats sign ridiculous union contracts, knowing that they will get a big chunk of money back from the unions.
voters must insist on 401k retirements for all govt. employees
December 5, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Its costs 45 cents to mail a letter through postal service and 8.63 by Fedex.
Or we could all pay 63 cents a letter and the postal service budget would be balanced.
Who is running a tighter ship?
.63 vs 8.63, yes the govermant needs to let the USPS charge what it costs to mail a letter in 2011 and not 1965.
December 5, 2011 at 10:51 pm
no, USPS needs to dump the unions, otherwise they will go bankrupt, which will allow them to dump the unions
December 5, 2011 at 10:56 pm
I’ll say this, USPS is far faster than UPS, but that’s only because UPS is union too
December 5, 2011 at 10:54 pm
Its amazing how ignorant poeple are in this country.
The unions are bad or the fat cats are bad. No poeple in general are ignorant of the issues, so spend their time whining about issues they are to lazy to inform themselves about.
This country needs answers based on facts not whining based on politics.
Do you want to pay 8.50 ish a letter or .63 cents a letter?
DOH.
Problem is 66% of all poeple will want to pay 8.50 and think they are saving money.
Kinda why we are in the mess we are in now.
December 5, 2011 at 11:00 pm
If you have never worked for the Postal Service your comments are totally invalid.
How many UPS, FEDEX or DHL or what the hell have you seen deliver their product to every single house on the street. Get my point! Can the UPS compete with the post office, NO….. if they could they would, do you see them deliver all of your neighborhood, nope; one or two houses and there gone…… like i said you ain’t worked there you don’t get, just be quiet and worry about doing your own job right! The only real solution the USPS is get rid of the thousands of what they call management personnel that don’t manage anything, even the cleaning of their own desk and area around…. go to some of what they call management facilities and take a look, they watch a clerk at 3am or follow a letter carrier for a couple days in 100 degree heat or a snow storm, them maybe you’ll have earned the privilege to recant what you’ve said and understand it just a little bit!
December 5, 2011 at 11:48 pm
One mail handler at my plant made $100,000(counting over time) in one year. Fedex would hire five employees making the same as I was making while watching him brag about making 100 grand in one year.
December 6, 2011 at 12:02 am
Been There…The rest of the story is it is more economical to pay one person to work both off days than to hire another employee. And since by contract MH’s only get time and a half no matter how much OT they work, it makes even more since. Personally, I would not want the MH job, especially where I worked. No enclosed dock with 95 degrees and 95% humidity.
December 6, 2011 at 12:14 am
Also, I took the exam and scored the same as everyone else, how is that possible?. It’s because it is full of useless, ambiguous questions that have nothing to do with the job. It’s a smokescreen to allow more hiring of select minorites. They refused to grant me the 5 extra points for being a Vet. because they told me I didn’t serve during a conflict. That was news to me. I told a Supervisor, I wouldn’t have stayed there a month had I known that was the case. She just looked at the floor like she had heard it before. She knew full well it was racism. At least, at the shoe store, you can get some use out of black loafers!
December 6, 2011 at 12:15 am
Hmmm… How to cut costs….
Option 1 – Get rid of ridiculously expensive pensions, make workers pay for their own health care, and require postal workers to past 55 before they can retire?
Option 2 – Gut essential services that customers pay a premium price for, but keep all the crushing entitlements in place to run them into the ground that much faster.
Brilliant choice. It’s going to take a heckuva lot of junk mail to keep them afloat. If they aren’t serious about solving thier debt problem, and reforming/slashing thier benefits, I have no sympathy for them.
December 6, 2011 at 12:20 am
Locally, I’ve been in the UPS(worked for UPS) and Fedex facilties and both are more modern than the PD&L that I worked in. Both have been built more recently and no one’s making the pay of 5 Casual employees. There is no way It is more efficient to pay a guy all this over-time when you can bring in good workers at a fraction (around 20%) of the price of his overtime. One night,
I had a Clerk tell me she was making $75.00 an hour(Triple time). That would hire 7.5 Casuals to do her job. Whos’ going to move more mail in breakdown, one sluggish Union worker or 7.5 happy employees?
December 6, 2011 at 12:34 am
There is NO triple time in the USPS. Standard 1.5 for regular OT, and 2.0 for V time. And supervisors better have their stuff in a row before they give V time as it is a big no-no. They go to minimum manning for Christmas which pays 2.5 time. The exception is mailhandlers who only get 1.5 no matter how much OT they work. If you’ve “Been There” you certainly didn’t learn much as most of your posts contain erroneous information. And you should’ve pursued your 5 veterans points unless your discharge like most of your other info is questionable.
December 6, 2011 at 4:02 pm
The time has come to Re-Pare the US government and that means no more government unions, term limits and a fair tax on the Nat’l ballot every ten years. It means reducing and combining agencies, defunding and lower funding for government agencies , less regulations and a accountable budget every year….or you can lose this Constitutional Republic.
December 6, 2011 at 12:49 am
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The only reason the Post Office is in trouble is because your Government allowed UPS and Fed Ex to exist. This was a direct act of treason. The Constitution requires the Government to do the nations mail. There are ONLY two requirements of the Constitution, do the National Defense, and do the Mail. They don’t appear to do either one of them very well and they want to take over health care?! I’m curious about how many congressmen and senators bought stock in UPS and Fed Ex at the start because insider trading is legal for our wonderful Government. I’m just say’n…
December 6, 2011 at 5:07 am
Constitutionally the US Post Office has a huge amount of power in common law matters. I fear TPTB are beginning to dismantle our post office to complete their dismantling of the constitution.
America be advised!
December 6, 2011 at 11:11 am
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The USPS is an outdated Federal culture, like the the IRS, when changes are made
there will be no need for these evil cultures to exist, ask any employee, the IRS is a
similar to the Nazi regime and tactics, and so is the USPS, the Gang of Nine has one objective, to bring to the public, the abusive and greedy nature of management and the unions, it must die as well as the IRS, no need for Gestapo organizations,
and why are most of Federal agencies offering early retirements, but not the USPS?, what a set up, give those want to retire an out, stop the torture.
December 8, 2011 at 10:36 am
Somebody queue the Twilight Zone theme song for yonick.
December 8, 2011 at 6:04 pm
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