Privatizing the USPS

[slati_2013]

According to the Washington Post, Trump is seriously considering privatizing the USPS. I am very, very, worried. Your thoughts?

Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses 

[robbie31415]

---

@tarotfindsandmore wrote:

The USPS is funded by the retail side, revenue is brought in from products (stamps, etc) and services.  The income from tax payers is basically non-existent.

---

I'm sorry that's not true.

The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, signed into law by President Joe Biden on April 6, 2022, aimed to address the financial challenges of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The legislation provided approximately $50 billion in financial relief over a decade.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3076

[12345jamesstamps]

Nothing will happen in 4 years except a lot of laughs.🤣

[robbie31415]

Well that will be a better change.

Been horrible past 4 years with a lot of crying. 😭 😂

Especially near gas stations and grocery stores.

[tarotfindsandmore]

It most assuredly is true. Here's the content of the bill you linked:

• This bill addresses the finances and operations of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
• The bill requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to establish the Postal Service Health Benefits Program within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program under which OPM may contract with carriers to offer health benefits plans for USPS employees and retirees.
• The bill provides for coordinated enrollment of retirees under this program and Medicare.
• The bill repeals the requirement that the USPS annually prepay future retirement health benefits.
• Additionally, the USPS may establish a program to enter into agreements with an agency of any state government, local government, or tribal government, and with other government agencies, to provide certain nonpostal products and services that reasonably contribute to the costs of the USPS and meet other specified criteria.
• The USPS must develop and maintain a publicly available dashboard to track service performance and must report regularly on its operations and financial condition.
• The Postal Regulatory Commission must annually submit to the USPS a budget of its expenses. It must also conduct a study to identify the causes and effects of postal inefficiencies relating to flats (e.g., large envelopes).
• The USPS Office of Inspector General shall perform oversight of the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Nothing in there has anything to do with wages.  Wages are paid through revenue garnered from products and services.

[roccotacodad54]

   I think the Teamsters used to be a good union. I retired over problems with them. Here's one of many. We were forced by our employer to give supervisors breaks for minimum wage (supervisors got paid much more than minimum wage) in a job where most of your income was from tips. Supervisors weren't allowed to accept tips (you were considered a supervisor while giving them a break and this would happen several times a day).

   So along comes the Teamsters.....Everyone but the supervisors was absorbed by the union.

   I thought "At last we won't have to give supervisors breaks and lose income"...........WRONG.

   Not only were we expected to do non-union work during our shift, we weren't even paid prevailing wage for doing it. The only thing that changed was we now had to pay union dues for the same circumstances but lost even more income paying them. Not a good outcome.

   It at least appears that an agreement was made with the employer by the union without the employees knowledge or input.

   This is not the Teamsters union I remember from the past. I have a couple of family members that were Teamsters and never remember them being forced to do non-union work during a shift or any work that wasn't for prevailing wage.

[tarotfindsandmore]

Trust me when I tell you the Teamsters contract is light years ahead of either of the carrier contracts the USPS has in place.  There's a reason people "go postal" rather than "go UPS" or "go FedEx". 😁

[chapeau-noir]

---

@robbie31415 wrote:

Well that will be a better change.

Been horrible past 4 years with a lot of crying. 😭 😂

Especially near gas stations and grocery stores.

---

Capitalism acting badly again. Nope, nothing's going to change. 

[carlmarxx]

from  Ca. to Pa .   a   package  21x10x10   USPS  Ground  Advantage  is  $124+    , Priority  mail  is $160+     USPS balloon over  size  30 pound rate  kick's   on the length  of  the package  .   I shipped  a   5 pound package  to San Diego Ca.   from  Victorville Ca.   length  of package  22  ,  with  14, Hight 12    Ground advantage  postage   Fee   $30.42  plus $18.00  balloon  Dim  size  ,holiday  surge charge   .Total   USPS   paid $48.42    . Where  as  FedEx  ground  $29   , UPS ground  $32    .            92395 to  92111   5lbs     22"x14"x12"   

[carlmarxx]

That  was   the all done  under GW Bush  and Republican  controlled  congress and senate  2006   . 

[1786davycrockett]

Donald Trump and his cronies are once again exhibiting their ignorance of  United States Constitutional law:

Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution gave Congress exclusive power to establish the postal system. It states:

“[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;...”

Furthermore -- In Searight v. Stokes , the Supreme Court confirmed (1845) that Congress was charged with transporting mail based on the above Postal Clause. 

The postal clause in the United States Constitution does not provide for Congress to absolve itself of its power to establish post offices -- thus, USPS cannot be "sold" to any entity, and the responsibility for "transporting mail" resides with the United States Congress, as provided for in the American Constitution.  

(Note, however, the legal limitation for "transporting mail" -- packages may still be shipped by non-postal companies.)

So don't expect this latest "brainstorm" to go anywhere, any time soon.

[carlmarxx]

Well said in deed .

[tarotfindsandmore]

huh? What was done under Bush?  That "list" I posted above is the content of Biden's April 2022 bill.

[carlmarxx]

The retirement  money plan  funds    ,usps had to build up  cover workers that born yet  was push under  GW Bush  was president  and passed  by  republican  congress .

[carlmarxx]

retirement fund  for  USPS  worker not born yet .

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Keep in mind the following:

The volume of USPS' business which is "mail" decreases every year as electronic communication reduces the need for mail.

Packages are subsidizing the mail. Amazon is now the largest parcel carrier in the country.

UPS continues to grow, it has taken over long distance transportation for most of USPS business,

FEDEX is shrinking. FEDEX Express has suffered mightily because the need for overnight parcels has shrunk. It high quality Express operation has been combined with its low price, bad service FEDEX Ground operation. It now sells on low price. FEDEX lost USPS' long distance business.

To further complicate matters, freight trucking companies continue to declare bankruptcy.

There will be some changes to the situation with the new administration. Some of the pressure on the trucker by the NLRB will be lessened, and it is unlikely that efforts to treat independent contractors as employees will continue.

BTW, I believe DeJoy is going as good a job of setting the PO up for future stability as can be done. He seems to be keeping the number of black holes down and getting more bang for the buck from equipment and operations. We know that this season's black holes include Indianapolis, I can see it my shipments, but I have not yet hit another black hole yet and its only 11 days until Christmas.