oops - the cons are right on this one (usps)

[billy.pilgrim]

of course there are many liberals who will agree and
or course the cons who agree, all, ALL, every damn one of them agree for all the wrong reasons

but there are just too many libs trying to support the continuation of the post office delivering mail to every house in the country 6 days a week

why? someone please explain why we need to do this

I watched the 3 morons on faux's a.m. show Sunday whine and bemoan some proposed (my ass) liberal law to tax email to support the post office - of coarse they were probably lying (sucker carlson said it) and I feel sure that there is no way we are going to tax email to support the post office, but just trying to keep this dinosaur alive is fodder for the babbling morons

I realize that the con method of making the post office fund retirement causes it to look like they are worse off than they are, but face it, the need for the post office has changed and the post office should too.

personally, I could live just fine if the post office didn't fill certain new positions as people retired and set 3 days per week home delivery as a goal.

I get my bills online and pay most online. the mailbox is mostly for Christmas cards and junk mail.

this is an issue that libs need to get in front of before the cons screw it up like everything else they touch

[billy.pilgrim]

I'm fine with ending Saturday delivery but the USPS' biggest problem is the onerous pension funding requirements passed by cons and signed by Shrub.

agreed

but the liberal stance in congress is to continue with 6 days

why?

reduce mail carries by half through retirement and go to M-W-F for some and T-T-S for the rest

once or twice a week is fine with me

[Ombudsman]

I'm a liberal who thinks it should go to three days a week. I'm not aware of this being a left-right issue.

[O Really]

I'm guessing the "lib" or Dem support for 6 days is just a misguided defence of the mail service against constant right-wing attack. That, and the postal workers union is heavily Democratic oriented, for good reason. But here's a lib who doesn't see it as right/left either. The USPS has a different mission than UPS and FedEx, and isn't empowered to change it themselves. What is carried in mail is way different from even 10 or 20 years ago, and there's no good reason for six-day home delivery service.

[billy.pilgrim]

I'm a liberal who would thinks it should go to three days a week. I'm not aware of this being a left-right issue.

since the right is all in a tizzy about shutting it down

and the only politicians I have ever heard promoting the continuation of 6 day delivery are all on the left

I would say that it has become an anti-liberal issue with a good dose of liberal - thank you Bernie

Save Sat mail
The Senate bill is cosponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

“Congress must work together and pass legislation that will sustain the Postal Service, avert unnecessary closures that hurt communities and save American jobs. Most of the financial issues facing the United States Postal Service are due to short-sighted actions by Congress. Congress must unshackle USPS so we can deal with these problems and allow the Postal Service to better compete,” DeFazio said.


looks like dems to me

[billy.pilgrim]

Are those Dems truly committed to Saturday delivery in perpetuity or is it a tactic to get Congress to first address the onerous pension funding requirements passed by cons and signed by Shrub? I don't know.

I would say, all the way

otherwise, why not show some compromise and offer to drop Sat, it other changes can be made

[rstrong]

I already sent a letter to try to solve this for Congress.

When the wool industry in England was in recession hundreds of years ago, decrees were passed that, when you died, you had to be buried in a woollen shroud. A similar thing was done in France with linen.

My suggestion that America do the same with USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate shipping boxes was rejected without, I thought, due consideration.

[bannination]

Big freaking controversy over nothing. Let the USPS raise rates, no big deal, and they'll still be the cheapest way to send mail. The cons want to see them go out of business so everything will be privatized and insanely expensive, and forget delivery to rural areas.

[Ombudsman]

That's the irony of Right. They prefer to pay more for a service for no other reason than to keep the government out of it. Makes no damn sense at all.

[O Really]

The problem for years is that the postal service has been politicized. It's really a fairly simple operational issue. Sure, you have to consider the personnel impact, re-scheduling headaches, yada. But it really comes down to a few easy questions: (1) is the majority (or even much) of the mail carried by USPS time-sensitive? Only a completely unconscious person could say "yes." (2) could significant savings be accomplished by using a 5-day schedule instead of 6 day? Clearly. In personnel costs, equipment utilization, fuel, overtime, pretty much any cost you can think of. (3) Could the schedule change be accomplished without huge layoffs? Sure - you've got a lot of attrition, re-locations, re-assignments, and phase-in time. No meat-axe approach is necessary.

Was there any right/left issue there? If so, tell me. I missed it. Unless... unless you just want to get rid of something associated the the damgummint without regard for reason or impact. But nobody would be that effing stupid, would they?

[billy.pilgrim]

...why not show some compromise and offer to drop Sat, it other changes can be made

Fine with me if they did that, but is it that the supporters of the onerous pension funding requirements really want an end to Saturday delivery so badly that this would be an acceptable compromise to them? If not, then I could see retaining Saturday delivery as being a tactic to force their hand especially if their real goal, as O Really suggests, is just to attack the USPS. Again, I don't know, I'm just speculating on the possible real politics of a situation I have not studied.

Week-old PM you haven't read.

checked mail - see - once a week is fine


better now?

[billy.pilgrim]

The problem for years is that the postal service has been politicized. It's really a fairly simple operational issue. Sure, you have to consider the personnel impact, re-scheduling headaches, yada. But it really comes down to a few easy questions: (1) is the majority (or even much) of the mail carried by USPS time-sensitive? Only a completely unconscious person could say "yes." (2) could significant savings be accomplished by using a 5-day schedule instead of 6 day? Clearly. In personnel costs, equipment utilization, fuel, overtime, pretty much any cost you can think of. (3) Could the schedule change be accomplished without huge layoffs? Sure - you've got a lot of attrition, re-locations, re-assignments, and phase-in time. No meat-axe approach is necessary.

Was there any right/left issue there? If so, tell me. I missed it. Unless... unless you just want to get rid of something associated the the damgummint without regard for reason or impact. But nobody would be that effing stupid, would they?

perfect answer

but the stupid remains cloaked in the robes of the right - that's is why the left should embrace the reality that email has hurt revenues and decreased the need for mail expediency and the reasonable solution that 4 or 5 day mail delivery works for all

and it takes away all sense from the right's argument to close the post office

[billy.pilgrim]

No. Serves me right.

vonnegut okay?

[O Really]

I never really understood the constant and harsh bashing of the postal service. So somebody's letter gets lost and takes a couple of years to show up. What total percentage of mail in total is lost or unreasonably late? You can't even pronounce a number that small. Spend a little while understanding what the mail carriers go through, and under what conditions they actually work. Some of them "go postal" for a reason. I was in a branch post office recently about 2:00pm and the window was closed (from 1:30 to 2:30). Some redneck yahoo was ranting about the "lazy gummint workers..." yada, and somehow managed to include Obama in the whine mix. Never even crossed his mind that the reason they're closed between 1:30 and 2:30 is in order to stay open during everybody else's lunch break - a busy time for them, and because they are not sufficiently staffed to cover the entire day.

[Stinger]

Big freaking controversy over nothing. Let the USPS raise rates, no big deal, and they'll still be the cheapest way to send mail. The cons want to see them go out of business so everything will be privatized and insanely expensive, and forget delivery to rural areas.

They want it privatized so the corporate masters can make money and the serfs and vassals can make starvation wages.