4 ms·

The usps is the only well functioning government organization left and Republicans are set on kneecapping it so they can privatize it

newaccount2021 4y ago
well-functioning? 95% of the mail in my box goes directly to my recycling bin literally a no-op...junk mail is printed, USPS delivers it against my will, I put it in my recycle bin...another truck comes and empties that bin this is well-functioning?
- kevviiinn 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - Ekaros 4y ago
    And just how cheaply it must be printed, enveloped and delivered... If the returns were not enough those mails would not be send.
tomrod 4y ago
Indeed. That they are underfunded and thus need to support the spam mailers is another issue entirely. But as far as central non-digital services centers go, the USPS is top notch. It can be improved, sure, and it suffers from the same issues many government services handicapped by the misplaced, accumulated "starve the beast" policy cruft. Despite this, it remains a fantastic resource. I really wish certain political ideologies would recognize when they are shooting themselves and their fellow citizens in the collective foot.
- IntelMiner 4y ago
  Calling "starve the beast" a misplaced policy is a pretty heavy watering down of how insidious it truly is
  - tomrod 4y ago
    To be fair, I'm trying to avoid being heavily political on something that seems like a win-win-win policy for all sides.
dsfyu404ed 4y ago
The USPS's unique financial burden is that they are forced by congress to pre-fund their pension obligations so they can't pull a Chicago, calculate things based on insane assumptions of returns and go "whoops we're bankrupt" at some unspecified date in the future as many a pension system has done. In literally any other context you would be cheering this on. Congress has done a lot of terrible things but the burden they have placed upon USPS isn't one of them.
- tomrod 4y ago
  That's one of the budget issues, yes, but not the only one.
slowmovintarget 4y ago
You're forgetting the NIST. They operate at a net profit, selling things like Standard Jars of Peanut Butter for equipment calibration ($1,069 per unit). There's a cool Veritasium video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQyYGezS7c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQyYGezS7c
- tomrod 4y ago
  Close! NIST is under the Department of Commerce. They do operate with net profit (or attempt to do so). My understanding is USCIS is set up similarly for immigrant benefit processing.

newaccount2021 4y ago

well-functioning? 95% of the mail in my box goes directly to my recycling bin literally a no-op...junk mail is printed, USPS delivers it against my will, I put it in my recycle bin...another truck comes and empties that bin this is well-functioning?

kevviiinn 4y ago
[flagged]
- Ekaros 4y ago
  And just how cheaply it must be printed, enveloped and delivered... If the returns were not enough those mails would not be send.

tomrod 4y ago

Indeed. That they are underfunded and thus need to support the spam mailers is another issue entirely. But as far as central non-digital services centers go, the USPS is top notch. It can be improved, sure, and it suffers from the same issues many government services handicapped by the misplaced, accumulated "starve the beast" policy cruft. Despite this, it remains a fantastic resource. I really wish certain political ideologies would recognize when they are shooting themselves and their fellow citizens in the collective foot.

IntelMiner 4y ago
Calling "starve the beast" a misplaced policy is a pretty heavy watering down of how insidious it truly is
- tomrod 4y ago
  To be fair, I'm trying to avoid being heavily political on something that seems like a win-win-win policy for all sides.

dsfyu404ed 4y ago

The USPS's unique financial burden is that they are forced by congress to pre-fund their pension obligations so they can't pull a Chicago, calculate things based on insane assumptions of returns and go "whoops we're bankrupt" at some unspecified date in the future as many a pension system has done. In literally any other context you would be cheering this on. Congress has done a lot of terrible things but the burden they have placed upon USPS isn't one of them.

tomrod 4y ago
That's one of the budget issues, yes, but not the only one.

slowmovintarget 4y ago

You're forgetting the NIST. They operate at a net profit, selling things like Standard Jars of Peanut Butter for equipment calibration ($1,069 per unit). There's a cool Veritasium video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQyYGezS7c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQyYGezS7c

tomrod 4y ago
Close! NIST is under the Department of Commerce. They do operate with net profit (or attempt to do so). My understanding is USCIS is set up similarly for immigrant benefit processing.