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It's pretty ironic that public representatives in Congress have been working so hard to shut down the USPS under the assumption that private business can do a b

by ewzimm 12y ago

It's pretty ironic that public representatives in Congress have been working so hard to shut down the USPS under the assumption that private business can do a better job while private business has been taking advantage of the USPS's efficiency.

jonknee 12y ago
A big part of that "efficiency" is the rules required by Congress (daily mail delivery to everywhere). If it wasn't required it wouldn't be provided and that "efficiency" would go away. Maybe parcels can save them, but it will require a lot of change because unlike the junk mail that currently keeps the lights [halfway] on, packages take up quite a bit of space. I regularly see UPS unloading more packages for a single building than would fit in a mail truck.
- ewzimm 12y ago
  Yes, the rules established by Congress in 1792. I don't think anyone would argue that organization has much in common with the current Congress. No organization in the world other than the USPS is forced to pre-fund pensions with $5.5 billion annually. Imagine if Amazon.com had to play by those rules. Also, I'm not convinced by your argument that a $66 billion/year organization is going to fail because their trucks aren't big enough. The USPS actually carries a lot of packages for UPS and FedEx.
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Fedex also carries most of express/priority mail for USPS: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/fedex-to-fly-mail-for-postal-service-for-10-5-billion.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/fedex-to-fly-mail-f...
r00fus 12y ago
It highlights the fact that some public representatives are really privately sponsored/employed (stock options in blind trust, revolving doors, flights and ). Who do these representatives actually represent?
- ewzimm 12y ago
  They obviously don't represent workers. The USPS is one of the last big organizations where normal people can expect to have a retirement plan, even if they're disabled. In February, 250 UPS workers walked out for 90 minutes to protest an unjust firing. UPS told them to keep coming to work, but every week they would randomly fire 20 of them until everyone was gone to give the company time to replace them. After months of campaigning against it, the workers got off with 2 weeks' suspension for what they maintain was a legal protest. But the incident is indicative of what we might expect in a completely privatized parcel delivery industry. If the workers hadn't been unionized Teamsters, UPS would have probably gotten their way. This is the kind of working environment a lot of people in Congress are pushing for. http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-reverses-firing-of-250-workers-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-reverses-firing-of-250-wo...

by ewzimm 12y ago

jonknee 12y ago

A big part of that "efficiency" is the rules required by Congress (daily mail delivery to everywhere). If it wasn't required it wouldn't be provided and that "efficiency" would go away. Maybe parcels can save them, but it will require a lot of change because unlike the junk mail that currently keeps the lights [halfway] on, packages take up quite a bit of space. I regularly see UPS unloading more packages for a single building than would fit in a mail truck.

ewzimm 12y ago
Yes, the rules established by Congress in 1792. I don't think anyone would argue that organization has much in common with the current Congress. No organization in the world other than the USPS is forced to pre-fund pensions with $5.5 billion annually. Imagine if Amazon.com had to play by those rules. Also, I'm not convinced by your argument that a $66 billion/year organization is going to fail because their trucks aren't big enough. The USPS actually carries a lot of packages for UPS and FedEx.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Fedex also carries most of express/priority mail for USPS: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/fedex-to-fly-mail-for-postal-service-for-10-5-billion.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/fedex-to-fly-mail-f...

r00fus 12y ago

It highlights the fact that some public representatives are really privately sponsored/employed (stock options in blind trust, revolving doors, flights and ). Who do these representatives actually represent?

ewzimm 12y ago
They obviously don't represent workers. The USPS is one of the last big organizations where normal people can expect to have a retirement plan, even if they're disabled. In February, 250 UPS workers walked out for 90 minutes to protest an unjust firing. UPS told them to keep coming to work, but every week they would randomly fire 20 of them until everyone was gone to give the company time to replace them. After months of campaigning against it, the workers got off with 2 weeks' suspension for what they maintain was a legal protest. But the incident is indicative of what we might expect in a completely privatized parcel delivery industry. If the workers hadn't been unionized Teamsters, UPS would have probably gotten their way. This is the kind of working environment a lot of people in Congress are pushing for. http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-reverses-firing-of-250-workers-2014-4 http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-reverses-firing-of-250-wo...