RANDOM: Do We Really Need the Post Office?

Can ya'll wait to occupy or protest its removal until I stick my mom's Mother's Day card in the mail today or tomorrow? Thanks.

As One and Done points out so eloquently, this is another case of private corporations attempting to do away with a government agency that does things less expensively. Follow the money, people, follow the money. Whose best interest is it in to do away with USPS? Yep, FedEx and UPS. If you'll notice, it is ALWAYS cheaper to send packages and letters via USPS. The USPS is solvent, as long as you take away the ridiculous handicaps they've been saddled with.

That being said, YES we need them. How else are you going to send letters and packages? Pay UPS and FedEx's exorbitant rates?? No thanks!

YES! I use it daily to mail out packages. I ship things either via first class or media mail, depending on how people request the item be shipped. I would be a wreck without it............

Yes. We need the USPS.

The United States Postal Service, an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States is O. of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. (CONSTITUTION, anyone?)
And yet....

Many might be surprised to learn that the U.S. Postal Service is not in financial trouble. It isn’t in debt or losing money. Some would probably be shocked to learn that it costs taxpayers exactly zero dollars, as it is and has always been a self sustaining enterprise. The trouble miring our beloved Postal Service is the disfavor of a pro-corporate anti-government (when it is convenient) political party. Indeed the Postal Service’s problems are rooted in purely political machinations.

In 2006, the lame duck Republican-controlled Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, requiring the U.S. Mail to pre-fund its retirement health care benefit account 75 years ahead of time. This is the only Federal Agency saddled with this requirement. Indeed the Postal Service is pre-funding retirement benefits for employees it hasn’t even hired yet. Why can’t the service simply raise its rates to pay for this burden? The Act also restricts the USPS from increasing its rates. How’s that for good business sense?

As O. might imagine, the USPS is objecting to this, and says its upcoming 5.5 billion dollar health fund payment might just be O. delivery it has to make late. Late, as in not early. Instantly some Republicans have seized on the issue they created and have begun to suggest that the Postal Service cut services and lay off workers. This is a strange recommendation for politicians who came into office on a job creation platform. But then, postal workers are guilty of a mortal sin, they’re unionized! The American economy is just now recovering from a devastating recession caused, at least in part, by short sighted Republican policies. Now they’ve burdened our mail service with a unique requirement and are using that requirement to call for reduced services and layoffs.

Right on cue are the additional suggestions that the Postal Service be done away entirely, since it isn’t running efficiently, and allow private corporations to deliver our mail. This would, of course, precede the privatization of our schools, prisons, and military. O. might come to the conclusion that privatization of our mail service was in mind when the 2006 Act was passed in the first place: place unworkable requirements on the agency and watch it crumble.

The U.S. Postal Service is run efficiently and without any burden to the American taxpayer. It is the largest employer of military veterans. It is a Godsend for mom and pop businesses all over the country, not to mention the average person wishing to send a letter. The Service has a proud history and shouldn’t fall victim to the political maneuverings of a political party.

Part of the problem with the USPS is that they are the ONLY gov't agency which is required to pre-pay their employees pensions. Thus, they are of course losing money.

This is from an article about a bill which Senator Sanders (I-VT) has proposed, the Postal Service Protection Act (S. 1853), one of the purposes of which:

"Fix the Postal Service’s immediate financial crisis by allowing the USPS to recover the overpayments it made to its retiree pension funds — both the $7 billion overpayment to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the $50 billion to $75 billion overpayment to the Civil Service Retirement System. In addition, the bill would eliminate the unique requirement that the USPS pre-fund 75 years worth of future retiree health benefits in just 10 years. No other agency or company in America is required to pre-fund these benefits."

you can read the rest here:
http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/2011/11/sen-sanders...

Personally, yes, I do feel that we need to keep the USPS, but that it should be restructured. Perhaps we could go to an every-other-day service at residences, unless you paid a service fee for daily service delivery OR kept a PO Box. I personally wouldn't have a problem with that. Medications and medical deliveries could cost a couple dollars more but receive daily delivery (because people need their meds), but other than that, we can walk our butts to the local big mailboxes and send off outgoing mail. That might cut costs and make more sense.

I'd hate to see the mail privatized. It would drive costs up exorbitantly and soak the public.

No, we still NEED post offices. Well a lot of us! There are still things I liked mailed to me, like my husbands car bill, because they send us the things to send the check payment in. Sometimes you cant do things online, (they dont have computer pay) and it's nice to have the paper receipts to put in our filing cabinet.

Not to mention I wouldn't know what I would have done without the Post Office when my husband was deployed for a year to Afghanistan. Mail was all we could do!! He barely ever got to call, NEVER got to Skype. or email. Mail was the way we corresponded. Slow yes, but it got the job done.

I cant tell you how many packages I sent him while he was gone. A LOT! Can you imagine how much it would have cost if I had no other choice but to send it UPS, or FedEx? I wouldn't have been able to afford it. But thanks to the Post Office and their awesome flat rate boxes I was able to send him boxes stuffed with things he needed, for a low rate.

So in my opinion, they are really needed!! And I am grateful that they were there!

NO, we cannot live without a post office. And you know what I've learned? Back in 2006 during a Republican-controlled lame duck session, the Republicans voted in drastic measures that have basically torpedoed the post office since then by putting legislation in play that would make the post office fund it's retiree's health benefits for SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS OUT. And they have to do it over a 10-year period. The law’s requirements account for 100 percent of the service’s $20 billion in losses over the previous four years, without which the service would have turned a profit. No other govt. agency has to do this.

You know what I see here? I see some Republican UNION BUSTING of a huge voting bloc, pure and simple.

I love the idea of the post office. Secondly, senior citizens depend on it.

Our daughter is out of state for college. These last 4 years, I have spent a ton of time there mailing all sorts of things. A fraction of the cost of UPS.

I was just there friday to pick out the perfect stamps for her Graduation Announcements. These could never take the place of an email announcement.

I will agree that there is mismanagement and people still hanging on to their jobs there way past the need. Also the infrastructure of the underused stations needs to be really looked at closely. They are expensive to upkeep and a drain on our economy.

We need to go back to the Post Offices inside the Grocery stores. Back in the day they were in the General store in small towns.

No.
It could be changed, managed better, etc. But we still need it. I still WANT it. What about passports? What about sending care packages? What about the people it employs?

A few years ago, we bailed out some automotive companies, and a bank. But we still need cars, and we still need banks, we still hold mortgages. Don't over simplify it. However, there are changes that need to be made in all kinds of industries and offices that could make things work so much better. If a place is going to get bailed out though, it should be mandatory that the company make specific prescribed changes in how they run their business, OR they can go ahead and go the way of the dinosaur if they refuse to take those steps. (Basically, run things like a business instead of charity: do you want my money? Then do this...) The problem is that the government officials that would probably be in charge of prescribing these changes are probably short sighted and would just knock a few things off the top instead of looking at the problem and actually coming up with solutions that could work.
But yes, I still want the post office. I don't do UPS or Fed Ex because they really are too expensive most of the time, and I do mail things pretty often.

I love the Postal Service..... I love being able to send an actual letter as oppose to an email................ I love receiving cards and letters as well.. WE know our Postal Delivery guy really well and our next door neighbors also work for them.. They told me that there are managers there making TOP NOTCH salaries who don't do a heck of a lot...... clean up the excess and sloths ... and then I don't think they'd be losing money..

Privatize it or at least build a better business model.... which to me means.. cutting the fat... stop over-paying.......

Do we need em.. yes... we need some type of service as such..

Other developed countries charge almost double.

So if we don't subsidize with tax dollars, a stamp will be 80 cents or higher.

Kinda like gasoline, without tax subsidization we would pay about what the cost is in Europe, which is unsubsidized - a little under $8 per gallon.

So I guess the question is, should only the end users pay the cost (higher stamp and gas prices), or are the systems so necessary that we all should pay a little bit?

and hey - welcome to mamapedia! :)

We need the jobs it creates.

I don't want to have to go through UPS for FED EX just to send my daughter a random greeting card.

I think we could scale it back a great deal to save time, money, and gas. There would need to be legislation on junk mail. I'd like to see marketing by mail stopped anyway just due to pure waste of paper!

I think we still need it. And I still like having it. But could it be run better? Of course. Should it be? of course.

Maybe I don't "get" all the ins and outs of the "mail" business, but it seems to me that (pardon the pun) the bulk of the mail, in my mailbox is JUNK. And that is the cheapest stuff to send. Instead of continuing to increase the price of 1st class mail, why not increase the price of the bulk/junk mailings? It will cut down on the work load (fewer hours/workers required to get the job done) which will save $. And the time of the workers remaining will actually be providing a service people want, and the income may very well be "a wash".

Oh, and get rid of the ridiculously extravagant benefits packages. Mail service isn't exactly dangerous work, or hard on your health, like many other government jobs can be.

I love mail. I love sending it. I love receiving it!

An email or an e-card just don't seem as personal to me and many occasions call for a more intimate touch. I still hand-write all my thank you notes.

I send my pop-pop letters and photos (he has no computer so it's the only way). I love that he sends me things because I can save them and have his handwriting forever. And it's easy for him to do with a mail carrier coming to his house to pick up.

I mail the damn tax check each quarter even though I e-file. I like getting magazines in the mail because reading online or with a reader just isn't the same.

My 4 year old son checks the mail every day to see if something is in it for him. Sometimes I send him things.

I can see the post office losing money because there are many things I don't send anymore and most of my packages come UPS, too. I'm sure I'm not alone in my personal reduction of using USPS and yet they are still delivering/staffing/operating all the time. But I would miss it.

I think the postal service is still useful. After all I don't feel like digging up that damn mailbox. :p

Post offices are useful but like any other business should only be located where they are viable not just because people whine that there isn't one within a mile of their house.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to which ones they want to close. There is one a mile from my office. Any given day maybe ten people walk through the doors, three are employees ya know? That one is not slated to close yet it has to lose a fortune.

In my opinion keep the main post offices open, close the rest and then put those stupid machines everywhere. You know the machines, the ones you use anyway if you don't want to wait an hour in line because a family of 12 needs passports and for some reason mom thinks every worker should take them at once so they can hurry. :p That seriously happened yesterday. :(

I have to say one thing I can't understand is how much do they need? I saw the post that said we bailed out banks....thing is our tax money has been supporting the post office for years. Around 18 million a year for some time. If that isn't a bailout god knows how much money they want now. :(

Well, I'm not sure we need so MUCH postal service. I think it could be scaled back a LOT. But alas, that would mean MORE layoffs, sigh. And MORE displaced workers literally going postal.

Personally, I could live without the post office, sure. But the older generation still relies heavily on it. My mother, for example, is 75 and does not use a computer.

It's a tough call. I'm glad I don't have to decide. Def gonna piss off ONE group of Americans or the other.

:(

Honestly, no. Retailers would never go for it. They would end up paying more to send out catalogs through a private mailing service. They know this and this is why they would never totally rid the Post office away.

Especially around the Holiday's. Even with the internet they still count on those catalog order's. Or at the very least the ability to get their product on even counter in America.....To maybe urge the consumer to go online and order from them.

The reason the Post Office needs the bail out is because of the way they are to hold their employees funds. I am going to botch explaining this because I dont know all the terminology..... what they are force to pay out in theory(meaning on the books for 75 years out...but not actual reality)caps them out. If they had the congress placed restriction taken off of them, they would be able to stay afloat.

If we lost the Post Office Services we have, we would see the collapse of America as we know it.

Think of how many people would forced out of work.

If we had to vote on which Bailouts we wanted to fund...Bailing Out the Post Office would get my vote ten times over before I ever agreed to a Bank Bail Out.

Honestly I dont think the Post Office would have gloated about the mega Bonus's they then gave themselves................Before paying us back our money. Because they would have spent the money a bit better. Responsibly.

We never should have bent over and taken what we did from the banks. Had we stood up for ourselves then and demanded more for ourselves..... Now they have the upper hand.

We need the Post Office more then the Right is willing to excpet. Because they want to see it completely Privatized.

The gig is up though I think for their theory of evolution. Because where they have privatized and then monopolized...We are seeing the effects the practices of their businesses are leaving small communities.

People understand that a Walmart(sometimes a few more then one) in every community, will eventually lead to the closure of small businesses that once thrived in a community. Merely because they can not compete with Walmarts pricing.

You honestly can only have sooo many people offering the same services. Once the lowest priced option comes into the picture.....The means and need for competition fall off. Thus spiraling the market into a tail spin of nonexistence.

This is why it is important to have a strong Public sector that can insure permanent sources of employment when the Private Sector is weak.

I say Bail Out the Post Office if it means saving it's existence.

I think we need the post office in some form. I use our post office daily in that I send/receive mail and I regularly send out packages (at least once a month) where I don't need UPS or FedEx speed or price.

But do we need the post office in the current configuration? It would be annoying to not have Saturday delivery, for example, but what difference would it make to eliminate that? Many post offices around here have shortened routes (many boxes are gone in neighborhoods like mine) and shorter hours. Not all are open on Saturdays. I'm not privy to all the financial details, but I feel it is no wonder that they are having difficulties. Companies like Borders bit the dust. It's an overall economic problem compounded by whatever bureaucracy is going on with the post office.

I am going to say no. I mean I guess we could but it would be difficult. Not everyone has the internet or can afford the ten dollar fees alot of places charge to pay bills on the phone so Alot of bills still get mailed off. When I cut out my internet for a while I could still pay my bills on the library computer but I didn't feel safe doing it so I mailed most of them out.

If they were to reorganize, get rid of the high pensions, unions, etc and as some other mom said, privatize it, we wouldn't need to bail them out. I think the whole concept of bailing out anyone or anything is a bad idea for the gov't to get into. Didn't agree with it when it started and still don't. We need smaller gov't, not bigger gov't. But as far as needing the post office, yes but not in the condition it is in and not after it's bailed out. Now if they were to set some stipulations like what I suggested with the bail out, I might be for it. But as it is right now, nope not for the bail out.

Who's going to bail us out when we get in over our heads? Not a dang person and certainly not the gov't. They're too busy with their hands out and with their heads up their b***s. JMO

Yeah, I think we still need the post office.

Although, maybe not every single day.

US Veterans are the back bone of USPS! Almost every postal worker is a Veteran. When you insult the USPS you are most likely insulting one of our many Veterans working for the United States Postal Service.

I think USPS does a remarkable job delivering our daily mail at such an affordable rate. I've been using the USPS since 1968. I was a 7 year old pen pal with a USMC soldier serving in Vietnam. I received every single letter he wrote me from Vietnam. He received all but one of my letters to him. We continue to correspond to this day via the USPS. Sometimes his letters arrive post dated the day before, most are post dated two days prior. A few years ago a package was stolen from my front porch. Years before that a letter was returned to me in a plastic baggie; it had been chewed up in the sorting machine. In 43 years of using the USPS on a regular basis I find their service, rates and record to be exemplary.

Thank your postal workers next time you see them; they're probably a US VETERAN.

I needed it for the first time in a long time yesterday. I had to return a license renewal I hold in the State of California and it had to go by mail with a real signature. I don't recall the last time I used them prior to this.

In someways it would be nice to do away with them but then what would we do when we needed to send something to someone? UPS and FED EX are way more expencive than the US mail!!!

I don't need the post office. The ONLY stuff I get via snail mail are those annoying fliers with ads for ordering checks or pizza.

I get everything else paperless and I pay everything online.

Once in a blue moon (and it's usually rent or a medical expense) I incur an expense that can't be paid online and I have to go buy stamps and send an actual letter.

I would be fine if the post office went far far away - except that it would throw about a gazillion people into unemployment.

And this is what I don't understand..... really? losing $25 million dollars a day? If a private business operated in that kind of deficit they would have to close.

And, let's look at the payroll usage at the post office....... I don't mean to generalize, but every post office I have ever set foot in is this bizarre combination of overstaffed, yet completely inefficient so not enough people are available. They have 4 people getting paid, but only *1* lane is open. The others are just moving around (in plain site) at a slugs pace doing who knows what while the line is out the door.

So - I say post office..... not needed.

They are losing $ not only because people are now banking online, sending emails instead of letters, the cost of gas is skey hight, etc., but mainly because they are required to put a certain amount of money per month or quarter into their retirement plan. Money that is not coming in as quickly as it used to.

Yes we still need to the post office.

Let's privatize it. We'd save money not having to pay all those super high pensions AND we might actually get mail in a timely fashion!

Yes we do need the office. How else do we get Cards and Letters which people like to receive to their destination at a low cost. So yes we do need them still and will for a long time. Sorry but in my book, an e-card does not cut it.

Honestly? The few times I've had to go, the damn lines are out the door...so I don't know *why* its so crowded if no one ever goes...LOL!

I could live without my evil mailman!

edit* Juno, I know a couple dozen postal workers and none of them are veterans. I don't care what some postal workers have done to serve our country, they have no business mishandling our mail. Also, veteran or not(and I have no idea if he is or not), my mailman is ordered by law to stay off of my property after threatening me for reporting him due to illegally handling our mail. He should have been fired, but he still remains on our route and continually mishandles our mail.

I have the utmost respect for our veterans, but not our shady postal branch.

I think we could cut back the system dramatically. I could live without Saturday delivery. In fact, I think that twice a week on delivery is more than enough for me. I honestly hardly ever get mail that is meaningful anymore- just junk and advertisements. However, I do still get certain things by mail, esp ordering from catalogs or websites. I wouldn't want to see it go completely away. I think cutting back would be a good compromise.

Hi! Our family needs the Post Office. Sending the skeleton models we sell media mail is the only affordable way to send them. If we had to add the shipping UPS or FedEx charged I doubt anyone would buy them. I need to mail checks to our online bank. My daughter needs it to send cute, fun things to her "grandmother" when she is away in Florida and she looks forward to receiving fun things back. I need it today to send some documents to probate court without having to drive the four hours (each way) to get there. Unfortunately the PO isn't the only one not careful with their money. DOT isn't, DOD isn't, lots of school districts aren't, and on and on. We have a bigger problem to face. The party is over and all these government entities need to think before they buy and use the money they receive wisely, as if it was their own (which it is). My dh works with governments big and small and I can tell tales of incredible waste. It's criminal...

I also see a problem because some industries do need daily mailings and deliveries. For instance unless the USPTO has drastically changed, patent applications are sent via U.S. mail's Express Mail program so you get confirmation of delivery. You want that date of filing for legal purposes too so irregular delivery would monkey with your date of filing. If you could the postal workers to actually work and the business operators/manager to actually think like something other than government employees, now that might make a difference.

I go to the post office maybe twice a year. Once around Christmas time and one other random time. Only reason is to send out a package to relatives I won't see over the holidays. I realize however there are other options......fed ex, UPS, etc.....

On the other hand - so, banks have been bailed out and possibly the post office - when are WE going to get bailed out on all of the upside down mortgages??!!

If we're gonna revamp the post office - could we revamp Congress (heck, most political posts) first? If done right, that would probably save enough for the USPS to get some help and greatly help the rest of us!

I think in a much more limited way, but I would miss it. Maybe they can come on M, W, F instead of everyday. But I'd prefer if the mail was drastically decreased and the things in my mailbox were actually what I want there. Get rid of the junk mail, catalogs, advertisements etc. But I do still mail cards and things to people and enjoy some magazines. I think it can be substantially streamlined and reduced.

We need it for mailing packages, etc. but not to bail it out. The post office could surely figure out a way to do things more cost effective. I really wish it could be done without the bailout.

Could we? Yes. But I thing it would be very expensive. UPS and FedEx would charge out the wazoo to deliver a letter.

No, we could not because there are pleanty of us that like things to come the good old fashioned way - however we could go with a reduction on delivery days. I could go with M-W-F and every other Sat mail delivery and still get bills on time. I think in order for everyone to do online bill pay and things like that the fees would have to "go away" or be hidden in our monthy fees amongst other things, everyone would have to be able to have a home computer, internet access etc. So, 80% of the country could do it considering that many may use their public library for access but it is not something we could do away with entirely today. It is something that in the long run can be privatized (UPS, FedEx etc.) but it would have to be done slowly.

I dont use the post office for anything personal, ever, anymore.
I do use it for work about twice a month.
I can see why it's a diminishing part of our culture.
Soon it will only be necessary for bulk, like UPS and FedEx... which is very fierce competition.

its needed. i have a small business and use it regularly. most of my shipping is done through ups but i do need the postal system. i could see them making the change to three times a week deliverys being a good thing.