Save The US Postal Service! Hr1351 Urge Your Representative

I don't know that this is the best or only place to do this, but you all need to know, if you don't already, that Congress is preparing to vote on HR1351 which could basically repeal the need for the US Postal service to be bankrupt in a year.

The bill it would repeal was passed in 2006 and requires the postal service to fund (to the tune of 5.5 BILLION) it's health and retirement benefits for the next 75 years. No one I know has similar retirement guarantees, and I'm not in favor of any legislation which would look at privatization as the ultimate solution to anything. It's about job loss and additionally, loss of benefits and salary. You think that all those private companies will or should be entrusted with delivery of the letters, checks and contracts which pass through the Postal Labor Union hands?

Perhaps things could be changed to make what we have more efficient.... but to put the US POST OFFICE out of business???
Come on Stamp Community... lets' get the word out.

To sign a petition, please go to:
http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/

Additionally, you can, contact your Congressional representatives directly, and ask them to pass HR 1351. There will be events to attend as well.

This bill is a very bad idea. You don't fix the elephant in the room (unfundable pension/benefits obligations) by ignoring it.

Repealing a bill which asks a body to fund pension plans for an unreasonable period of time is what is wrong. The NORM is 10 to 15 years, with the most I've heard about at 20. I don't think anyone would object to something NORMAL.

And... I'm not asking anyone to do anything they don't agree with. It's personal choice. I'll work and hope you'll do so also, on supporting the existing Postal Service. Thanks.

Personally, I have no problem with the post office going under, it's an archaic system that really isn't necessary anymore. If it cannot sustain itself, let it die.

OK Cephus, so no mail service at all? Just because something isn't working, that doesn't mean kill it off. No one wants to fix anything anymore...

... and with this government of ours, I wouldn't be suprised if they outsource the running of the mail to another country... just like they have with everything else...

I am in agreement with bfranton & nells250.
Fix it by repealing a unrealistic requirment.

This says essentially the same thing in a 30 second video ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQfUnm83yX0

I was beginning to think I was in a strange place, not SCF when all I got was negative responses to something which is just wrong.... and all about stamps to boot.

Imagine, the USA the ONLY major country in the world without a postal service? Imagine what it now costs ? .44 cents for someone to put something in an envelope and have it delivered X days later to someone else...

Geee... Maybe you never get mail? or send it?

what will it cost if we give that privilege to to UPS or FED EX? 4.40 per ounce? Don't even want to think about it. The 2006 law was designed to help put the postal system out of business.

The USPS may have flaws, but it can be fixed without putting hundreds of thousands out of work and eliminating an institution which has had a number of business logistical constraints from the get-go. Think about it.

For many of us, being a stamp collector does not mean we are blindly supportive of USPS (or more accurately in this case, the postal workers union).

I happen to believe that the problems faced by the postal service are fixable, but not without some fundamental changes to the way they do business. Changes that include massive changes to their pension and benefits system which will not be addressed by the HR1351. Changes that include laying off a lot of postal workers, and becoming much leaner and efficient.

The market has changed, yet USPS seems intent on not changing with the times, all for the sake of preserving a costly, inefficient employment model. USPS could learn a thing or two from FedEx and UPS about how to adopt a self-supporting business model.

PostmasterGS....
You've got your head in a cost cutting issue and do not necessarily disagree. I get it. But to repeal 1351 would mean that the USPS doesn't have to fund retirement and benefits at a rate no other system is required to do. Also... the USPS has had no input into what hey do to open or run offices. It is all regulated.
They are required to do so by Fed mandate.
Yet,good business sense is denied them.

What's your problem? Would you rather everything we do be via email or outsourced business? Not me.

If I told you where you should be, how many people you needed to hire or a cause to operate, you'd probably be upset too. That's what your position says.

Think about it.

To further the argument,I will add that repealing one bill doesn't automatically garner a skirt association with another...., and that may not be perfect either. That is why the USA is the greatest democracy on earth. We can object without blood letting or war.

But one thing can lead to another. And we do have to work together to accomplish anything. When we have a group of obstructionists leading, we do have to carefully choose the words we use.

My problem?!? My problem is that the postal system is broken, and any attempts to impose fixes that will actually alleviate the problem are DOA in Congress because the postal employees' union is dead-set against any reforms that might cost a penny of benefits or a single postal employee's job. This despite the fact that labor and benefits costs are the #1 long-term source of the post office's financial problems.

But by all means...let's ignore the elephant in the room and play to the public's sympathy instead of making the hard choices now, while there's still a chance to save the postal system by streamlining its operations and cutting labor and benefits costs.

And as for what I'd like to see? I'd like to see the postal service learn some lessons from businesses that know how to do many of the same tasks with far more efficiency. That doesn't mean eliminating the USPS, but it does mean being willing to make the hard choices, getting rid of the dead weight, and putting customer service as job 1, which it currently isn't.

I live in an area which is a contract postal zone. The post office operation is contracted every 3 years as are the carrier routes. At the regular post offices I have problems getting special services like hand cancels but at our little contract office it is never a problem. Unlike the civil service postal workers, these people can lose their jobs if they get complaints.
The service is great and the people are friendly and helpful and the cost of operation is 60-70% of that of the regular post offices. This area has been contract for 30+ years. I think that we will be seeing more if these types of operations.

I can't imagine having no postal service. It is unthinkable. Instead of eliminating the postal service, let's fix it. You don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Bfranton, Out of a 'sooner or later' situation, USPS has NOW reached 'later' - where Postmaster General Donahoe's plan is be implemented, as a 'last ditch effort' to save USPS, according to our ABC TV National News.

Do you really believe the governing body that caused the problem will actually fix it?