Remember back in 2006, a lame-duck Republican Congress cranked up the heat on privatization by forcing the Postal Service to prefund decades of retiree health costs and pensions through investments in low-yield government bonds, which made USPS technically insolvent in the stroke of a pen, so the current push for a USPS bailout is because they are the victims of an unrealistic budget based on a long-term political agenda of privatization by the Republicans in Congress
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Yes always blame it on conservatives. Hate to break it to you bud but the reason they were made to prefund pensions is because they were having huge money issues before then. Kinda makes since to make them fund the pensions ahead. The USPS in inefficient and has been for decades. They are extremely employee heavy but hard to get rid of the lazy ones because of union protections. No Iām not anti union I actually am union, but the protections the postal workers get is insane.
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I am not blaming Conservatives, I am simply stating what happened historically. In 2006, Congress passed The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act which required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. If the costs of this mandate were removed, the Post Office would have reported profits in each of the last six years. This was a political move to create a financial ācrisisā which has been used to justify harmful service cuts and calls for postal privatization.
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I am sorry that this thread went off the track regarding the original subject. The original post was not a slam against the USPS, or even a criticism of the USPS, in fact I said I have faith in the system. It was simply an observation regarding what had happened to me with a transaction, and I was wondering if other people had experienced anything similar.
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Yes, I am in the USA, and the seed bank I ordered from is in the USA as well. I am just going to wait since there is nothing else I can do, if I donāt ever see those seeds it will not be a problem, just an annoyance.
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I guess thatās one perspective
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That sucks . Iām sorry to hear that.
Actually it is the truth. The USPS is competing against other companies but they must also carry a ball and chain that covers retirement and health insurance that is not asked of other companies. Bush legislated it.
In 2006, Congress passed a law to require the USPS to prefund 75 years worth of retiree health benefits in the span of ten yearsāa cost of approximately $110 billion. Although the money is intended to be set aside for future Post Office retirees, the funds are instead being diverted to help pay down the national debt.
No other private enterprise or federal agency is required to prefund retiree health benefits on a comparable timetable. The mandate is responsible for all of USPSās financial losses since 2013
Betting that is one of the pile on McConnollās desk
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The wife works for USPS
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No one really mails letters anymore and there are much better options for packages. I try and use the USPS but when FedEx is half the price and my package actually makes it to itās destination thatās a plus. If the USPS wasnāt the only entity to handle the mail by law they would have went belly up decades ago.
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what do you think will happen to fed ex and UPS prices when the post office Is done?
I never have trouble with my packages through usps and they are usually cheaper. True the hours arenāt great but god forbid I have to rely on the damn FedEx man. My last grocery delivery looked like it was thrown from a moving truck
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plenty of people still send letters and bills and magazines through the mail
I for one
I do not want to RELY on online banking
Many start ups use mailed statements
Closing down the post office
Would be a top ten collosal bad idea
Do you really think the worlds richest man doesnt know how to ship packages?
Really
???
https://goshippo.com/blog/fedex-vs-ups-vs-usps-2018-shipping-rate-comparisons/
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What that link shows itās not my experience with them. The only place they shine with packages are the flat rate boxes. Every time Iāve shipped anything larger than a flat rate the USPS was the most expensive. As far as besos knowing how to ship he picked the USPS because they were broke and willing to deal. Recent reports say the USPS is losing money on the Amazon deal
The 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act made it illegal for USPS to price parcel delivery below its cost.
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Dude they lose 7+ billion a year, Amazon isnāt the only account thatās costing them. Bulk mail at 19cents is killing them. Having 3x the employees they need is killing them, the golden pensions will hurt them more and more as time goes on, the union protection of employees so they canāt be fired is hurting them. The postal service is just like any other government ran institution. Itās inefficient and bloated. If the postal service is to survive much longer they need a massive overhaul.
If their deal with Amazon is so profitable where did the money go?
As I stated earlier, if the USPS wasnāt unduly burdened with having to pre-fund the post-retirement healthcare costs for 75 years in to the future, which is unheard of in any other sector of business, private or public, they would be posting profits for each of the last 7 years, so the losses were caused by the stroke of a pen in Congress, not due to bad management or bad deals.
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I think it is because it is an essential service, for instance if thereās a village with just three families 50 miles away from the nearest decent road, if the service were private no company would go there to deliver a single letter. It is just a way to guarantee the service to everybody ā¦ 
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I would assume that the money the USPS gets from Amazon goes in to the same places that all other profits go.
From the article below:
"The Postal Service is losing money overall, primarily because the rise of email has sharply cut flat-mail volume, and because Congress requires it to prepay pension and health benefits. One problem is the USPS must charge the same price for first-class mail delivery anywhere in the country, no matter how remote.
But the USPS consistently says package delivery is a bright spot in its revenue picture, increasing every year.
As a percentage of operating revenue, Shipping and Packages generated approximately 32%, 30% and 28% for the years ended September 30, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively,ā USPS said in a 2019 regulatory filing."
Amazon isnāt causing the United States Postal Service to lose a fortune. In fact, itās contributing to its biggest growth sector, package delivery. Deals like the one with Amazon brought in $7 billion in fiscal year 2017.
They have lost money for the last 13 years. Then being made to fund retirement so far ahead was because of the losses of the decade prior. I agree they are needed but that still doesnāt mean they arenāt rife with issues. There isnāt a single govt ran anything that runs efficiently. Iād like to see them be able to change that because a lot of vets I know went to work there. Iām surprised at the numbers on packages. When I bought my light parts shipping with FedEx was 14. The postal service was an option at ,16 so I chose that one. When it came time to pay the shipping jumped to 54 while FedEx stayed at 14.
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Iāve lost money several times, always going overseas. I guess bad luck. But will not send cash or m/o to anywhere. I only trust a few seedbanks, and I probably, unless something pops up like some true cheese bud, will not go through any in the future. The mail system is screwed up from this virus. And the economy, blah blah. Its a waiting game when ordering anything now, my packages take 2 weeks to ever show up. Arghā¦
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