post office

[Azazello1313]

Postal Service faces grim 'new reality'

 

The postal service announced Thursday it was considering closing nearly 250 processing facilities, cutting equipment by 50 percent and slowing mail delivery in an extreme cost-cutting effort. It is looking for $3 billion in annual savings.

 

And as the president and Congress search high and low for ways to boost job creation, up to 35,000 people could be laid off as part of that effort.

 

"We are forced to face a new reality today,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic."

 

Since the advent of email and other electronic communication, the postal service has seen a steady decline in its use. More than 43 billion fewer pieces of mail are sent now than they were five years ago. First-class mail has dropped 25 percent, and the transmission of stamped letters is down 36 percent over that time frame. The postage purchased to send first-class mail is a primary source of revenue for the USPS.

 

The American Postal Workers Union blasted the move.

 

“The Postal Service should be urging Congress to address the cause of its problems – not slashing service and demolishing its network," union president Cliff Guffey said.

 

And lawmakers responded to the announcement by repeating their calls for legislative action to help shore up those ailing finances.

 

"Congress and the administration must act quickly to help the Postal Service save itself," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said. "Failure to act will result in the Postal Service being insolvent within a year, if not sooner, bringing more pain to communities across the country and wreaking havoc on our already fragile economy."

 

so I gather the democrats and the postal union want to basically have the federal government bail out the post office so it can continue employing all those people and keep all those processing facilities open. they justify this by saying it will "save thousands of jobs".

 

and we need that vast network of employees and facilities.....why, exactly? are we expecting snail mail to make a roaring comeback in the next few years or something? maybe we are expecting the baby boomers to forget how to use email once they reach retirement age? I really don't get it. and this is what I see when I look at democratic economic policies in general...take money out of the economy to prop up failing industries from the past and non-viable industries from a politically dreamed-up future.

[wiegie]

I'm mostly amused that the president of the postal workers union has the first name "Cliff".