drifter51
"The time has come to privatize the USPS"
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An independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States.
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I take no great joy in this but in my view the time has come to completely privatize the United States Postal Service. Despite numerous rate increases over the past several years the USPS continues to drown in a sea of red ink. In fact, the USPS projects a deficit of nearly $7 billion for the current fiscal year! It is a luxury that this country can no longer afford.
Despite improvements in productivity and some major reorganization the long range outlook for the United States Postal Service is dismal to say the least. It is a business model that in my view is simply no longer viable. Volume continues its downward slide as cost conscious individuals and businesses opt for far more efficient and less costly ways of communicating like e-mail and on-line bill payment. Furthermore, it can now be more expensive to mail a card or letter than to make a long distance phone call which is precisely the opposite of the situation that existed just 10 or 15 years ago. Times change and the USPS has been unable or unwilling to adjust to the new realities of their industry. At the same time the USPS has also been unable to cash-in on the numerous competitive advantages it has been granted by being an independent agency of the United States government. Most observers agree that at the very least the USPS needs to close hundreds of those tiny, inefficient post offices in small town America. You know what I am talking about. This would be a culture shock but is absolutely necessary if the USPS is ever going to turn a profit. Furthermore the USPS, would have to lay off tens of thousands of workers who sadly are simply no longer needed. Did you know that the USPS has never had layoffs?? Welcome to the real world folks.
Now there was a time in the not too distant past when the United States Postal Service had a virtual monopoly on the services it provided. This is simply no longer the case. The reality is that the Postal Service's chief competitors United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fedex) are both highly efficient and extremely profitable world-class organizations. They do much more with a whole lot less. The USPS is simply too far behind to ever catch up with them. And this is precisely why I believe the time has come to take the bull by the horns and privatize the USPS. Such a move would require a bold and courageous act of Congress but I believe that this is one solution to our budgetary woes that most Americans could agree on. Hopefully, a deal can be reached whereby most if not all of the current USPS workforce could be absorbed into the new private entity. And of course an agreement regarding pensions and other benefits will have to be struck as well. All sides will have to be willing to negotiate a viable and fair agreement. But the time has come and I hope our leaders in Washington can make it happen. This one move alone could save the federal government tens of billions of dollars in the coming decade. In the long run I believe it will be in the best interests of everyone involved. The United States Postal Service as currenlty constituted is simply not sustainable.
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About the reviewer
Paul Tognetti (drifter51)
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I guess I would qualify as a frustrated writer. My work requires very little writing and so since 1999 I have been writing reviews on non-fiction books and anthology CD's on amazon.com. I never could … more
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About this government
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States.
Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the Post Office, Postal Service, or U.S. Mail.
The United States Postal Service employs over 760,000 workers, making it the third-largest employer in the United States, after the United States Department of Defense and Wal-Mart. Its employees deliver mail at an average yearly cost of $235 per residence as of 2009.
The USPS operates the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world, with an estimated 260,000 vehicles, the majority of which are the easily identified Chevrolet/Grumman LLV (Long-Life Vehicle), and the newer Ford/Utilimaster FFV (Flex-Fuel Vehicle), originally also referred to as the "CRV" (Carrier Route Vehicle), as shown in the pictures below. In an interview on NPR, a USPS official stated that for every penny increase in the national average price of gasoline, the USPS spends an extra $8 million to fuel its fleet. This implies that the fleet requires some 800 million gallons (3.03 billion liters) of fuel per year, and consumes an estimated fuel budget of $2.4 billion, were the national gasoline price to average $3.00. Some Rural Letter Carriers use personal vehicles. Standard postal-owned vehicles do not have license plates. These vehicles are identified by a seven digit number displayed on the front and rear.
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view wiki
Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the Post Office, Postal Service, or U.S. Mail.
The United States Postal Service employs over 760,000 workers, making it the third-largest employer in the United States, after the United States Department of Defense and Wal-Mart. Its employees deliver mail at an average yearly cost of $235 per residence as of 2009.
The USPS operates the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world, with an estimated 260,000 vehicles, the majority of which are the easily identified Chevrolet/Grumman LLV (Long-Life Vehicle), and the newer Ford/Utilimaster FFV (Flex-Fuel Vehicle), originally also referred to as the "CRV" (Carrier Route Vehicle), as shown in the pictures below. In an interview on NPR, a USPS official stated that for every penny increase in the national average price of gasoline, the USPS spends an extra $8 million to fuel its fleet. This implies that the fleet requires some 800 million gallons (3.03 billion liters) of fuel per year, and consumes an estimated fuel budget of $2.4 billion, were the national gasoline price to average $3.00. Some Rural Letter Carriers use personal vehicles. Standard postal-owned vehicles do not have license plates. These vehicles are identified by a seven digit number displayed on the front and rear.
Competition from e-mail and...
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I would be afraid...very afraid. A good many calls for privatization of the postal service seem unfamiliar with what the private sector companies, as soon as they are powerful enough, always do…run to Congress to lobby powerfully for special protection, to guarantee profit margins, receive tax breaks and to get red in the face about unions. A private postal organization will do exactly the same. There is no way the postal service, private or public, can save a dime without closing many hundreds of small postal offices and eliminating the jobs. Anyone really think Congress will let that happen? Junk mail could be eliminated, saving massive amounts of labor and money…except business interests would be all over Congress complaining about limiting their free speech…and Congress will respond. Anyone doubt this will happen? --------Before we privatize, might it not be a good idea to find out how that would really happen, or as close as we can determine. The history of government leaders may not be the greatest, but the history of business leaders who attempt to run big organizations is often even more dismal. Just look at the records of the CEOs 15 years ago of GE, Kodak, Xerox, IBM, GM, AT&T and many others. Plus so many of the current ones (Would you want to stand next to a bank CEO on a hot, humid day?) -----------My view: Reduce postal service reasonably (no weekend delivery, no twice a day deliveries, increase significantly junk mail costs, deliberately drive more business deliveries out of the postal service and into the existing private postal carriers, try to eliminate at least a few small post offices annually, and shape what remains as a government postal service for residence and small business deliveries only. And accept this reduced red ink as the cost of a basic responsibility that government has, like police, fire, street repairs, clean water, providing basic health services, national security, etc. --------Would it work? I don’t have the slightest idea. But I’d like to see a lot more detail, even speculative, before I’d sign a petition to try this or just privatization. Still, I admit that turning over to Halliburton a nuclear carrier task force to run might have some cost advantages, too. All we need do is look at how well our private sector contractors and mercenaries performed over the years in Iraq. The postal service should be child's play for them. : - )