First-class battle over Saturday mail delivery
The USPS has said it will stop weekend service, but Congress is mulling a move to block the change.
When the U.S. Postal Service said it would halt Saturday deliveries starting this summer, many customers and postal workers complained and even organized protests.
Now Congress is getting into the debate, with the Senate considering a provision that would require the Postal Service to continue six-day-a-week deliveries, according to The Wall Street Journal. It's similar to a provision the House passed and in effect would tell the USPS that it must keep delivering on Saturdays. The Postal Service operates as an independent agency but is subject to congressional oversight.
Congress' message isn't going down smoothly.
For one, the plan to end Saturday delivery was designed to reduce costs by $2 billion and limit losses at the Postal Service, which mounted to $15.9 billion last year. That's rallying several Republicans to the USPS' defense, including Senator Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Representative Darrell Issa (Calif.), The New York Times says.
By telling the Postal Service it must continue Saturday delivery, Congress is "hastening (the service's) demise and probably adding additional financial burdens to U.S. taxpayers," Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said earlier this month, according to TheHill.com.
Currently, no law mandates that the USPS deliver mail six days a week. So Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe earlier made the announcement about ceasing Saturday delivery without congressional approval, notes The Times.
That has reportedly frustrated some lawmakers, who see Donahoe as trying to bypass Congress. Through a spokesman, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., told The Times: "The Postal Service will still have to deliver mail on Saturdays."
While it remains unclear what will happen with the provision, it's increasingly turning into a brawl between Congress and the USPS.
The Postal Service "will continue its planning for the August implementation of the new delivery schedule, while Congress debates," a spokesman said on Friday, according to The Journal.
| Tags: | DramaGovernment |
USPS was doing alright until REP. ISSAC got a bill passed by GOP to have USPS pay 75 years of benefits in 10 years for future employees. Taxpayer didn't support USPS Before this bill was passed USPS was self sufficient. the GOP"S goal was to put USPS out of business so private companies can take over.
When I was very young we had mail delivery twice a day before Truman cut it to once as an emergency provision for the Korean War. We learned to make do with that very easily.
They should not eliminate Sat delivery, instead they should go to three days a week. Each carrier would have two sets of routes. One Mon, Wen. Fri & the other Tues, Thurs & Sat. Those routes that were mostly businesses would as much as possible be on the Mon, Wen & Sat schedule.
Those who felt the need for all six days could get a Post Office box & the box sections should be expanded if necessary.
That would not only cut the number of carriers nearly in half but also the vehicles & mileage. The increase in volume to be delivered would make the total cuts a bit less than half. Many of the excess people could be retained to eliminate overtime.
..... What every American should know
Most Americans probably just didn't care when they found out that the U.S. taxpayers have unknowingly and wrongfully paid approx. $75 Billion
to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Are people talking about this? How can this be? could it be only millions, no way billions? Most people just brush it off thinking it's unbelievable............ Wow, If they only knew!
Read this and let it sink in...billions, not millions .......of your money.
--- Over and over again the U.S.Postal Service has taken the blame for postage rate increases. But, did you know the real reason why ? Was it necessary? This article will tell the reason behind that issue.
First, many do not know that the Postal Service must prepay every employee's pension as mandated by law. This is the only government agency required to do so. Something of this magnitude is unheard of in any business in America... Can you think of any Company anywhere that does that....fully fund an employee's pension before they retire ........None! That reason alone is what will probably put an end to what is now called the U.S. Postal Service. But the most interesting thing about this is that you (the taxpayers) have wrongfully overpaid for that.
The Government screws one of their own .... that's right, The OPM overcharged the U.S. Postal Service...one government agency screwed the other ...
The Post Office did nothing wrong. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) actually manages the federal government and civil service. The(OPM) is another branch of the US Government . (OPM) is responsible for the Postal Service retirement funds. The OPM tells the Postal Service what amount is necessary for this retirement funding and the Postal Service pays it... which they did. Eventually, the Post Office had an audit which discovered OPM overinflated the payments using the wrong calculations based on projected pay & future inflation. The audit results were presented to the Postal Service, Management, Office of Personnel Management & Congress, and all agreed that $75 billion was an overpayment. That in a nutshell is simply what happened. It's hard to believe that one branch of the Government could do this to the other, but that's exactly what took place. Now it will take Congress to return the money. To date nothing has been repaid on the $75 billion. During a recent hearing before Congress, one Congressman suggested it ($75 billion) should be returned to the tax payers, since it's been funded through postage rates and rightfully belongs to the them (taxpayers). If Congress does not return the money, all taxpayers will in some form or another have to cover the Post Office current shortfalls... in the end we all pay.
Now you finally understand the postage rate increases for the past few years, Many often wondered why they needed to do it. It was simply because the Postal Service had to overpay year after year on pension overpayment making them fall short on their yearly buget and forcing postage rate increases to cover this mistake. If the $75 billion is returned to the Postal Service (which is rightfully theirs), it can be used to cover current fiscal year deficit and beyond ......That $75 billion would have had the Postal Service in the black every year.
............. looks like Government bites themselves in the _ _ _ on this one! Silly for anyone to think that Social Security will someday do the Government in, their doing it to themselves !!!!!
Thinking maybe this article is not true? ... Actually it's FACT, go ahead and verify it ... Google it, contact your congressman, or better yet, next time you're at the Post Office ask the person behind the counter about the ..." $75 billion pension overpayment"................ anywhere you look you'll see It's true ....
What every American should know...Unbelievable, but true!
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