service?

  Saw where the postmaster general resigned, effective immediately. Well, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen is what I've always been told. With a salary upwards of 345,000 I suspect he has saved some for a rainy day. The post office hasn't been doing very well in recent years as we are all well aware of. Now you can argue that it is a service, not a business so the fact that it is bleeding money isn't an issue. Hey, the taxpayers don't mind that as long as they get the service. Thing is, we aren't getting anywhere near the service we are expecting. The postal service is expected to self-sufficient, that is the sale of the product should cover the expense. It is rather unique in that it also isn't supposed to make any money, that is to say, surplus. So the reality is it is half business, half service.

  I've heard talk of stopping mail delivery on Saturdays. Personally I wouldn't have any issue with that at all. I'd say 90% of the mail I do get is junk mail anyway. I've gone paperless for most things. Yes, I do enjoy the ease and convenience of online banking, doing my part for the planet and all. Now it is just the marketers killing all the trees. I have gotten Christmas cards over the years, a traditional thing and we all feel a bit nostalgic in mailing them. I admit my mailing list has gotten smaller the larger the cost of the stamp became. No longer does Hallmark mean you care enough to send the very best, now just sending a card from the dollar general shows true affection.

 There has been talk of putting a delivery tax on all packages delivered by Amazon, UPS and Fedex. Seventy five cents was being proposed in the last budget talks and negotiations. It didn't get passed. I don't think any of those outfits are impacting the postal service however. The postal service is centered on letters. Yes, I know they send packages, I know they have always sent packages, and their prices have been competitive, for the most part. Their delivery has never been. A stamp now costs seventy three cents. They are "forever" stamps. Buy them now and they are good forever! Yeah like I'm going to buy a book or two, at $13.60 a piece to save money a year or more from today. Yeah, right.

  Keep those cards and letters coming. That was a saying back in the day. Mass e-mails are the thing today. E-cards, video chatting and instant messaging have almost completely replaced cards and letters. Honestly, when was the last time someone wrote you a letter? I have a very old friend from my school days, when letter writing was taught in English class, that has never used or owned an electronic device other than his cell phone. And he uses that cell phone for only one thing, to make a phone call. I know, it's amazing. I will occasionally write him a letter. Occasionally he writes me back. Heck I'm so old I remember when having a pen-pal was going global. Overall the reduction in the number of cards and letters is what is costing the postal service. They cannot cover that operating expense. 

  It was clear from the beginning that the postal service was not to be a business for profit. It was to provide a service to the citizens of this country, funded solely by the sale of stamps. That was made even more clear in 1958 with the Postal Policy Act of 1958. The postal service is a public service. The question before us now is can we afford this service? The postal service receives no revenue from the taxpayers! 

 That is the official statement you will hear over and over again from multiple sources. The post office is self-sustaining through the sale of stamps. The reality is the last time the post office broke even was in 2022 and that was simply on paper, not in the real world. So how does this "service" continue to operate, losing millions of dollars every quarter? They take out a "loan" from the treasury. The postal service has an open line of credit there, you know, like a preapproved credit card offer, just sign here. Where does the treasury get that money? Well, it's the taxpayers money, but we aren't funding the postal service they are just borrowing it, they'll pay it back. Any other business would have long ago been bankrupt, but it's a service. Can we continue to fund this service? 

 My thinking is we should retain the postal service but it does need to be revamped for the modern world. Mail delivery, perhaps once a week. All that third class junk mail, circulars and flyers, gone, we don't do that anymore. All packages will be picked up at the nearest postal facility. If you don't like that, use Amazon, UPS or Fedex. The postal service is only for FIRST CLASS mail. No more marketing mail. 

 That would certainly reduce the number of employees required. Labor costs for the post office consume 76% of the budget! Seems to me, and I'm no business man, that is where the fat needs to be trimmed. Reduce the volume of that junk mail and reduce the number of workers required.  "While labor is the largest, other expenses include costs related to amortizing unfunded retiree pension liabilities and non-cash workers' compensation adjustments." I got that from a source on the internet. I'll leave it to a professional to explain exactly what that means. Sounds like money promised that they don't have is my understanding. May not be payroll but it comes out of the budget nonetheless.

 Is the post office a necessary and vital service? Given all the technology today, you do have to question that. Should it continue as a service? Perhaps we should just simply change that model to operate as a business, you know, make money instead of borrowing money. Currently that is the modus operandi. Borrow and spend: borrow more, spend some more. But it isn't costing the taxpayers anything. Only a politician could understand that, or a lawyer. What is the incentive to change any of that? If I can just keep borrowing money to keep my service running why be concerned at all. But the story will be it's just awful! We shouldn't change anything at all, it's a power grab!

 The bottom line is that this is a "government" run operation. Are any of us really surprised at how inept and inefficient it is? But for many, that doesn't matter, it's a free service! We don't pay for that service we just buy the stamps. It's like buying stuff on "Deal Dash" where you get that item for 50 cents! Well, their fifty cents that you paid fifty dollars to get so you could bid. Yeah, you paid fifty cents alright. With fortune 500 companies labor costs, wages, benefits, etc., are generally 50 to 60% of the cost. The post office is at 76%. But, no taxpayer money is being used to provide this service. Google it. Net loss for the postal service last year was 9.5 Billion dollars! I'm thinking it really isn't doing much of a service to the taxpayers!