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Postal deficit may lead to less delivery
The U.S. Post Office in Bristow, Va.
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Kai Ryssdal: Gene Autry, Katherine Hepburn and Mother Theresa probably aren't often mentioned in the same breath. But the trio does have at least one thing in common this year: Each is set to be recognized on their own postage stamp. 'Course, most people will probably never see those stamps because, well, many of us don't really put stuff in the actual mail anymore.
In its last fiscal year, the U.S. Postal Service lost $3.8 billion, which for most companies would be a giant warning to re-think way it does business. But the post office isn't most companies, as Molly Messick explains from Wyoming Public Radio.
MOLLY MESSICK: Universal service at a universal rate. It's the key responsibility of the postal service -- delivering mail to communities large and small. And that's why there are more than 36,000 post offices across the country, even in tiny, far-flung towns.
Like this one. Rock River, Wyo., population 235. It's a ranching community on the open plains.
Doug Lykins is the postmaster here, the only man behind the counter.
DOUG LYKINS: Is there anything liquid, perishable, fragile, potentially hazardous?
CUSTOMER: They're pistachio nuts.
But even here, one word is never far from mind: deficit.
LYKINS: The revenue in this office is down a little over 9 percent.
That's from 2008 to 2009, and that's right on track with the numbers nationally. Now, Lykins is watching costs closer than ever -- even basics, like electricity.
LYKINS: The thermostat goes down to about 60 degrees at night. We try to generate as much revenue as we can. When folks come to the counter I encourage them to use priority mail. I offer them delivery confirmation and insurance.
But for the postal service, that's nickels and dimes. It needs to do something big. Mail volume has plummeted since 2006, thanks to things like e-mail and paying bills online.
Patrick Donahoe is the deputy postmaster general.
PATRICK DONAHOE: What we're seeing is this. We've lost in the three-year time frame 18 percent of the volume.
The postal service has cut more than 1,400 branches and 180,000 jobs in the last decade. But in rural places, it's a hard sell to close a town post office when there's no other option for 20 miles, and it goes against the mission of the USPS to hike prices in remote towns. But Donahoe says those post offices can be expensive.
DONAHOE: We've got rural post offices out there that we'll spend $10 in costs for every $1 we take in in revenue.
So what is the postal service to do? The biggest change coming could be in Saturday delivery. The agency is planning to ask Congress to let it stop running mail routes six days a week. Donahoe says that could save $3.5 billion each year. But on a Laramie street, opinions are split.
Ed Schneider: I'm in favor of it. I think, you know, five days a week would be sufficient.
James Dean: If they end Saturday service then you don't get it 'til Monday, and you needed it on Saturday.
Margot Burkholtz: Oh gosh, they can end it any time.
Anon: A bad idea.
Slightly more official polls, like one from Rasmussen, show that most people would rather see five-day delivery than higher prices or fewer post offices. Donahoe says to end Saturday delivery, the agency needs approval from Congress. Once again, rural mail delivery could be a sticking point.
Here's Wyoming Senator John Barrasso.
JOHN BARRASSO: People in Wyoming have for years relied on the postal service. From the early days of the Pony Express. And I think it's very important to have continued delivery six days a week for rural communities in Wyoming.
Barrasso hasn't made a final judgment about Saturday delivery yet. But the postal service probably shouldn't count on his vote. Congress could make its decision as early as this spring. In the meantime, the USPS will try to save its bottom line, while keeping the mail moving, all over the country.
In Laramie, Wyo., I'm Molly Messick for Marketplace.
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5 day a week deliver is a good idea in my opionion. There are several ways to do this 4 ten hour days with sub roating on the 5th day.Option number two regular work 5 eight hour days. The point being no one goes over 40 hours eleminating over time. In small offices postmasters should be resposible for several offices. Adverisement space should be sold for boxes, vehicles, and electronic signs inside post offices. A nation wide post office lottery. We should have in house printing. kioski at major malls/wallmarts during christmas and other large events. Dont make customers come to the post office be where the customers are. Dps machines that combine the letters and flats. The post office should be getting input from the bottom up not the other way around. Who knows more about what is going on more than the employee's doing the work. I also believe employee's should give a honest days work for a honest day pay. So take pride and work hard for we will push through these challenging economic times!!!
well comments made by supervisor from East Haddam,ct Nancy Kelly that union are greedy well big boss if you where to follow the contract that was sign by management and the union you would not have all these problems and it would save postal service money from having to file grievance when last time you read the contract well if you did not than it your fault read you be educated well supervisor dont say the union is greedy your comments show me your have bad attitude just because you cannot get along with your employees you must have bad attitude with the union because you can get your way like it say if you cannot take the heat get out of the kitchen well i have good supervisor who read the contract and get along real good you need to study the contract its not union being greedy it the supervisor being not educated and having good relation with employees and the union that you say they greedy from mike
In Your 25 years with the Postal Service, I assume You accepted the pay difference between a standard minimum wage and Your salary that was negotiated by a Union or were You hired as a Postmaster. It is interesting to see how many rights and benefits people enjoy that were obtained by unions and military veterans that people refuse to acknowledge the source.
As a postmaster and a postal employee of 25 years I read with interest your article and comments about the Postal Service. Sadly, many people do not understand that it is the unions that have destroyed us. One person suggested using a "courier" to box mail. This is not possible because boxing mail is a job that belongs to the APWU (clerks). The NALC (city carriers) and the NRLCA (rural carriers) cannot touch box mail. A grievance would be filed by members of the APWU and the result is that payments would be made to several people who did not perform the job (clerks) as well as the person who did. This is a catastrophic loss of money that happens every day. The unions are greedy and impossible to bargain with. As a manager my hands are tied. I have so little power to discipline poor performers. I can always expect to lose...money from my budget and the ability to discipline in the future because once a union member wins they know they have the upper hand. I have to close now; I'm going to attempt to discipline a clerk who is abusing the FMLA system, earning a paycheck that others would not only envy, but be happy to work hard for. Understand this; the unions and our contacts with them will be our ultimate downfall.
Robert Letcher, what is your point?
Like most government employees, USPS employees get better benefits and retirement than many of us, and never get fired. The postmaster at my home post office is rude and arrogant, and provides no explanation when you need help or have questions on which service to choose. What's wrong with this picture? Too many fiefdoms and mid-level managers, with no true accountability.
As a 29+ Veteran Letter Carrier I have seen from the inside what Politicians and others cannot see from the outside looking In. There is terrible waste in a top heavy management staff. We now have more managers at our Post Office than we have Clerks. Management is doing many clerk functions but receiving management pay. First line supervisors received merit pay bonus's of at least 3% of their annual pay. A bonus for what? Bullying and belittling craft employees? We have wastful programs such as Managed Service Points (MSP) that do little,If anything at all, to benefit the Postal Service. I have carried residential walking and driving/ business and apartment deliveries and have found no opposition to doing away with saturday delivery. The biggest opposition is coming from the Unions who are afraid of losing members and those Unions have deep ties to many politicians. With P.O. boxes and window services still available on saturdays it makes more sense than ever to eliminate saturday delivery. Each day that this is delayed is another day of revenue loss for the Postal Service. The Postal Service is relying heavily on automation but it is still the clerks in the office and the Letter Carriers on the street that handle the final processing and delivery. Our clerks at our station are busting their butts like never before to get the mail worked to the carriers and carriers are obsorbing more and more territory on their routes as volume decreases. We are doing our part it is time Congress gets out of the way before they ruin this process of delivery.
Everytime the Saturday Delivery issue comes up a big part is always missed. The Post Offices will be open on Saturday and everybody that has a P O Box will get delivery. To be honest, I don't want Saturday delivery at my home. My weekends are special to me and when I get mail, it means that I have some type of work. Ending Saturday Delivery for all Delivery routes is a great idea but, keep the P O Box delivery. Congress should also be responsible for helping the Postal Service survive because we are required to deliver to all the low population areas by LAW. Whenever there is a power ending storm, the Postal Service is the only communication for months and that is something that needs to be added to the solution.
One inaccuracy in the story: it made it sound as if personal mail (email and paying bills) used to be the core of the Post Office's income. It wasn't. That came from direct mail. So the Post Office is another institution that is suffering from the massive decline in advertising revenue that papers have experienced.
It is sad, and oh-so-typical, that the institution's only response seems to be cutting back on services. There is no way to grow income in cutting back. A better solution would be to innovate.
My company knows the USPS is the low-cost provider for packages we ship, but they arrive less reliably and with less transparency than packages shipped with UPS and FedEx.
And if the post office could provide electronically what they do physically -- secure, reliable, portable delivery of messages across a virus-free network -- they'd really be innovating in an interesting way that strengthens their brand.
I.E. Robert Letcher,
You are a shining example of why we cann't get anything done in gov. There are copious examples of pompous self engrandment in your comment that suck the very meaning from it. You were not in a postion to save the USPS from itself any more then any other contract worker. The fact is, the PMG's and other high ranking gov. officals have spent the last 20 years reducing the efficency and ability of the USPS to function so that there was a reason to point and shout..." Look we need to privatize this train wreck!" They couldn't get this done through legislation so they have destroyed the USPS from the inside out.
And to those of you who think that UPS of FED-EX will deliver your packages and documents on Sat. for a reasonable rate, Think Again. They don't run on Sat. NOW without an added fee on top of the aready inflated ones charged.
well alot of you people have no idea,how the postal system really works ,saturdays will never be cut because we deliver thousands of packages for fedx and ups most of the public are unaware of this second it doen,t matter what the public wants they are only 10 to 15 percent of the postal service revanues.the bulk og income comes from retailers and atvertizers that send you sale papers and fyers on weekends and saturdays what they want is what counts.anther probalum cutting service routes would have to be added and redone cost would be millions ,like i said you people have no idea!!!!!!!!!!1
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