Postal service vs shutdown?

[Richard K]

Don't remember if they stopped service during the last government shutdown. Anyone know?

[TFOGGER]

The post office is a government owned corporation, not a part of the government. They didn't shut down last time, and shouldn't this time either.

[hollohas]

USPS funds itself, no?

[Richard K]

Thanks guys, I was just trying to decide if I should drive into my PO box tomorrow during a heavy snowstorm.

[Martinjmpr]

Post office will be operating normally.

[Gman]

USPS funds itself, no?
No. Not by a longshot. They've been billions of dollars underwater for years. They keep requesting Congressional bailouts. Based on the volume of mail I get, they don't charge near enough for junk mail. But, if they had lower volume, they wouldn't need as much union labor to move that junk around, so they can't let that happen.

Postal Service Losses By Year (https://www.thoughtco.com/postal-service-losses-by-year-3321043)


Postal Service Net Income/Loss By Year

2015 - $5.1 billion loss
2014 - $5.5 billion loss
2013 - $5 billion loss (https://www.thoughtco.com/about-the-us-postal-service-3321146)
2012 - $15.9 billion loss (https://www.thoughtco.com/about-the-us-postal-service-3321146)
2011 - $5.1 billion loss
2010 - $8.5 billion loss
2009 - $3.8 billion loss
2008 - $2.8 billion loss
2007 - $5.1 billion loss
2006 - $900 million surplus
2005 - $1.4 billion surplus
2004 - $3.1 billion surplus
2003 - $3.9 billion surplus
2002 - $676 million loss
2001 - $1.7 billion loss



Trump, Amazon and the Postal Service: The story behind the tweet (http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/29/news/economy/trump-amazon-postal-service/index.html)

On Friday morning, President Donald Trump decided to take on the U.S. Postal Service.

"Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer?" he wrote on Twitter (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/946728546633953285). "Should be charging MUCH MORE!"

The tweet gave Trump the opportunity to slam Amazon (AMZN (http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=AMZN&source=story_quote_link)), which has been a frequent target of his ire (http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/08/media/trump-leon-cooperman-amazon-monopoly/index.html?iid=EL). But with the tweet, the president also waded into a long-running, Byzantine debate over how much the Postal Service should charge for its services.

In short: Trump is likely right that the Postal Service charges less than it really costs to deliver packages, and Amazon is one of its biggest customers. But that's not the root of the agency's fiscal problems.
The USPS is another fustercluck created by Congress.

[hollohas]

No. Not by a longshot. They've been billions of dollars underwater for years. They keep getting Congressional bailouts. Based on the volume of mail I get, they don't charge near enough for junk mail. But, if they had lower volume, they wouldn't need as much union labor to move that junk around, so they can't let that happen.I understand they can't pay the bills, just like the rest of the gov, but they actually generate money, unlike the rest of the gov.

Most to the reason they can't pay the bills is because they are required to put a crazy amount into the pention fund.

[electronman1729]

Well this gives hope that my tax stamps are in the mail

[theGinsue]

I saw a USPS delivery truck pass my home today (yes, on a Sunday).

[Great-Kazoo]

I saw a USPS delivery truck pass my home today (yes, on a Sunday).

That's for Amazon package deliveries.

[Aloha_Shooter]

It amazes me that the Postal Service was talking about cutting off Saturday deliveries to save costs but then is delivering packages for Amazon on Sundays and probably charging Amazon below their cost to do so.

[Mazin]

How about everyone register for an official US Citizen email address and we get rid of paperwork all together?

Let the PO close like any other real company would do if they lost that crazy of an amount a year and the other carriers can take ready of whatever had to be physically delivered? You would Libtards cream themeselves by how envromentally friendly it would be. Capitalist would save money which would make fiscal sense. The gooberment would save billions of dollars a year to waste on other crap they don't need / want they just have to spend the money before end of fiscal so they don't have a shortened budget the following year (there's more nonsense that needs to end as well).

Yea I know.....

[Mazin]

Oh and stop all back pay during furloughs.

The exception should always be military, they should get paid no matter what.

[clodhopper]

A big part of the problem for the post office is that even though they are a corporation, they cannot adjust the organization and business practices to meet market influences and stresses without going through congressional approval. They are this weird carryover from times past where postal deliveries were classified as critical to the nation and given special protections, but lost all flexibility, and the special protections are for things that no longer exist. A normal government agency gets an ever deepening pot of money to cover the new and burgeoning regulatory requirements. The post office has to beg to raise the price of stamps to try and keep up.

That concept that the post office is critical to national security is pretty much gone at this point. Immediate matters are handled through secure email. Critical documents are more trusted to FedEx. Technology and modern capability has passed up the post office. The question now is how long will it hang around before it disappears.

[KevDen2005]

USPS funds itself, no?


HA!

[Shooter45]

Post Office is a mess to me because of government involvement. Where I'm at, I receiver other neighbors mail more times than once and they receive mine. I ship everything I can through FedEx that seems way more effective of a system. Take the government out of it and I bet it would be corrected like anything else.

[ben4372]

Funny that I got a $2.12 postage due notice on a tiny package from Ebay. I have had postage due a dozen times in the last 2 years. One was for 15 cents a while back. This is a huge waste of everyone's time. And how does it get received at the mailing location missing postage and not returned to sender. I decided today I'm no longer paying postage due. Hope it causes them to change.