Through Rain, Sleet, and Snow The Mail Must Go Through, So Why Is Congress Trying To Destroy TheUSPS

[Omaha Steve]

X post in Labor & GD

http://nhlabornews.com/2015/02/through-rain-sleet-and-snow-the-mail-must-go-through-so-why-is-congress-trying-to-destroy-the-usps/



(image by Mark Turnauckas FLIKR)

By Bill Brickley | February 10, 2015

As Letter Carriers put their health and safety at risk each day in this especially brutal winter we can take solace in the fact we have enabled the Postal Service to continue its financial turnaround. 2015 Fiscal Year Quarter 1 reports released Friday confirmed what all Letter Carriers know our business is booming . All types of letter mail continue to grow and parcel delivery is skyrocketing allowing the USPS to make a $1.1 Billion operating profit just this quarter. This will be the third consecutive year with a sizeable operational profit.

As Letter Carriers walk house to house in blustery winds on treacherous snow and ice to deliver America its mail many in Congress sit in their warm offices saying they have to reform or dismantle the worlds best Postal Service. They don’t consider Clerks and Mail Handlers driving in snowstorms through the middle of the night to move the mail. Their anti government ideology blinds them as they ignore the facts. Those people could not do a Letter Carriers job for a day especially in this hell of a winter. As a news commentator stated this week ” the only vehicles on the road were Plows, Police and Postal Trucks”

They want to sell off the USPS as there is profit to be made by the wealthy in their climate controlled boardrooms. Anti government zealots use Fed Ex and UPS as examples of what the USPS should become. They fail to mention both Fed Ex and UPS have increased prices 5-10% this year and still charge fuel surcharges even though gasoline prices have plummeted.

While politicians are cashing their campaign contributions from Fed Ex and UPS they also seem to disregard the fact that the Postal Service delivers to every address in America every day. Those private companies often drop off their unprofitable and difficult deliveries at the nearby post office to have a USPS Letter Carrier deliver the last mile.

FULL story at link.

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Unions

[winetourdriver]

2. The union

Their hatred of all things "UNION" is certainly part of the problem.

[annabanana]

3. They figure it will goose the bottom line for

UPS and FEDEX..

[Demeter]

4. Not so Conservative, these Conservatives

USPS is written into the Constitution.

Its purpose for being was universal, equal-cost communications for the People, so that they could all get news, so they could be informed and be good voters.

Fascism doesn't like that idea. Worse still, the Corporations see a profit to be made, with specialty services and non-union labor and no pensions or benefits. they see no profit in an informed public and activist, informed voting. And paying taxes to support Labor? Well, they pretty much already cut that support out.

It is disgusting. How these villains can claim to be anything but psychopaths is beyond me.

[jaysunb]

6. +1 n/t

[raging moderate]

5. UPS and Fedex frequently USE the US Post Office, to get their deliveries done!

Last Christmas, spending Christmas in Virginia, I had to hurry to return some of JC Penney's shipping mistakes returned. We had a plane to catch! So I ran to the UPS Office around the block from where I was staying. Far from home, I was caught without any of those special return labels. "Tell you what," the UPS guy said, "we'll just put this package in with the stuff we always take to the Post Office, so it will be cheaper for you." And there are many places in rural America where only the Post Office workers have the guts and drive to go.
The Post Office is the best deal we have for deliveries, overall. And people forget all the other services they provide. They pick up and deliver from businesses, including small businesses in out of the way places. They will manage your mail for you while you are away. They provide social linkage and keep an eye on things in neighborhoods. They sell stamps, greeting cards, small gifts, and mailing materials. They help with getting passports (my local UPS guy helped me fill out the paperwork when I got my passport years ago).
Years ago, the Post Office used to provide photocopy services, until the private delivery lobbyists whined that the UPS was giving unfair competition to (translation: doing a better job than) FedEx and UPS, so Congress forced the Post Offices to take out their public photocopy machines. This Christmas, I again went into a UPS office to mail a return. Guess what: they ARE providing photocopy services. SO WHY IS THE UNITED STATES POST OFFICE BEING PREVENTED FROM DOING IT?
If anything, it is the UPS that has been subjected to sabotage and unfair business rules designed to RUIN its effectiveness and efficiency.

[Aldo Leopold]

7. I like our mail carrier.

He's a nice person. He knows us. He knows the neighborhood. Has for years.

Consistency.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. They treat the Constitution like the Bible. It's for thumping and not for reading.

[blkmusclmachine]

9. Why is CONgress trying to destroy the USPS?

Because it works.

[jwirr]

10. Because it is not privatized. And this destruction started when congress messed around with their

pension program. They would not be in trouble at all if not for that.

[ctsnowman]

11. K & R

I only use the USPS if I have a choice.

[love_katz]

12. Great post.

Agreeing with all comments made thus far.

Bottom line: the urge of some of the monsters-in-disguise who occupy seats in our government is that it is about the bottom line, i.e. there is a huge amount of money to be made (stolen) by those who want to privatize all of our public services. They are drooling over the possibility of getting their filthy hands on it. The only folks they want to enrich are themselves and their contributors.