All I know is I am happy that we won't get any mail on Saturday. It is about the only day I am away from the house and I am assuming mail theft will go down.

So no "mail" on Saturday but they're still gonna deliver packages? Don't bother me none. But still fuck republicans.

_________________
Tanzania¹²

I've been asking my republican friends this for years and none can come up with an answer. Republicans hate unions and this is a fast way to kill one off. Though I'm sure they will find away to blame Obama on this one too.

_________________
Hugh Millen = CBJ minus the cool beard

This from someone who apparently believes that the mere whisper of increased restrictions on the availability of lethal firearms is a slippery slope to repealing the Second Amendment and the destruction of all of our rights?

You figure it out.

_________________
Talent can get you to the playoffs.
It takes character to win when you get there.

_________________


Okay, so maybe that pass rush is still an issue. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I don't often agree with your logic sutz, but you have kid dead to rights here.

_________________
My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

You do think they should honor their agreements with the unions, don't you?


And from previous post:

Just guessing:

Because there is a contractual obligation to pay for these benefits, they believe that 75 years will cover all possible retirees lifespan, and they want to make sure they can fund it now while there is income sufficient enough to do so. There may not be the revenue even 10 years from now to do so.


*And they want the money set aside so they can raid it when needed?

_________________
That's weak sauce!

So, do you believe in all "slippery slope" scenario's, or just those that fit your agenda?

_________________
That's weak sauce!

My god you two are so biased with your views it's laughable. I have said many many times on the threads in this board that I don't believe there is nearly enough backing for supporters of a repeal to even come CLOSE to getting it done.

What I have said is that banning certain guns won't fix any problems and banning all guns isn't a possibility in this country.

The thread I started about the entire bill of rights is strictly a discussion thread of hypotheticals. Nowhere did I say that I believe we are going to actually have them repealed. Sometimes discussion for discussion sake can be just purely for education or amusement, it doesn't have to mean I'm sitting in a rocking chair with my shotgun, waiting for someone to come take away the rights granted within the constitution.

Exactly how is that a slippery slope argument?

And honestly, how does losing one day per week of mail service hurt the post office? If they are losing money like they are, and they need to be self sufficient, then cutting costs and becoming more efficient at delivering the mail (It's easily arguable that delivering the same amount of mail over a 5 day period instead of 6 at a lower cost is more efficient) is actually going to extend the life of the postal service.

Personally, I think it's a good thing, because there are a lot of people, especially rural people, who count on the postal service. I think that this step is a good start at making the postal service solvent again and a positive step overall.

A good way to make the Post Office solvent is by not siphoning off billions of dollars in future retirement funds. They are self-sufficient on stamp prices. That's just insane that a branch of government is not beholden to any tax dollars. More insane that they can run on stamp and shipping prices which are quite low really. If you order UPS or FedEX notice sometime how it is delivered by your mail carrier, that is because the Post Office is still cheaper for them to outsource their service than deliver it themselves (granted the Post Office also will ship large packages UPS or FedEX).

Again, reasons Republicans should L-O-V-E the Post Office.

- Its a right granted to the Federal government in the Constitution.
- It costs tax payers nothing.

Those are the 2 biggest Republican talking points, so why is this a liberal battle?

While I find it..odd.. that the post office is having to pay those retirement funds..and am curious what the math looks like without it..
I would find it odder still if email etc hadnt made a huge dent in the post offices necessity.

I am not one of those who thinks something has to make a profit to be of use.. there are some things that dont make a profit that are still valuable for society to have. But I think with changing technology a scaled back post office is somewhat inevitable.

_________________
“If somebody thinks they're a hedgehog, presumably you just give them a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.”

You keep bringing this up as a right, but I only see it as a "Power of Congress" :

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

It doesn't state how it will be operated, nor that it must be continued after it has been established.

_________________
That's weak sauce!

The government realizes this, and I think it's why they forced the retirement savings. It's one of the few instances of government being intelligent. They know in 15 years, the post office will be making far less money and costs will only be rising; you have a bunch of retirements to pay for further down the line. Save up for it while you can. The USPS employees should be thankful for this.

Well, while I don't frequent the PWR forum often, I do work for the Post Office as a Carrier. It will affect me and I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in and sorta rant a bit.

The cutting of Saturday letter delivery will in fact save 2 Billion dollars. Thats great. Really, it is. However, we're losing 16 billion dollars a year. 16 BILLION. So I still view this as throwing a bandaid on a stab wound. Its not enough. To be honest, I look at this as a slap in the face of every honest hard working postal employee accross the country(I say honest for a reason, I'll get to it in a second). Thats the best we could do? HARDLY.

I've worked for the USPS for 7 years now. In those 7 years everything I thought the Post Office was, has been thrown out the window. The problem starts at the top and trickles down in my opinion. The waste is abundant. Everywhere you look, wasted time and positions.

Postmasters/Supervisors:

I've worked in two offices. The things I've seen from these two positions is disgusting. Supervisors in the two offices I've worked in are hardly supervising anything. One of them takes frequent trips to the "street" to check out a supposed issue with a delivery, break in, etc. On more than 5 or 6 occasions I've seen this "supervisor" "hit the street" and go out to lunch with his wife. This supervisor also does a great job on Saturdays of showing up for an hour and then going home. Leaving the duties of his job to a best buddy of his that works as a clerk. The other supervisor I've worked with isn't as bad, but gets caught on his cell phone more than your average employee.

Maintenance Workers:

It takes two grown men to change the fluorescent lights in the office. They also go one bulb at a time. No, they don't split up and get the job done in a timely fasion. They both sit at the same light, talking in between every single change. This also applies to both of the supervisors who constantly chat them up while they do this. All in all, a job that takes maybe 15 mins will now take 60+ minutes easily. While they boast about making 30+ dollars an hour.

Postal Carriers:

Milking the clock. As a Carrier I understand taking your time to be as accurate in your delivery as possible. We aren't robots, we make mistakes even when trying not to. We aren't perfect and likely never could be. But sitting in your truck talking on your cell phone for 10+ minutes between every stop is nonsense. Pretending to be accurate is laughable as well. A lot of people don't understand that for some routes, the tray(s) of letters you get for delivery COME IN ORDER. Its simple, pick out the forwards, nixies(bad addresses), and holds then be on your way. Its not rocket science! What pisses me off the most about this is the fact that I try and do my route(s) in a timely and accurate manner. It would be great to not have to come and help you out when I'm done but since you thought you would just milk the clock til backup comes, I'm stuck doing your job too! Worst part, we left at the same time and I have a larger route than you do! Oh yeah, and you constantly get misdelivery notices from your customers and Supervisors. Great job dumbass.

Last but not least, the APWU:

Now, I understand the drama involved in the whole Union debate as of late. My view on Unions in general, I'm for them. As long as its purely protection from being taken advantage of as a worker. THATS IT. What I witness almost on a daily basis at the Post Office should be a crime. Example. Carrier A is talking loud and excesively. Carrier B doesn't like it. Carrier B talks to Union Steward and a Supervisor. Carrier A is now called in to discuss this matter. All the while, the mail sits and waits to get worked. An hour and a half later, everyone goes back to work. Best part? All workers were still on the clock and will still have to finish working the mail. They just extended their day by 1.5 hours. It will be reflected in their paycheck. Now, that matter isn't exactly what I've seen on a regular basis but its as simple as it gets. It happens all the time. Minor issues that should take no more than a simple explanation or notification to get back on track. Nothing but pure wasted time. This is why I refuse to join the APWU personally. Why? I let my work do the talking, not a Union Steward. I won't even get into the horror stories that my cousin has seen at her post office. I will just say, getting caught drinking on the job more than once should mean you are fired.

Anyway, I realize not every post office has the issues that I've mentioned. But the two I've worked at can't be the only ones that it happen in. I think if you make postal workers more accountable for their jobs, then you save the Post Office more money than reducing one day of letter delivery ever would. I'm not claiming to be the perfect postal carrier either. I make mistakes. But I own up to mine and make an effort to fix them. Thats why I look at this whole Saturday delivery thing as a slap in the face. Its lame to think that, that was what they came up with?! Don't be so naive.

_________________

In regard to junk mail, local flyers etc., It would be nice to have an Opt-out program, so that we could elect not to be solicited without our consent

If that negatively impacts USPS bottom line . . . I don't really give a shit

You'll take the junk and like it!!

_________________

Sounds like typical union fare to me, DHawk. I'm quite anti-union in general because of a lot of shit they do, like what you mentioned; though the intimidation and occasional violence is more what drives my anti-union stance, like what you see from the longshoremen.

There's one local mailman that parks his mail truck and takes naps during his route, on summer days you can go walking on the nearby hill and find him. Everyday he also stops at his house for a long lunch, which is on his route. Anyway, he is known as the lazy mail carrier but in the office he swears his route is the hardest and usually takes the longest to get back. As with other government agencies if he works harder and gets back sooner he will set a precedent for himself and have to continually have a heavier work load. Some people would rather be lazy when they can get away with it. It is a problem in unions and in government specifically (another common example is the military or schools having to spend all of their budget, even when unnecessary, to receive an equal budget the next year).

That said, every other mail carrier in the office, I am told, is very hard working and all of them dislike the lazy carrier for the same reason you listed - it makes their work load heavier and occasionally makes their days longer. Like you said there must be a way to solve these type of issues before cutting out a day of work for everyone.

I get the fact that this may be affecting someone you know and is personal to you, but how can the post office honestly continue to deliver mail 6 days a week when the volume of 1st class mail has dropped so dramatically? It's only reasonable that if there is less first class mail being delivered, than it shouldn't be a problem to get it all delivered in a 5 day week instead of 6. We aren't talking about shutting down post offices or package delivery here, just home delivery of standard mail (first class and junk mail basically). Junk mail, IMO there is absolutely no rush on, and 1st class mail is on a severe decline. Would you prefer that the post office is taken over by a congressional commission? Do you think that will make things better?

On the payments to the retirement funds:


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/07/postal-service-pushes-to-end-saturday-delivery/

What really needs to happen here is a dramatic reduction in work force, and only weekly or semi-weekly mail delivery to all rural areas. It's drastically inefficient to deliver mail daily to the boonies.

Do this, and I imagine it solves the USPS financial woes.