EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- Study: Monsanto's Roundup Herbicide Linked to Cancer, Autism, Parkinson's
- Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever
- Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products
- The Life and Death of Words, People, and Even Nature
- You and Your Family Are Guinea Pigs for the Chemical Corporations
Popular content
Today's Top News
The Truth About the US Postal Service
What does 50 cents buy these days? Not a cuppa joe, a pack of gum or a newspaper. But you can get a steal of deal for a 50-cent piece: a first-class stamp. Plus a nickel in change.
Each day, six days a week, letter carriers traverse 4 million miles toting an average of 563 million pieces of mail, reaching the very doorsteps of our individual homes and workplaces in every single community in America. From the gated enclaves and penthouses of the uber-wealthy to the inner-city ghettos and rural colonias of America's poorest families, the U.S. Postal Service literally delivers. All for 45 cents. The USPS is an unmatched bargain, a civic treasure, a genuine public good that links all people and communities into one nation.
So, naturally, it must be destroyed.
For the past several months, the laissez-fairyland blogosphere, assorted corporate front groups, a howling pack of congressional right-wingers and a bunch of lazy mass media sources have been pounding out a steadily rising drumbeat to warn that our postal service faces impending doom. It's "broke," they exclaim; USPS "nears collapse"; it's "a full-blown financial crisis!"
These gloomsayers claim the national mail agency is bogged down with too many overpaid workers and costly brick-and-mortar facilities, so it can't keep up with the instant messaging of Internet services and such nimble corporate competitors as FedEx. Thus, say these contrivers of their own conventional wisdom, the Postal Service is unprofitable and is costing taxpayers billions of dollars a year in losses. Wrong.
Since 1971, the postal service has not taken a dime from taxpayers. All of its operations — including the remarkable convenience of 32,000 local post offices — are paid for by peddling stamps and other products.
The privatizers squawk that USPS has gone some $13 billion in the hole during the past four years — a private corporation would go broke with that record! (Actually, private corporations tend to go to Washington rather than go broke, getting taxpayer bailouts to cover their losses.) The Postal Service is NOT broke. Indeed, in those four years of loudly deplored "losses," the service actually produced a $700 million operational profit (despite the worst economy since the Great Depression).
What's going on here? Right-wing sabotage of USPS financing, that's what.
In 2006, the Bush White House and Congress whacked the post office with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to PRE-PAY the health care benefits not only of current employees, but also of all employees who'll retire during the next 75 years. Yes, that includes employees who're not yet born!
No other agency and no corporation has to do this. Worse, this ridiculous law demands that USPS fully fund this seven-decade burden by 2016. Imagine the shrieks of outrage if Congress tried to slap FedEx or other private firms with such an onerous requirement.
This politically motivated mandate is costing the Postal Service $5.5 billion a year — money taken right out of postage revenue that could be going to services. That's the real source of the "financial crisis" squeezing America's post offices.
In addition, due to a 40-year-old accounting error, the federal Office of Personnel Management has overcharged the post office by as much as $80 billion for payments into the Civil Service Retirement System. This means that USPS has had billions of its sales dollars erroneously diverted into the treasury. Restore the agency's access to its own postage money, and the impending "collapse" goes away.
The post office is more than a bunch of buildings — it's a community center and, for many towns, an essential part of the local identity, as well as a tangible link to the rest of the nation. As former Sen. Jennings Randolph poignantly observed, "When the local post office is closed, the flag comes down." The corporatizer crowd doesn't grasp that going after this particular government program is messing with the human connection and genuine affection that it engenders.
America's postal service is a true public service, a grassroots people's asset that has even more potential than we're presently tapping to serve the democratic ideal of the common good. Why the hell would we let an elite of small-minded profiteers, ranting ideologues and their political hirelings drop-kick this jewel through the goal posts of corporate greed? This is not a fight merely to save 32,000 post offices and the middle-class jobs they provide — but to advance the BIG IDEA of America itself, the bold, historic notion that "yes, we can" create a society in which we're all in it together.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
132 Comments so far
Show All"In 2006, the Bush White House and Congress whacked the post office with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act — an incredible piece of ugliness requiring the agency to PRE-PAY the health care benefits not only of current employees, but also of all employees who'll retire during the next 75 years. Yes, that includes employees who're not yet born!"
Amazingly none of the pundits that talk about the USPS's lack of profitability ever mention this act. I can't imagine the outrage if every major corporation was obligated to do the same. Corporations like Walmart evade providing any benefits by employing the majority of their employees as parttime. It should be mentioned also that the USPS gives veteran hiring a priority.
We will truly be headed down a slippery slope if we dismantle the post office. The extremely poor can't afford computers or cell phones and FedEx is expensive. Communication is one of ways societies remain civil.
Add to your last paragraph, if the postal service is privatized, how much easier it will be for the government in post 9-11 Amerika to routinely read your mail and open your packages, the Bill of Rights be damned. Not that it isn't happening already, but at least there's a pretense of following the law, twisted as it is. If AT&T or Wells Fargo owns the mail service, they would hand over your mail activity and communication records to our government spy agencies on a silver tray with a nice bow attached.
Sorry to rain on this sentimental out pouring about emotional traditions, shared experience and nostalgia, but… compared to our ability to connect online in real time with anyone, anywhere and at any time - snail mail will become a relic. Yes it’s been set up for failure by our ignorant corporate run government, but any business that must charge more to do less is domed be it by design or circumstance. Printed mail is not a life and death issue like so many others we should be dealing with.
With current technology and communication platforms, IMO, a Global Human Consciousness is developing online. Our ability to connect and network individually, in groups and even larger as yet undefined blocks of users (online communities for now…) and share our thoughts, feelings, ideas and visions in comparison to the USPS model is naïve. Our interaction online comes as close to pure participatory democracy as anything humans have yet to develop! Why do so many less free countries fear online interaction of their citizens so much? What about the Arab Spring and the Occupy Spring about to launch? Those of us in the #OWS movement sure as hell don’t use the USPS to communicate and coordinate!
On the environmental side refusing to transition away from paper is stupid. To fight Global Climate change we need to plant trees, not cut them down. Paper mills are the second largest consumer of power as well as the second largest polluter of our water ways, add up all the latent energy for the various stages of distribution; forest to mill, mill to printer, printer to mass mailer, through the USPS distribution system and finally as a huge part of our solid waste issues while choking our landfills. WTF!
One of the hottest things happening online right now with marketing and general usage is So – Lo- Mo; Social – Local- Mobile. I support the “Local” because if we are ever going to be able to shrink corporations back to a size that we can drag them into the bathroom and drown them in the tub, we must perfect economic re-localization to rebuild our local communities and end the consolidation of wealth and power by the few at the expense of the many! In simplest terms, we must move away from centralized control systems and redevelop decentralized systems in energy, food, water and shelter production.
Nothing emotional about this - we have a small business, and we mail out 30-50 small packages a day with USPS for a cost of around $2.50-$3 each. In 8 years, they've all been delivered, never had one lost, ever.
FedEx would charge $20-$25 each for the same packages. That would put us out of business, because these items sell for $10-$20 each.
Can't email physical items, and the private trough-feeders would force us out.
So except for the sentimental feeling I would get by losing a $250,000 a year business, the Postal Service is ALL business.
Now why you think the Postal Service only handles letters, I do not know. Open your eyes.
Since it IS the Postal Service, then it should be brought into the 21st century and be allowed to provide electronic postal services as an ISP. Other countries do this, so why should we be any different. It would certainly help with their finances and make them "competitive" with the corporate telecoms and parcel shipping businesses!
"The corporatizer crowd doesn't grasp that going after this particular government program is messing with the human connection and genuine affection that it engenders."
But, Mr. Hightower, maybe they do. Coming from a family of educators, I watch the efforts to "privatize" education, getting there by maligning all forms of public education - teachers, to schools, to districts, to policies. Don't we see the parallels in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland. The quest is to make us all corporate dependent, and then we are ripe for the final squeeze and serfdom. Any kind of "community" is the enemy of this process. The only thing that business is more efficient at doing, is squeezing the citizen for the last drop of corporate profit. Then, finally, they enjoy the full fruits of their labor - us as their slaves.
I agree. These sociopaths know exactly what they are doing. This war against the postal service has been going on for decades and it's the same one the GOP has declared against SS and Medicare (As well as public education, higher education, universal health care, etc.). Bush 2 gave them what the needed to bring down the postal service and now it is only a matter of time before it is totally dismantled. We have no allies left in politics to stop this landslide into anarchy and a totalitarian police state. Our advocates and dissenters have been silenced and put on domestic terrorist lists. The destruction will be complete when SS and Medicare has been seized and gutted. We will then all be slaves, serfs, and drones who must be loyal to the Corporate State or starve. Actually, most of us will not survive that ultimate privatization. Think about Chile, Peru, Nicaragua, the ME--Dozens of countries of the 50's through the 90's and that will be America.
All of these highly successful civil commons share one thing for privatization interests - for fractional reserve banking spread sheets they represent incredible reserves to suck dry - FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!
This is the Romney take-over model - a morphing of the 'hostile' take-over by classification profile - healthy serviceable reserves - (just like the 'reserves' that are traditionally honorable domestic armed protection on-call. - nope send ém to the ME)
These are truly promoters of the 'lifestyle' of the walking dead
In addition, we should consider restoring Post Office Savings Accounts-- another of those services cut under Reaganomic thinking.
At one time the Post Office served as a public bank. Certainly, some things it could never do as well as local bank, but everyone had access to it. No need for minimum deposits of $500 or $1000 to break a twenty. Or to pay a $3-6 fee to cash a check.
In my work I frequently encounter the poor. They aren't stupid. They know they cannot afford the fees to maintain a minimum balance in a local bank or S&L. Nor could any of them let $500 sit by itself. Thus, they are left to the sharks. In my community work as a credit union board member, I've come to realize that the poor are still hindered in coming to most credit unions. Credit unions commonly have membership requirements, another restriction to the general public.
Unless a public state bank movement, a la Ellen Brown's writings, can gain nationwide traction, the most accessible way to restore a conscience for personal thrift is through the local post office.
What a concept. Thanks again, Ben Franklin, you old crank.
Royce, very thought-provoking insights and suggestions. Thanks for the post.
Thanks Royce. Am not sure if I had ever known that there use to be Post Office Savings Accounts. Am a big fan of North Dakota's State Bank. Have read from Ellen Brown that there are 17 States with Bills going before their State Houses for State Banks. Its been interesting to see here in Belgium (where have been since July 2011, that they have a Bank of The Post, which have heard is a 50-50 Public-Private Belgium way kind of thing.
And that, gentlemen, is how government regulation and interference can bring a profitable corporation to bankruptcy. Want more?
"chameleon"
There is no government "of the people, by the people, for the people" anymore because that government (to the extent that it ever existed) HAS already been destroyed.
That is why the Bill of Rights is roundly ignored within the corporate state.
What we have in Washington is an arm of Wall Street and it is Wall Street's "regulation and interference" (and ownership) which is destroying the social fabric for private profit.
The Re-Public has been killed. It no longer exists beyond the deception of the political parties which depend upon the lie that they are working for the public.
They are not.
What an idiotic comment!
The USPS is a government agency itself - and the "government regulation and interference" is being done specifically to replace it _with_ a "profitable corporation" that will employ non-union low-wage workers and bilk the consumer of whatever it can get away with while providing crappy service - or no service at all in places it cant make money - like rural areas.
"The USPS is a government agency itself "
Even worse. Looks like government in its quest to regulate screwed itself.
Could you possibly be any more confused?
Actually at one time it was a government department and there was a Secretary of the Post Office on the cabinet. Today it is a hybrid thanks to Nixon, privatized yet it's budget and administration is still under congressional control.
Did you realize it's the second largest civilian employer, only Walmart employs more?
In the days before privatized mail, stamps were cheap, there was less junk, there were more mailboxes and more pickups, and the economy benefited. Now all the benefits go to private parties, and the nation pays. Mail for profit was never a good idea.
Increase postal rates on junk mail. Cures two problems: more money for the post office at no cost to the rank and file citizen, and less junk mail to contend with.
But a few postal workers might lose their jobs.;
Hightower blames the "Right Wingers", but fails to explain that privatization and corporate corruption is the religion of most, if not all, of the members of the corporate political parties.
The corporate parties are the republicans, the democrats, and the libertarians.
We are deliberately led to blame this attack on the Postal Service on Bush and Co., as if the democrats are in opposition.
They are NOT.
Ah, one-track birdbrain pecks again...
"GregR"
You seem to prefer the "peck"ing of deceivers like Hightower and Co.
Not to mention USPS is awarded the most efficient public post service IN THE WORLD every year.
I propose that the USPS should run the rest of the US, it's been the only government agency that's not only balanced, but profitable in 40 years.
LOL- NO, you don't want to go there. The management in place at Elephant Plaza in DC are fully in lock step with this take down, salivating over the money that they will receive for the implementation of this destruction; err I mean downsizing, about to occur.
Beyond the incredible service performed, the most racially diverse workforce in the USA is also a model for the nation in that yes, we really all can get along, and when everyone is provided equal opportunity and economy ($), the world (in this case the "postal world") is a better place. Are there problems? Yep, but that's reality everywhere. The USPS should not be allowed to be destroyed.
Thanks for raising the racial issue. Also, the USPS is a large employer of veterans. In my teen years (45-50 years ago), it was also the best employer for young people offering well-paying jobs during the winter holidays and summers. Though temporary, I believe they had full benefits.
Socialism can work well.
How could I forget the veterans?! Thanks for that reminder. Now adays, there are casual positions that pay $12/hr with no benefits, and no opprtunity to become a regular employee. There are also now PSE clerks (Postal Support Employees) which start a bit under $15/hr with limited benefits and are the only type of employee that can become full time regular. The wage scale for these fuiture regular employees has been lowered, the benefits are also not as good, and they cost the employee more.
The dismantling of that "socialism (that) can work well" is, sadly, being put in motion. Many thanks to all of you who understand and support the USPS.
tj
Well-said -- BRAVO!
PS -- Socialism does work, and one need look no further than the Nordic Model for the highest standard of living on the planet and prosperity is that shared and distributed among the population in abundant social services that enhance the quality of life for the greatest number of people -- the national wealth is not hoarded by the slect few as is the case in the U.S. -- and no one goes bankrupt from medical bills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They can't even pick the correct Statue of Liberty photograph to put on a stamp. see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/us/15stamp.html. They are incompetent.
^ Troll...
Indeed.
You have got to be kidding.
If this is even important, the image was purchased from a private company, Getty Images, who represented it as the correct image, AND it took an image expert to detect it, and even then, was not sure enough to say it without confirmation from the photographer himself.
Must not have seen the videos of FedEx employees destroying packages on delivery, but that's nothing, right?
As a non-American, I have a hard time grasping why a government agency is supposed to be profitable in the first place.
According to some articles I read, even the police in the US operate on some sort of profit motive by catching petty criminals that will earn them money rather than trying to prevent hard crimes.
I can't even imagine the uproar if the idea that the government agencies must be profitable is used where I live.
For starters, would that imply that every time I call the police, I would get charged service fees?
(Ironically, I was going to write "ambulance" but then noticed that IS being charged in the US.)
You've brought up the entire crux of Amereicha's decline and - eventually - its destruction: profit (aka "Privatization.") Since Amereicha worships the almighty dollar at the expense of all else, and is quite literally the Capitalism Mecca of the world, profit is the Holy Grail here. Everyone in government, from the President on down to the local level, bows before the Corporate Elite. Almost all of them, before and after their stint in government, have/will go on to cushy Corporate positions. Money is all that matters. Profit is all that matters. The common good, the public, the "average Amereichan," the Constitution, law and justice - none of it matters compared to the Almighty Corporate Profit.
When you understand this basic, simple truth about Amereicha, the push for "privatization" is glaringly simple and makes perfect sense. Make a profit off of EVERYTHING - education, healthcare, "public services," the delivery of mail, even police and fire protection (already underway in many communities) - that is the goal of the 1% Plutocracy that runs Amereicha.
And they are well on their way to achieving that agenda. When they have finally privatized everything possible, and eliminated those things they cannot (like SS/Medicare), this country's doom will be sealed and it will fall in short order as just another failed Empire whose greed and hegemonic short-sightedness brought it to ruin.
Yes, the privateers' brain-washing runs deep over here. It has been a vigorous pursuit over here, because the "Empire" (ie. a looting operation of a closed clique of organized criminals, operating under color of "stately gravitas") knows that if it affixes its' "chains" upon the "800-pound gorilla", the "smaller monkees" will naturally fall-in-line behind that gorilla, eventually.The empire is, primarily, The City & Wallstreet, (the offshoots of Venice, which is itself an offshoot of the old, fallen, Roman Empire), with other cooperating financial districts in cahoots with them. This is the "primary flavor" of empire over here, although historically, there were other "empire builders" at play upon the North American continent, AND "Republic builders" too (which is usually over-looked). Their lifespan is just about up, however, as a new age/era rolls into place, displacing the old one. The era of "the return of the nine" (as the Maya call it; or "the Ennead" as ancient Egyptians called it) is about to begin. I don't imagine They'll be pleased with what They'll find here on Earth. Another round of "Temple-building" (ie. "powerplants" for re-charging the souls) will probably ensue, after a thorough scrubbing.
Government agencies shouldn't need to be profitable. They should be paid for by the taxpayers. However, since the US has decided to spend an amazing amount of money on the various wars, and defense, and focus those taxpayer dollars into these endeavors, the basic needs of the country are being ignored. Just take a look at public schools in the US.. It's pathetic.
I'd love to just pull all that money out of defense, retract all the troops overseas and start working to repair our broken nation. If we get attacked, we'll rebuild and it'll be better than it was before. This is the one thing that's always bothered me about this country. The total lack of flexibility it has. Without that ability, The US has started to crumble. It's only a matter of time before the whole system fails more than it already has.
@ Coskii – You say, “Government agencies shouldn't need to be profitable. They should be paid for by the taxpayers.”
Perhaps you mean well, but your assertion maintains the nightmare.
Our current banking system is under private control. All federal income tax revenue – 100 % OF IT – goes to pay interest in the money (i.e. currency) the US government borrows from private bankers. However, if we had a public central bank, then there would be no need for taxpayers to fund anything at all. The public central bank would simply print money as needed, without borrowing it from private central bankers. Then the only purpose for taxes would be to regulate the money supply. If there were too much money in the system, and inflation threatened, then we could use temporary taxes to remove enough money to restore balance, thereby averting inflation. When balance is restored, the tax would be repealed. On the other hand, if were too little money in the system, and depression threatened, then the pubic central bank would simply print more, and get it into circulation.
The one privatization that makes all other nightmares possible is privatization of the central bank. Until we get a public central bank, we will all continue to go deeper into poverty.
NimX3:
Yes, why is it necessary for the postal service to be profitable. It is a service to the nation and everybody gains. We are, by insisting on profitability, allowing the thieving corporate class to set the terms of the discussion.
And, we wouldn't have to worry about veterans if our masters would close down the more than 800 military bases in foreign lands (comprador regimes).
USPS is a disaster. I would easily pay $200 a year to not have to have them deliver my mail and never have to deal with them again. I pay all of my bills online and I don't have a single business that doesn't have a bill pay website including my utilities in my small town of less than 6000 people. The only thing I would miss is potentially holiday/birthday cards from relatives, and tearing my hair out every time my neighbors get my w2's incorrectly delivered to them. I would bet that a large amount of 30 something and less professionals would gladly pay to remove the postal service because is it more of a hinderance than anything, opening people up to massive amounts of spam, scams, and credit card offers that lead to the vast majority of identity thefts in the US. USPS is a disaster and I feel that its only the elderly and stay at home moms that don't want to see it go. Therefore i'd gladly pay to opt out of USPS and let the elderly and extremely poor that can't afford a computer send post back and forth to one another for free and get inundated with garbage mail and easily get their ID stolen.
Perhaps the USPS should consider your offer. $200.00 would be quite generous in light of the fact that the average citizen contributes FAR LESS THAN THAT to keep the postal service going.
And you think some private organization can do better? Bull. Not only would they screw up just as much or more, they'd make you pay to fix their screwups! Moreover, they'd find ways to make you the receiver pay just for receiving mail. Think that's crazy? Check your cellphone...you have to pay for incoming calls, texts, etc. Absurd but true, and THAT'S what privatization gets you.
I have at least 4 to 6 deliveries from Amazon alone send to my house every week. With Amazon prime I pay $50 a year and get ~200 packages sent to my door every year next day/2day for no cost. Of course I've had the occasional mixup, damaged goods in shipping, etc. but I've never had it not completely rectified.
I am not saying that I would pay $200 for someone else to deliver my mail. I'm saying I'd pay $200 not to receive the mail I'm getting over USPS. USPS doesn't deliver anything useful to me and many people I know. In order make paying bills easier and to thwart ID theft I have complete electronic delivery of all bills, everything from local utilities to mortgage/car/dentist/etc. We are rapidly approaching a time where regular mail is nearly completely useless, and USPS is having to compete with private companies to remain relevant. The only reason I have to check my mail everyday is so no one steals it trying to open credit cards in my name or steal my identity. All of my mail gets sorted into garbage I can just throw away, and shred everything else. The only thing I do receive over mail that is in any way useful is a yearly birthday card/check from my wife's mother. Whereas my relatives purchase gifts online and send them to my house via UPS/Fedex.
I can tell you that working in a technical field with public appearances, running a second business from my home, having several patents(to which I get daily letters asking me if I want to plaque them, switch to 1 of 10000000 law offices for further applications, or apply the patents into other countries) puts about a pound of garbage in my mailbox everyday. I wish the USPS would go away. Welcome to the internet everyone.
USPS sorts, sends and delivers tens of thousands of Amazon's packages EVERY day. USPS is loving all of the internet package sales generating EVERY day. USPS sorts and delivers more of them than UPS and FedEx combines, and at a MUCH lower price. You should at least tell the truth in your rantings.
I am also a regular Amazon user. I don't have Amazon Prime, so I look for free or low cost shipping options whenever possible. They are almost always delivered by the USPS, usually early, but always on time.
I imagine that Amazon sends a lot more packages over USPS due to people wanting the lowest cost shipping service than UPS/Fedex. That being said I pay the $50 a year (which is nothing considering ~200 pkgs a year) for free 2day/next day delivery which is always over UPS and sometimes Fedex. I know both my Fedex and UPS driver by name because I see them multiple times a week. I've never gotten a packaged delivered from Amazon via USPS and I pay a premium not to.
Whatever works best for you, go ahead and pay for it. You sure do a whole lot of shilling for UPS and FedEx, you obviously live in a metropolitan area. BTW, nothing is "free".
I don't expect good service to be free. I challenge you to save your USPS mail for 1 week and calculate how many pieces of mail you actually need to open bills/cards/etc, and how much is garbage/spam. I'm guessing if it is less than 70% you are an anomaly.
LOL I don't need to save mine for a week; I know what I get and I know what you get, and I know what most everybody gets. What you get is what someone, or some business, paid to send "period".
Never mind the facts that you support a dual system of delivery trucks out there polluting our common air, that you ignore or don't realize that your darlings, UPS and FedEx pay their corporate hierarchy outrageous sums of money, have a second tier of decent paying jobs, and a majority of $8 part time SLAVES who work in miserable, crowded, frenetic conditions. UPS and FedEx pay the USPS to finish deliveries where they can't be bothered going. Nevermind if our more cost conscious pricing "went away" that you will end up paying MORE and MORE. Nevermind the fact that the postal service's success rate for ontime package delivery is 98%, you just go ahead and pay more for the same service and keep pretending that working class people don't need good pay and benefits. Afterall, it is all about you, isn't it?
You made an earlier crack about the "under 30 professional set" . That tells alot about you. Welcome to the NWO where you will never make as much money as prior professionals do and did.
I suggest the "bug" is probably sixteen years old and spouting crap he's heard his old man say. Or he's a republican "sock puppet".