The United States Postal Service is facing another loss of $7 Billion. It would appear that even more drastic measures are going to be taken to stem the bleeding of money from the post office.
Without drastic action the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over ten years, Postmaster General John Potter said in releasing a series of consultant reports on agency operations and its outlook.
"The projections going forward are not bright," Potter told reporters in advance of Tuesday’s announcement. But, he added, "all is not lost … we can right this ship." […]
There seemed to be concern on the part of Congress that officials had not looked at all possible options, Potter said, adding that was part of the reason for the three consultant studies.
Potter said he would like to see mail delivery cut to five days a week starting next year.
Later this month, he said, the Postal Service will ask the independent Postal Regulatory Commission to review its plans for the service reduction.
Under the law, the agency is not supposed to raise rates more than the amount of inflation, but there is a loophole allowing for higher increases in extraordinary situations such as the current recession and drop in mail volume.
"We intend to use that tool," Potter said. […]
Another possibility would be to ask Congress for a subsidy, but noting the current financial conditions Potter said "we do not plan to pursue that." The post office has not received taxpayer subsidies for its operations since the early 1980s.
Potter said the agency is looking to new types of mail services to offer but will not seek to get into other types of business, such as banking, which are offered by many foreign postal services.
The agency has cut its work force from a peak of 800,000 career employees to currently about 600,000, and Potter said it wants to use more part-time people in the future. […] (ABC NEWS)
More part time workers in the country. Just what we need, more jobs that don’t pay enough for an employee to care for his or her family. It is true that the postal service has been hurt by both the recession and the advent of electronic communications. But trying to keep an old ship afloat for the sake of tradition may be more harmful in the end then to just accept the reality here and now.
That reality is that more post offices will likely be forced to close, and along with it more postal employees are likely to lose their jobs in the future. And then what’s left will be run by more part time workers because, if I understand the post office guidelines, the part timers don’t receive health benefits (depending on how many hours they are offered).
At this point I think the postal service should get cracking on a transporter. You know, like in Star Trek. That way your letter or package will absolutely get there overnight. However, it arriving in the same form as when it was sent is a whole different matter. LOL
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