Save America's Postal Service

[Carnival Man]

Here is a link to the pdf of a short flyer that briefly explains the fix that Congress put the Postal Service in...read it now before you move on to the next thread!

http://www.saveamericaspostalservice...c_flier_v4.pdf

I'm sure most HS'ers would still like to keep six-day delivery...imagine no 'Scape trades arriving in the mail on Saturdays!

[Robber]

Crud... I just ordered from Auggies.

[Margloth]

The problem I have, as much as I like having 6 day service when I want something, is that I don't think it's used enough to warrant my tax dollars. The fact of the matter is that the Postal Service is becoming obsolete.

[Neo]

Originally Posted by Margloth

The problem I have, as much as I like having 6 day service when I want something, is that I don't think it's used enough to warrant my tax dollars. The fact of the matter is that the Postal Service is becoming obsolete.

None of the postal service funding comes from taxes, It's all from stamps, boxes and shipping.

[Margloth]

Originally Posted by Neo

None of the postal service funding comes from taxes, It's all from stamps, boxes and shipping.

You and your facts.

[Carnival Man]

Originally Posted by Neo

None of the postal service funding comes from taxes, It's all from stamps, boxes and shipping.

Thanks for knowing your facts Neo. This is the biggest misconception & one of the most often made comments about the USPS. I wonder how many in Congress believe that tax dollars pay for the mail. Another one is that the price of postage is set by the USPS...no, in fact Congress also has to approve each rate increase. If the cost of postage followed the rate of inflation it would cost well over a dollar to mail a letter today.

[Warlord Alpha]

Originally Posted by Carnival Man

If the cost of postage followed the rate of inflation it would cost well over a dollar to mail a letter today.

Inflation isn't a good measure. For instance, in 1920 a gallon of milk was like 0.60. In today's money, that's like $6.50. But obviously milk doesn't cost that much, it's usually like $4.00. The reason being that production, extraction, and delivery of it (not to mention refridgeration) has become significantly better since 1920.

In the same way, processing and delivering mail has become significantly cheaper per volume, so inflation is a pretty bad indicator. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that George W. Bush signed some law so that the USPS absolutely cannot have its stamp price raised at a faster rate than inflation (note: this makes forever stamps a terrible deal).

[LilMoochie]

Originally Posted by Neo

None of the postal service funding comes from taxes, It's all from stamps, boxes and shipping.

It's actually a little bit worse than that. While their funding comes from stamps and such, any extra profit they make can and does get stolen by Congress. I don't think the postal service is obsolete, but their hands are tied in ways that other businesses aren't.

[Ryougabot]

The USPS has a flawed financial model. They are required, by law, to be nonprofit. This means that they can not have any cash on hand for emergencies. This means that the USPS is on a perpetual cycle of failure.

When things are good, they generate revenue. All of their bills get paid and they are happy. Any excess is taken by the government as they are required not to have a positive balance.

When things are bad, they lose revenue. Bills do not get paid and they start shooting. The money they need has already been spent by the government, so they can not get it back, so they have to raise stamp prices. As prices rise demand drops and other companies move in because they can do the same for less. This makes it worse and they have to lay people off and close branches.

After the contraction, they look good and have to grow to not show a profit, so they start expanding again, unfortunately they have lost market share in the interim, and the next crash comes faster.

It is like a sick animal who is thrashing on the way to death.

If they could keep a balance from year to year, they would not be so sensitive to market fluctuations. Successful homes and businesses do this. That is all this bill is suggesting they do.

If this were a household, they would be living paycheck to paycheck.