Comments (43) (Please sign in to comment)

1. 

   olfart said, 3 months ago

   Great art work!
2. 

   olfart said, 3 months ago

   The Bony Express.
3. 

   Gore Bane said, 3 months ago

   A prelude to what will happen when private companies have their every policy dictated by the government.
4. 

   Clark Kent said, 3 months ago

   @Gore Bane

   Wrong! This is what happens when the corporations have a stranglehold on the government.
5. 

   rvernon said, 3 months ago

   The problem is the law passed by the lame duck GOP Congress that required the USPS to fund 75 years/ worth of pensions within just the next TEN years. No other entity in America could survive if forced to do that. Without that law, the USPS would be running a surplus. Republicans just couldn’t stand the fact that a quasi-governmental agency was actually working well. It didn’t fit in with their “government can do no right” philosophy. And now Ramirez is dancing on its grave. Shameful.
6. 

   Rockngolfer said, 3 months ago

   @rvernon

   Thank you. I am usually the one who points out it is CONgress’ fault for most of the USPS problems.
7. 

   retpost said, 3 months ago

   Reveron is correct: the problem started years ago when our great congress charged the postal service for the cost of living raises for their retirees, witch is now part of the cost you pay for a letter.
8. 

   ruff said, 3 months ago

   A letter from one side of Germany to the other costs 77 cents. A letter from one side of France to the other costs 85 cents. A letter from the far side of Germany to the far side of France costs twice as much. 1000 miles at best. Raise our rates to that level, and the USPS will help to decrease the national deficit.
9. 

   Kylie2112 said, 3 months ago

   @ruff

   The USPS is wholly self-sufficient, and have no effect on the budget. The problem a. the Republicans made them fund 75 years worth of pensions over the next 10 years (which is making them seriously in the red) and b. the USPS cannot (because of federal regulations) have competitive postage rates. Look at what it costs to use UPS or FedEx to mail a simple document…it’s a hell of a lot more than 45 cents.
   -
   The USPS was running well-within budget until they had to salt away a crapload of pension fund money.
10. 

    Radish said, 3 months ago

    I mailed a compact disc to Mexico last week, the USPS charged eleven dollars which might have destroyed my profit margin on that deal.
    I bought a $3.50 plastic car part recently and was charged eleven dollars shipping by Fed Ex.
11. 

    josefw said, 3 months ago

    I heard this on the radio last week so the numbers are not to the penny. Employee cost per hour.

    
    $32.?? USPS
    $28.?? UPS
    $17.?? FedEx
12. 

    dtroutma said, 3 months ago

    ^Salaries plus benefits: FedEx doesn’t provide benefits, except to the CEO.

    <br.BTW, letter to New Zealand USPS $0.78. It IS indeed Congress restricting USPS fees then demanding paying 70 years of “benefits” in advance. They should do this to FedEx.
13. 

    M Ster said, 3 months ago

    I looked up some facts and then did a little calculating; It turns out that “on paper”, the USPS lost $15.9 billion last year, but $11 billion of it was not actually “lost”. It was the 75-year forward retirement financing that Congress forced upon them. Of course, that still is a loss of $4.9 billion in 2012.
    *
    That comes out to about $15 per US resident per year.
    *
    At $2.50 per letter or small package, FedEx and UPS would cost the typical US resident far more than $15 per year. Any company, utility or gov’t entity that mails bills would have to add a 6-times increase in postage to their overhead, so prices and taxes would go up. Any medical insurance company or HMO that send prescriptions by mail (as mine does) would have to add $2 or so to each shipment, which would cost me $24 per year.
    *
    It is fair to say that at some time in the future, there should be no more hard-copy communications from businesses, utilities and the gov’t. But that’s not where we are today. When that time comes, I’ll support a roll-back of USPS. But in the meantime, they save us more money than they cost us. And if adding another nickel to the cost of postage wipes out the $4.9 billion loss, so be it.
14. 

    Eryx said, 3 months ago

    @rvernon

    Perfect analysis.
15. 

    Eryx said, 3 months ago

    @retpost

    No, that is NOT “witch” is part of the cost of mailing a letter. The rates that the Postal Service can charge are set by Congress. If they charged what was necessary, the rates would go up somewhat. But, it would STILL be cheaper than UPS or Fedex to send mail.
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