{"id":4142,"date":"2020-08-25T15:49:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T19:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=4142"},"modified":"2020-08-25T15:49:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T19:49:03","slug":"real-truth-about-the-post-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/25\/real-truth-about-the-post-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Real truth about the Post Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"USPS\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The real truth about the Post Office (USPS), not the political spin that some want you to believe. As a point of information I am a moderate and am more or less disillusioned with both our two major political parties. I must state that I am a registered member of one of the two parties, but I vote for who I think would best serve the electorate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in 2006 the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act was passed by Congress. This act saddled the USPS with Retiree Health Benefits Prefunding<\/a>, \u201cmust pre-fund retiree health benefits. We must pay today for benefits that will not be paid out until some future date. Other federal agencies and most private sector companies use a \u201cpay-as-you-go\u201d system, by which the entity pays premiums as they are billed.<\/i>\u201d This handicaps the USPS with the need to payout large sums of money above and beyond what other government agencies are required to do. And with this requirement and the fact that the American public no longer is sending much mail through the USPS, a very large deficit has become a larger burden each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Per Government Executive<\/a>, \u201cThe Postal Service has lost money for 13 consecutive years<\/a> and a majority of those losses stemmed from the prefunding requirement. In fiscal 2019, for example, 83% of the $8.8 billion the agency lost came from payments into its retiree pension fund and retiree health benefits fund. Critics of the mandate include a range of Republicans, Democrats, mailers and labor unions. They have estimated the law requires USPS to fund the benefits for retirees up to 75 years in the future, an obligation virtually no other government entities face.<\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is just one problem that challenges the USPS to somehow continue to function without raising rates that would further cause a decline in the use of mail system. To be fair this is not a crisis that Democrats or Republican have not been trying to solve. But they (the Congress) have not reached a solution that would rid the USPS of this onerous burden.<\/span><\/p>\n

To further complicate matters Congress has tied their hands<\/a> as to closing facilities by mandating that Congress has a say. Thus making closing(s) of facilities that are no longer profitable to operate a political decision instead a business (economic) one.<\/span><\/p>\n

And to make matters even worse Congress allowed third parties such as Federal Express, UPS, etc to handle first class mail items. When in the past only the USPS could handle such mail. This lead to a sharp decline of the most profitable mailing classes because of a dramatic switch to the now allowed commercial carriers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today the Post Office lags well behind companies like Federal Express and UPS plus the Internet has dramatically caused a drop in the use of 1st<\/sup> Class mail. As Amazon grew into the behemoth that it is today, the USPS smartly gave Amazon lower mailing rates to encourage the company’s continuing use of the mail. This was a very smart move and why President Trump keeps saying that it is not makes no sense to me at all. Doing this has saved the Post Office from declining even faster than it has.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress has voiced concern over the facts that 1st<\/sup> Class mailing machines have been removed at many facilities. The truth is that there are more packages going through these sorting plants than letters and thus the need for more package sorting machines. And with limited space the removal of one type of sorting machine for another makes perfect sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are politicians are not recognizing is that they are the ones that have caused the crisis that the postal system is now facing. So don’t blame the USPS for the troubles they are in, it is the politicians who are responsible for the debacle that our postal system now faces.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n