Quote (Black XistenZ @ Aug 9 2020 10:51pm)
Yes, I already made the same point. Privatization of public services almost always ends in failure.
I dont know enough about the US post office to comment on that particular example. If what you're saying about the post office is really true, then I get why it triggers you so much. ;)
You know me... anything remotely resembling socialism or communism... yuck.
Here's what happened with the US Post Office.
Apparently, the USPS came up short on retirement monies for employees, don't know why.
Then, someone passed a law that they had to hold (set aside) money for the retirement benefits for every employee, for the next 75 years. (Sounds like something a Dem would do)
Now the USPS is going broke. Holding retirement benefits for all employees for 75 years is a large chunk of change.
The details, you can probably get from Google, but this is the gist of what has just recently happened.
Quote
Yet it has faced outright hostility from Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized its business agreement with Amazon, which allows the e-commerce giant to deliver its packages at a discounted rate. Trump has promised to block aid for the agency unless it quadruples its prices for package shipping, which could cause the company to take its business elsewhere.
The Postal Service’s struggles began in the early 2000s. In 2005, Congress imposed an unprecedented austerity measure on the agency which required USPS to pre-fund retirement benefits 75 years in the future, including for employees who have not even been born yet. No other government agency or corporation operates in such a manner, and the move left the USPS woefully strapped for funding.
That crisis deepened with the 2008 recession. At first, mail volumes remained high in the early 2000s, even amid the rise of the internet, but the economy took a steep downturn, dealing a huge blow to the advertising mail that makes up the USPS’s bread and butter. Overall mail volumes fell by about a third over the following decade, and because the agency doesn’t receive any taxpayer money, the decline placed it in uncharted financial waters.
In the absence of legislative action the USPS has been forced to cut costs where it can, eliminating more than 200,000 staff positions. This has strained the agency’s workforce, especially in rural postal stations and in cities that see large numbers of Amazon packages.
It all started with the deal the USPS made with Amazon.... and then other online etailers./e In the quote above, I don't know the accuracy of the dates. I personally didn't notice that the USPS was delivering the last leg of the delivery route, till about 2010.I don't know why the USPS even made the deal, or WHEN they made it. But as I said, I didn't notice it till about 2010-ish. Before that, you ordered something online, it came by UPS or FedEx, etc., all the way to your door. Somewhere around 2010, the last leg of the package's journey, started being handled by the USPS.
Like, the package would start out with a FedEx or UPS tracking number, but would change in route to a USPS tracking number for the last leg.
Consequently, this started causing the USPS to lose money, which caused the lessening of retirement benefits, which caused the draconian law to be passed, which is hurting the USPS even more.
This post was edited by Ghot on Aug 9 2020 09:53pm