To Postal Workers, No Mail Is ‘Junk’

OH BOO HOO! The mismanagement of the U.S. postal service is another product of over compensation of American hierarchy. Does anyone know the names of the board of directors for this company and what their pay is? How can their fuel cost, comparatively speaking, be any higher now than what it was five or ten years ago? If one figures the reduction in fleet size due to mini neighborhood post office boxes coupled with less miles being driven because of this new procedure plus reduced fleet vehicle maintenance cost then the increased fuel cost over the past tens years should have been canceled out of the equation. It is a simple mathematical equation; x # of vehicles ??? y # of vehicles = z # of vehicles = less money being spent on the cost of fleet purchase. The resultant # of vehicles also yields less maintenance cost in so far as oil changes, tune ups, tires and etc go. Couple those two savings with x # of miles driven ??? y number of reduced miles = less fuel. As far as junk mail goes; I read an article the other day that stated one of the largest contributors to garbage in today???s landfills is - JUNK Mail. If the post office fails then the junk mail problem goes away. That would result in some environmental pluses; less fossil fuel being burned would equate to less pollution in the air, less garbage filling up the land fills and less forest razed for unwanted JUNK MAIL. The failure of the post office sounds like an environmentally acceptable event.

They should have hybrids or electric vehicles, all the stop and go driving they do! That would cut overwelmingly their fuel costs! Demand action.

Several posts claim the 1st and 2nd Class mail subsidizes the Direct Mail business. Nothing could be more factually wrong!! The Post Office financial reports to Congree for the last dozen years clearly show that the USPS actually makes money (in the black) on the direct mail business. The USPS loses huge amounts (in the red) on 1st and 2nd Class Mail.....so much so that the overall operation drops into the red. Compared to the costs of delivery 1st and 2nd Class Mail rates are ridiculously low. To get that area of business, and subsequently, the entire USPS out of the red, the USPS would have to raise 1st and 2nd Class Mail rates by 12x the current rate. These financials have been repeatedly confirmed by the GAO (General Accounting Office). In fact the GAO has recommended that the USPS accomodate the needs of the direct mail business because it is the only division of business that keeps the USPS afloat.

I think a REVERSE JUNK MAIL campaign should be started. All you have to do is take the "postage paid" envelope that comes with credit card offers and fill it with trash and stick it in the mail. You don't even need a stamp! Credit card companies would foot the bill and it keeps the postal workers happy because now they get to deliver more JUNK MAIL!!!!!!

Sending and receiving mail is becoming as outdated and out of fashion as tape cassette decks and the daily newspaper. Most people now opt to both receive and pay their monthly bills with on line banking saving trees and time and postage to Amercian consumers who are generally strapped for the latter two items. Junk mail that wastes costly fuel and natural resources should be curbed just like the old sears catalogues have become obsolete and too expensive to print. Heck, I throw out all junk mail and really don't have much affection for the US Post Office which is a private entity that masks itself as a official government body. One thing iit has in common with the US Government is that it is another fat bureaucratic body that need sto be cutback drastically and streamlined for this century's needs. Truthfully, aren't we all sick and tired of postal rates that always increase and service that has been on the decrease for years. Save trees and Money...only mail by email.

For all those who wish to have their name removed from mailing lists, the best way is to go to https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/proto1.php

This is the DMA's opt out site. Thee names on this list are suppressed by all reputable direct marketing companies to reduce the amount of mail they will be sending out. Also, you can write to the three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion to have your name removed from credit card solicitations.

I was a mailman for a dozen years, and what I saw constantly was a lot of highly paid management trying to save their jobs by whipping craft employees to be more productive every possible minute of the day. If the PO wants to save money they'll have to cut it off the top. Too many of them were the type of characters who had no business supervising anyone.

I've tried Green Dimes and Catalog Choice to have my name removed from several mailing lists to no avail! These companies simply don't care that they are wasting valuable resources and my time when I have to sort through it and take it to the recycling yard. The holiday madness has already begun and the number of catalogs are piling up in my mailbox. I'm so sick of these lobbyists getting their every whim met because they have the $$ for access!!

I was a mail carrier for a dozen years, in a ten route office. During that time I saw a steady parade of highly paid chiefs pacing around, and ten little indians doing far more work. The PO could help themselves greatly by getting rid of the highly paid management that, in my opinion, didn't do anything but cause a lot of stress and trouble.


John

Like so many enterprises in the 21st century, the USPS needs to look at new ways of doing business. Recent spikes in fuel costs may be the latest stimulus, but it has been a failing institution for a long time. And trying to add retail sales of cards, jewelry and other trinkets does nothing but highlight the fact that the offices are staffed by people who think it's their job to get up in the morning to go on break when there are two dozen customers in line. I have NEVER (and I'm old!) seen an organization so committed to ignoring its customers' needs.

In past history, most of the stuff the post office delivered was first and second class mail and many mailmen walked their routes. ever since the post office gave great rates to the bulk mailers, the mailment have gone to driving mailtrucks to be able to carry the load. it this direct mail that has forced up the cost of the total post office. now each mailman has to have a vehicle, gas, insurance, maintenance etc. the person who mailes a first class letter is subsidizing the direct mail marketer.

I don't want to see the post office go out of business, but I hate all the advertising, especially the credit card offers. I also hate all the solicitations for gifts to charities I get. I give generosly to my church and as much as I can afford to select groups such as my three alma maters. I resent charities selling my name, or even giving my name, to other charities. I wish the post office would have a system to get these solicitations stopped. It just makes me feel bad that I can't save every poor child in the U.S. or Africa or elsewhere.

I wouldn't mind at all to fully subsidize the USPS again, they are a great organization and the other Big 2: UPS and Fedex are simply too expensive. We waste so much tax payer $$$, lets waste it on something we all use and depend on.

There is still a demand for certain items to be sent through the mail. Some items simply can not be "emailed". The Postal Service will still exist it will just cost more per item sent. Has anybody bothered to check out the rates of the alternate shipping services? With the "Fuel surcharges" and other add ons the cost of shipping with them is rediculous. The Postal Service does an awesome job and are a real bargain!!!

Another way to get rid of junk mail: Return to sender with a note asking them not to litter your mailbox (in their own stamped self-addressed envelope. IT WORKS!!

sylviam

I could easily get by with one or less mail deliveries a week. I already pay 95% of my bills online that are delivered to email accounts. The USPS is rapidly becoming a service most Americans no longer absolutely depend on.
When will serious dialogue begin in regards to dissolving this obsolete and overpriced program?

People don't have to pay $20 to GreenDimes to not get junk mail, they can get it for free if they go to the Direct Marketing Associations website www.the-dma.org. You can buy a lot of trees with 100% profit margins

The point is that if the USPS 1.1 Billion in the RED just for last quarter then it needs to raise the rates on this high volume mail category to appropriately account for the cost of doing business instead of forcing the 1st Class and Parcel Post customers to subsidize this junk that fills many people's trash cans. Rate hikes on pre-sort/bulk mail will do one of two things A) raise revenue to USPS to prevent the US taxpayer from making up the cost differential -or- sufficiently decrease the volume of (useless filler) mail handled to allow the USPS to reduce staffing in sorting, transportation and ultimately delivery as well so that department wide it can live within boundaries of its incoming revenue.

** IF - the USPS truly is a self sufficient business operation then it must first act like one & adjust it's pricing to fairly distribute its costs on the sector that expends the most resources. It shouldn't go around taking its marching orders from lobbyists hired by the Direct Marketing Association.

No job sector is so special or sancrosact that it deserves special dispensation to stay in operation. Not the housing industry, not Wall Street or the banking industry, CERTAINLY not the ever wasteful Military-Defense Industrial Complex and definitely NOT mail delivery!

I would totally support every other day delivery to at least residential customers. Three days a week is more than enough. obviously it all still has to be trucked and sorted so the cost reduction in labor would only apply to the "letter/junkmail" carriers.