RoadFish.com men’s lifestyle and finance magazine turned its attention recently to a critical financial situation occurring within the United States Postal Service. The USPS is reportedly losing up to $25 million per day, and the Postmaster General is proposing to close up to 3,700 post offices around the nation which would mean elimination 28,000 jobs for postal workers.
William La Jeunesse reported for Fox News that as it stands, the USPS has lost over $25 billion on the past five years and already is facing a projected loss of $14.1 billion for 2012 alone. There are several opinions about how such a critical issue should be solved.
The Senate recently approved a bill known as The 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011, which would set aside $34 billion in federal funds to go towards the USPS and helping them to trim costs. The bill would go against what the Postmaster General is proposing however, which is to close 3,700 post offices around the country and to eliminate around 28,000 jobs. The USPS is also pushing to end overnight delivery for first-class mail and to do away with Saturday mail delivery. The bill would prevent these proposed delivery changes and would effectively disable the Postmaster General from closing the proposed post offices.
The article includes a quote from Republican Representative Dennis Ross of Florida, who stated, “If the post office was a business, it would be in bankruptcy. It’s insolvent.” La Jeunesse reports that the USPS has been asking Congress to allow them to make budget cuts through office closings and laying off employees for years, and Congress has been denying these requests. La Jeunesse writes that the USPS has a timeline on their inability to close post offices and make other cuts, and the deadline is May 15th. So without a compromise between the House and the Senate, the USPS could be announcing office closings as early as May 16th when their moratorium ends. Ross is quoted as saying, “Over the last six years, the Postal Service lost 25 percent of their revenues. We as a Congress have to look at the fact that the post office is not in the 21st century. It’s still 50 years behind and we have to bring it up, modernize it and allow it to take advantage of market trends.”
RoadFish.com’s Senior staff writer is quoted as saying, “I always knew this day would come. It’s the age of technology, and a lot of it eliminates the need for snail mail. People are able to accomplish most of what they need to do faster by means of computers and cell phones. I pay all my bills online, I bank electronically, I even have an app on my phone that takes a picture of something, converts it into PDF, and then allows me to email or text that document. It’s both sad and revolutionary, but it’s seeming that we are becoming too technologically advanced to need quite so many US Postal services.”
According to the above-mentioned Fox News article, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe states that the Senate’s moratorium and bill are preventing him from saving approximately $20 billion. A political blog posted on theWashington Post by Joe Davidson likewise disagrees with the Senate legislation surrounding the USPS’ financial issues. The USPS Board of Governors Chairman Thurgood Marshall Jr. stated at a board meeting on Friday, “When we ask whether the legislation puts the Postal Service back on a path to financial stability, the bottom line is that the Senate bill does not provide the Postal Service with the flexibility and speed that it needs to have a sustainable business model.”
RoadFish.com is torn between sparing millions of taxpayers’ dollars in the proposed Senate bill, and laying off thousands of American postal workers through closing hundreds of postal offices. RoadFish.com’s Senior staff writer is quoted saying, “I believe that in looking at what is the greatest good for the greatest number of people, it would be scaling back on USPS services and some offices. I wish there could be a compromise, so that fewer offices could be closed and more jobs could be spared. But if the Senate’s bill goes through, taxpayers all over the country will feel the pinch. Many of these are people who are struggling to pay down debt, whose credit scores have taken a blow from the recession, and a tax increase would not fare them well. It is a sad situation, but it is reflective of where we as a nation stand from a technology viewpoint.”
The above-mentioned Washington Post blog includes a statement made by Postmaster General Donahoe at Friday’s board meeting stating, “We need to eliminate excess mail processing capacity. We need to rethink how we manage our retail footprint. We need to manage our health-care costs better. If we can gain the flexibility to move quickly in these areas, we can return to profitability.” The above Fox News article reports that Donahue has a news conference scheduled for Wednesday to address the May 15th moratorium and the various options for the USPS.
{PR Web/Matzav.com Newscenter}
