USPS Ends Saturday Delivery

[coyotes_geek]

U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced Wednesday morning that mail delivery on Saturdays will be halted beginning in August.


The AP reports that ending Saturday delivery will save USPS $2 billion annually. The 237-year-old agency will continue to deliver packages six days a week.

link (http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/u-post-office-ends-saturday-delivery-save-itself-140127634.html;_ylt=AvFjkW4FciAeX7YbRuvQIj6iuYdG;_ ylu=X3oDMTQ0b2ZnaWc5BG1pdANGUCBUaGUgRGFpbHkgVGlja2 VyBHBrZwM4N2RjYWZhZi0xNzQ1LTNiM2EtYmZkMC0xN2U4YWFj MDlkNzIEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhU2VjdGlvbkxpc3QEdmVyA2 MxMDUyZjgzLTcwODUtMTFlMi1iYmUzLWE3NjkxYTkzMjBlMw--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3)

Long overdue IMHO.

[boutons_deux]

from what I heard on NPR, USPS is in violation of Congressional mandate to deliver 6 d/w, so it's going to be another drama vs (Repug) Congress. I suppose the Repugs will again kick the USPS in the balls, like they did with the bankruptcy-inducing forward financing of the USPS pension fund.

[coyotes_geek]

I would think continuing to deliver packages 6 days a week would satisfy the mandate. As for the pension funding, a complete non-issue. They need to forward finance their pensions like every other quasi-federal agency who offers Federal retirement benefits has to do.

[boutons_deux]

I would think continuing to deliver packages 6 days a week would satisfy the mandate. As for the pension funding, a complete non-issue. They need to forward finance their pensions like every other quasi-federal agency who offers Federal retirement benefits has to do.

no other Fed agency, nor any corporation, funds their pension through 2075 __NOW__. It's nothing but a Repug War on Employees to bust USPS and its unionized employees. Has NOTHING to do with real pension requirements.

[coyotes_geek]

The USPS is neither a federal agency nor "any corporation".

[boutons_deux]

The USPS is neither a federal agency nor "any corporation".

doesn't matter. It's being blatantly, viciously fucked by the Repugs War on Employees/Unions/Govt

[coyotes_geek]

Of course it matters. They're not part of the government but get to offer their employees governmental retirement benefits backed by the taxpayers. They need to pay for those benefits. This is not a debatable topic. If some corporation worked out a deal for the government to provide retirement benefits for that corporation's employees wouldn't you want that corporation to have to front the money to cover those benefits?

[Wild Cobra]

Of course it matters. They're not part of the government but get to offer their employees governmental retirement benefits backed by the taxpayers. They need to pay for those benefits. This is not a debatable topic. If some corporation worked out a deal for the government to provide retirement benefits for that corporation's employees wouldn't you want that corporation to have to front the money to cover those benefits?
This is true, but they have been contributing to that retirement money. The Postal service was in the black, until congress decided they must prefund 75 years in 7 years. On top of that, the Postal service had escrow accounts that congress stole, and spent at the same time. If you look at the OMB site, one of their historical documents shows the postal service money flow. Congress would cry when they were in the red, but gladly spend the money when they had excess revenue.

I believe the retirement prefunding requirement is the sole cause of the Postal service being in the red. Worse yet, there is no fund. Congress just spends it.

[Wild Cobra]

Here is what the Postal Service says:

USPS dot com link: Postal Service Announces New Delivery Schedule (http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2013/pr13_019.htm)

Six Days of Package Delivery, Five Days of Mail Delivery Begins August 2013

February 06, 2013

Release No. 13-019

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented.

“The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.”

Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However, recent strong growth in package delivery (14 percent volume increase since 2010) and projections of continued strong package growth throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain package delivery six days per week.

“Our customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an important part of that platform,” said Donahoe. “As consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services — especially due to the rise of e-commerce — we can play an increasingly vital role as a delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for America’s businesses.”

Once implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.

Market research conducted by the Postal Service and independent research by major news organizations indicate that nearly seven out of ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the organization to financial stability.¹ Support for this approach will likely be even higher since the Postal Service plans to maintain six-day package delivery.

The Postal Service is making the announcement today, more than six months in advance of implementing five-day mail delivery schedule, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule.

Given the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal Service finances.

“The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation,” said Donahoe. “The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail.”

The operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully implemented.

The Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations. During these unprecedented initiatives, the Postal Service continued to deliver record high levels of service to its customers.

While the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters outside the Postal Service’s control. The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

[boutons_deux]

Of course it matters. They're not part of the government but get to offer their employees governmental retirement benefits backed by the taxpayers. They need to pay for those benefits. This is not a debatable topic. If some corporation worked out a deal for the government to provide retirement benefits for that corporation's employees wouldn't you want that corporation to have to front the money to cover those benefits?

taxpayers guarantee Ms of pensions, like Congress, president, the entire govt.

that still doesn't justify the Repugs fucking USPS with an insane forward-pension funding requirement.

[coyotes_geek]

taxpayers guarantee Ms of pensions, like Congress, president, the entire govt.

that still doesn't justify the Repugs fucking USPS with an insane forward-pension funding requirement.

congress, president, entire govt = government employees

post office =/= government employees

[Wild Cobra]

congress, president, entire govt = government employees

post office =/= government employees
Yet is is authorized by the constitution.

Isn't it ironic?

[coyotes_geek]

This is true, but they have been contributing to that retirement money. The Postal service was in the black, until congress decided they must prefund 75 years in 7 years. On top of that, the Postal service had escrow accounts that congress stole, and spent at the same time. If you look at the OMB site, one of their historical documents shows the postal service money flow. Congress would cry when they were in the red, but gladly spend the money when they had excess revenue.

I believe the retirement prefunding requirement is the sole cause of the Postal service being in the red. Worse yet, there is no fund. Congress just spends it.

If it were up to me I'd cut all the ties between the post office and the government and let the post office do as they please. But that's not going to happen. You raise a valid point, but what congress does with the money once they get it and whether or not the post office needs to be funding their pension obligations are two separate issues.

[Wild Cobra]

If it were up to me I'd cut all the ties between the post office and the government and let the post office do as they please. But that's not going to happen. You raise a valid point, but what congress does with the money once they get it and whether or not the post office needs to be funding their pension obligations are two separate issues.
How does the government fund it's pension obligations?

[coyotes_geek]

How does the government fund it's pension obligations?

Government agencies fund the pension obligations to their employees out of whatever pile of money they're appropriated by congress.

[spursncowboys]

Mon, Wed, Fri is what they should do. Then the deliveryperson would only be a part-time job. No benefits or pension. Also I wouldn't get junk mail every day

[clambake]

Mon, Wed, Fri is what they should do. Then the deliveryperson would only be a part-time job. No benefits or pension. Also I wouldn't get junk mail every day

should do that to your job.

[Jacob1983]

This is a terrible idea and I hope it doesn't work out. Millions of Americans depend on the postal service and rely on the mail running 6 days a week. This is just another downfall of technology and how we are headed toward Wall-E. We're gonna all get fat and sit on our asses in chairs that hover above the ground and we're gonna watch tv all day and drink soda.

[TeyshaBlue]

In!

[spursncowboys]

should do that to your job.
They'll always be wars. There won't always be snail mail

[AussieFanKurt]

Absolutely has to be done tbh. USPS are doing shit, this will save good money..

[Wild Cobra]

Government agencies fund the pension obligations to their employees out of whatever pile of money they're appropriated by congress.
Exactly. There is no retirement fund, lockbox, etc. Why should the USPS have to do it differently, when it is one of the few things mandated by the constitution?

[boutons_deux]

Why We Must Rescue the U.S. Postal Service From the Brink of Death

The third and current part of the life of the post office began in 2006 with the passage of the misleadingly titled Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.


A bit of background is necessary to understand this historic piece of legislation. In 2001 the GAO placed the Postal Service on its high-risk list because of concerns about its economic future given the poor management and labor relations and increased competition from electronic mail. At the request of Congress and GAO, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducted a review of the Postal Service’s liability to the Civil Service Retirement System. Almost everyone expected OPM to discover huge liabilities. Instead, it concluded that USPS had overfunded its pension plan by more than $70 billion. In 2003, GAO raised the estimated overfunding to more than $100 billion.


In a sane world, USPS would have been able to use these funds to expand services, pay down existing debt and invest in new technology. But Washington is anything but sane. The USPS is considered part of the unified budget used for scoring purposes to estimate any legislation’s impact on the deficit. If USPS were to tap into its surplus funds it would increase the overall federal deficit.


For three years Congress debated what to do. Finally, in 2006 it passed a law that requires the Postal Service to pre-pay its health insurance fund by depositing an additional $5 billion a year for the next 10 years into the insurance fund to offset for the phantom accounting deficit under the unified budget. No other public or private agency is required to do anything remotely comparable.


In 2007, unsurprisingly, USPS suffered a $5 billion deficit. Today that deficit is over $20 billion and is used to justify the death of the post office by amputation of its work force, its processing centers and its local offices. The 2006 law also specifically prohibited USPS from offering new products that would create “an unfair or otherwise inappropriate competitive advantage for the Postal Service….”


Elaine C. Kamarck of Harvard Kennedy School of Government has observed the essential contradiction in Congress’ attitude toward the post office from the very beginning of its new life as a corporation. “Congress wants it to be self-sufficient but doesn’t want it to make money.” Kamarck continues:


“For example, in the mid-1970s, the post office was told to remove copy machines from post offices under pressure from lobbyists representing office equipment stores who feared that USPS was taking away its business. Later when the USPS initiated a 'Pack and Send' service, the outcry from Mailboxes Etc. and other private packing stores successfully challenged the service.


"Years later, when Internet shopping took off, the delivery of packages to individual households should have resulted in a dramatic increase in USPS business. But parcel shipments were generated by large organizations and the USPS was not allowed to negotiate discounts and thus lost business. It was forbidden by law from lowering prices to get more business. This resulted in the entirely incredible situation in the 1990s where the United States government negotiated an agreement for the delivery of U.S. government package services with Fed Ex because the USPS was not allowed to negotiate for lower prices!”

http://www.alternet.org/economy/why-we-must-rescue-us-postal-service-brink-death?akid=10021.187590.HWgR4u&rd=1&src=newsletter790532&t=7

[SA210]

We can spend 4 Billion every week on illegal wars and murder all over the world, bail out banks, etc...but we need USPS to close on Saturdays to save 2 billion a year lol

[coyotes_geek]

Exactly. There is no retirement fund, lockbox, etc. Why should the USPS have to do it differently, when it is one of the few things mandated by the constitution?

Because they're not a federal agency. Post office employees are not government employees. If you want to make the post office part of the government, that's a separate conversation.

[boutons_deux]

"they're not a federal agency."

But 100Ks of USPS employees were govt employees and paying int other govt pension plan before USPS was speciously privatized. It's not a private for-profit organization and Congress makes all the key USPS decisions and restrictions.

[coyotes_geek]

I'm 100% in favor of getting congress out of the USPS' decision making. The USPS should have complete autonomy and be allowed to make whatever decisions are necessary in order to be self sufficient.

Part of being self sufficient is funding their retirement benefits.

[boutons_deux]

I'm 100% in favor of getting congress out of the USPS' decision making. The USPS should have complete autonomy and be allowed to make whatever decisions are necessary in order to be self sufficient.

Part of being self sufficient is funding their retirement benefits.

" it concluded that USPS had overfunded its pension plan by more than $70 billion."

and that was before the Repugs forced USPS to pump $50B more into the fund in 10 years.

[coyotes_geek]

If that's true, then let's move all USPS employees & retirees out of the federal program, cut the USPS a check for whatever they've overpaid and let the USPS go on about it's merry way.

[boutons_deux]

If that's true, then let's move all USPS employees & retirees out of the federal program, cut the USPS a check for whatever they've overpaid and let the USPS go on about it's merry way.

Won't happen, Congress, esp Repug Congress, loves to misgovern, as part of their fundamental hate-govt ideology, and fuck things up, esp when unionized employees are the victims.

[coyotes_geek]

Pretty much anything congress involves themselves in is destined to be mismanaged. Thus my support for cutting the USPS loose.

[resistanze]

This is a terrible idea and I hope it doesn't work out. Millions of Americans depend on the postal service and rely on the mail running 6 days a week. This is just another downfall of technology and how we are headed toward Wall-E. We're gonna all get fat and sit on our asses in chairs that hover above the ground and we're gonna watch tv all day and drink soda.

Wow.

[Winehole23]

The $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill expected to clear Congress this week has a little something for just about everyone (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/politics/1-1-trillion-bill-to-avoid-federal-shutdown-covers-many-local-interests.html?hp) — except postal workers (http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/01/14/budget-pact-would-keep-saturday-mail-delivery/YLPeqkI18MsockdP1aks4I/story.html). Tucked in among the bill's 1,582 pages (http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20140113/CPRT-113-HPRT-RU00-h3547-hamdt2samdt_xml.pdf) are instructions to the U.S. Postal Service "that 6-day delivery and rural delivery of mail shall continue at not less than the 1983 level." Also, "none of the funds provided in this Act shall be used to consolidate or close small rural and other small post offices in fiscal year 2014."

That blocks for another year the USPS's bold plan (or a cry for help) from last February to end Saturday delivery (http://theweek.com/article/index/239821/will-congress-force-the-usps-to-deliver-mail-on-saturdays). Closing little-used post offices is also a perennial suggestion by the red-ink-bleeding quasi-independent government agency. The Postal Service didn't ask Congress to approve its five-day mail plan, but Congress shut it down anyway.


Last fiscal year, the USPS lost $5 billion (http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2013/pr13_087.htm). This bill handcuffs the USPS for another year, at least.


The marching orders from Congress wouldn't be so bad if lawmakers "had decided to appropriate money to keep rural post offices open" or offset the costs of Saturday delivery, says Slate's Matthew Yglesias (http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/01/14/postal_service_in_omnibus_spending_bill_congress_s hould_butt_out.html). "But Congress in its wisdom has not delivered any money."


And that pretty much encapsulates the troubled relationship between Congress and the USPS. Lawmakers want the Postal Service to run itself like a for-profit business, but they retain the right of final say over all its major business decisions. The USPS is legally obligated to serve every address in the U.S. and its territories (http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/welcome.htm), but it can't set its own prices, decide where to expand or cut its operations, or make other basic business decisions.


Members of Congress representing rural areas are especially adamant that the USPS serve their constituents. This involves maintaining money-losing post offices in places where other types of service would be more cost-effective. The push to end Saturday delivery is fine with most Americans — 71 percent, according to a CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-71-support-ending-saturday-postal-delivery/) poll last February; 80 percent (including 76 percent of rural respondents), according to an Ipsos poll (http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/welcome.htm) commissioned by the USPS. But greeting card and direct mail companies strongly oppose the move, and their lobbyists have made sure Congress knows it.


The biggest slap Congress has delivered to the USPS, though, is a 2006 decision to make the agency pre-fund its pensions for 75 years, an onerous burden not required of any other government agency, let alone adopted by any private company. Most of the USPS's losses are caused by this requirement. The other factor is the steady decline in First Class mail, as more people use the internet for routine correspondence.

http://theweek.com/article/index/255118/why-does-congress-insist-on-destroying-the-postal-service

[boutons_deux]

the "USPS DESTRUCTION ACT OF 2006":

"The PAEA stipulates that the USPS is to make payments of $5.4 - $5.8 billion into the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, each year, from 2007 to 2016 in order to prefund 50 years of estimated costs. This requirement also explicitly stated that the USPS was to stop using its savings to reduce postal debt, which was stipulated in Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act of 2003.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission#cite_note-4) This is in addition to deductions from pay for federal contribution to social services.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission#cite_note-5) This pre-funding method is unique to the USPS. In June 2011, the USPS had to suspend its weekly payment of 115 million into the fund because it had reached 8 billion dollars in debt and the retirement plan had a surplus of 6.9 billion dollars.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission#cite_note-6) The Postal Service has not made any of the pre-funding payments since that time."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission#cite_note-2

[pgardn]

This is a terrible idea and I hope it doesn't work out. Millions of Americans depend on the postal service and rely on the mail running 6 days a week. This is just another downfall of technology and how we are headed toward Wall-E. We're gonna all get fat and sit on our asses in chairs that hover above the ground and we're gonna watch tv all day and drink soda.

Hovering chairs... Hovering fat people...

Soda, check. Fat people, check. Watching TV, check. Sit on our asses, check.

Hovering chairs... Something broke out of the corral. Ohh that Wall-E.

[boutons_deux]

US govt should GTFO of USPS totally, which would mean dropping the destructive forward funding of pensions.

then USPS should add to its charter being a Euro-style gyro/postal bank, sort of a non-profit, customer-owned national credit union, with retail banking and loans with money provided as a no-profit utility rather than as for-profit wealth-sucking scam of current commercial banks.

[boutons_deux]

Here's how liberals/progressives try to help the poor:

Coming to a Post Office Near You: Loans You Can Trust?

According to a report put out this week (http://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-14-007.pdf) by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Postal Service, about 68 million Americans -- more than a quarter of all households -- have no checking or savings account and are underserved by the banking system. Collectively, these households spent about $89 billion in 2012 on interest and fees for non-bank financial services like payday loans and check cashing, which works out to an average of $2,412 per household. That means the average underserved household spends roughly 10 percent of its annual income on interest and fees -- about the same amount they spend on food.

Think about that: about 10 percent of a family's income just to manage getting checks cashed, bills paid, and, sometimes, a short-term loan to tide them over. That's more than a full month's income just to try to navigate the basics.

The poor pay more, and that's one of the reasons people get trapped at the bottom of the economic ladder.

But it doesn't have to be this way. In the same remarkable report this week, the OIG explored the possibility of the USPS offering basic banking services -- bill paying, check cashing, small loans -- to its customers. With post offices and postal workers already on the ground, USPS could partner with banks to make a critical difference for millions of Americans who don't have basic banking services because there are almost no banks or bank branches in their neighborhoods.

Families rely on financial services more than ever, but those who need them most -- who struggle to make ends meet -- too often must contend with sky-high interest rates and tricks and traps buried in the fine print of their loan products.

If the Postal Service offered basic banking services -- nothing fancy, just basic bill paying, check cashing and small dollar loans -- then it could provide affordable financial services for underserved families, and, at the same time, shore up its own financial footing. (The postal services in many other countries, it turns out, have taken steps in this direction and seen their earnings increase dramatically.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/coming-to-a-post-office-n_b_4709485.html

[Blake]

USPS Payday and Car Title Loans would be great

[boutons_deux]

USPS Payday and Car Title Loans would be great

would be lower interest rates than the payday and car tiltle loan sharks, if USPS would offer them at all.

[Blake]

Sounds like a credit union of sorts.

They may as well do it.

[boutons_deux]

Sounds like a credit union of sorts.

They may as well do it.

If USPS banking is more available to poor people than CU's, then yes, do it.

The Repugs and financial sector will block it at conception.

[boutons_deux]

If USPS banking is more available to poor people than CU's, then yes, do it.

The Repugs and financial sector will block it at conception.

The Repugs and corrupt, incompetent TBTF banks are trying to wound and close FCUs as competitors by overturning an 80-year old tax exemption.

Here's how the banks respond to the tiniest threat to their retail banking, extractive oligopoly.


Big Banks Push To End Credit Unions’ Tax-Exempt Status

Cooperatively run credit unions used by 96 million (http://www.donttaxmycreditunion.org/) Americans could lose their tax exempt status if Congress approves a proposal from big banks to tax the not-for-profit financial institutions. Behind the push to impose a tax on credit unions is the American Bankers Association (ABA) (http://www.aba.com/Pages/default.aspx), an lobbyist organization representing the $13 trillion U.S. banking industry.

Credit unions have been around for decades, but have enjoyed a sharp increase in popularity in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement — when activists urged customers to open accounts with credit unions as a way to avoid fees for bank services as well as the profit imperative weighing on for-profit corporate banks. In four of the last five fiscal quarters, credit unions have gained at least 600,000 new members, pushing the total up to 2.7 million (http://www.creditunionmagazine.com/articles/38561-strong-membership-growth-continues-at-cus) since 2012, according to a recent report by Credit Union magazine.

Big banks vs. credit unions

Despite controlling 94 percent of financial assets in the U.S., big banks have responded to the surging popularity in credit unions by turning to Congress, where they hope to pass a tax.

http://www.donttaxmycreditunion.org/big-banks-push-to-end-credit-unions-tax-exempt-status/

[boutons_deux]

The Post Office Banks on the Poor

PEOPLE like to complain about banks popping up like Starbucks on every corner these days. But in poor neighborhoods, the phenomenon is quite the opposite: Over the past couple of decades, the banks have pulled out.

Approximately 88 million people in the United States, or 28 percent of the population, have no bank account at all, or do have a bank account, but primarily rely on check-cashing storefronts, payday lenders, title lenders, or even pawnshops to meet their financial needs. And these lenders charge much more for their services than traditional banks.

The average annual income for an “unbanked” family is $25,500, and about 10 percent of that income, or $2,412, goes to fees and interest for gaining access to credit or other financial services.

But a possible solution has appeared, in the unlikely guise of the United States Postal Service. The unwieldy institution, which has essentially been self-funded since 1971, and has maxed out its $15 billion line of credit from the federal government, is in financial straits itself. But what it does have is infrastructure, with a post office in most ZIP codes, and a relationship with residents in every kind of neighborhood, from richest to poorest.

Last week, the office of the U.S.P.S. inspector general released a white paper (http://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-14-007.pdf) noting the “huge market” represented by the population that is underserved by traditional banks, and proposing that the post office get into the business of providing financial services to “those whose needs are not being met.” (I wrote a paper (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2056593##) years ago suggesting just such an idea.) Postal banking has a powerful advocate in Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, who has publicly supported the plan.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/02/08/opinion/0208OPEDhieronymus/0208OPEDhieronymus-articleInline-v2.jpg
(http://mobile.nytimes.com/images/100000002694690/2014/02/08/opinion/the-post-office-banks-on-the-poor.html?from=opinion)
(http://mobile.nytimes.com/images/100000002694690/2014/02/08/opinion/the-post-office-banks-on-the-poor.html?from=opinion)
(http://mobile.nytimes.com/images/100000002694690/2014/02/08/opinion/the-post-office-banks-on-the-poor.html?from=opinion)The U.S.P.S. — which already handles money orders for customers — envisions offering reloadable prepaid debit cards, mobile transactions, domestic and international money transfers, a Bitcoin exchange, and most significantly, small loans. It could offer credit at lower rates than fringe lenders do by taking advantage of economies of scale.

The post office has branches in many low-income neighborhoods that have long been deserted by commercial banks. And people at every level of society have a certain familiarity and comfort in the post office that they do not have in more formal banking institutions — a problem that, as a 2011 study (http://www.fdic.gov/householdsurvey/2012_unbankedreport.pdf) by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation demonstrated, can keep the poor from using even the banks that are willing to offer them services.

Many will oppose the idea of a governmental agency providing financial services. Camden R. Fine, chief executive of the Independent Community Bankers of America, has already called the post office proposal “the worst idea since the Ford Edsel.” :lol

But the federal government already provides interest-free “financial services” to the largest banks (not to mention the recent bailout funds). And this is done under an implicit social contract: The state supports and insures the banking system, and in return, banks are to provide the general population with access to credit, loans and savings. But in reality, too many are left out.

It wasn’t always this way. In 1910, President William Howard Taft established the government-backed postal savings system for recent immigrants and the poor. It lasted until 1967. The government also supported and insured credit unions and savings-and-loans specifically created to provide credit to low-income earners.

But by the 1990s, there were essentially two forms of banking: regulated and insured mainstream banks to serve the needs of the wealthy and middle class, and a Wild West of unregulated payday lenders and check-cashing joints that answer the needs of the poor — at a price.

People need credit to increase their financial prospects — that’s the theory behind government backing of student loans and mortgages. The Latin root of the word “credit” is credere — to believe. But belief is something that mainstream lenders lack when it comes to assessing the creditworthiness of the poor. And yet establishing credit not only allows individual families and communities to grow wealth, but also allows our economy to do so. Everyone benefits.

There is, of course, a certain irony in the post office, cash-strapped and maxed out on credit, looking to elbow in on the business of check-cashing and payday-loan storefronts.

And while the U.S.P.S. white paper stresses that its own offerings, rates and fees would be “more affordable,” a note of alarm is raised when it highlights the potential bonanza that providing financial services to the financially underserved could yield, stating that the result could be “major new revenue for the Postal Service” estimated at $8.9 billion a year. It’s a plan that could indeed save the post office, which last year recorded a $1 billion operating loss.

In this potential transaction between an institution and a population that are both in need, it would be wise to look back a century ago, at the last time a similar experiment was conducted.

In 1913, the chief post office inspector, Carter Keene, declared that the postal savings system was not meant to yield a profit: “Its aim is infinitely higher and more important. Its mission is to encourage thrift and economy among all classes of citizens.” Any benefit to the post office’s bottom line should not come at the expense of those who can least afford it.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/08/opinion/the-post-office-banks-on-the-poor.html?from=opinion

[Wild Cobra]

I don't think it will ever happen, not unless the federal government stops extorting money from the USPS, and lets them profit on it. Looks like another way top make them fail.

[boutons_deux]

Elizabeth Warren's Postal Banking Idea Has Big Public Support, New Poll Finds

Many Americans say they would support the U.S. Postal Service expanding into basic banking and financial services and would sometimes use those services if they were available, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll (https://today.yougov.com/news/2014/02/10/poll-results-post-office-bank/).


Expanding post office services to include banking was recently explored in a report by the Postal Service inspector general (http://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-14-007.pdf), and is backed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/coming-to-a-post-office-n_b_4709485.html) as a way to bring affordable basic banking services to low-income neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are often ignored by banks and served only by check cashers and payday lenders that charge high fees.

According to the new poll, 44 percent of Americans said they would favor the Postal Service offering basic financial services like bill-paying, check-cashing and small loans. Thirty-seven percent said they were opposed, and 19 percent said they weren't sure.

The survey also found that more Americans have a favorable opinion of the Postal Service than they do of banks, check cashers or payday lenders. Opinion of the Postal Service was about on par with that of credit unions.

A post office expansion into banking services would improve existing options, a plurality of Americans believe. The poll found people were more likely to say that a Postal Service expansion into basic financial services would provide healthy competition to existing services (47 percent) than say the post office would have an unfair advantage (17 percent).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/13/post-office-banking-_n_4776767.html

[boutons_deux]

10 Ways The Post Office Could Save the Economy and Change Our Lives

Ever since the inspector general of the U.S. Postal Service authored a white paper (http://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-14-007.pdf) [3] endorsing the concept of postal banking, more advocates and policymakers have become intrigued. Postal banking (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116374/postal-service-banking-how-usps-can-save-itself-and-help-poor) [4] is actually an old idea (http://www.psmag.com/bus) [5]: Dozens of countries offer simple financial services through their posts, and here in America, Postal Savings Accounts served millions of customers from 1911-1967 (the post office still sells money orders today). But it could also fix a number of our current problems simultaneously, even ones you haven’t thought about. Here are 10 different applications of postal banking, in order from most to least obvious:

1) Financial inclusion for low-income Americans.The most recent data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shows that about 10 million households are “unbanked,” with no access to traditional financial services. Another 24 million are “underbanked,” meaning they have a bank account but still use alternative services like check cashing stores, pawnbrokers or payday lenders. The unbanked and underbanked represent over one in four households in the U.S. In many cases they literally can’t find a bank in their communities; 93 percent of all bank branch closings since 2008 have come in ZIP codes where the average household income is below the median level. By offering basic financial services – an ATM card, an interest-bearing savings account, even potentially small loans – the Postal Service can give millions stable access to banking, a critical component of our modern society. Try renting a car, obtaining health insurance on healthcare.gov or even getting a job without a bank account.

2) Reducing inequality and boosting the economy. Unbanked and underbanked Americans pay a hefty price for their lack of access. According to the Postal Service IG report, the average household spends $2,412 a year on interest and fees for alternative financial services. This is about one-tenth of their gross income, going right into the corporate accounts of unscrupulous and predatory operations. If the post office can deliver these services at a dramatic discount, they could save families thousands of dollars, and drive the conglomerates that prey on these communities out of business. Not only does this fit with the regulatory imperative of protecting Americans from financial abuse, it gives them breathing room to pay for necessities, putting the money back into the economy. People who filed for bankruptcy in 2012 were just $26 a month short of meeting their expenses. Discounted financial services could fill that gap, lifting many Americans out of desperation and stretching their income.

3) Stabilizing the Postal Service. We should be careful with trying to balance the books of the post office on the backs of the working poor. But the good news is that the Postal Service’s finances are not as dire as advertised – most of the recent shortfall comes from them having to pre-fund retirement benefits (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/28/330524/postal-non-crisis-post-office-save-itself/) [6] 75 years out, something no public agency or private business has to do – and the modest income earned from basic banking services can merely help keep them flush. It’s a far better alternative than mass layoffs (http://blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-times-blog/2014/01/14/c) [7] and branch closures at the nation’s second-largest civilian employer, which allows hundreds of thousands of families a union job and a ladder into the middle class. Post offices already have the critical physical infrastructure to serve these communities – 58 percent of their branches are in ZIP codes with one bank branch or fewer. Offering banking will ensure the Postal Service keeps those branches and survives long into the future.

4) A better way to deliver federal benefits. Did you know that Social Security benefits no longer get distributed via check? State and federal agencies, to save money and promote convenience, have started to deliver benefits through direct deposit, or for those without a bank account, through electronic benefits transfers (EBT) onto debit cards. Predictably, big banks pick up this business (http://prospect.org/article/how-big-banks-are-cashing-food-stamps) [8] and charge high fees for beneficiaries to access food stamps or unemployment insurance. With postal banking, federal benefits could get loaded onto Postal ATM Cards at no additional cost, saving the government and beneficiaries money. Moreover, the unbanked would have an easy way to access their benefits.

5) A savings vehicle for the poor.President Obama tried to address the problem of inadequate savings for retirement with myRA, a savings system deducted from paychecks that earns a modest rate of return without risk of loss. I’ve written (http://www.sal/) [9] about how myRA doesn’t really do much to solve the retirement crisis. More important, myRA accounts over $15,000 must get rolled over into a Roth IRA, subjecting that money to the vicissitudes of the market and the Wall Street financial advisers who charge exorbitant fees for the privilege. The Postal Service could offer the exact same savings account as myRA, without having to roll it over. This at least promotes savings that could be used in an emergency or as a modest aid in retirement.

6) Bringing immigrants into society.Historical data shows that the old Postal Savings System was most popular with recent immigrants, who had experience doing their banking at postal branches in their countries. Currently, immigrants take advantage of the post office for money orders and “Dinero Seguro (http://about.usps.com/news/state-releases/ma/2013/ct-ma_2013_0320.htm) [10],” an electronic money transfer service to nine Latin American countries. Adding postal banking could really cater to these communities by hooking up with other global postal systems. The International Financial System of the Universal Postal Union includes over 60 countries, making it simple and cheap to transfer funds electronically from one country to another. International money transfers from the U.S. rose to $51 billion in 2012, and the Postal Service is well-positioned to facilitate this. Immigrants using a government agency could bring them closer into U.S. society and ease the hardships of our immigration system.

7) Preventing identity fraud.The recent data breaches at Target have revealed a shocking truth (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116236/credit-card-magnetic-stripes-are-putting-you-risk-ide) [11] – America has the worst payment security system in the world, and as a result, over half of the world’s identity theft happens here. Unlike most developed countries, U.S. credit and debit cards have a magnetic stripe, instead of the more secure “chip-and-PIN” system (where cards have a microchip in them, and customers have to use a PIN number at the point of sale). If you read the excuses from major banks (http://www.franken.senate.gov/files/documents/140214EMVResponseLetters.pdf) [12] about why they haven’t upgraded this outdated system, you’ll see a lot of finger-pointing at retailers who don’t have the proper card readers. In reality, banks just don’t want to pay for the upgrade of issuing new cards and the customer service (http://www.salon.com/2014/02/26/the_post_office_can_save_america_10_ways_postal_ba nking_can_fix_some_of_societys_worst_problems/%22) [13] of dealing with forgotten PIN numbers. The Postal Service, with no old debit cards to retire, could immediately use chip-and-PIN systems and force the upgrade the country needs.

8) Modernizing the payment system. Hey, forget credit and debit cards; that’s old technology. Countries like Kenya have successfully experimented (http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-expl) [14] with mobile payments, making transferring money as simple as sending a text message. Benefiting from starting from scratch, the Postal Service could integrate accounts with mobile seamlessly, enabling convenient payments through smartphones for everything from utility bills to the corner store. Our current payment system is slow (http://shamirkarkal.blogspot.com/2014/01/ach-is-bad-but-banks-are-worse.html) [15]; it takes days for a check or debit card transaction to clear when with mobile payments it could take minutes, and banks refuse to upgrade (http://digitaltransactions.net/news/story/3627) [16] the system (notice a pattern?). The Postal Service could serve as the backbone for a new system that would improve payments for individuals and small businesses.

9) Safeguarding personal data.Like every other business in America, banks sell your personal information to advertisers and use your data as a profit center. This is one way that predatory lenders target low-income communities, finding their leads through personal financial data. With postal banking, your information is likely to be protected (http://mattstoller.tumblr.com/post/74857675831) [17] by the Privacy Act of 1974, which applies to all government agencies. This would be perhaps the first legitimate halt to the mass big data grab that infects practically everything we do these days, and it would help prevent deceptive credit practices by denying crooked businesses the information they need to target people.

10) Ending recessions. Truly. Postal banking would integrate well with the concept of giving everyone with a Social Security number an ATM account with the Federal Reserve (http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2816849869001?bckey=AQ%7E%7E,AAAACofWkTk%7E) [18], instead of intermediating it through a commercial bank. The physical ATMs could be at any of the 35,000 postal branches nationwide (or through their mobile-enabled postal account). Rajiv Sehti, an economics professor at Barnard College and Columbia University, explains (http://rajivsethi.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-payments-system-and-monetary.html) [19] that this would allow the Fed to directly target economic downturns. When the economy lags, the Fed could place a few hundred dollars in everyone’s account, with the proviso that it gets spent immediately. That would offer an immediate and timely Keynesian stimulus, paid for by normal Fed operations (the Fed made $79.5 billion last year alone). Conducting monetary policy this way would do a lot more to help Main Street than the current quantitative easing, which raises asset prices and helps mostly the wealthy.

This menu of possibilities for postal banking makes it extremely attractive, along with the fact that, according to the inspector general report, the Postal Service may explore it under its existing authority, rather than having to hope for an act of Congress. The Postal Service Board of Governors (http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116558/postal-service-banking-relies-obama-use-his-appointment-powers) [20] can begin this process tomorrow by starting some pilot programs. New Board of Governors nominee Vicki Kennedy (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/198274-obama-taps-kennedy-widow-for-postal-board) [21] (Ted’s widow) can follow in her family’s footsteps by improving the lives of millions of ordinary Americans through postal banking, the Swiss army knife of public policy.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/10-ways-post-office-could-save-economy-and-change-our-lives?akid=11562.187590.5BDdO-&rd=1&src=newsletter965373&t=6

[Wild Cobra]

LOL...

What a stupid article.

Did you know the Postal Service plans to increase revenues with Sunday deliveries?

[angrydude]

I'm glad I never have to go to alternet because boutons reposts every damn article they ever put up.

[boutons_deux]

If Congress Doesn’t Act In The Next Month, It Could Be The End Of The Postal Service As We Know It (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/11/18/3593389/congress-postal-service/)

If Congress does not pass legislation that would save the Postal Service (http://thehill.com/policy/finance/224274-postal-service-pleads-for-help) from financial collapse before the end of its current session, the future of the country’s mail service will be in the hands of a senator who opposes government unions and thinks the Postal Service should be privatized.

In January, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is slated to take over as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the federal workforce and the entire Postal Service. Johnson has said that the Postal Service should go through a bankruptcy process (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/senate-chairman-to-be-will-rile-federal-workforce-with-controversial-views/2014/11/09/29f66d92-67a6-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html) that would result in a downsized, private corporation that would lose the benefits of governmental oversight and regulation. It could also allow the revised entity to terminate or substantially modify its contracts (http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20141110/MGMT04/311100010/Incoming-oversight-chair-eyes-Postal-Service-bankruptcy-cutting-job-protections), including its collective bargaining agreements with various postal unions.

Last year, Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) introduced the Postal Reform Act of 2014 (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/07/2427271/senators-postal-service/) which would restructure the needless requirement that the agency pre-fund 75 years’ worth of employee health benefits, a demand no other businesses or institutions face. The bill would also allow for a gradual end to Saturday mail service if financially necessary, as well as the eventual termination of door-to-door service, but would not mandate either of these steps.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/11/18/3593389/congress-postal-service/

Looks like Repugs, having screwed USPS under dubya by the 75-year pension contributions, will finally destroy USPS, screw its employees and their pensions, and screw their stupid, ignorant, masochistic rural voters who use, and work for, rural USPS's a lot.

[tlongII]

Just another example of inefficient government tbh.

[boutons_deux]

Just another example of inefficient government tbh.

frickin bullshit

excellent example of Repugs using govt power to destroy political foes, and enrich Repugs' paymasters.

[velik_m]

Elizabeth Warren's Postal Banking Idea Has Big Public Support, New Poll Finds

Many Americans say they would support the U.S. Postal Service expanding into basic banking and financial services and would sometimes use those services if they were available, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll (https://today.yougov.com/news/2014/02/10/poll-results-post-office-bank/).


Expanding post office services to include banking was recently explored in a report by the Postal Service inspector general (http://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2014/rarc-wp-14-007.pdf), and is backed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/coming-to-a-post-office-n_b_4709485.html) as a way to bring affordable basic banking services to low-income neighborhoods. Those neighborhoods are often ignored by banks and served only by check cashers and payday lenders that charge high fees.

According to the new poll, 44 percent of Americans said they would favor the Postal Service offering basic financial services like bill-paying, check-cashing and small loans. Thirty-seven percent said they were opposed, and 19 percent said they weren't sure.

The survey also found that more Americans have a favorable opinion of the Postal Service than they do of banks, check cashers or payday lenders. Opinion of the Postal Service was about on par with that of credit unions.

A post office expansion into banking services would improve existing options, a plurality of Americans believe. The poll found people were more likely to say that a Postal Service expansion into basic financial services would provide healthy competition to existing services (47 percent) than say the post office would have an unfair advantage (17 percent).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/13/post-office-banking-_n_4776767.html



One thing to keep in mind with postal offices doing the banking is the security angle. In my country post offices are often target of robberies because of their sub-standard security.

[tlongII]

frickin bullshit

excellent example of Repugs using govt power to destroy political foes, and enrich Repugs' paymasters.

Bullshit. The government is ALWAYS the least efficient way of providing services.

[boutons_deux]

Bullshit. The government is ALWAYS the least efficient way of providing services.

wait 'til you see how your blind ideology, faith-based delusions deliver for-profit postal service at MUCH HIGHER PRICES and much shittier service, and needing $Bs in taxpayer subsidies.

[tlongII]

wait 'til you see how your blind ideology, faith-based delusions deliver for-profit postal service at MUCH HIGHER PRICES and much shittier service, and needing $Bs in taxpayer subsidies.

Horseshit. Who do you think subsidizes USPS currently?

[boutons_deux]

Horseshit. Who do you think subsidizes USPS currently?

dogshit. USPS is being bankrupted by the Repugs' 75-year pension death obligation. USPS would be in good shape if they didn't have to top up their pension fund for decades in advance.

[boutons_deux]

The Postal Service Wants You to Bank at Your Post Office


Elizabeth Warren would like to change the way you bank.

The Massachusetts Senator and consumer advocate firebrand may not be running for president. But her backing of the U.S. Postal Service's plan to begin offering budget-priced banking services to U.S. savers could remake the American landscape regardless.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

In May, USPS admitted to losing $1.5 billion (https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2015/pr15_024.htm) in its most recent fiscal quarter. If the losses keep up at this rate, the Post Office's budget deficit could surpass last year's $5.5 billion loss, and swell into a $6 billion annual deficit. Last month, though, the USPS Office of Inspector General refloated an idea to close the Post Office's budget gap. Simply put, the Post Office should turn itself into a bank.



Not entirely, of course. Under the Inspector General's plan (https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-15-011.pdf), backed by Sen. Warren, USPS would still deliver mail and such. But it would also begin expanding the kinds of financial services it offers, permitting "unbanked" and "underbanked" customers to take out small loans, cash checks, pay bills, and open savings accounts -- all at their local post office. According to the Inspector General, entering this market could help USPS reap as much as $10 billion in annual revenue -- and close its budget gap with a resounding snap.


Even just expanding the financial services the Post Office already offers, by adding electronic wire transfers and ATMs to existing offerings of selling paper money orders and prepaid cards, and executing international money transfers, could raise as much as $1.1 billion in additional revenues for USPS.

An Idea Whose Time Came a Year Ago ...

USPS actually first voiced this suggestion early last year (when it was promptly and publicly taken up by Sen. Warren (http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/post-office-plan-unbanked-payday-lending/)). Back then, Warren explained that 68 million Americans currently have no active checking accounts, yet still need the kinds of banking services associated with such accounts. To get these services, they pay through the nose.

According to Warren, banks and -- in particular -- payday loan and check cashing stores, charge unbanked customers "an average of $2,412 per household" annually for ordinary financial services. The Senator notes that "the average underserved household spends roughly 10 percent of its annual income on interest and fees -- about the same amount they spend on food."

What It Means to Them

This means that in one fell swoop, expanding financial services offerings at post offices could both solve USPS's chronic budget deficit and prevent millions of Americans from being overcharged for basic banking services.

No longer would the "unbanked" be stuck paying high monthly service fees (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/11/16/no-free-checking-avoid-bank-fees/) to maintain a bank checking account with a too-low balance, or even higher costs (http://www.dailyfinance.com/on/pentagon-declares-war-payday-lenders/) for small loans from a payday lender. These low-margin activities, too unprofitable for many banks to bother with them, could be offered at the post office instead. As a side benefit, these folks would then have thousands of extra dollars a year to spend on things they actually want to spend their money on, helping to grow the economy.

What It Means to You

Of course, if you already have a bank account, you may think USPS's plan is interesting, but not really relevant to you. It could become relevant, however.

In recent months, we've seen multiple stories of traditional banks closing down their physical branches to cut costs and take advantage of the cheapness of online banking. SNL Financial reports 332 bank closures across the U.S. in the first quarter of 2015. One single bank, JPMorgan Chase (JPM (http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nyse/jpm)), says it's planning to close 300 branches over the next two years.

Assuming this trend continues, finding a physical branch of your bank at which you can cash a check or get a money order when you need it could become increasingly difficult. Knowing that the local post office can help you out, on the other hand, could turn increasingly attractive.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/06/23/post-office-banking/

USPS as retail banker is a fantastic idea, would really help Ms of poor and/or rural red staters, but of course the financial industry and their whore Repugs will kill it, just as the Repugs/VRWC have been killing the USPS with the 75-year forward pension financing (while BigCorp themselves under finance their pension funds).

[CosmicCowboy]

If they are spending $2412 a year for banking services why the fuck don't they get a checking account at a bank?

[CosmicCowboy]

dogshit. USPS is being bankrupted by the Repugs' 75-year pension death obligation. USPS would be in good shape if they didn't have to top up their pension fund for decades in advance.

If they are promising to pay pensions for decades in advance they need to be putting away the funds to do it. I just wish ALL public pension plans were required to do the same thing.

[boutons_deux]

If they are promising to pay pensions for decades in advance they need to be putting away the funds to do it. I just wish ALL public pension plans were required to do the same thing.

then why didn't the Repugs make a FEDERAL law that all private pension funds had to be fully funded for decades in advance?

Why did Repugs pick on USPS? Ideology: govt WAS a govt operation and must be destroyed, and USPS had to destroyed which would bust USPS union.

[boutons_deux]

If they are spending $2412 a year for banking services why the fuck don't they get a checking account at a bank?

Probably a cultural bias.

Poor people, esp blacks, often don't trust institutions.

For others, it could a anti-bank prejudice from the history of their grandparents losing their homes to the banks in the 1930s.

In many rural areas, the local PO is key part of the economic and social life. If its position were enhanced and solidified by offering FREE checking, small loans at reasonable rates, etc. all good for the rural life. But the Repugs are sure to fuck the rurals like they always do.

Obviously, Warren, hated by the banks, and USPS, hated by VRWC/Repugs, have too good of an idea for America, so postal banking is dead.

[cantthinkofanything]

The U.S. Postal Service - "you can't trust us with your mail, so trust us with your money"

[boutons_deux]

The U.S. Postal Service - "you can't trust us with your mail, so trust us with your money"

You had problems with mail delivery, lost mail?

didja know that under international banking law, including USA, banks can STEAL your deposits to remain solvent?

[cantthinkofanything]

You had problems with mail delivery, lost mail?

didja know that under international banking law, including USA, banks can STEAL your deposits to remain solvent?

mail was running perfectly until...yes...Obama became president.

Unlikely scenario your second comment.

[boutons_deux]

mail was running perfectly until...yes...Obama became president.

Unlikely scenario your second comment.

What did Obama do the USPS? Was it worse than Repugs' their 75-year pension-pre-funding?

Just wait for the next INEVITABLE systemic Banksters crisis, for the your "unlikely-ness"

[cantthinkofanything]

What did Obama do the USPS? Was it worse than Repugs' their 75-year pension-pre-funding?

Just wait for the next INEVITABLE systemic Banksters crisis, for the your "unlikely-ness"

There is no telling what this shadow government has done to the USPS. It's all in documents kept private from the U.S. citizens.

[boutons_deux]

There is no telling what this shadow government has done to the USPS. It's all in documents kept private from the U.S. citizens.

:lol typical fact-less, faith-based, paranoid rightwingnut "thinking"

[Wild Cobra]

If they are promising to pay pensions for decades in advance they need to be putting away the funds to do it. I just wish ALL public pension plans were required to do the same thing.
Problem is, since the postal service is not a government tax payer expense, but uses the same government retirement system, congress is just taking the money in as revenue, and spending it.

There are no funds put away anywhere. The Postal Service did have funds before congress changed that law, but congress confiscated that too.


then why didn't the Repugs make a FEDERAL law that all private pension funds had to be fully funded for decades in advance?

Why did Repugs pick on USPS? Ideology: govt WAS a govt operation and must be destroyed, and USPS had to destroyed which would bust USPS union.
No, it was just a money grab by congress, trying to bleed the USPS for more money.

[Wild Cobra]

What did Obama do the USPS? Was it worse than Repugs' their 75-year pension-pre-funding?

Just wait for the next INEVITABLE systemic Banksters crisis, for the your "unlikely-ness"

Didn't Obama sign the law?

[boutons_deux]

Problem is, since the postal service is not a government tax payer expense, but uses the same government retirement system, congress is just taking the money in as revenue, and spending it.

There are no funds put away anywhere. The Postal Service did have funds before congress changed that law, but congress confiscated that too.


No, it was just a money grab by congress, trying to bleed the USPS for more money.

confiscate?

doesn't USPS "lend" money to the general fund like SocSec does, but buying T bonds?

[Wild Cobra]

confiscate?

doesn't USPS "lend" money to the general fund like SocSec does, but buying T bonds?
Not to my knowledge. I have seen from the OMB records, money in and out of the general fund, but the USPS used to have their own savings funds as well, not attached to the government. They are now wiped out.

I wouldn't be too quick to blame republicans. The law was passed in 2006, under Bush's watch. however, in both the house and senate, it was passed by voice vote. Neither side requested a recorded vote. Seems democrats wanted this too, without being blamed.

[boutons_deux]

Didn't Obama sign the law?

"The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) - H.R. 6407[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission#cite_note-2)[3] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission#cite_note-3) enacted on December 20, 2006,"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Regulatory_Commission

It was a Repug "screw-the-USPS and its union" Act

[boutons_deux]

Bernie Sanders's Highly Sensible Plan to Turn Post Offices Into Banks

Sanders:


If you are a low-income person, it is, depending upon where you live, very difficult to find normal banking. Banks don’t want you. And what people are forced to do is go to payday lenders who charge outrageously high interest rates. You go to check-cashing places, which rip you off. And, yes, I think that the postal service, in fact, can play an important role in providing modest types of banking service to folks who need it.



In fact, Sanders’s idea is quite sensible. “Postal banking”—which just means that post offices run savings accounts, cash checks, and perform other basic financial services—is common in most of Asia and Europe, and only about 7 percent (http://www.uniglobalunion.org/sites/default/files/pictures/post/globalpanoramafinancial_inclusion_-upu_-en.pdf) of the world’s national postal systems don’t offer some bank-like services. Postal banking is a really good way to reach people who haven’t had access to standard savings accounts. One estimate (http://www.uniglobalunion.org/sites/default/files/pictures/post/globalpanoramafinancial_inclusion_-upu_-en.pdf) figures that more than 1 billion people have used post offices for making deposits.

The reason why this would be so useful in the U.S. is that somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of the population has to rely on check-cashing or payday-lending services, which in some places charge usurious rates that send people into spirals of recurring debt (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/debt-black-families/409756/). Mehrsa Baradaran, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law and the author of How the Other Half Banks, touched on the promise of postal banking in a book excerpt published in The Atlantic last week (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/if-the-us-government-treated-poor-people-as-well-as-it-treats-banks/410614/):


The basic idea of modern postal banking is a public bank offering a wide range of transaction services, including financial transactions, remittance, savings accounts, and small lending. These institutions would remain affordable because of economies of scale and because of the existing postal infrastructure in the U.S. Plus, in the absence of shareholders, they would not be driven to seek profits and could sell services at cost.


http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/bernie-sanders-lets-turn-post-offices-into-banks/411589/

[SpursforSix]

^hmmm....sounds familiar...yessss....

Elizabeth Warren Has A Radical Plan To Remake The Post Office


http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-wants-to-turn-post-offices-into-banks-2014-2

[boutons_deux]

^hmmm....sounds familiar...yessss....

Elizabeth Warren Has A Radical Plan To Remake The Post Office


http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-wants-to-turn-post-offices-into-banks-2014-2

yep, both hippie socialists want to block payday lenders from screwing poor people. Repugs will kill the idea and defend payday lenders/BigBanks

[boutons_deux]

Secret Document Exposes USPS Privatization Planning

A document unearthed in proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reveals why the APWU is adamant that the Postal Service’s deal with Staples – and others like it – must be stopped.

The March 26, 2012, document exposes the secret privatization recommendation a Postal Service consultant made to USPS management: Eliminate most retail facilities throughout the country, along with the work of APWU employees.

The document is covered by a “protective order” (http://www.apwu.org/sites/apwu/files/news-attachments/Staples%20-%20NLRB%20Protective%20Order.pdf) that prohibits its disclosure, but the Administrative Law Judge presiding over the case has ruled that the contents can be summarized and brought out from behind the veil of secrecy.

As described by the judge in his order, the document reveals that the Postal Service’s consultant made a number of proposals to the USPS, including that the

Postal Service invest in high-traffic Postal Service locations and that it eliminate the majority of the standard-volume Postal Service locations and migrate that work to retail partners that are not staffed by APWU members.

The judge’s order says, “The document was not prepared by the [USPS] and does not, on its face, reveal whether the [USPS] adopted any of the proposals contained in it.”

As the APWU sees it, the deal with Staples is consistent with this recommendation.

“The USPS claim that the Staples deal is about providing customers with better access is a hoax. It is clearly a privatization scheme to transfer postal services – and our work – to the private sector,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said.

“This document proves we are on the right track and should double down to stop this dirty deal in its tracks. Continue the boycott of Staples and Quill.com and continue to encourage our co-workers, families and friends to do the same.”

http://www.apwu.org/news/web-news-article/secret-document-exposes-usps-privatization-planning?can_id=a457ded7768cc48bcad7225a181b8042&source=email-say-no-to-postal-privatization&email_referrer=say-no-to-postal-privatization&email_subject=say-no-to-postal-privatization&link_id=2

[boutons_deux]

Even being SCREWED by Repug REGULATION that USPS fund their pension NOW through 2075:

USPS’ results for Oct. & Nov.: $772M operating profit

https://www.nalc.org/news/research-and-economics/economics/usps-results-for-oct-nov-772m-operating-profit?can_id=a457ded7768cc48bcad7225a181b8042&source=email-say-no-to-postal-privatization&email_referrer=say-no-to-postal-privatization&email_subject=say-no-to-postal-privatization&link_id=3

[Winehole23]

US to withdraw from Universal Postal Union?

Updating China's terminal fees (last set in 1969) to reflect its current status as a developed country were well enough, but, supposing no deal be reached, one wonders what effect the US withdrawing would have on small US vendors, US military overseas and US expats.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-to-leave-global-postal-union-next-month
https://www.americansabroad.org/news/potential-effects-of-us-withdrawal-from-the-universal-postal-union-for-us-citizens-overseas/
https://www.lawfareblog.com/withdrawal-universal-postal-union-guide-perplexed
https://www.channelfutures.com/security/usps-leaving-international-mail-union-set-to-disrupt-u-s-elections

[Winehole23]

Will a big part of Etsy and eBay go poof?

Will expats and US troops have trouble voting?

[koriwhat]

Will a big part of Etsy and eBay go poof?

gay wristbands and knockoff products? good riddance!

[Winehole23]

gay wristbands and knockoff products? good riddance!Small US businesses, why should anyone worry?

[koriwhat]

Small US businesses, why should anyone worry?

i'm all for small businesses no doubt. i'm also for sarcasm but whatever... :tu