The U.S. Postal Service has about 170,000 too many employees and pays them about 30% too much, according to four major mailers groups.
“The notion that the Postal Service operates at the frontier of efficiency—and can do nothing further to reduce costs—is refuted by the record,” they wrote in a joint filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission last week.
The Magazine Publishers of America, Direct Marketing Association, the Association for Postal Commerce, and the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers are objecting to the Postal Service’s renewed attempt to get PRC approval for “exigent” (above-inflation) rate increases early next year. (See USPS Seeks Special January Rate Increases for more information about USPS's request.)
The four associations accused the Postal Service of “portraying itself as a pitiful, helpless giant, essentially powerless to reduce its non-exigent costs or deal with their causes.”
“The non-exigent circumstances that are the primary causes of the Postal Service’s recent losses,” the four told the PRC on July 25, “include (1) an oversized network of undersized and obsolete mail processing facilities; (2) a labor compensation premium of approximately 30 percent; (3) a workforce that is approximately 30 percent too large for the Postal Service’s workload; (4) the long-term migration of communications from mail to the internet; (5) the requirement imposed by PAEA § 803 [postal reform legislation] to prefund retiree health care obligations by over $5 billion per year; and (6) the overfunding of the Postal Service’s pension obligations.”
With more than 560,000 career employees, the Postal Service would have to cut about 170,000 to downsize by 30%. The mailers’ groups did not specify where the excess employees are, but in the past the industry has pointed out an overreliance on manual processing, the plethora of post offices and sorting facilities, and the many layers of supervisors and managers.
USPS management and postal unions agree with the mailers on points 5 and 6. But, unlike the postal people, the mailers also see a positive in the postal-reform law -- its inflation-based price cap that has spurred cost cutting the past few years.
“Regulated monopolies in the process of emerging from cost-of-service regulation typically claim (and often believe) that they are already at the cutting edge of efficiency. But they typically have not eliminated all avoidable [in]efficiencies, in ways that are hard for regulators to ferret out. That is precisely why index ratemaking has gained such appeal among regulators in recent years.”
They also quote PRC Commissioner Dan Blair’s statement last year that “Congress adopted a price cap system as a means of forcing the Postal Service to engage in more efficient behavior. Evidence of this more efficient behavior can be found in the Postal Service’s efforts to trim more than $6 billion in costs during 2009. Were it not for the discipline the price cap imposes, I doubt the Service would have achieved such significant cost reductions.”
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50 comments:
Ask the PMG to list, without names, the salaries, including overtime, paid to the top 10 letter carriers in 2010.
This in a declining volume environment.
Ask the PMG to list the total amount of money spent on arbitration awards and costs due to untrained and overpaid management who insist on shooting first and asking questions later
One manager per eleven workers! get rid of the folks who don't touch the mail and you've got real savings. While the craft workforce shrinks, L'Enfant continues to grow.It's time for and ESOP. Let the workers make the service succed or fail. Postal managers seem incapable of doing anything but cut services.
The Postal Service has reduced their compliment of employees and they are definitely overstaffed in the management portion.
The pay is less and has been negotiated to be less in fact they have a three tier pay system for now employees and the way it is going may soon have a 5 or 6 tier system where new employees are paid considerably less than the senior employees which will be retiring withing the next 5 years.
I do agree that greivances are very costly to the Postal Service.
The management is good at blaming rather than finding a cause or solution.
Yes, contractual grievances and lawsuits cost the PO milions upon millions. Managers should be held accountable for their own violations to stop this vivious circle. Take away the huge salary and benefit packages enjoyed by the execs; credit cards, travel, prof.sports tickets, homes, timeshares, cars,Pay for Performance bonuses and awards,etc. There is no way they should be treating themselves like kings. We are a SERVICE. Carriers are out till 6 or 7 o'clock at night because there are so many vacant routes, unfilled to add more street time to existing routes. Mailhandlers are short staffed and getting tons of overtime. Bosses are abusing workers to increase their own bonuses. Many workers have great ideas on how to fix this mess. How about Dead Tree asking people to write in with serious ideas?? The workers are going to have to take things into their own hands since HQ and unions won't. Then maybe Congress will act.
These mailers pay the Postal Service next to nothing to deliver their mail items. They could take their business somewhere else, except no one else will deliver it cheaper or with better service. Maybe it's time for these mailers to pay the same rate as everyone.
Here's a business idea that WORKS...charge your "customers" the price that covers your costs to produce what they purchase plus your overhead and a small profit.
The USPS grants VERY LARGE DISCOUNTS to the Business Groups that are sniping at the USPS about the Postal Business Model.
IF THEY CHARGED THESE GROUPS THE TRUE COST OF SERVICING THEM, the USPS would be a little closer to breaking even.
The "MAILER GROUPS" fail to see the hypocrisy of their criticism.
Veteran8292
When Jack Welch got to GE in 1980 the first thing he did was cut management. I was a young supervisor in Engineering school. Went out with the first 2000 supervisors. GE is making billions now.
The folks who work for the mailers get paid too much.
The groups mentioned have benefited from huge discounts and owe their businesses to the existence of the Postal Service as part of the national infrastructure. Apparently though they want their own poodle. Well how about if we fire all the overpaid postal workers and privatize the service - wonder what kind of rates would exist for advertising mail in that kind of environment.
These comments fall under the category of biting the hand that feeds....
The USPS is the best deal in the world! Wait till these mailers have to pay increased prices, plus TAXES, then let's see how long they stay in business!
How about 4 weeks of vacation AND 2 weeks of sick leave per year,plus open-ended light & limited duty for an ingrown toe nail after 89 days?A big problem I see is USPS has to hire 2-3 carriers for every route,just to cover(on overtime)the boo-hoo coterie.
It sounds to me that the Bulk Mail Technicians need to be verifying the Detatched Mail Unit mailings with a very fine tooth comb. When letter shops find that they can't get their mail out the door because their underpaid employees did not presort the mail correctly they will then have a reason to boo hoo. If I were mailer whose letter shop could not get my mail dispatched in time I would look elsewhere and take my money with me. Most all letter shops screw up daily. Protect our revenue. Be vigilant. Make the letter shops respect and appreciate us.
They're paid to much & everytime I go to a BMEU, I have to wonder who the customer is...My company sure isn't treated well by acceptence clerks. If I ran my business like t/he USPS, I wouln't of lasted 1 month in business.
In business since the days of Benjamin Franklin and we are still here. Remember, your business exists because of us. Our discounts given to you are our thanks and your paycheck. Sounds like you don't like to comply with postal regulations Skim. I consider most of my customers as friends.
GE, really. GE produces a product. We are a service. GE paid NO taxes last year, and they are moving large number of jobs out of the country, that is why they are rolling in the dough.
How about why the EDS contract was canceled in 1982.
EDS was canceled because it had told that they thought that the PO was top heavy. Those who were in fear of loosing their jobs, had the contract aborted.
How about the auditors, and inspectors whose jobs depend on finding fault with the people who are actually doing the work. They have to find fault so that they will be able to keep their cushy little spy jobs.
I wonder why these mailers that are complaining didn't list reasons #5 or #6 first? Surely if this was their business wouldn't they be concerned about getting their own money back first before making cuts in service or worse someone loses their job? Listen, not everyone knows that the USPS is a service not a business. It was designed not to make a profit and is self sufficient relying only on sales of postal products and postage not tax payer dollars. This is why cost are low, lowest in the world I believe. Also, most don't know that it's a Constitutionally mandated service provided to all Americans.There are many outside forces very interested in seeing the USPS go under so that they can snatch up the profitable parts of the service and discard the unprofitable parts, such as delivering a single letter to every home in America. Our Founding Fathers realized this service was important because it would help keep communications and commerce safe and affordable for everyone. Does the USPS need to make some fundamental changes for it to survive? Yes. Does it need to be ravaged and dismantled so privateers can scarf up the remains? No. You can't tell me that Congress didn't know what would happen to the USPS when they imposed a 5 billion dollar a year anchor around their necks;our necks. Were does a service designed not to make a profit come up with 5 billion a year? Surely Congress knew full well what would happen. Either they are using these monies to balance the budget or are in compliance with hastening the demise of the USPS. We bailed out Wall street, we bailed out the banks and we bailed out the auto industry. Neither one of those are Constitutionally mandated services. The USPS is.
How about having the mailers pay just 1/2 of a 1st class letter for their mass mailings. problem solved.
Of course these four groups are upset with the postal service, they pay less than half the normal rates and now the post office is raising their rates. Maybe their employeesa are paid 30% too much.
War has always been good for GE.
The executives, managers and sales people-a small percentage of the people who work in the 'mailing industry'- just make more salary/bonus. Even at the non-profits, many executives earn 6, even 7 figure (THAT'S $$millions), for their 'non-profit' work for others. Con artists abound.
Anyone else notice that there are only TWO different reasons out of their six? All they did was rephrase their statement. Why is this even a story? The postal rates need to be adjusted badly. If the organizations do not like the rate then they can just simply NOT mail any publication, just like MOST other businesses are moving to digital publications. They complained the USPS has a slow future of migrating from mail to the Internet, apparently they do too.
As for people being cut, the USPS is getting close to a point where it cannot cut any more people. At the moment, another management sweep, custodians, realignment/transference of clerks, and some plant workers have to go. I have never seen an office yet that has too many carriers. My office has always been two carriers short for the seven years I've been here, and other offices have well.
Way off Base to many employees no way most offices are short handed can't get the mail up to get the carriers out the door and have a hell of a time covering routes in summer time when vacations start where do you people get your info do you realise how many jobs the usps has cut already.The mail has not gone down as fast as employees
Congress forces USPS to make early payments into the employee health fund. Congress will bankrupt the USPS, not cost of operations.
My friend retired from the USPS with two years of full pay from accumulated sick days, personal days and vacation. Could this be part of the problem? Use it or lose it is the standard in the private sector. Sick days and personal days are for when you are sick or need to take care of business, not to cash in when you retire. There is still a lot of room for improvement at the USPS.
I'm just a retail postal customer suffering from lousy service by my local PO, so take this with a grain of salt. But I got to thinking about the system's problems the other day and I wrote a blog post with some ideas I haven't seen broached before. I think they're mostly consistent with this post, but they may add something.
Real good idea to charge mailers more,,all you would do is bankrupt all the little mom & pop publishers which in turn would shut down small to medium size printers which equals less income for the USPS.The USPS moves too many of their Mgrs by level and not knowledge of the job,they are moving to positions they know nothing about and have a whole bunch of frustrated workers under them who are now under performing
Hmmm really "big 4 mailers." I challenge any of you to come walk a day in my shoes starting at 6am and ending at 10pm, and later depending on if an issue arises in my office. Oh also being tethered to a phone that can reach on your only day off on Sunday...Paid, who's getting paid? Like some of the comments alluded to... the pay ratio versus other private companies varies to the extreme to what is paid to their CEO vs. the USPS Execs...and bonus...what bonus...As a Mid-mgr I will show you my paychecks for the last 12 years of my tenure..yep, you guessed "NO BONUS" money here. The big 4 pay mere "pennies to the dollar" of what other modest customers pay through postal lobbies and kiosk..for them to complain about an organization that benefits them is truly "biting the hand that feeds." If you are up to the challenge to walk a day in my shoes...then bring it on, but wear comfy shoes and move your family close to relatives because you won't be seeing/needing them much anymore...signed A Manager that earns what he returns to the Postal Service and our main stakeholder...Our Customers. thx
To the one that said he knew someone that got paid their sick leave, personal time, and vacation has no clue. Personal time is not paid to anyone when they retire, and sick leave is credited to your retirement under civil service retirement, not paid to you. If you have vacation time this you are paid, but only the vacation time you earned during the year. Maybe you should know what you're talking about before making comments.
Once again businesses with political agendas are beating up on the USPS. UPS and FedEx increase their rates EVERY YEAR by more than the USPS increases. The fact is, delivering to every address every day is not a good business model. Are you willing to give up your mail deliveries to save money? I doubt it.
I am the one whose friend told me about his great two year retirement gift from the USPS. Maybe he lied to me then when he told me he was able to cash in these benefits. Fact is, he told me I'm passing it on and I don't like when you say I don't know what I'm talking about. Straight from the horses mouth. I do know that dealing with the post office is a pain in the butt and they have no clue what customer service means but I wasn't going to slam anyone at the USPS, just the policies. I have so many issues with service that would make you sick. How about trying to drop at the USPS but no one will help check you in because they are busy playing online poker. How about numerous phone calls and emails but no one will respond. Too many to list and get upset about it because nothing is going to change but when we see how hard it is to deal with the USPS and know that things could be done better, it is hard to justify increasing postage. Sure, we have the greatest system in the world but isn't there always room for improvement? Especially when your job is on the line...
My offer still stands...I will even buy the shoes..."More with less." Oh and for you critics. I do get a break, and a lunch believe it or not. Of which I can respond to the post, which btw is the 2nd in 12yrs and performed on my own laptop, because of the firewalls installed with all govt computers will not let you play games...that should tell you how passionate most of my colleagues to include myself are to the Postal Service and our customers...oh and one more thing...yep I have accrued leave, but because of my workload forego using it to take care more pressing issues like the safe, and expeditious delivery of the mail...now back to work
These mailers are not living in the real world. They do get insane discounts already. The price of EVERYTHING else goes up, why is it that sending mail shouldn't go up too?? It is already a great bargain.
And I want to know where there are too many employess because most facilities don't have enough. That is why some carriers make so much money, not enough employees. Would love these mailers to work at a processing plant for a week and then see what they say.
Get rid of this over night 1C mail standard. Cut 1C mail and all mail processing at 6AM. Everything after that not processed both manually and automated becomes tommorrow workload. This will work and end Overtime ...Carriers after 5PM and can cut the workforce both Craft and Management by large numbers
Here in Austin,Tx where the temp has been in the 100s for 54 days this summer, we have 1 a.m. supv. and 1 p.m. supv. and a station mgr.We still have people moving here daily with no hiring. We have 1 sub carrier and 30 routes in my station. Forced OT is becoming the norm. Long lines at the window is normal due to bare minimum clerk staffing. We're supposed to maintain great service and cut 30% more jobs? Get your butts out of the a/c and come join us and then you might be able to hold an intelligent conversation about the USPS.
I agree with farmerboy1969. The postal service computers will not let you play games. Most of the time you do not have people properly scheduled or not have enough people to work. This is not the employee's fault, this is management's responsibility.
Demote management into carrier to eliminate overtime
Mailers get discounts because we are presorting for you. We are breaking down the mail to the carrier routes. Therefore the sorting facility has less work to do. It's called Standard Mail and it's a pain for us as well but if we want to have a job we need to embrace it and quit complaining. Soon it will all be electronic and you all will be able to play your computer games at home as much as you like. Get over it, the world is evolving and you need to evolve with it. Oh and by the way, we work a crap load of overtime as well. However unlike UNIONS we don't get paid double time for weekends or OT until after 40 hours.
I too have always wondered who the customer is when dealing with the USPS. In recent years this treatment has improved but as a mailer (born and raised) I've seen it where you serve them not them serve you. It sucks. I'll probably lose my job too because of the Postal Unions.
These major mailers are part of the problem not the employees. We take a loss while they TAKE A BREAK. Sounds like the top 2% taking advantage of the working americans. The other part is the pre-funding mandate. It is amazing how people can make comments when they have no idea what Postal Workers do, nor could they do. You are welcome to take off your suits and walk in A Postal Workers shoes. My guess you couldn't do it. Besides delivering mail to all of the communities across this great country they also look out for the people in those communities. Postal Workers care about the communities they serve.
As a Postal Clerk I manually sort more presorted standard mail that has received a discount then any other mail. Major mailers state they get a discount do to them presorting the mail. However it has been proven that Postal Workers can do it cheaper than the discounts given to these major mailers.
We only get double time on Christmas (and yes I do work it) and we have to run your presorted standard mail on the machines anyway because it is almost always sorted to an old scheme or wrong or just cannot be trusted. You are getting a discount for presorting and it means nothing.
Sounds like you postal workers are admitting there needs to be improvement in your organization but no one is stepping up, just complaining about the mailers. You all are hammering the mailers when you should be focusing inward. We are constantly adjusting to your new rules to make your jobs easier. By the way, I am not a suit I run the mail in our shop. Faces facts, Higher postage, less mail. We all need to become more efficient. If that is not possible prepare for the inevitable and switch careers.
Another sleazy junk-mailing outfit that wants to get cheaper rates at the expense of American families.(Remember that about 75% of Postal Employees are veterans, too).
It's happening all across America with the TEABAG PARTY rich stripping jobs and lifestyles from the middle class, and supposedly saving taxes...what a joke.
The elite only want The Rich and The Serfs in America. If you're a Union member, YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE RICH, AND YOU MUST BE ELIMINATED.
Sad times in the America Our Fathers fought for. Sickening times.
As long as you continue to deny what is happening you will be miserable. The world is changing and we have to change with it. Why not be part of the solution? If you don't like the rich getting richer then quit going to movies, baseball games, basketball, football auto racing. Quit drinking booze, smoking. You get the idea. Life is what you make it, not what you think you are entitled too.
Have the USPS reduce the regulations to a bare minimum. The massive DMM is a nightmare, even their own experts don't have a clue as to what it says. Get rid of the huge number of processing categories. (Do we really need all these categories). Drop ideas that date back to saddlebags, i.e. the postcard rate. Can any set of rules that allow for the mailing of alligators be considered efficient?
For 25 years I was spoiled by a small town Pennsylvania PO where everybody hustled, was extremely helpful, and apparently glad to be employed. Then I moved to a suburban metropolitan area in the south, where parcels are thrown on my lawn rather than brought to the porch, and several times a month my neighbors mail is put in my box or versa versa. During holidays, window service is excruciatingly slow, and service is frequently rude. It's very hard to be sympathetic with postal workers with such uncaring, inefficient behavior. That said, I would like to see second class mailers pay a reasonable rate instead of getting a nearly free ride for dumping unwanted "advertising" in my mail, which I then must pay to recycle. If the second class mail disappears, and I have to pay more for stamps, I would consider it money well spent -- really. If I could opt out of such worthless bulk mailings, I would do it in a flash. A likely side benefit would be an incease in advertising revenue for the few remaining newspapers.
Out of the 7500 management positions eliminated, 2000 who were already eligible for immediate retirement took the $20,000 incentive and retired. Out of the 5500 all but 31 transferred to other positions. Out of the 31(all within a year or more of immediate retirement)they took max severance pay of @52 weeks and will retire on immediate retirement in @a year. The mailers have a point.
You can get any postal employees salary on the internet. The post office should have been downsizing years ago when the mail volumne was declining. Like any other business was. The union is part of the problem. You cant get rid of bad employees. They just move them to a different office. Also they have to be paid for anything little extra they have to do. Like when we got the scanners. They have to get paid extra to go and get their scanners, pick up packages and even to scan delivery confirmations, insured. Excuse me but that is part of the job. Also some compline they cant get done. How come the subs can always get done on the route faster than the regular. There is way to much managment but also way to many workers, who do get paid way to much.
I agree with PMG, Unoin workers are paid way to much and they seem like a bunch of Whiners. Management are overpaid for the bad decisions they make. USPS is looking for another bailout, Privatize the USPS.
Postal workers should make minimum wage and postage should be .05$ per piece minus discounts for presorting etc. Ingrate government union workers should worship the ground we walk on, and be thankful that we give them the chance to serve us.
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