Saturday, June 16, 2012

Hurry It Up, Key Senator Tells Postal Regulatory Commission

Chastizing the Postal Regulatory Commission for taking 12 months to issue an opinion on ending Saturday delivery, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) is asking the panel to work faster on other proposals to streamline the U.S. Postal Service.

"At a time when the Postal Service is reporting losses of$25 million a day and is doing all it can to head off financial collapse, there is a clear need for postal management to take a number of steps to streamline operations and adjust the Postal Service's network and product offerings to reflect the changing demand for hard-copy mail," Carper wrote in a letter dated yesterday.

Carper, co-sponsor of the Senate's main postal-reform legislation, said the PRC's advisory opinions "have been of great value to the Postal Service, Congress, and postal customers." But he expressed concern about the "lengthy, courtroom-style process" the commission has used in developing such reports.

The PRC's split decision on five-day delivery "suffered from a lack of focus on the key issues that I believe needed examination during the debate about moving to five-day service," Carper wrote. He recommended that the panel set time limits on its consideration of USPS's proposed changes to service levels.

A drawn-out process for considering such changes would "run the risk that the Postal Service could be forced to act on its proposal before the Commission has had a chance to share its thoughts and findings," Carper wrote. That could result in USPS making "serious mistakes in implementing a service change that might have been avoided had postal managers had the benefit of the Commission's counsel."

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

go jump in a lake senator carper!
why don't you and corrupt
fellow lawmakers 'hurry up' and put a stop to the prefunding of health care benefits 75 years into the future that you clowns created and is the biggest culprit in the major losses you refer to? why don't you and you buddies on capital hill pass a law demanding that every business and gov't agency prefund their healthcare costs 75 years into the future and they MUST do it in a ten year period! hurry up and pass this legislation so you can bankrupt 95% of the companies. then, when the companies go bankrupt you act clueless and blame a lot of other non-factors and then you try and take over these companies that are in trouble and divide up the scraps amongst you and your close corrupt friends. hurry up senator, and get this done, won't ya!

Anonymous said...

i think what senator carper really meant to say in this article was to tell the postal regulatory commission to shut up and just go along with whatever donahoe and the lawmakers say. after all, when you have serious debate or investigation then some serious "very questionable" behavior of the u s post office's management team comes to light. if the OIG/OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL WAS DOING THEIR JOB AN INVESTIGATION WOULD ALREADY BE UNDER WAY REGARDING THIS MATTER. of course, i am speaking of the elephant in the room that nobody talks about. that elephant is the revenue study that postal officials tried to keep a secret and came to light during prc hearings. the study, set up and bought and paid for by the united states postal service, concluded that changing the service standards, going to 5 day delivery, and a few other things would costs the united states postal service more in lost revenue than even the usps's own inflated cost savings estimates! in other words, the changes the usps was proposing would drive away more revenue than the usps claimed it could save by making the changes! oops, the usps quickly threw away this study and paid for other studies that would
"find" the changes would be cost effective. the post office didn't tell anyone about the study that showed they were on a path to the 'death spiral' some folks speak of when they talk about donahoe's transformation/suicide plan. you make cuts that cost you more in lost revenue than you saved so you make more cuts to save more money and thses cuts costs you more than you saved and so on and so on and so on until there is nothing left!

Anonymous said...

LOL...THE HYPOCRISY OF IT ALL....A UNITES STATES SENATOR, FROM THE BOWELS OF GOV'T BUREAUCRACY, TELLING SONEONE ELSE TO HURRY UP!!
and by the way senator senator carper, hurry up and come up with a solution to the US National debt crisis that is about to bankrupt the nation thanks to inept leadership from yourself and your cronies.

Anonymous said...

Interesting how, 6 yrs after the fact, postal people/Unions are now complaining of this "pre-funding" the USPS is saddled with...seems they're more a victim of short sightedness and lack of due diligence than any thing else. The Union(s) thought the gravy train would never end...! But, anyway, where do you think the $$ for the auto bail-outs, Solyndra, etc., comes from???

Anonymous said...

quit concerning yourself with the prefunding requirements. the money is not there! focus on 5 day delivery, consolidation and closing of small post offices.

Anonymous said...

SOME Postal People are clueless, yes, but SOME Postal People both Union AND Management, have been complaining about the prefunding and other requirements of the PAEA since Congress rammed it down our throats in 2006. Congress has always treated the USPS as a 'cash cow', use it improperly to fudge the Federal Budget numbers, and would like nothing better than to see it privatized.

If it wasn't for the terrible impact to the employees and the economy it would be laughable watching Congress fumble through all of this hoopla they themselves created.

Anonymous said...

I understand that these are vital issues to the citizens of the United States and to all the industries that revolve around mailing and related services so I commend the Senator for requiring some responsive and responsible action BUT the irony is he is a member of a Senate that has not passed a budget for almost 4 years in violation of the laws they govern under. So Mr. Senator, the whole Government is moribund. Lead by example and not speeches and puffery.

Anonymous said...

Two-points Senator Carper. That's all I have to say. It is ridiculous that these people would take so long making vital decisions like this. I guess they're too busy having parties and letting the taxpayer pay the bill for the alcohol, and then running off to a foreign land to escape the criticism.

I know this is not a popular opinion, but I do not think the public would miss getting mail delivery on Saturday. However, they WOULD miss the essential service standards that we currently adhere to. I do not believe that the service standards should ever be changed. The need for that is a fallacy that PMG Donahoe wishes to have us believe.

The PRC should get off their high-paid butts and do the freaking job that they are there to do. I really don't even see why we need them at all! Get rid of 'em.

Tree Pruning Charlotte said...

This is ridiculous.

-Tony Salmeron

lattn said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09ybkkiH2Ho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am4wez1ShPY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsPIY9bFFZY

S1789, sponsored by Lieberman, would cut 100,000 jobs with the USPS when we don't need to have more unemployed workers. S1789 would decrease compensation for injured workers and end it for those over 65, when we don't need to take away compensation or lower compensation for injured workers.It would weaken the unions which promote a "living wage" at a time when we don't need to add more people to the "working poor", S1789 would close smaller post offices (some have already closed),and slow mail delivery by closing 200+ distribution centers.
In 2006 Congress voted to have the USPS fund 75 years of retiree health benefits in 10 amounting to 5.5 Billion a year.
Saddled with funding 5.5 Billion a year that had nothing to do with mail delivery, the USPS could no longer have it's revenue =costs as it had done until 2005.
If this bill is passed or HR2309 the USPS will end up virtually privatized with lower wages and benefits for it's workers,a scaled down and overworked workforce, more mail services contracted out, less services for the public including encouragement of curbside service in place of home delivery