No post office = no coupon trading... Right?

[434Teresa]

I saw this on my new a few nights ago and have had it on my mind ever since.

Is the post office too big to fail? Maybe not - Utica, NY - The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York

They are asking to make changes to the way the P.O operates or there could not be a U.S postal office left in a years time. They are asking to not pay over $5 mil in healthcare and retirement each and every year so they can maybe keep the P.O up and going. I know healthcare is needed but if worse came to worse I would think I would give up all or some of the healthcare stuff in order to at least have job so I could feed and care for my family instead of loseing it all, job and healthcare both.

They say we dont mail bills, letters and ect like we did becuase of the internet and its really hurtting the P.O.

So if you drive to town to pay those bills why not mail them? Gas is high and you have to stand in a line to pay the bill. Deal with all the cars on the street and "such nice" people these days! save time and money plus maybe help the P.O stay in bizz so we can keep getting our hands on all those great coupons that we trade for or even buy sometimes because without the u.s postal service we will not be able to do those things any longer.

Yes I am thinking way ahead thats just me..not being able to get my hands on all the coupons that I trade for and yes buy would really hurt my bottom line worse than mailing a few things to keep the P.O up and running.

I know your thinking my mailing $4 of mail each month is not going to do much to help the u.s postal service but if 10,000 people mail $4 of mail each month that would sure add up. I think mailing $4 in bills ect is so much better than not being about to get my hands on my $100,$200 or more in coupons each month becuase the p.o had to close up...

[CW&M Mom]

Unless we wanted to swap via UPS or Fed ex...yes if the USPS went under coupon trading would stop but IMO that would be the least of our worries if the USPS went under.

[MarieHall]

Personally I dont wait in lines to pay bills, I do so online to go green. Besides walking my rent check to my apartment office all my bills are paperless and online.

[clippyclippy]

Personally I dont wait in lines to pay bills, I do so online to go green. Besides walking my rent check to my apartment office all my bills are paperless and online.

Same here.
I don't see the PO going anywhere. Too many people in rural areas are dependent on getting meds, SS checks etc in the mail.
There may be changes ahead, reduction in services, but they won't just close down. Afterall, it's a government entity... it'll operate in the red rather than shut down.

[CW&M Mom]

Same here.
I don't see the PO going anywhere. Too many people in rural areas are dependent on getting meds, SS checks etc in the mail.
There may be changes ahead, reduction in services, but they won't just close down. Afterall, it's a government entity... it'll operate in the red rather than shut down.

Many insurance company require you get you get meds mail order.

though I live in a rural area and actually all the pharmacies out here except walgreens home delivers.

We get a SS for my son...never an option to get it in the mail..they only do direct deposit.

And the PO is complicated. The only way they continue is if the feds bail them out. They are not exactly a government entity...yet not exactly separate either. AND the feds are technically not allowed to run without any money either. they have to borrow it.

[joshmamabear]

AND the feds are technically not allowed to run without any money either. they have to borrow it.

I didn't know they have to borrow, I had the impression they just printed it whatever amount they want

[CW&M Mom]

I didn't know they have to borrow, I had the impression they just printed it whatever amount they want

If they could just print whatever they wanted..we wouldn't have any deficit

aka china

[$Saving!]

USPS has been overpaying into the retiree health fund and that is the crux of the financial issues. The USPS wants to stop paying in advance into the federal fund (no other agency has to do it that way) and the feds are balking.

With an increasingly smaller USPS (they've lost over 100,000 employees through layoff and attrition as they downsized), they're struggling with budget issues, a lot of snail mail doesn't exist anymore as people move to email and the internet to handle contact and bill paying and so the USPS has been downsizing annually as a means to control costs.

I don't see a complete disappearance of snail mail, but I do see an increased cost to it as there will be no other way to fund the health care for all those retirees they've accumulated. It's created a huge payout bubble that will last for a very long time.

[CW&M Mom]

They really should of been investing in those machines that can deal every kind of mail except international and make everyone except grandma who doesn't understand how to do them use them. Limit the hours the post office is open...and anytime you have places like the UPS store or similar be open..take advantage of it.

We have dinky little nothing towns..that don't even have a grocery store...out here..have a post office..and they shouldn't have one. If you don't have a grocery store..IMO you don't need a post office. That means you already have to travel to buy your food...so you might as well close the PO office..and save the $$. You can contract with the gas station if they have one and have them sale books of reg stamps to be generous and throw the big bertha mail boxes near by so that you can still pick up.

For many rural routes...too you may want to even stop going to there area's..and make them all have a PO box (that you provide for free) at the PO even if all that PO does is just have PO boxes and nothing else..so no general employees.

They also need to stop Saturday Delivery. If they had machines in every PO they could easily close Saturday offices as well.

This is so not rocket science but it's like pulling teeth in what they have been willing to do. I typically will stand up and not point fingers at unions..but I totally will point fingers at the union here. They are helping to run the PO to the ground. I realize it is serious suckage to have to lay a grundle of people off..but you can't reward inefficiency in this market.


They also need to stop being "forced" to take retiree's from the military. No one should be forced to take anyone. I worked for a couple who were both in upper management of the PO and they said being forced to take retiree's from the military..often meant they were forced to take ones that were not mentally stable, who couldn't get a job elsewhere so they knew they would get the extra points needed to get onto a job with the PO..and it caused so many issues both internally and economically insurance wise.

[Smee]

There is no way I'm giving up online bill paying and online correspondence. I was so glad when it became available. Our post office is several miles opposite the way I travel for work, and the crappy hours made it difficult for me to get there before or after work. Sorry, USPS, no help from me. I can't think of the last time I slapped a stamp on something and dropped it in a box. Maybe last year.