If you follow social media, you will probably have seen the claims that the postal service is in trouble because of unfair mandates placed upon them by Republicans in 2006 when the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act was passed. The reasoning is, according to many accounts, that:
The postal accountability act requires the USPS to pre-fund employee retirement medical benefits 75 years into the future. USPS is not allowed to use that money for anything else. Billions of dollars just sitting there. Clearly designed to kill the post office.
FACT #1: The Act was sponsored by two Republicans and co-sponsored by 2 DEMOCRATS – Henry Waxman of CA and Danny Davis of IL. The myth-makers use the term “Republican-led Congress” to insinuate that it was only Republicans who supported the Act.
FACT #2: 201 Democrats in the House voted for the bill, along with the 208 Republicans. Clearly not a Republican only bill. Mike Pence voted against it. In fact the 20 NO votes were all Republicans. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/109-2005/h430
The following is from an excellent article written by Elizabeth Bauer in FORBES:
MYTH: Without these burdensome requirements, the USPS would neither be losing money nor experiencing its current and/or pre-COVID cashflow crunch.
FACT #3: The PAEA contributions have no bearing on cash flow because the USPS is not making those contributions.
In the aftermath of the Great Recession, Congress reduced the 2009 contribution, and, when it refused to make any further changes, the USPS simply defaulted, that is, refused to pay the contributions mandated by the PAEA. That continues to be the case today. As it states in its 10-K, with respect to retirement benefits, “the Postal Service did not make any of these [required pension funding] payments in order to preserve liquidity to ensure that the ability to fulfill the primary universal service mission was not placed at undue risk”; with respect to contributions to the retiree medical fund, the USPS states, “As indicated above, the Postal Service recorded an expense for these amounts but did not make these payments in order to preserve liquidity to ensure that the ability to fulfill the primary universal service mission was not placed at undue risk.”
In addition, with respect to financial reporting, here are the key figures for 2019:
Healthcare benefits paid out of the Benefit Fund: $3.7 billion.
Normal costs scheduled to be paid into the Benefit Fund to cover current year’s current employees’ retiree healthcare cost accruals: $3.775 billion.
Amortization payments scheduled to be made into the fund: $789 million.
Overall net loss for the year: $8.8 billion.
The math just doesn’t work to blame retiree healthcare contributions for the USPS’s losses. The amount they are recording on their P&L for retiree healthcare costs (which, again, they aren’t paying out in cash) — $4.564 billion — is only moderately more ($800 – $900 million, depending on rounding) than the amount that they would be paying out directly for pay-as-you-go benefits had the PAEA never been implemented.
MYTH: The Post Office is required to fund pensions in advance in a manner applies to no other private-sector company.
FACT #4: ALL companies are required to fund any pension promises they make to their employees. (The only exceptions are for top executives, who can lose their pensions if a company goes bankrupt, and for entities that aren’t actually “companies” – state and local governments and churches.) NONE of them are permitted to take a “pay as you go” approach but must contribute to a pension fund an amount equivalent to what a worker has accrued that year in benefit promises, regardless of how far into the future that worker will be retiring, and must make up for any shortfalls due to asset losses or other reasons. The USPS and private sector companies use the same general actuarial principles to do so, though there are differences in assumptions, particulars of the calculations, etc.
What is distinctive about the USPS is that, a a result of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), they are also required to pre-fund their retiree medical promises. However, what is also distinctive is that any private-sector company may simply cancel its retiree medical benefits at any time; the funding requirement for the USPS exists because only an act of Congress would enable them to cut these benefits.
However, even here, again, all companies which promise retiree medical benefits must account for them in their financial reporting even if they don’t prefund.
MYTH: The requirement to fund retiree medical benefits in such a short period of time was especially burdensome and unfair.
FACT #5: Yes, the 10-year contributions specified in the 2006 law were especially high because they aimed to “jump start” the fund — and because the amounts were meant to match anticipated savings from reduced pension contributions. (See more at this “primer”.) Should Congress have been more flexible when the USPS first started running into trouble with the Great Recession and the shift from snail to e-mail, rather than its miserly one year’s funding relief in 2009? Most likely. Did they refuse to do so because they wanted to force privatization? I don’t care to speculate.
But that 10 year period ended in 2016, so it can’t be blamed for current USPS woes. We are now in the follow-on period in which the USPS is intended to be amortizing its remaining unfunded liability over 40 years, to 2056. And this 40 year period is exactly the same length of time as private-sector employers were given to remedy underfunding levels when pension funding requirements were first implemented with ERISA in 1974.
Be sure to read the rest of the excellent article in Forbes.
Stella's Place 
Stella, excellent post. Clear, concise, and easy to understand.
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Thank you!
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Everything the democrats do is manufactured. The only thing they cannot manufacture is a candidate to run for President.
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They are GLOBALISTS, and Globalists can’t manufacture anything thats of value.
They LIE is what they do, and this is yet another in a long list.
One problem with lieing, is when the victim realises you have lied to them, not only do you lose credibility, but they feel like you insulted their intelligence, by thinking they would believe it.
They obviously have a very low opinion of the citisenry, and our intelligence.
Frankly, looking at the # of contestants for the Darwin awards,…some of the stories in the headlinrs, its hard to blame them,…
Nov 3 will be a test; HOW many “Lo-Info voters are there, any more?
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Amen! DUTCHMAN!
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Changed your moniker, almost didn’t recognise you!
How do?
We are doing well, just set up homestead to have battery backup, if grid goes down (phase #1l
Next step, build up battery bank big enough to handle the load, and then add solar panels, so that grid is “back up”, to solar system.
So, I’m keeping busy!
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Wow!
So glad to hear from you!
UR one of a rare few people from CTH I miss being in discussions with. BKR is another. I also stay in email touch with eagledriver50, a fav Marine brother. I miss Gunny66 too.
Yeah, I changed my name from Angelle to Angel at the Gates of War, which I have actually gone by for years since most decades od my life have involved in a war mode one way or the other.
Glad to hear your plan.
Wise people with common sense understand the times and know what to do. Kinda like the men of the tribe of Issachar. I CHRONICLES 12:32
Still getting a game plan together to get to WDC and offer our input…so glad to hear about SD’s efforts.
I know just how dark and depressing that bastion city of political mafia is…as u know, Uni-party…no difference anymore except a few rare jewels like Devin Nunes, Jordan, some others, but always recognizing China investment snakes like McConnell, Ryan, Feinstein…you know who they are.
In a more quiet way, there are some of us going to be adding input. But I have been praying for God to bless SD and those he is engaging. Everybody’s part, large or small, is important these days.
Thx 4 replying. So good to hear from you.
I figure you, as a some others, will be ready for whatever comes. Our camp is ready as ready can.
And you understand, I’m not talking about stupid stuff, just some good common sense and as the military taught us, situational awareness. And you don’t have to have military experience to understand that principle.
Bless you, friend!
Shalom…always and forever.
Angelle
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Yeah, SO good to hear from you, glad all is well.
We are truly blessed to be living in these times!
Take care, my friend!
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Sarasota county Florida primary republican voter turnout very low. It’s like people just don’t care to save themselves. It’s quiet demoralizing at time.
I imagine many, many of the people are on Twitter declaring their patriotic love of country, and how they would fight to the death against a tyrannical enemy, but somehow they could not get off their ass and vote. This disgust me.
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One of the most perniscious effects of the Republicons in Congress, is how it demoralises a % of the population.
They SEE whats going on, and realise “there is no difference between “the parties”, and conclude WHY should I bother to vote?
Choice between tweedle dumb, and tweedle dumber, the lesser of two weevils.
They aren’t “low info” voters, just demoralised. Battered conservative syndrome, and the battering has come from Republicons, ….
Its hard to be enthused about your team, when you realise they are the Blacksocks, “throwing” the game.
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Regarding post office gate here are the facts.
https://videos.utahgunexchange.com/watch/boom-democrats-push-post-office-scandal-to-cheat-the-election-against-trump-and-here-039-s-the-proof_NhtgHqZGrYyQfF8.html
SamFox
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Reblogged this on The Last Refuge and commented:
Stella has done an excellent job of myth busting about the postal service mess. Easy to understand and clear explanations of the bipartisan support of the Accountability and Enhancement Act.
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I have been posting several of Ms. Bauers excellent articles all over SM. They are clear, informative, and incontrovertible. Besides, it drives the Lefties nuts.
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Pingback: CTH: Facts & Myths about the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (2006) - wlvrns!
Pingback: Facts & Myths about the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (2006) | The Last Refuge
The Post Office handles 400 million items per day on average.
If every American child, adult, and pet voted by mail it would not amount to a busy day two weeks before Christmas.
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What does that have to do with the information provided here? Voting by mail is a different conversation. Despite that, I would be interested to see the data upon which your opinion is based.
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The Postal Service processes and delivers 472.1 million mail pieces each day.
https://facts.usps.com/one-day/#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20the%20Postal%20Service%20processes%2020.2%20million,day%20delivered%20to%20more%20than%20222%2C000%20email%20accounts.
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I’m more interested in the statement:
“If every American child, adult, and pet voted by mail it would not amount to a busy day two weeks before Christmas.”
Before answering, keep in mind that the first class mail pieces delivered is only about a third of the total mail pieces. Is the original poster suggesting that more than 325 million (with pets, probably a billion) first class mail pieces could be added in two weeks without effect? In 2019 a bit less than 55 billion 1st class mail pieces were delivered, or about 1 billion a week.
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stella,
Exactly ,but in order to to deflect from the issue at hand ,we make a comment that has nothing to do with the subject.You go girl.
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Yes, deflect always seems to be what works!
History, laws and time lines are not negotiable in retrospect.
Facts matter, but not to those whose aim It is to ignore what brought us to this point, and manipulate minds. Yes, deflect…win at any cost, even to the point of breaking with Truth.
It’s pretty aggravating and WAY beyond old!
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So the money that has been paid into the PAEA is just sitting in an account somewhere in Government? Yep, I bet right beside that big old SS account. Stella what happened to the real money that was paid to Congress by the Postal Service? Serious question. If the Postal Service actually made a profit ( you know real dollars) in those years and paid it to the Congress do you really think that it’s in an account somewhere?
I guess that there was a real vote in Congress because 20 Republicans voted against it. Here all this time I could have sworn that it was a yea/ nea vote at the last hour so that no one could be held accountable.
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More on the subject.
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Two points,it is not a democratic republic,it is a Representative Republic and no President Trump does not make statements without thinking about the ramifications of what he said.
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Yeah. So what do you think about the topic at hand?
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Jim, the USA is a Constitutional Republic that incorporates democratic ideals & representation. (Not referring to the dimm party.)
Thanks.
SamFox
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He’s got it! I still remember the first time I voted for a President. I knew my vote counted. I walked out smiling with head high, an adult, a citizen with a voice in our government. I didn’t wonder who everyone else was voting for because we were united in that moment, a group of citizens, deciding who would become our next president. The feeling has been the same every time I’ve voted since. When my sons voted for the first time, I told them ‘Today, you became an adult.”
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Great “knowledge”. Not enough knowledge out there right now.
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Stella…
It is amazing the line in the sand between truth and lies and media/political propaganda
Much of the worst of the worst is due to:
1.Corruption
2.Graft and greed
3.Mis-management
4.Political agenda
5.Self-interest and investments.
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“The Postal Accountability Act REQUIRES the USPS to pre-fund employee retirement medical benefits 75 years into the future”
“The PAEA contributions have no bearing on cash flow because the USPS IS NOT making those contributions.”
Clearly we can add the word “REQUIRED” to the list of English words that now have “fluid” definitions. Keep that in mind next time you see a sign that says you are “REQUIRED” to wear a mask.
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As I said, we were the USDA’s largest facility outside of DC and we were some paper creating and sending fools. I’d create and send boxes and boxes weekly to sites around the US for training classes, we’re talking close to 100,000-pages in book format. They’d have to be sent out and arrive at the training site en masse and on time – we’re talking late 90s here.
The PO would pick them up but there was no guarantee that they’d arrive on time or together though we’d scrupulously follow the PO’s schedules and they’d be picked up at the same time. We finally just started sending it UPS of Fedex and it would always get there on time and in one lump. Was cheaper too.
PO gets way too many freebies and they know that as a non-Federal but quasi-Federal agency the Feds will come to its rescue as, if for no other reason, it’s the Fed’s most hugest EEO function. No one, Rat or Republican, lets market forces determine the PO’s fate.,
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Our training group only mailed training materials when there was a looong lead time. The thinking was that if the trainer got there and the material didn’t, he would be standing in front of a screen making shadow animals. We used UPS too.
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My agency was so screwed up it’s an amazement it chugged along. I was part of the graphics division and I had the latest Xerox hi-speed printing systems, two huge printers with two interlaced control systems. BUT when the designers in graphics finished a piece the oinly way they could get it to me was to print it out and carry it over. My system was the latest Windows and their graphics system was some uncomplimentary OS left over from the mid-80s. The Big Boss was too cheap to buy new as he’d have to buy some new equipment too.
Their system was too antiquated to even build an interface for.
The different divisions that did training compiled their manuals into a master and they’d bring it down, sending it thru graphics, for me to scan in and print. It was sent thru graphics in a box so that graphics could show that it went thru their section and they could show they ‘worked’ it for their ‘why we should be here’ statement.
I decided to take the books from the sections, scanned them into my system and the only time I’d have to send anything down was if there were changes and they’d only have to send me the change pages to scan and replace.
The Big Boss was furious, that took ‘workload’ away from the graphics, that must STOP! The divisions were liking this new way so to prevent a big fight I made a backup disc of each division’s work, put it in a sleeve, and the division could then send the disc and the work order thru graphics so they could show ‘work’. In the meantime the division would send me an email with the numbers of what books and the address to ship to and they’d be out 2 to 3 days before graphics got me the workorder.
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Hey CZ…
Little off topic, but praying for all of you in the Gulf Coast area.
I have family in NOLA, and my fav military family in the Ft. POLK area. They are getting ready. I was with the Sundown Volunteer Fire Dept. for awhile…they were and are considered one of Louisiana’s best of the best fire departments. They are geared up and ready to roll for whatever comes.
Be safe and take care!
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NOLA’s somewhat better off as compared to 2005, that was the culmination of decades of corruption and a public that had grown used to the status quo and the belief that ‘it’ll never happen here’.
Neither of these storms look as if they’ll do more to the city than a glancing blow and it’s a good practice session for a real one. One of the biggest complaints is the bars are closed due to the COVID and folks can’t have hurricane parties.
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You got it, and estimate the parameters correctly.
Personally, I think the fear-mongering weather news and media are going for ratings and child-like attention.
I could be wrong.
But I have seen this scenario of scare tactics before.
Katrina was a drastic storm. Lost my best friend to it who didn’t get out.
But knowing the history of couple of hurricanes I lived through…Betsy (called billion dollar Betsy…Cat 4 close to being a Cat 5…because it was the first billion dollar+ storm)…and then Camille…prolly the actual worst Cat 5 H…winds being 194mph +…and many agree, far higher because that storm destroyed all weather station apparatus…so that to this day, nobody actually knows what the final continual wind speed, and higher gusts of Camille were. Some estimate as high as 230mph+
H. Camille was so infested with many tornados…
I know NOLA and the Miss. Gulf Coast well.
Whole concrete sections of Hwy 90 in Mississippi were literally sucked up and pulled out of the ground.
As a young kid in New Orleans, when we got out to see the damage from H. Betsy…whose eye passed directly over us…and as a kid, I learned that the second half would be worse than the first.
We lived in a nice house in the Garden District off St. Charles Avenue…slate shingles…and when they start flying…it was terrifying.
You know how kids get excited about storms…
Well, Betsy ended that excitement for me.
I never wanted to witness or see that kind of destruction again!
Well, many years later, I moved to OK….tornado ally…and learned how to deal with another whole type of even more sudden weather terror.
Granted, by God’s grace, I have learned to trust Him more to take care of us.
Hard lesson.
Shalom…and bless you and your wife!
Angelle
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Oh no, you’re echoing something I’ve said for a long while: panic weather forecasting sells. During the lead-up to Hurricane Georges we had a local forecaster darn near had a total meltdown on the air, you could feel the projected panic with the TV off. Georges passed, missed us and the next day it was bidnezz as ush’ull.
Since then local forecasters have tried that panic delivery to one degree or another with varying degrees of success for every storm and the national weather channels seem to extend that panic to every storm seasons-round. It’s as if Stephen King writes their copy.
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Yup…u know!
I know you as a sensible, common sense voice!
And thank God for the few still around!
🤗🤗🤗
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You gotta tell my wife about that ‘sensible’ thing.
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Wellll…do you really want me to venture that deep in “dangerous territory?”
“Know what I mean, Vern?”
😄
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Probably best not.
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Yup! 😁
Pardon the double negative…but…
Don’t never go against the axiom that “Momma rules!” 🤣
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Yeah, but she might beat me up over that! 🤣
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Well…for sure.
Look at the latest projections of Laura and Marco converging…so what happened to that doomsday scenario?
Marco petered out…kinda reminds me of a Senator, Marco Rubio, who basically petered out. 😅…and to think, he was the guy I wrote about on Redstate as one of their authors several years ago…and they got all huffy and cut me off cuz they didn’t like the negative things I wrote about him.
He, like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, was a snake in the grass. What I wrote about him was eventually vindicated. So be it. It’s in the past. I have to devote my time to our Republic’s future…whatever little chance may be left…
You have to live through and survive Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes, EF4-EF5 tornadoes…and let’s throw in some of the horrors of war some of us been through and by God’s grace, survived…and embedded in that, how ’bout a little drug, water and electrical torture…real stuff, not media sensationalism.
These media people, whether political, weather, culture, are all soft boys and girls…and untill they have had to endure and go through some actual, really serious stuff…they are piss ants and weak-soul nothingness to us.
I’ve read enough of your comments to know what you are made of.
Too bad our New Orleans and Louisiana paths didn’t cross. I would have been proud to know you as a friend, patriot, military brother…and…human being of discipline and common sense.
👍👍👍🙂
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Marco petered out and Laura’s getting wound up to hit the mouth of the Sabine River as a 3.
One of the early guesstimates by the NWS was both hurricanes crossing almost dean on over Baton Rouge. That would have been an interesting scenario as BR, at one rime or another over the last few years, has been the most HIV and COVID infected city in the US and the state’s evac plans might have created some interesting responses. As it were NOLA was mum about where it was they were going to send the city’s evacuees to and NOLA has a pretty…impressive…COVID rate too.
Our paths might have crossed. Did you ever have a car/truck repossessed on the graveyard shift in the old pre-Katrina projects?
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Just got off the phone with a fav friend in Leesville. I know the Sabine River and area well.
As a retired Army tank commander and fire chief for Sundown Volunteer Fire Dept in the Leesville area, his estimation is that they are going to be okay, but ready for any changes. He said the models may be changing a bit more towards Houston.
Well, I got another fav retired Army family there. But they’re smart and will know what to do…they’re in Humble, so not in Houston proper.
They are all going to be okay because they live in disciplined parameters of situational awareness.
Your last line made me chuckle out loud. I wasn’t there for Katrina, but I have a close nephew who at one time made close to $200,000 a year as a repo guy. So he would have been the one of our family you might have run into as competition. 😉
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We didn’t have no competition, There was a service in town that did the hookup, we just fired cover. The service did the pickup, stored the vehicle and hosted the auctions of those not ‘reclaimed’. Charged the parties for all of its services and allegedly was a solid campaign contributor.
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👍👍👍…makes me 🙂
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I’m still remembering Cat 4 H. Betsy in 1965…and friends losing everything to 20′ of water…then later in 1969, H.Camille…which I still think was the strongest Cat 5 to hit the mainland…we’ll never know for sure because Camille destroyed all the weather apparatus. That is an asterick in several journals about the 3 worst hurricanes to hit the US mainland.
But I have to say, no matter how bad a hurricane is, you still have more time to get out than we do in OK tornado alley. Sometimes they drop down so quick, people have died trying to get from their house to their “fraidy holes”, our nickname for underground tornado shelters.
Anyway, I glad NO will not be terribly affected. Still have lots of family out in the Kenner area.
I could be a bit concerned for my #1 fav retired Army military family in Leesville. They could up in the NE quadrant of Laura…tho by the time it gets up 100 miles from the coast, I think they’ll be fine.
After all, we got through Rita in 2005 a month later after Katrina. Louisiana took one of the biggest 2 disaster slams for one state back then. I remember sweltering in near 100 degree heat and near 100% humidity and no electricity for too long.
But hey, us older folks can be tough xxx…
Some of the younger, academically warped souls would do well to listen to us about how to survive.
Anyhoo, it’s been great reconnecting with you.
You and your wife have always been two of my best favs.
I wish and pray for God’s best for both of you.
Shalom…
PS…and keep your ammo dry! 😉
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I was doing daily reports for a NOPD captain in the Katrina aftermath. We were in a makeshift facility he’d comandeered on the Westbank, he’d set it up as a place where NOPD could get a meal, hot coffee, shower off in the yard with a hose pipe, all of those things the high brass and politicians could do in a civilized manner in the big Quarter hotel they’d taken over. No scrounged food and MREs for them nope, gourmet kitchen meals from early on.
The city’s better off now than it was in Katrina, better prepared to cater to that large segment of the population that can’t seem to take care of itself and they’ve actually put supplies aside for vital services; police, EMTs,fire department, etc shouldn’t have to bring their own food, water and whatever. Still no word on if the city will allow pols and city employees to park their personal vehicles in city garages where emergency equipment should be staged.
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Glad to know NOLA is better off better prepared after Katrina.
Awesome to read your comment about what was set for NOPD back then. Puts a smile on my face.
Now, talking about the West Bank…I hated it. Not good memories…having had to deal with the Sheriif’s office in the days of A.Cronvich, having a girlfriend that taking her home meant driving through the Fischer Projects, having a best friend stabbed getting off the ferry in Algiers…yeah, not a lot of good memories…however, one bright spot, one of my fav church families had an awesome house in Timberlain Estates, a real, kind, generous family.
So, you take the good with bad, mostly bad WB experience for me, but maybe not for others.
It’s really great to communicate with somebody that knows the NOLA area so well. It was quite pleasant in the late 50s into the early 60s. Have wonderful childhood experiences there.
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Re: The Fischer Projects.
When they decided to take down the Fischer Jackie Clarkson, mother of actress Patricia Clarkson, was our city council rep. Patricia was scheduled to get some big acting award but the presentation was scheduled over the main Fischer controlled demolition and Jackie was scheduled to push the button that would implode the big hi-rise. On the nite of the award Patricia got up, accepted the award and said that her mom was supposed to be there but she couldn’t as she had to blow up the Fischer. That probably went over the heads of the majority but locals knew what that meant.
News later carried the video of a smiling Jackie pushing the big red button to blow up the hi-rise.
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Wow! I did not know that!
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I drove past that high rise many times, but didn’t know the aftermath.
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Woo Hoo! According to the newest hurricane plots it sucks to be in Baton Rouge!
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Hubby retired from the PO in 2009 after 25 years of service as a walking letter carrier. 12 1/2 miles five days a week—sometimes six days a week if there was a hiring freeze on. He was also the union steward for most of that time. About half of our state was in the same postal area region. Absolutely everywhere TOP HEAVY with layers of unneeded management. Meanwhile, many towns were short at least one or two carriers. That meant paying overtime or borrowing in a carrier, if one could be found. “Tightening the belt” always meant chipping away at the carrier numbers, while postmasters continued to get annual bloated salaries.
Another big expense was what you might say “frivolous lawsuits”— the cost of postmasters’ & managers’ actions against the negotiated contracts. If you lose, you pay. Rules were meant to be broken by management & when my husband would point out chapter & verse in the contract, Postmaster would smugly retort, “file a grievance, I don’t care.” You pay for mediators to travel to your city PO and meet with craft & management. Then the end result usually was yes, PMaster did violate the contract and paid a hefty fine. And the carrier “was made whole” and awarded a calculated sum. A walking route like my husband’s was laid out & inspected to consist of 6 hours on the street and 2 hours inside the PO. Many times he couldn’t get out of the post office on time because clerks “lolly-gagged” distributing mail; most of the time postmaster never took them to task. Automation resulted in time-saving, sort of. Section centers would machine-sort mail in numerical address order in trays. However, many many days those trays were jam-packed with out-of-sequence addresses or outdated addresses. Carriers had to take the time to flip through them in the office; waiting until you’re out on the route slows your time down. Yes, First Class Mail has been diminishing down to nothing for over a decade. However, Third Class has taken its place. I realize it’s the bane of everyone’s existence, but the mailer pays to have it delivered. In many instances, it’s on slick paper/oversize/undersize and difficult to case and carry. Again, something that takes more time.
My husband was one of three seasoned carriers who rarely got overtime unless it was due to a vacancy in the craft or horrifically bad midwestern weather. Last postmaster he worked under (now deceased) used to sit on the sorting table, swinging her legs/eating Cheetos with a stop-watch around 4 p.m. As each carrier came in, she would beller out, “You’re three minutes late! I’m reporting you to Des Moines for laying down in the street!” This coming from a woman who never set toenail on a route and was 100# overweight! She paid other PM’s to inspect her routes. Many route inspectors (other postmasters) told her, “When these three carriers retire you’re gonna play hell replacing them. They take out the most mail, using the least overtime in the state!” Biggest surprise was finding out that this woman got a HUGE BONUS ($5,000+) based on the work her carriers performed. When hubby threw that up to her she stammered around, claiming it wasn’t that much. Her solution was to order in Egg McMuffins from McDonalds as a thank you.
Current walking carriers many times are out past 5 p.m. Her defense? “Well, they do the best they can and I have to accept that.” Funny that ten years ago her standards were a lot different!
Lastly, delivering what Amazon/UPS don’t want to is another factor. Somewhere I read that all the Postal Service gets for delivering Amazon packages is ONE lousy dollar apiece!
Sorry this is so long, but I lived this for 25 years. I’m sure there was other wasteful spending. It all boils down to “TOO MANY CHIEFS, NOT ENOUGH INDIANS”!
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When I see @Angels post above with the 5 points, I can’t help but think of Speaker Nancy Pelosi always saying: “It’s who we are”. (because those 5 points defines Democrats)
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Indeed!
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Did you know that the post office does not have to pay taxes on its income or on its planes, trucks, vans and postal buildings?
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Is it possible that all this focus on mail-in voting might drive voters to in-person voting on machines which have been rigged to dems’ favor. Either way, we are screwed !
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I don’t think that’s likely.
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Just found your blog. Great post! One thing I’ve noticed is that all the Postal Service unions (Nat. Ass. of Letter Carriers, Nat. Ass. of Postmasters, American Postal Workers Union) lobbied heavily for this legislation (https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/bills/summary?id=hr22-109).
Also, the senate bill, S.622 received unanimous consent from both Republicans and Democrats. It was also heavily lobbied by Postal Service unions (https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/bills/summary?id=s662-109)
In the 2006 election cycle, the postal unions gave 4X more $ to Democrats.
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Good added information. It makes sense that the postal workers unions would want this legislation passed, since it attempts to guarantee the promised benefits for their workers.
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