ANNAPOLIS, Md., Feb. 6 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will oppose a U.S. Postal Service plan to end Saturday mail delivery.
“The postmaster general cannot save the Postal Service by ending one of its major competitive advantages. Cutting six-day delivery is not a viable plan for the future. It will lead to a death spiral that will harm rural America while doing very little to improve the financial condition of the Postal Service,” Sanders said. “Providing fewer services and less quality will cause more customers to seek other options. Rural Americans, businesses, senior citizens and veterans will be hurt by ending Saturday mail,” Sanders added.
The House last year refused to consider a Senate-passed postal reform bill that Sanders helped draft.
The Senate measure to modernize the Postal Service would have changed a 2006 congressional requirement that the mail service pre-fund 75 years’ worth of future retiree health benefits over a 10-year period. That pre-funding requirement is responsible for about 80 percent of the Postal Service’s financial losses since 2007. “No other government agency, no other corporation in America is burdened with this mandate. This mandate must be lifted,” Sanders said.
Current federal law makes it illegal to end Saturday mail delivery. The Senate-passed bill would have reinforced the ban for two more years.
“It is time for Republican leadership in the House to work with the Senate to reform the Postal Service in a way that will not harm rural America and allows the Postal Service to adjust to the digital age without ending Saturday mail delivery,” Sanders said.
Any and all voters in California district 49 need to vote out of office Darrell Issa. Tell your friend, send emails this guy need to. We need to organize and get rid of greedy, self serving, short sighted clowns like him out of politics.
The only people who see the real problems in the post office are carriers and clerks. I personally tell my supervisor what he should do everyday and he usually takes my advice. I am a carrier and I feel that I could better run the station I work at than my supervisors and manager! The time wasting is ridiculous. I do not wish to work overtime and if they would let me I could manage my route to 8 hours everyday, but instead I am literally forced to wait around for a few letters and make overtime everyday because of it. Yesterday, the day of this announcement, I was made to drive back to pick up a late letter. Round trip took me 30 minutes of overtime which at my pay level is around 20 dollars and it was all for a 46 cent letter. That doesn’t even count the gas wasted. And I’m just one carrier. This type of waste happens every single day!!!
About time ‘someone’ sees the real problem! Cost are involved in private sector delivery operations too! The need a ‘Real Postmaster’ whom has the solutions and drive to reverse what Patrick Donohoe has destroyed !!!!!! You all see, he’s getting out, while the getting is good don’t you? With pocket loads of Cash to Boot !!!
A Retired Postal Worker….
About time ‘someone’ seen the real problem! Cost are involved in private sector delivery operations too! The need a ‘Real Postmaster’ whom has the solutions and drive to reverse what Patrick Donohoe has destroyed !!!!!! You all see, he’s getting out, while the getting is good don’t you? With pocket loads of Cash to Boot !!!
A Retired Postal Worker….
First of all, well said Marie in Denver. There are plenty of ways to cut costs, some so obvious. Like the uniforms that the carriers wear. Loosen up, just have them wear the shirts, forget all that other stuff, a shirt with the Eagle logo is plenty, they get a uniform allowance and multiply that by all the carriers in the country. That’s a lot of $$$. Then, how many people have actually seen the window clerks from the waist down? Probably not many, they could be the same. Just provide the top of the uniforms. I’m sure all of them would be more comfortable in their own pants, and some would likely look better in something other than what the PO provides. Not complimentary, if you know what I mean. And really, the mailhandlers need a clothing allowance too? I’m a clerk on T-1 and we don’t get a clothing allowance, eliminate all that nonsense. That’s just a start, there are plenty of other ways to cut costs. Losing Sat delivery is not one of them. What do they think all these people that lose their jobs are going to do? Have they even thought about them, likely not. Perhaps all these excessive amounts of managers would like to spend some time running machines on T-1 or delivering mail for a while to get a feel of what real work is all about, and customer service. We are there to serve the American public, they deserve the best and from what I see, we are not showing them anything that resembles that. What a shame!
Thank God for representatives like Senator Sanders who see the real problem for what it is: A pre-funding mandate by George Bush designed to make the postal service fail so that the rich like Darryl Issa can come in and buy up the profitable parts if it gets privatized. The postal service employs more people than anyone except Walmart. Where are all the other Senators and Congressional representatives that represent the hard working postal workers (a third of which are veterans) when we need them? Why aren’t they loudly protesting these illegal cuts? Many representatives are diligently working on immigration reform. What about our hard working citizens? Why are they not representing us? Remember, postal workers vote! Please pass that along to Darryl Issa.
If the Post office try to save money, why all the manager and supervisor received millions of bonuses.?
SIX DAYS IS NOT THE ANSWER!!
MANAGERS MOVE SWIFTLY TO COME UP WITH AN ANSWER BEFORE THEIR WAGES GET CUT..PLAIN AND SIMPLE!
Dear Senator,
I am at the present time a Postal employee in the Denver area and I have been for the last 20 years. I have witnessed this organization go from bad to worse. It is unfortunate that nobody has asked why do managers make six figures? Just on my tour alone which is 22:00 – 06:30 (tour 1) at the Denver G.M.F there are at least 6 Managers MDO’s we call them and I can’t for the life of me understand why? The clerks do LITERALLY the same job every single night. The one place where we are missing the point is the stations need to have direct contact with the people (clerks) who process their mail. We as clerks can impact their mail directly. NOT our Managers who LITERALLY walk around and take at least 15 smoke breaks. This is not an attempt to belittle or embarrass the Managers. However, that is where the problem is. Please go to Postalreporter.com over on the bottom right hand side of the page is a place you can look up salaries. Please enter in the following names.
Miguel Guzman
Jerry Morning
Janet Williams
Roland Fuentes
Carrie Martinez
Steven Amos
Just to name a few…..Why do these managers make so much. Why has their pay increased from last year? There is a small handfull of clerks that can solve the U.S.P.S financial problems quick, fast and in a hurry. Where is our forum? Who do we talk to? Who will listen?
Thank you for your time!!