5/1/18 The famous mantra of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign was: “It’s the economy, stupid!” It was adopted to urge people to stay focused on the most important issue facing the country.
We need that same kind of focus right now when it comes to the debate over the future of the U.S. Postal Service: It’s the pre-funding, stupid.
So much of the recent press coverage of the Postal Service has focused on Amazon packages, falling letter mail volume and postal retirement costs, but the real driver of postal finances is the congressional mandate to prefund retiree health premiums decades in advance. That 2006 mandate accounts for some 90 percent of recorded losses since the measure went into effect in 2007. That should be the focus in Congress, in the media and in the new White House task force on the USPS.
Many reporters and commentators get the basics wrong. Yes, letter mail volume has declined as a result of the internet. But we still deliver nearly 500 million such letters every day and the USPS has cut costs, adapted and raised productivity to record levels – even as it has facilitated a boom in e-commerce deliveries from hundreds of thousands of merchants (including Amazon). And no, the problem is not with postal “pension costs.” Too many reporters get this wrong: Our pension funds are better funded than most private plans – even though we are forced to invest all the funds in low-yielding Treasury bonds.
The real issue is pre-funding future retiree health benefits. This has cost us between $5.5 and $5.8 billion per year since 2007. No other enterprise has to do it. The key to strengthening the Postal Service is ending or reforming this mandate. There are many ways to do it (see the President’s Message from the May issue of The Postal Record), but all parties involved in the debate over the Postal Service need to stay focused on this central issue.
As NALC members, you can do your part by spreading this message far and wide: It’s time for Congress to relieve the pre-funding burden.
my UPS, FDX, AMZN stock are worth more than my TSP after 32 years, maxed out, never took any loans, in stock funds first day I could go in…………..keep going with your pre-funding fake news and bow down to the picture of Karl Marx you have on your wall.Postal Circus is going down hill with or without pre-funding. Capitalism is king……..even Red China knows that!
Fred Rolando you have done good of selling us out to management, by giving us the worst working conditions in history. You and management are the problem. Remember everyone ROLANDO free in 2018!
How about the Supervisor to worker ratio? @ 4 chiefs to every 20 Indians?..Too much fat…Trim it!!
The President Dump supporters just don’t think! Our leader is bragging about the “BIG ” tax cuts. While at the same time the local city and state taxes are going to go up. The schools are already going to the dumb voters asking to raise property taxes so schools can buy an arsenal of guns. While Mr. Big Stuff gave tax cuts, the tax cut will disappear because of local tax increases. Any plans the President has for the Postal Service won’t be good for the employees or the country. When all is said and done, some businessmen will make out well.
True words but what has been done by anybody since 1992?. Just empty words!.
How many Postal Employees still babble that the prefunding doesn’t matter? They say the Postal service has not paid the unnecessary cost in years. They will support anything Mr. Fabulous does, even if it includes cuts to their pay and benefits. Better yet, the destruction of their jobs. Just look no further than the convicted ex owner of Massy Energy Don Blankenship. He was convicted, and spent a year in a federal Prison after being found guilty after an explosion in a coal mine he owned. Twenty nine coal miners died. However that doesn’t bother the WV. coal miners. Many UMWU members plan to vote for a man that helped to kill fellow miners. They just don’t have any self respect! They don’t care how Mr. Blankenship has treated them in the past, nor how he will treat them in the future.
I never hear Postal employees say the prefunding doesn’t matter. They’re simply saying it hasn’t been funded since 2009, which is true. Do a little research instead of babbling your partisan BS. What does Blankenship have to do with this story anyway?
When Democrats had the opportunity to repeal the prefunding legislation, they did nothing. They had veto proof majorities in the House and Senate and had your Messiah in the White House. They did nothing to help Postal employees. Don’t kid yourself. Democrats don’t care about Postal workers either.
Thanks Ghoul. My thoughts are the same as yours.
Mr. Rolando don’t you remember pushing Congress to vote for this and saying it was a good idea. Just like you are pushing to have all your members placed on Medicare when they retire and saying it will save the PO. Remember Mr. Rolando.
……. and again…… the pre funding….. when is this excuse going to end?? you haven’t paid it, you aren’t liable for it, and our pensions/health benefits are already fully funded, so why keep beating a dead horse?? Oh I know, it’s because the union will never admit that we could save billions of $ by converting to all curbside boxes and doing away with Saturday delivery, and the fact that we don’t charge nearly enough for what we do…… but when it could affect the number of carriers and union members we have, then it’s all the pre funding…… please vote Rolando out of office this next election…… he is a slime ball
Knucklehands,USPS stopped making the”Pre-Funding”,payments;in late 2011. Many thanks to Retard-Washington,DC’s ineffectiveness,our postal service,will likely continue to avoid such these”Stupid”payments.
If it’s the prefunding, which has cost $51 Billion towards retiree healthcare benefits, then why do all 4 of the Nationals support legislation which would place postal employees into an entirely separate risk group AND forcing ALL retirees into Medicare Part B? There is enough in PSRHBF to pay for the FEHB benefits for ALL living retirees and currently employed, future retirees. Tell your Nationals that you do NOT support H.R. 756 and its sister bill in the Senate, the slightly less awful S. 2629.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/756
they have not paid one thin dime into pre-funding since 2009…………lost over 130 Billion without putting said dime into the payment….they are in default………will you socialist dopes stop with the fake news already! if the had paid they would have lost 200 Billion. The top-heavy po mismanagement, with their PFP bonus scam, sucking up payroll is the problem………not some pre-funding they do not pre-fund. it is like somebody who never flys complaining about the price of tickets on Delta Airlines.
Bite me NALC. The prefunding hasn’t even been paid in years. You’re as bad as mgmt these days with the lies and the way you want to throw us under the bus.
Oh, and don’t forget; YOU were all in favor of the prefunding in ’06.
The NALC(Rolando) has done great job of selling us out and creating the horrible working conditions that has been costing the USPS money. Rolando free in 2018!
It would be so simple to repeal the PAEA but the Republicans like it so they can mislead the public,even Trump into thinking it’s losing billions so they can move to privatize it so their friends at UPS and FedEx can jack up their prices.
The Presidents’ Task Force “Matters” 1 and 2 are Obvious. The prefunding as The NALC states and Disproportionate number of those “overseeing” the deliveries, processing and movement of the product. Postal Banking would also enhance future viability.