The following is a letter from Ralph Nader to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe
November 21, 2013
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, D.C. 20260-0010
Re: Revenue Expanding Activities
Dear Mr. Donahoe,
Last week the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released its financial results for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013. Despite some promising indicators, the USPS ended the year with a net loss of just under $5 billion. This is entirely attributable to the unreasonable requirement that the USPS prefund its future retirees’ healthcare benefits for the next 75 years. Annually, the USPS pays $5.5 billion for this purpose. It is a requirement that no other private corporation or government agency faces, and was imposed by Congress. It is time, as you have declared, for Congress to end this paralyzing burden.
There were, however, a number of encouraging details behind these financial results. There are clear signs that a slowly recovering economy has helped, and will likely continue to help, the USPS return to the black: operating revenue increased compared to the year before, the first time since 2008 that the USPS saw a growth in revenue. But most promising is that for the entire fiscal year, the USPS actually turned a profit on its operations. The USPS brought in about $600 million more revenue than it paid out in operating costs.
But despite these promising results, the USPS under your leadership has not shown much interest in exploring innovative means to raise new revenue. Instead, you have focused much of your energy on cutting jobs beyond normal attrition, closing needed facilities, selling off grand post office buildings, degrading services, and raising postage rates. Taken together, all of these “solutions” harm the USPS’s long term viability. And considering that the USPS’s operations have returned to profitability, more of these ill-conceived plans will bring the USPS to ruin.
Ruth Goldway, chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, has offered nearly two dozen ideas for reforms, modernizations, and revenue expansions that could benefit the Postal Service without requiring vast cuts to the services that they provide. Other suggestions have come from a conference on innovation sponsored by the Postal Service in the summer of 2010. These proposed changes seem, to outside observers, to have mostly fallen on deaf ears.
I have written before urging you to explore new areas in which to raise revenue. And I have implored you to dedicate less time promoting cuts and instead spend more of your time examining and implementing new sources of revenue, advocating for the elimination of the retiree health benefit prefunding requirement, and promoting the return of huge overpayments the USPS has made to its pension funds. The U.S. government owes the USPS between $50 and $75 billion.
What have you done in the past few years to explore innovative sources of revenue? How many staff and departments do you have working toward this goal? What projects have you advanced and implemented that would bring in new revenue? What level of success have these programs achieved? I look forward to your response.
Please have one of your revenue expanding staff call me to discuss at length a proposal I have to increase sales by the U.S. Postal Service.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
cc: Chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, Ruth Goldway
Unfortunately, the influence of the right wing tea party types in congress are not disposed to allow the USPS to not only manage itself, but to reverse the Bush lame duck congressional decision to impair the USPS with the absolutely draconian mandate to prefund 75 billion dollars. You will recall that when they were in congress, both Rick Santorum and now Governor Kasich of Ohio were constantly looking for ways to destroy the USPS and turn it over to private industry. And now, Paul Ryan, whose wife is a lobbyist for United Parcel is more than willing along with the Issa’s and other tea party types of the world who are willing to lay on top of political hand grenades for the billionaires, to continue to destroy the USPS as we know it. Ryan and his wife are known to have accepted gratuities and junkets from UPS, and I really think they need to be RICO investigated with the Tea Potties.
Mr. Nader is seems you did a poor job reading the report if you claim the postal service made an operating profit. It had a loss from operations of $1 billion. You cant only count the cost of retiree pre-funding as non-operational. You must also count the $1.3 billion of revenue from a change in accounting estimate and the non-cash expense of Workers compensation. Together these two items totaled $1.6 billion of income to the bottom line that was not operational in nature so subtract that from your $600 million of profit and you have a $1 billion operating loss.
Obviously “Voice of Reason”, “maillady” and a couple others are all the same troll that doesn’t understand the real issues here and has an ax to grind for whatever reason. Those of us (most veterans like myself) that have invested several years into this organization would like the politics to end and be allowed to stand on our own. The USPS is in decline but still has many fruitful decades left of very useful and needed service. I’m sorry the troll is most likely a PSE that simply couldn’t hack it in a processing plant somewhere and has obvious anger (and perhaps diaper) issues. Pathetic really.
GET REAL- get a life instead of hanging around postal related websites.
You have an opinion on everything, which in your case means you are wrong on everything.
You have no clue.
Aren’t you tired of being wrong all of the time?
Change your handle to “without a clue” for the sake of accuracy.
mr.nader I agree 100% with you. the PMG has shown zero leadership qualities. all he wants to do is cut services ,cut the workforce,and cut quality. he has no innovative ideas. when someone does the things he has done it leads you to only 1 conclusion….that this moron PMG DONAHUE IS TRYING TO DESTROY THE USPS. why else would he do these things? everything is detrimental. he has a hidden agenda. he and Darrell”asshole” issa are in cahoots.we are not blind. this buffoon needs to be replaced. thank you for trying mr. nader.
Maillady…I want to come work at your office! Please, at least tell me what area of the country you are working. I’m in the Southeast, and we have carriers out til 10 (sometimes).
I’m with you, I don’t understand why, except that they aren’t really doing their “best” and just want the OT.
2:30pm J.C.Vele
pic.twitter.com/m91R1yo7LR
Republican’s
@ voice of REESON,
where did you lern how to punctuate ? Can U spell L O S E R ?
I thought so.
@voice of REESON, since I am a total faggot, you can FUCK me anytime, WHY
U ASK, because you an I both take it up the mouth, and the tight ass we both have. Just because you and I are not /with each other now, doesn’t mean you have to make fun of me. Remember, you broke up with me. But I still can tatse your cokk in my mouth. It is “EDIBLE” as you always say.
Only you can make sandswiches like no other man. And you know it, voice of reeson. I will love you forever, and my ass is always open to you.
Please email me, or call me. We can get over this. Stop hiding, I am not. Nothing rong with loving a male body. You do, and I do. It is ok.
Not our fault God played a trick on our genes. So plees stop this, and just pick up the phone. NCD..I will be working at 2:30 tonight, or Sunday morning… This is my new shift, since you call in all the time… And just come to work, nobody knows you and I are 2gether….Love J.C…
Word is getting out…..
“We can, and should, condemn the horrendous artificial [14] financial burden Congress has imposed on the USPS, a burden the USPS uses at every opportunity to justify its actions. But every time the USPS weakens and cheapens the physical network that binds us together, every time it turns its back on the public, it reduces the willingness of the public to champion the Post Office. In this sense the USPS management is rapidly becoming the enemy of the people.”
Amen
What’s Ross Perot’s take?
I wonder if 3 union letter’s said as of Monday were all calling in.
Just to give you a taste of the things to come.
Anybody got some AC-DC? The unions are having a ball.
Nader already has called for Donahoe to resign,so he’ll just laugh at this letter and wipe big ass with it.
Two infantile choices stay the same,no matter who what you where. It’s were you are and where you are going. No sugar coating here.
bend over or STRIKE! The choice is yours.
Fuck the both of ya yahoos, union an management that’s what I’m hearing.
An if fuck isn’t adult enough for you well hear’s a crop duster for you?
From the way I see it? you are or your going to get screwed.
Many already have.
As usual, a crop of infantile responses with a few more adult ones. Actually, I’d much prefer Nader over Donohoe, what do you think? I’ve never seen a more destructive and incompetent PMG, and it baffles me why the Board of Governors and/or President Obama haven’t canned this crook. Of course, Obama has his own problems and I’m sure the Postal Service is way down on his list.
We could demand Donohoe’s removal through our legislators, I suppose, but since the Republicans are in favor of destroying the USPS, they aren’t about to do anything to remove him. However, PMG’s don’t stay in office forever, and maybe the next one will be a bit more interested in saving us. It can be painful for us veteran carriers who were here back before the internet explosion when we were regarded as public servants in the same light as policemen and firemen. Now we’re just junk peddlers for the most part. But there will always be a USPS, in one form or another. If you have a Democrat or a reasonable Republican (yeah, right) legislator, call ’em and ask for Donohoe’s ouster.
Go fuck yourself, how’s that for a point of reason.
I’m not writing, I’m telling your furture shithead,Your two choices stay the same can I still have one of them sand whatever’s? My dog’s hungry.
@VOICE OF REESON;
HEY MY NIGGA, WHEN YOU WRITE, HAVE A POINT. IT MAKES THE STORY THAT MUCH MORR INTERESTING…NOW, HOW BOUT ONE OF MY SANDWSIISCHES..
You rang?
A letter? How cute is that?
Dear Mr Hoe.
I want you to stop what you are doing? These are cajones?
They are out to take away what was and replace you with what is. Cheap labor. 2014 around the corner the fun is only yet to begin, they want hundreds of thousands of you union old timers gone ASAP.
Do you really think Congress is going to help you? They want you to pay more and get less with everything and everybody, look at what they’ve done to the postal service already,
Reason? Reason has left the building.
What are we to do you ask? We’ll stop with the signing of contracts that gives away so much, you can see they want more, they want it all and their doing it? Yes?
Next go round the layoff clause will be gone. Which they need and want.
Two things bend over? Or STRIKE!
Eliminate waste to preserve jobs. 6 day waste paper street delivery is a wasted cost that will continue to
haunt postal service viability. There is no need to continue this outdated past need as it creates wasted cost in work hours and fuel cost. Low revenue product high distribution cost in maintain 6 day delivery of junk mail. Parcel business increasing. Efforts to increase this business is means to create revenue.
Wat I am thinkin is how many of my SANDWSICHES will be lost if they cut Saturday delivery. Wat will I do ? But it is ‘EDIBLE”…
NCD NDC NDC NDC NDC NDC…
It seems only Ralph has the “cajones” to write this letter and try to get the pmg to change things. DO you hear ANY us congresspersons, especially Republican ones trying to improve the place without already doing the slash and burn he mentioned above? get real. somebody needs to be a voice of reason here.
What office does maillady work at????? We have cca, we still pivot 5 rt’s a day and odl guys get 1 1/2 pivots on top of there own overburdened rts…… I putting my transfer tommorow. You want the truth??? YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!
An FTC case needs filed, USPS customers pay premium pricing for Priority & don’t realize it is processed in NDCs in the same mailstream along with & and treated identically to parcel post! This is a clear violation!
Thank you Mr. Nader for your concern, as long as the current PMG is allowed to stay in place he will continue to destroy the United States’s Post Office. I think your open letters would be more productive if they were sent to the President asking for the removal of the PMG. To think that a former window clerk from Pittsburg is running government service with hundreds of thousands of employees is bizarre at the very least. Hopefully some day the PMG’s boss will take notice of his employee’s incompetence.
BTW Congress….Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Maybe when you get out of that recess you can help us out with a Merry Christmas or is that Happy Holidays (to be politically correct, LOL)!
What get real says! Maybe with the end of Saturday delivery carriers wouldn’t be out so late….and really why are they out there that late? I don’t think anybody in my office has been out that late in over a year. Since the hiring of CCA’s, there has been a reduction in the OT used in my office. All days off are given, no forced overtime and people with days off on Monday that fall on a holiday are actually getting Saturday off unless they volunteer. Hmmmm…Let’s try telling the truth! You know what they say….”and the truth will set you free”!
Come on people! You probably think Ford Motor Company should’ve stuck with manufacturing only model A’s! Improve your product or face extinction! Atleast Ralphy’s talking. Haven’t heard much from brother man in D.C. I’ll be glad when we’re past THAT novelty!
Come on people! You probably think Ford Motor Company should’ve stuck with manufacturing only model A’s! Improve your product or face extinction!
I’m hungry, where’s them sandwiches?
Old RALPHY LOOKING TO GARNER THE UNION MONEY EARLY FOR HIS NEXT RUN FOR PRESIDENT, AT THE RISK OF HIS OWN PRINCIPALS…..SHAME…SHAME ON YOU…
Ralph…Ralph…Whats your point, had the USPS NOT CUT OVERHEAD THEY WOULD NOT HAVE MADE A PROFIT FOR THE YEAR….BY ELIMINATING SATURDAY DELIVERY THEY COULD REDUCE EVEN MORE COST, AND NOT BE FORCED TO LOWERING PAY SCALES AND BENEFITS FOR FUTURE EMPLOYEES.
QUITE FRANKLY THE POSTAL SERVICE IS GOING TO HAVE A DIFFICULT TIME MAINTAINING A VIABLE WORKFORCE AT THE REDUCED PAY AND BENEFITS THEY ARE FACEING THROUGH CONGRESSIONAL INTERFERENCE.
THINK OF THE FUEL CONSUMPTION, POLUTION, AND SAVINGS BY THE ELIMINATION OF SATURDAY DELIVERY.