Despite Monday’s snowstorm and the congressional recess, Sen. Tom Carper, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, traveled to Washington, DC, to update Postmasters on postal reform legislation at the NAPUS Leadership Conference.
Both the House and Senate have reported postal reform bills, which are awaiting consideration by the full House and Senate. Carper described the legislative effort as a long, slow, tedious process.
He acknowledged the way we communicate has changed and people are less dependent on the mail. “Does that mean the Postal Service no longer is relevant?” he asked. “Absolutely not.” Carper said he and Sen. Tom Coburn, the committee’s ranking Republican, want to pass legislation that ensures the USPS isn’t just hanging on, but that it’s vibrant and robust.
He said the especially unique thing about the USPS is it’s the only entity that goes to every mailbox, residential and business, five or six days a week. “What we have to do,” he urged, “is be smart and figure out how to use the Postal Service’s legacy and distribution network in a way that enables it to make money. We need to think outside the box so the Postal Service can be around and profitable for a long, long time.”
Just cutting jobs, mail distribution and post offices won’t get the job done. The Carper-Coburn bill, S. 1486 allows the agency to be more creative and innovative; it makes the legacy distribution organization relevant in a digital world. The intent of the bill also is to find ways to provide service in communities across the country without closing their post offices. And it’s imperative that the agency be financially strong.
Carper said he does not want to pass legislation and then have to do it again a few years down the road. Rather, they need to fix the problems and provide the mechanics to avoid those problems going forward. “If we can push this legislation through the House and Senate,” he said, “then we will have a Postal Service not just hanging one, but one the rest of the world will admire, that continues to have the customer service ratings it has had over the years. And customers who run businesses will have the certainty the Postal Service will be here and provide the service they need.”
Postmaster General Pat Donahoe took time out of attending the National Postal Forum, going on at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center nearby, to address NAPUS members. He thanked Postmasters for the tremendous job they are doing. He gave an overview of the business, saying the trends are positive; packages continue to increase, which is transforming the agency’s revenues. He credited this growth to Postmasters’ excellent work in terms of delivery and service. “Our intent is to grow that even faster because that will be the future in terms of revenue growth,” he said.
Amazon continues to grow and for certain ZIP codes, the USPS will be a seven-days-a-week package delivery company. “That’s the growth and job security for the future,” he declared. What the Postal Service offers that beats its competitors is value, visibility and service.
Donahoe told Postmasters they do an outstanding job and acknowledged it’s been hard working through the many changes. Tough decisions and sacrifices have been made and a lot of costs have been taken out of the organization. He said it’s time for Congress to get legislation resolved so the focus can turn to growing the organization—the only way to stay healthy in the long term
source: National Association of Postmasters of the US (NAPUS)
fire management and eliminate saturday delivery. deliver parcels 7 days a week
The postal service is making a profit now, but that fact seems to be buried by the BS from management and congress. How about returning the money you “BORROWED” from our retirement to “save us” from the last “fiscal cliff”!!! Congress and greedy managers want to keep us around to use as a “cash cow” to steal from. Donho wants to tear the USPS apart and privatize but the committed workforce keep doing a good job despite the lack of competent leadership..c’mon union leaders, hold their feet {no-butts} to the fire and get the useless managers on notice and support the good ones.
GOP STOLED THE PENSION FUND IN 2006 REMEMBER TAX CUTS FOR THERE PALS WHILE THE COUNTRY WAS AT WAR. THATS WHY EVERYTIME THE UNION ASK FOR THE MONEY BACK THE GOP SAYS WE WILL HAVE TO RAISE TAXES. WHO DO YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR?
Scott, you have hit the proverbial nail straight on its head!
Every thing becomes outdated with time. Pay telephones are no longer in use as advances in communication technology eliminated the need and revenue decreased 99.9%. Pay telephone booths no longer have phones as the need cease to exist. Same scenario delivering bulk business junk mail 6 days a week. USPS delivering first class mail in volume to generate revenue is past history as this once primary means of business and personal communication is a thing of the past resulting from advances in communication technology.
Delivering paper communication to a physical address in a 2-3 day time frame is a thing of the past.
Top heavy management should be a thing in the past as decision making process by these high salaried staph(sic}has resulted in quarterly reports of loosing millions of $$$.
PFW! PAY FOR WHAT? Increase in revenue? Treating employees with dignity and respect. These are things of the past back when Harry Potter was PMG and first class mail volume was creating revenue to cover operation cost BUT this a thing in the past with no recovery under present mode of management leadership.
If they continue to cut from the bottom up, ( and I mean ONLY at the bottom) they will not survive. The median age is 52 and out of 7 clerks in our small office, 4 our either on owcp long term or have restrictions and limited duty. You can only push the human body so hard. Soon, we will all be disabled due to overwork. They need to get a clue. It’s called common sense!
Another VP. Just what we need a Hamburger Flipper who has never worked a
piece of mail.
These are the same ones who don’t have a clue on whats happening in the post office. The whole solution is to downsize Management and cease pre-funding. I see where they announced another Vice-President today. We only have one for the whole United States but we have over 25 (at 200,00 +) in the postal service.
It was always my understanding that the USPS was a public service designed to operate revenue neutral. The idea was never to “make” a profit, just make enough to pay the bills. That’s supposedly why they passed that crap law to pre-fund health benefits. They needed someplace to put all of the “profit”. When the “profit” disappeared so too should the payments have disappeared.
Postmasters must have done an outstanding job to bring back the bonus program(PFP)
Yeah, right. Thousands of PM’s nationwide are being forced into retirement this year whether they want to or not. Mail still runs late, carriers come in too late to the point that lots of customers don’t even get mail somedays and have been assaulted, shot and murdered.
Still, Donohoe brags about how good management is. Is this the same bunch who was and maybe still is way behind on processing retirees’ benefits while forcing so many out? Is this the same bunch who tell new carriers at the “academy” (what a joke that is) to run like hell and don’t pay any attention to names, just numbers and streets and not to talk to regular career employees?
Why anybody would believe a damn word Donohoe or Carper said would be beyond my understanding. Carper used to suck up to the NALC and now he’s almost as bad as Issa. So much for the Democrat tag. You want meaningful reform? Start with Donohoe and work your way down through district. These people are the ones who are committing the massive fraud with direct mail charges, accepting bribes and letting the Service lose money delivering worthless junk. No other explanation for deliberately accepting a product you know will cost you money makes sense. Unless they’re really that incredibly stupid. Surely not.
S.1486 is bad legislation that won’t solve the problems,Democrats must vote this down and push Sanders and DeFazio’s bills that do address the problems.
Most of the financial problem with the Postal Service started in 2003 when there was a gigantic surplus in overpayments to our pension plan and Congress had to figure out a way to hide this money…Seriously! Then in 2006 Senators Collins and CARPER took another stab at the so called PROBLEM and we know how that turned out, what a fiasco!!! Now Sen Carper wants to pass legislation that won’t have to be redone ” a few years down the road”! WOW…YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!!!