USPS Default
EJHill ·
Aug 6, 2011 at 1:27pm
The US Postal Service warned on Friday that it could default on payments it owes the federal government, just days after the US government itself narrowly averted a default.
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: USPS Default
The hits just keep a coming. BO is very lucky we do not have a parliamentary system.
Jun '10
Re: USPS Default
Everyone buy stamps. Probably a better bet than T-bills.
Dec '10
Re: USPS Default
I just borrow them from the elderly lady across the street who still mails in her bills...
Jun '10
Re: USPS Default
Given that the USPS is itself a government agency, what are the consequences of a failure to pay its parent? Dad and Mom dig in the purse and hand over another ten billion or so?
Edited on Aug 5, 2011 at 8:28pmDec '10
Re: USPS Default
Ironically, the post office is actually a constitutional entity.
Dec '10
Re: USPS Default
"The Board of Governors of the Postal Service (the Board) directs the exercise of its powers through management that is expected to be honest, efficient, economical, and mindful of the competitive business environment in which the Postal Service operates." 39 USC § 1.1. At least they were honest...
Apr '11
Re: USPS Default
The Postal Service has tried to cut its costs, but Congress won't let it. Every little change they make has to go through Congress, and all the Congresspeople stomp their feet and insist that the Postal Service not close this post office or stop Saturday delivery, etc.
Dec '10
Re: USPS Default
There are regular, near-constant radio ads paid for by the USPS Workers Union that sell the point that the Service doesn't cost taxpayers a dime (!) and that all is paid for by stamps and postage.
Whom do you think will be on the hook for their pensions and benefits, in near perpetuiy?
Dec '10
Re: USPS Default
CJRun: There are regular, near-constant radio ads paid for by the USPS Workers Union that sell the point that the Service doesn't cost taxpayers a dime (!) and that all is paid for by stamps and postage.
Whom do you think will be on the hook for their pensions and benefits, in near perpetuiy? · Aug 6 at 3:22pm
Being constitutionally directed, unlike HUD, DoT, DoE, DoE, etc... I'll gladly pay for the letter carriers if we can offload the rest.
Feb '11
Re: USPS Default
Considering the U.S. Postal Service is one of the few specific constitutionally mandated functions of the federal government, one would assume that certain costs over revenues would be a reasonable responsibility of government to assume. With Congress micromanaging the U.S. Postal Service is there any doubt that it is running large and regular annual deficits? The USPS is merely another example of the failure of government to model an agency on a business model comparable to successful similar private sector endeavors such as UPS and FEDEX.
Dec '10
Re: USPS Default
I've looked through my copy of the Constitution; I do not see where other citizens are required to pay for medical care and pensions, forever.
I may check into, but doubt that medical care and pensions were paid in perpetuity for the boys in the Pony Express. I get the tradition, but when do we just say, "enough!? From here forward, you folks become self-supporting, because we neither need, nor want, anything that ever arrives in a mailbox?
If the lady across the street still wants to receive and pay bills,by mail, we'll carry her and others for a few more years. Just as we'll pay for the silly callboxes on the highway for folks that don't have a cellphone.
However, when is long enough? My mother is in her 80s and she has a cellphone and (dial-up) email. Pick a year; when do we cease to be responsible for medical care and pensions for an anachronistic service that most of us little use?
Sep '10
Re: USPS Default
I have thought about it for some time and I have decided a "baby Bell" type break-up would be best for the postal service. Maybe seven or so different companies that could be run as private entities. Less competitive units could be bought by the better managed or by private sector operators.
Oh and as for the debt, we are on the hook for that I would wager. I just want to stop them before they kill again.
Sep '10
Re: USPS Default
I think John Fund did an historical analysis of this (see Freedomnomics), but the main problem is the USPS management’s price-undercutting for parcel deliveries. The USPS doesn’t have a monopoly for this activity, and wants desperately to be competitive (maybe even wants to drive FedEx out-of-business, remember the first FedEx ads?). For some time now they have covered losses in parcels by increases in postage, for letter service they do enjoy a protected monopoly.