BANGOR, Maine — Exactly 219 years ago, President George Washington signed a bill into law creating the United States Postal Service.
A crowd of about 70 people, including U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and other politicians, noted that anniversary Monday morning at a rally on behalf of the postal service and the area’s mail processing center.
The Presidents’ Day rally to save the U.S. Postal Service, held near the Bangor post office on Hammond Street, was organized by retired Ellsworth letter carrier John Curtis to urge passage of legislation pending in Congress to help ease financial restrictions on the USPS and avert the downsizing of the Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Facility in Hampden and further cuts in service to trim $20 billion in operating costs by 2015.
“We don’t want a bailout. We just want to get the mail out,” read a few of the signs hoisted high by rally attendees, many of whom were union members or postal employees.
Another sign read: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stops these carriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds — but prefunding will.”
Prefunding refers to a condition included in a 2006 law passed by Congress requiring the USPS to set aside $5.5 billion each year for a 10-year period to prefund retiree health benefits 75 years ahead of time.
“There is a specter haunting the postal service today and that specter is called prefunding,” said Curtis, who urged passage of HR 1351, a bill being considered by the House of Representatives that would lessen the prefunding requirements.
“It’s a fact that the $21 billion diverted to prefunding so far accounts for 85 percent of the postal service’s debt,” said Curtis. “That is the main problem with the postal service today and it must be fixed now. If not for this burden, the postal service would have been profitable in four of the last five years.”
As the USPS evaluates proposals to save money and cut expenses, the processing and distribution center in Hampden has been targeted by a proposal to shift its processing operations to the state’s only other center, in Scarborough.
Both of Maine’s U.S. senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, are against curtailing the plant’s operations to distribution only.
Michaud said he would make it a priority to get fellow House members, 228 of whom already have signed on as HR 1351 co-sponsors, to join in signing a “discharge petition” — a parliamentary maneuver that would force the the bill to be brought up for a vote.
“It’s because of an act of Congress that we’re in this mess today,” said Michaud. “Hopefully, an act of Congress can do the right thing and get this bill signed into law.”
But there is a sticking point, as Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has authored a competing bill to HR 1351 that would establish a financial control board to overhaul USPS finances.
“The only option Congress has, besides not bringing anything forward, is for us to sign a discharge petition,” said Michaud. “And one would think that with 228 co-sponsors — and all we need is 218 to get a bill passed in Congress — that we would get the signatures for a discharge petition. So we’ll be moving forward in that direction and hopefully, we will be able to and get a vote on that in the House.”
There are also competing bills in the Senate, one of which, S 1789, is co-sponsored by Collins.
Another bill is S 1853, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.
“Sanders is working with 27 other senators to end the prefunding mandate and retain essential services like door-to-door delivery while also requiring the USPS to modernize and offer new services,” Curtis said.
He said Collins’ bill, the 21st Century Postal Service Act, leaves the prefunding burden largely intact and stipulates drastic reductions in service if the USPS doesn’t quickly show a profit.
A spokesman for Collins said her bill is a bipartisan legislation that aims to save the Postal Service without burdening taxpayers.
“The Postal Service is vital to our economy and society, and it is heading toward insolvency. To maintain that this crisis can be solved simply by eliminating the payments for future retirees’ health benefits is not truthful and is a disservice to hard-working postal employees who should be able to count on their promised benefits when they retire,” said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for Collins.
“In fact, the Postal Service did not make these required payments for the past two years and yet was still in the red by $3 billion and $5 billion, respectively,” Kelley said. “As part of the solution, both Senator Collins and the Obama Administration have proposed that the payment schedule for future benefits be eased, while ensuring that the liability is still eventually funded so that the Postal Service keeps its promises to retirees.”
Jack McKay, president of the Eastern Maine Labor Council, attended the rally, as did members of several labor unions representing postal workers, electrical workers and others.
People identifying themselves from as far away as Lincoln, Waterville, Presque Isle, Portland and even Somerville, Mass., came to show support.
I went to the post office on Friday. 9:15 AM. Nobody in line, 3 workers hanging around behind the counters shuffling papers and straightening piles. I sent my package. When I got home I found a pile of flyers in my mailbox that went straight into the garbage without even being read.
Then I sent about 15 emails to family, friends and coworkers, paid a half dozen bills, balanced my checkbook with the online bank (no more paper statements) and read an article about how the post office wants to raise the cost of a stamp to $.50.
We need to let this thing get downsized to a more realistic level. We don’t need a post office this big anymore, times have changed.
I don’t believe a word you say .
Thank you, Rep. Michaud
As a small business owner I wish I had a reason to say thank you to
Rep. Michaud.
Agree, the post office is going the way of the landline, no one under 35 uses their services anymore.
Actually, quite a few young people come in and mail things they sell online.
OMG we agree on something, they made signs saying we don’t want a bailout? they get bailed out at a 20 Billion dollar a year clip. Plus they have a monopoly where all others are forbidden under penalty of law from sending a first class letter in this country! No wonder Michaud loves them.
They don’t get bailed out. They don’t use tax dollars. And if you think .50 would be expensive for a letter, see what UPS or Fed Ex would charge you.
Really? One visit at the slowest time of day and you think it’s over staffed? Imagine a business actually having a slow time. Try Target at 8am. Or Hannaford at 8 or 9am on a Saturday. Everytime I go in those places are dead. Maybe we should call for all those workers jobs too.
YOU may not need a PO anymore but there are a lot that do.
And as far as e-mail. Hope you don’t get any of that junk mail in it. Actually, how much do most pay for internet service? And then to buy a computer? Those 6 bills would of cost you 2.70 had you just mailed them. Now lets add in the 15 e-mails and you are up to 9.45. Bet you pay more for your internet than that.
I live 10 miles beyond no where, I buy everything online and it is shipped to my house!
Fed ex is always late and expensive , UPS cant find me and is expensive but the good old USPS rain or shine is right there with prompt freindly reasonable rates!
I was LIVID when I read that Congress Gave the Post Office a Poison Pill called H.R. 6407 in the middle of the night with no tallys on who voted for this .
I did get a Photo of some of the culprits however!
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/12/images/20061220-6_20061220-2d-0716-1–515h.html
Who is that Lady Post Office Assasin in the Red Dress?
LOL
Right Dlbrt… and the fact that the postal unions have resisted or stopped any attempt to correct this problem for years had absolutely nothing to do with where we are now.
Check your email bright and early tomorrow for the next talking point and what to complain about and what to say, including examples.
Really? What has the union done to stop or resist? The union and it’s members (at least APWU union) has basically been on a pay freeze (contract that was voted on) to help the USPS. They also agreed to a new pay scale where people start out lower and don’t get as high. They also pay more into their health care.
I also live miles beyond nowhere. My USPS options are a maibox 2 miles from my house or PO Box in my home town 5 miles away or a neighboring town 3.5 miles away. Even though I live on a private road 2 miles in I get delivery from UPS & Fed Ex almost year round. Fed Ex will call and inquire about the condition of the road in winter but will deliver most of the time.
You can’t send anything next day air from East Millinocket or Millinocket – they know it won’t leave the post office for days. You can pay for 3 day delivery but you’ll just have to go back down and get your money back when it doesn’t arrive for 6 or 7 days. The insurance co. the mill employees have sent out a mass mailing last week. In a town of what 2000 people ? About a 1000 of which they haven’t figured out moved away yet? And of the 1000 remaining at 4 a household = 250 houses? Only a little over 200 employees in the mill… many don’t live in East, and still my envelope doesn’t show up till Saturday a day after EVERYONE ELSE’S? And you want a bail out? Forget it!!
What bail-out? read the article!
The problem with the post office is the same as any other government or quasi government agency. There is no incentive for profit. Where there is no incentive for profit there is no incentive to improve service, improve products or features. There is no incentive for initiative. You must cut pensions. Cut Benefits. Cut Staffing. Demand Productivity. Reward Achievement and eliminate the space fillers. It is not hard people. It just demands courage. Are you afraid?
What worker , working on an hourly wage has an incentive for profit? Are you evil? Have you ever been responsible for the working lives of employees? I hope not.
Good Grief Jim, all hourly workers employed by a business whose motive is profit have an incentive to increase profitability. Do you really not understand this? While I have 42 employees I am NOT responsible for their working lives. THEY are each responsible for their own working lives. The better rise, are given additional pay and responsibility. The space fillers are not given raises and are nudged out the door.
Oh, I understand what you are postulating all right, Having done very well for myself under just those conditions of employment at Boston Whaler for 14 years. But we were not a publicly traded company, which is what I was referring to. You know as well as I do that the Ideal which you refer to is not the norm in this country.
The fix is easy, just raise the price of stamps. Nobody is using it now, so raise the price, that will make them use the postal service. Slow the service down, and tell the customer it’s not going to be there in time, your all set. My post office closes at 3:15 in the afternoon. Most people get home 4:30/ 5:00, so this is a easy fix, don’t come back from your 2 hour lunch. The Union runs the company, the tail waging the dog.
The unions don’t set the times your PO is open, management does. Some offices do close early or don’t guarantee overnight services after a certain time because there has to be a cut off in order for said mail to travel to plant, be processed and make scheduled flights in order to be delivered on time.
You say that you get to much junk mail ? Just look at you email now that’s junk mail
When will these Clowns wake up. The Postal Service is finished. Obsolete and Bankrupt. It cant even control its own destiny. Shut down some small offices or Processing Facilities that have no mail to process. Now a 50 Cent Stamp will only push more customers to pay all their bills online. What needs to be done to save the Postal Service, EXTREME DOWNSIZING, will never happen as long as Fools keep protesting and keep this obsolete, bankrupt, super over capacity monster alive.
You don’t know squat.
“D@mmit Jim, I’m a doctor not a businessman!!” – Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Lt. Commander U.S.S. Enterprise)
The Post Office is losing billions annually even without the pre-funding requirement.
The Postal Service has become a welfare payment scheme for Postal Workers. Once the few letters are processed and delivered, it is stand around time the rest of the day or night. Just do nothing and collect a big welfare check every two weeks. The Public would go nuts and riot if a bailout is ever suggested for these Postal Welfare Recipients.
You make a bunch of ignorant statements without even reading the article. No one, NO ONE, have you got it yet, NO ONE is suggesting a bail- out, except you. You really should read the article before you comment. It makes you look like a fool.
Actually, the Postal Regulatory System is suggesting just that, a bailout of the pension system based on the absurd claim that the USPS has overpaid into it’s pension system by $50-$75 Billion over the years.
It is time for them to fold.
Absurd claim? It’s actually fact they have overpaid tens of billions. In fact, if they stopped paying now and got %3-4 return on what they have paid the whole 75 years would be paid over the next 21 without another penny paid in.
Lie, read the article. My friend John Curtis, who organized this rally knows what he is talking about. You don’t.
The USPS loses $5 Billion/year. They lost $2.2 Billion in the 1st quarter of 2011. They have lost $20 Billion since 2007. Clearly your friend has fed you a line of self serving BS.
The USPS would have made around a billion the past five years if not for the mandate. And if you all support a mandate on pre funding then I would like for Collins to mandate it on all businesses like she did on the USPS. Lets see how your company does pre funding for people who aren’t even hired yet.
Cut the waste!!
They need to eliminate the equivalent of Pontiac, Olds, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn just like GM did when they received government bailouts. Check out the starting wage of a new GM worker, it’s about $15.00 an hour. The Post Office can survive, but their expenses need a serious haircut-just like the auto companies received..
would you trust someone from detroit with your paycheck?
Do you think it is a good thing that wages for every body are being cut? Do you understand that the Post Office is self supporting? Why do you think you have anything to say about what the Post Office should do. Why are you comparing GM to the post office when the post office got no bail out? Do you have any idea what you are talking about.
Cut wages or no wages, cut benefits or no benefits. Gee, what do you think, just asking. Why don’t the USPS cut all ties from the Federal government, that means everything pal. Let’s see how long you last on a even playing with UPS and FEDEX.
And now we have the blind leading the deaf, Bruce. Your comment is incoherent, whoops probly too big a word. Your comment makes no sense. What level playing field?do you realize that the post office delivers all of UPS and FEDEX mail that they won’t deliver, because they can’t make a profit on it? The USPS picks it up from them and delivers it to it’s final destination. There can be no comparison between the USPS and the private deliverers. If UPS had to provide the same service as USPS they would go out of business in a New York minute, and if you don’t believe me, just ask UPS.
The USPS picks it up from them and delivers it to it’s final destination
They do nothing of the sort.
Actually, UPS and Fed Ex drop off at the EMPD plant for the Postal service to sort and then deliver.
Ok we’ll stop downsizing, as soon as you accept reasonable pay for the job you do without healthcare or a pension. You think your jobs are so hard well I’m here to tell you, go work in a restaurant for 9 bucks an hour 6 days a week 10 hours a day. then tell me who deserves the pension and health benefits on top of a living wage.
So your solution is to reduce the wages of all workers until we are back in the middle ages with 1% living high on the labor of everyone else. I have worked in a restaurant, but I never begrudged anyone else their paycheck. Why do you want to treat workers disrespectfully? Are you thinking some rich guy is going to pat you on the head for doing his work for him. I helped put on this rally today, because I think any country that can afford to remote control drones in a foreign country to blow up innocent women and children can afford to deliver the mail. stop whining about what someone else is being paid and worry about your own wages. The Post Office in case you haven’t noticed is self supporting while paying it’s employees a living wage. Perhaps if you read the article to find out why I went to the trouble to drive to Bangor get dressed in a costume and stand on the street for an hour you might learn something.
Many people are worried about their own wages. What they’re worried about is how much of those wages is being taken by various levels of Government to fund programs they don’t use- USPS and Social Security in my case. I wouldn’t have a problem with the USPS if they could exist without the protection of Government regulations.
So here we have another example of the conservatives solution to his problem. Do away with any government program I don’t use. Do you see anything wrong with the screw you I’ve got mine mentality? If an 80 year old relies on the USPS for their SS checks and they don’t use internet, that’s just too bad, right? We have come a long way down the road to hell when a person proudly advertises their self-centered greed on a public forum. For god’s sake even Capitalism has proven it can’t exist without government regulations. If we could tax the stupid and the crazy in this country we would have no deficit.
Why does the 80 year old have to rely on the USPS and SS checks? Is it because the government has long since crowded out any alternative? Government regulations have created situations in many markets such that dependency on the government is almost unavoidable for most consumers. Capitalism has not proven it can’t exist without government regulations. If anything, this country’s mixed economy has proven that Capitalism can’t exist with government regulations. The only regulations Capitalism needs are those that protect property rights and courts of laws to settle disputes.
The difference is the USPS doesn’t take from the taxpayers. The PO gets the monopoly on 1st class mail because it is required by law to deliver to all households for the same price, a stamp.
I’ll never gripe about “junk mail” because the cost of a first class letter would always have been much higher without it.
Nothing worse then Postal SLUGS with no mail to sort. You can always find these SLUGS on a Union Picket line. Have respect at least go on regular welfare. I realize it is severely less then the Postal Welfare, SLUGS collect for standing around doing nothing and getting paid on the clock. Time to shut the Hampden Processing Facility down.
used to be a dumping ground for patronage. Where are they going to go now?
It has always been a taxpayer funded welfare program that provided the unique
benefit of allowing postal employees to bring their guns to work to compete for the world title of Top Serial Killer.
It has also allowed the FBI to illegaly open the mail of countless American activists since at least 1920.
Perhaps it is time for competition for 1st class mail business. Lets start allowing private firms such as UPS and Fedex compete for 1st class mail delivery.