HAMPDEN, Maine — Employees were notified in person Wednesday night that the U.S. Postal Service Eastern Maine Processing and Distribution Facility would be consolidated, resulting in only 13 of the 183 employees being retained.
Two employees confirmed that they were told at the plant Wednesday night that the plant’s processing services would be consolidated and shifted to the Southern Maine Processing and Distribution Center in Scarborough starting May 19.
“As far as that, I’m unable to confirm this information,” said Tom Rizzo, USPS spokesman for the Northern New England District, which covers Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
An email sent to the Bangor Daily News by a Hampden plant mail handler who preferred to remain anonymous and another employee who returned a message left at the plant during his lunch break both reported that they were told during a 6 p.m. “stand-up talk” the transition would begin May 19, be completed by July 6 and result in only 13 employees remaining.
“They told us at 6 and they are going to tell another shift later on tonight as well,” said plant employee Pat Patterson.
Patterson said they also were told that of the 200 USPS facilities targeted for consolidation or closure nationwide, all of them would be either closed or downsized.
“I can tell you we’re in the final phase of the area mail processing study and all other facilities around the country,” Rizzo said. “It started about five months ago and we expect local announcements of the final decisions by the end of the month.”
The USPS has been studying all 252 processing plants around the country since August. The study recommended shifting the processing duties handled by the Hampden plant, which opened in 1994, to Scarborough.
A shift manager who did not want to identify himself on the phone said it was “nothing I can comment on at this time.”
Attempts to reach new Eastern Maine plant manager Hank Dynka at the plant Wednesday night were unsuccessful.
“The U.S. Postal Service has a responsibility to notify its affected employees and other postal stakeholders prior to any public announcements,” said Rizzo.
The USPS announced last year it has to cut $20 billion in operating costs by 2015 to turn a profit after losing money for the last five consecutive years because of a drastic decline in mail volume and a prefunding requirement of $5.5 billion per year for 10 years, 2007 through 2016, resulting from the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.
A public meeting held in Brewer by the USPS drew 350 people, including Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who both were strident in their opposition to the consolidation recommendation. None of the 30-plus people who spoke at the meeting were in favor of the proposal.
Snowe personally toured the facility in December and pledged to workers that she would fight to keep it open at its current staffing level.
About 70 people turned out for a Presidents’ Day rally to save America’s postal service Monday afternoon, urging congressional action to end the prefunding requirement, which several active and retired postal employees said were the only thing keeping the USPS from posting a profit in four of the last five years.
“In a letter today to the Postmaster General, I once again urged him to listen to the people of Maine who have spoken out clearly in strong opposition to this wrong-headed proposal. I hope that he will listen and not proceed with the closure of the Hampden plant for the good of the Postal Service itself, its employees and its customers,” Collins said Wednesday night.
Previously a spokesman for Collins said the prefunding requirement is not the only problem the postal service faces.
“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,” said Kevin Kelley.
More layoffs !
at the hands of the GOP ‘s funding of the Post office employee’s pensions for 7 Decades in advance!
And the Republicans again are successful at proving that they aren’t the solution,
they are the Problem!
The bill was sponsored by Thomas M. Davis a Republican and co-sponsored by Danny K. Davis a Democrat, John M. McHugh a Republican and Henry Waxman a Democrat.
It takes two parties to make or break things and there is more than enough blame to go around.
All crazy as loons, no doubt! Probably they’ve never run an office in their life. Idiots who delegate.
It’s not who ordered or served the drink,
It’s Who slipped the poison pill in it!
Sure, blame everything on the Republicans! That’s an easy out!
There are three Wings to the Republican Party.
The Corporate Wing,
The Psycriatric Wing,
And the Democrats!
So true.
The composition of the 109th Congress (2005 – 2007) was as follows:Senate: 44 D, 55 R House: 202 D, 231 RRead more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_controlled_the_house_and_senate_during_the_bush_years#ixzz1nEdXGB6j
CAN YOU SAY GEORGE BUSH yea baby
The post office is losing billions a year even before the pre-funding required payments are due.
Maybe they should close Fed ex and UPS. and get some of the buisness back!
http://www.jcampbell.com/presentations/20110615_PostalVision2020_Campbell.pdf
go to page 12 and 13 and see who is replaceing the mail.
None of your comments make any sense whatsoever. Fedex and UPS are not government entities, so “they” aren’t going to shut them down. I suppose you would have “them” shut down the Internet too so people would start snail-mailing letters again?
In the big picture, this is happening all over the country. The internet is replacing mail.
I do believe the dems have control at this time.Pretty hard to blame republicans for the democrats all entitlement nothing else binge they are on. Spin baby spin
OMG if there was no such thing as the GOP or Republicans would the USA be the socialist utopia you dream of? The Democrats have made America a country of generational welfare and entitlement and now we are in crisis because its no longer fiscally possible. Obama is running up more debt than the 43 previous Presidents combined. Get your head out of the sand and complain to Michaud, Collins, and Snow.
Where do you get your made-up statistics?
Nearly fifty years since LBJ and the Great Society still does not exist.
Sometimes your ignorance even surprises me. So this is all the fault of republicans, please explain in full. Democrats are running everything, the post office is supposedly on its own without politics but somehow you know its the republicans that did it. I think you are an extremist left wing liberal elitist that blames everything that goes wrong on the republicans and everything that goes right on the democrats. So Dlbrt, talk to us and give us the facts, real facts that lead you to your conclusion. We’ll wait.
Supply and demand.
And you are one of the one’s that continue to say …..cut, hack,….get rid of them! Paul! You gotta do what you gotta do!!
Now all of a sudden, things are different? The USPS wouldn’t be in the situation that they are now if they ever got over the fact that they were not the leader’s in postal services, they were a competitor, and that’s giving them credit where it’s not due That’s been going on for at least 20 years now.
What would a competent business man do?
What in the world are you talking about? I have never once said anything that you have accused me off. I am a believer in a balance of cuts and taxes for a responsible government not an irresponsible ranter as yourself wanting everyone on welfare!
This is very tough news and is hard for us to read, but the truth can be a bitter pill to swallow. The Post Office is rapidly becoming obsolete. Email, electronic billing and banking, texting – these are all concepts that didn’t even exist when the Postal System was built. The reality of it (and most local postal employees know it), is that the Post Office is grossly overstaffed. The mail volume just isn’t there anymore.
We shouldn’t be propping up an archaic and under-utilized system. It’s time to start advocating for a National Wireless Network and spend our money differently. No more warehouses and processing facilities are necessary.
Don’t forget FedEx and UPS. Private business will always run more efficiently then government run business.
The US Mail is not a private function.
ups is a private company
Us mail is often used by Fedex and UPS and vise versa
Yeah, they are bound to be more efficient,
until the Profit motive skims the profit off the top!
That was the game plan. Why else would there be a 70 year requirement for pension funds? Does UPS have that restriction?
LOL….are you drunk?
that second line of yours borders on retarded….you apparantly have no concept of what profit is, how it comes about, and what its proper role in the market is
Pretty sure he/she is drunk, or on the salts!
Whatever..does anyone understand USPS delivers UPS and FED-EX packages EVERYDAY. But you wont see them deliver mail juss saying
Actually that’s a total myth. Do a little research and you’ll find out.
Perhaps service for some thnigs will be quicker, but it copmes with a cost, in terms of quality, fairness, and equality of service.
Want a few good examples to start with?
– Blackwater (essentially privatized military) in Iraq.
– Haliburton military base construction in the middle east.
– Privatized prisons all over the USA
– The Texas Welfare privatization experiment.
I could go on, but those will get you started.
I don’t know why you say that. I have a friend who works in government, the government hired a private company to work with the government employees. The agency that got the contract was a joke, made more work for the public employees, didn’t do their job, it was a total waste of government money.
Bushfan: try comparing Medicare costs of doing business with those of privately-run health insurance companies. Your blanket statement doesn’t even come close!
Very well put. It’s not only the postal service that’s taking a hit with the change in technology. Look at paper mills. Less mail going out means less paper being used.
I am at the Post Office EVERY DAY to pick up mail or mail things out. Mail is far from obsolete. This is where business people with PO boxes go to pick up checks from their customers, and where people mail their bills to companies they do business with. Do you really think you’ll be able to function when the power goes out for example if we have no regular mail service? What about people who don’t use texting, email, and electronic banking? There are many in Maine who don’t use computers at all.
Why don’t we just cripple the business community a little more, then whine about it?
there is a lot of people on here that shouldnt use computers either. if i remeber right the gop was always against the internet.
That was one of Al Gores rules. After he invented the internet he didnt want any republicans to be able to use it.
Who said anything about the post office closing? This is a sorting center….
If the mail doesn’t go out in a timely manner, people will not use it. I was referring to the idiotic statement that electronic is the wave of the future and regular mail can be ditched.
I’d be interested to hear a rational explanation of how my statement is “idiotic”. I understand that some people still write checks, but that will be phased out soon, when banks start charging extra for processing them. If you think that a continued move toward electronic media and payment systems is “idiotic”, that you are a relic of the past.
What if you have to pay someone who doesn’t use a bank? What if you have to mail a check to reimburse someone? What if you don’t own a computer? What if the power goes off for an extended period or the bank’s systems fail such as happened to TD Bank a couple of years ago? Paper checks and the regular daily mail being phased out soon is unlikely in my opinion, except if there is purposeful destruction for private purposes.
IF you don’t own a computer, you should plan to get one or visit your local library. It’s going to become increasingly difficult to live in the United States without one. Surely you are not advocating that we continue to staff the Hampden Postal Facility at it’s present level because a small number of people don’t own or can’t access computers. Are you?
Not everyone can afford or even has access to a computer and internet and not every town has a library. The current staffing at the plant could be cut in a few places but overall it isn’t bad for the volume of mail there. The closing of the EM plant is all political. If it was about efficiency and saving money they would keep the EM plant because it is more centralized. Thus you could consolidate AND keep timely delivery of mail, which would be what any good business would do, cut costs and keep service.
Good luck mailing that package you mailed last Friday online Bangorian. The Post Office delivers more than just bills in case you hadn’t noticed.
Fair enough that not everyone has a bank or a computer or a library. I guess the reality is that those folks are going to have to come up with a different plan for themselves.
I live half my time in South America and can honestly say that every person in the country I am in has at least one of those things. Argentina has a very limited postal service based on the same reasons our postal service is becoming less relevent. They seem to have dealt with it pretty well. We seem to be thinking it is a disaster of earth ending magnitude.
Maine. Open for Business — if you have a computer.
So true! If people knew the true story there would be a huge outrage. They have covered up and messed with the numbers so bad that nobody could tell. Just like the Saturday delivery!
small number? Ha!
I have paid my credit card bills, mortage and car loans all over the phone on some occassions. Other times I have used the internet. In some circumstances I have the payments deducted from accounts monthly.
Granted, I believe that some folks mostly over fifty or so continue to mail there monthly payments in.
A lot of banks charge for using debit cards and a lot of companies charge you a fee to pay online.
You would be surprised how many people (young and old) come in to the PO all the time to get a money order and stamped envelope to pay their bills. I’d guess the Bangor office probably sells 400+ money orders a month.
You can get money orders at Walgreens, Hannaford and a dozen other places.
They get them at the PO because its $1.15 vs 4-5 bucks at those other places.
Right – but isn’t that part of the problem? The cost of a money order at the post office is far greater than $1.15 when you consider how much of it is subsidized by the tax payer. We’re paying for the post office building, the guy in uniform, his 10 supervisors, etc. I’d bet the real cost of a post office money order is actually closer to $20.
LOL “his 10 supervisors,” not really funny so sad but I heard that from a good friend of a good friend 25 years ago. And in various articles since seems that no one in the PO has the nerve to say no.
I think the PO is one of the great reasons along with consistent fair laws, work ethic, etc we (USA) prospered. Hate to see it go even if not cost effective. Compared to the billions thrown away on a myriad of programs.
Unfortunately the post office is trimming the low workers, but the brass is not worried. One manager in Washington was forced to retire when it was revealed he was running his company on USPS time. One of the post office high up people billed the USPS about 1/2 million dollars to move less than 10 miles, but the law is clear, you cannot be compensated when they make you move less than 50 miles. I could go on, but you get the point. What is going on at the PO is what is going on in the rest of the country: the little people at the bottom are getting screwed, but the top just keep getting richer.
You aren’t paying for any of it but keep making the false claims if it makes you feel better. The only thing that gets subsidized is free matter for the blind.
wrong wrong wrong! The postal service is not in any way subsidized by the tax payer!
Where do you think the Post offices get their sorted mail from?
Those huge centers were necessary in the heyday of the Post Office. Mail pieces have declined every year for years now. Since the volume is down, maybe these centers just aren’t needed anymore. Nobody knows if it’s closing will slow mail down or not.
A bill mailed from Hammond St. PO to a PO Box in the same building will go to Scarborough first! What do you think will happen to it, it’ll just fly through the air? Get real! Get Maine!
Instead of dropping that bill in a drop box, take it up to one of the window clerks. They try to keep the Bangor mail separate from the other mail but can’t do this if it is just dropped in the box and mixed with all the other mail.
But you are right, if you were to put that in say the blue drop box outside, a carrier will pick that up at 6pm. Then take it to the EM plant which will then send it to the SM plant.
I asked them once why there isn’t a local slot and they said that’s the rules. They have to send to center.
We used to have the post mistress from hell, she’d do anything other (or nothing) to help her customers. I had to remind myself !! She actually caused me financial loses because of her “rules” .
They were correct. We are suppose to send to center so that the letters can be put into walk sequence for the carriers.
But some try and keep local mail local as best we can.
The Postal Service is slowly closing small contract Post Offices in Maine already. As of March 31 the town of Waite Maine has been notified that the Post Office is closing. We are also hearing there are several other closings to come in the near future.
I am anxious to see how you are planning to send the thousands of pouches of medications that are processed at the Processing plant each night. I am not sure the wires are that big. It must be nice to have access to electronic devices to send messages and on-line banking. Truely happy for you to have the ability to afford and go buy at the local establishments everything you need in life. It is too bad, however, that you can’t take a minute to consider that a great number of people are not as fortunate as you; they rely on the service that is provided in a timely manner. Timely manner will become a thing of the past. This is a bad idea made by people who have never been to Madawaska or Coplin Plantation. The Congress had the ability to act on this long ago and they instead chose to play political games to try to blame each other for all the ills of the country.
I do get medications by mail, but, the mail order pharmacy wants all refill requests at LEAST 14 days before you need the medication. That gives plenty of time for their arrival, even if mail delivery is decreased to 3 days at week. Maintenance medicine is auto-refilled, and sent accordingly to your home, using the zip code to calculate delivery time.
A lot of the medications going to sick Veterans were stolen anyway by some Postal Workers at the Hampden Plant. So now you worry ?
There are facilities in virtually every community called pharmacies that provide medications. Many of them deliver. The library’s in every town with one provide internet access. Any time technology advances, there are going to be some folks that have trouble accepting the change, but that doesn’t mean that the change isn’t worth making. You’ll figure it out and everyone will be OK in the end.
You ever think that it is cheaper for then to get mail order?
Again, the only reason it is ‘cheaper’ is because we are subsidizing the true cost of delivering them to you.
Once again with false statements on your tax dollars.
not subsidized!! look it up for God sake!!
Really Bangorian?!?!?!? You obviously have done your research on Health Care Reform as well as you have this subject matter…. your comments are uneducated and lacking any facts and clearly knowledge. the MaineCare population can go to Rite Aid and Walgreens all they want and get their meds for free.. but, the working class are encouraged and discounted greatly on mail order prescriptions– not to mention our VA population.. I assume you do not fit in to any of the latter catergories or you would know that already..
A library is NOT “in every town” as you said…and LOTS of elderly people do not have computers or know how to use them. We still need the USPS mail!
UPS delivers my parents medications right to the door.
I feel sorry for my friends who may lose their jobs by these cutbacks as they will not be able to replace those jobs with comporable wages and benefits. On the other hand, we’ve heard for years the stories of USPS employees being non-productive, protected by the union when in fact many should have been terminated for poor performance , lost days, laziness,. When you cannot get rid of an employee for just cause because the union has more power than the management and rules are not followed, this is what you get. Unions are not flexable a, have no answers to dealing with the problems at the USPS for over 20 years,,,,,,,,,,and now it comes to this.
Hopefully the teacher’s union will get looked at next.
Do you always just regurgitate the unfounded BS that you hear on Glen Beck? Provide facts, case studies, etc. You can’t and you won’t.
lol, sad but true.
it would be better off selling the building to a private company to i dont know make things instead of keeping a huge building for 13 jobs
Really, if you do not know what you are talking about you should not post…. The facility houses all of the letter carriers as well, who are not part of this /cut/. The 13 employees that will remain on staff will not necessarily be working in the plant, there are other positions associated with the craft that do not necessarily work at the plant.
If solving the problems of the world were only as easy as you simple minds try to make it, sitting behind your keyboard– quick to judge and comment without facts or any intellect to add… the world would be a SCARY place, I am afraid…
yeah and we will give the developer a tax break and it will be good?
Not good news for the local economy,
You’re wrong. The 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act and all the provisions in it were passed by a voice vote in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate. The funding of pension liability is addressed in section 803.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-6407&tab=summary
And who controlled the Senate? DEMOCRATS.
Did not Senator Collins co-sponsor a bill that led to this ?
Whether Democrats or Republicans, lets face it, “Washington is Broken”!!
Washington is not broken. We’re using FedEx, USPS and EMAIL! Volume in down and only going lower.
All of us are signing up for e-statements and who really wants junk mail? Without the volume they have to cut costs. That’s really all there is to it.
even tho the dems controlled it, it was a UNANIMOUS vote, not just majority
You cry for budget cuts and when you get them you cry some more.
Must be about time to find out which decision makers have business interests in UPS and FedEx.
I agree with you. I wish newspaper reporters would explore this, but doubt that they will. Republicans pushing this “austerity” nonsense have one motive–to turn the Postal Service into a cash cow for their buddies.
public private partnership once again
Less pony express cowboys to pay and feed for the horses, what a savings spend it at the fairs!
Hey, an idea! Pony Express. It could work.
you shouldnt think
I refuse not to, as I have not succumbed to being a political zombie as you have!
That’s a good way of looking at it….the left really has become political zombies, devoid of critical thinking skills and droning on about continuing the same failed policies that have bankrupted our entire system
stop being abusive… get off the library computer and do something with your teletubby life.
comrade stop breathing
Cut cut..
This is heartbreaking news…
Yes, I thought you weren’t going to let this happen. What up Chuck?
Another great job by Lepage!! Let’s keep those jobs coming to Maine!! Oh, then we can take benefits away when they lose the jobs they had..
How the heck is Lapage responsible for this!
According to Union Contracts there will be no layoffs. These workers will be transferred where there are openings state wide.
But what happens if there’s no openings or a worker can’t transfer to another area? Do they get laid off then? I’m just curious.
The Postal Workers have a guaranteed job. Whether they take the transfer to their new job is their own business. If this were a private corporation Mitt Romney would have shut down Hampden years ago and FIRED these Postal Workers on the spot. Then sold off the building and the equipment to his Wall St buddies for Profit.
There is a 50 miles limit and while the postal service has been holding jobs locally, there aren’t enough for everyone. Some will be told they are going to Brewer to fill a clerk job. Some could be sent to Brewer or Bangor as carriers. The ones who will get hurt the worst are the part time people who will lose all their hours since everyone coming out of the plant is a “regular” employee and guaranteed 40 hours a week.
Now, if someone is told the only work for them is at the SM plant, the Postal Service will have to pay them mileage and they would be considered “on the clock” from the time they leave home until they get there. If it takes two hours to drive there, and two back, that employee will only be at work for 4 hours unless they want to pay OT. Mileage would end up being over a $100 a day extra for those people and them actually only working 4 hours.
Then fire them. Mitt Romney would.
Yes. And start at the top with those who creates this mess, like Collins.
This is NOT LePages fault…it is the Postal Services fault 100%.
It is not Postal Service’s fault. It is Congress’s fault.
I assure you, the Postal Service is Federal, and in no way connected to LePage.
It is about time the Postal Service decided to finally start saving money. It is bankrupt. Leaving an obsolete plant with no mail to process is absurd. Workers standing around all night doing nothing. Well at least the welfare gravy train is over. Time for these employees to start working at their new Plant in Scarborough Me. At least now, there will be some mail to process.
The Postal Service is not bankrupt. Politicians played games with its budget, doing a kind of shell game that makes it look like it’s bankrupt when it’s in decent financial health. The Republicans are hoping to turn the Postal Service into a money-maker for their cronies in big business. The “welfare gravy train” will start when private companies get to dictate whether or not YOU get any mail in your mailbox. Your money, flowing straight to corporate CEOs.
UPS is a union shop, FedEx isn’t – don’t know about the others
Once again I am never ceased to be amazed by your total lack of factual information and obvious lingering hostility for some wrong done to you. I wish the general public could see the cages and thousands of letters, flats, newpapers and parcels processed every night. Machines have taken over the majority of letter processing but these machines need to be staffed and there is no standing around. Ask an automation clerk or just about any other employee of the plant if you want the truth about standing around time. There is very little if any. The continued slamming of the Hampden Plant by Knightscross is obviously driven by motives of some warped untruths.
I don’t believe a word you say
I have not seen workers standing around doing nothing. In the Ellsworth Post Office my experience has been that there is not enough help at the counter. There are only certain periods of the day that you can go in there without waiting and waiting. That led me to decide that I was going to avoid the place no matter what. I only go in there to ship packages because the rates are still much lower than UPS or FedEx. I also have a rural mailbox so that means I dont go to the PO very often.
At my workplace, our mail used to be delivered by one in the afternoon. This past summer the mail route was changed and the mail started getting delivered after four. That doesnt make a huge difference unless its pay day. However, once again it makes people think the USPS is a pain in the rear to be avoided.
And what about offices? In Salisbury Cove there is a PO. It is only about three miles down the road to Hulls Cove where there is another PO and then about four miles into Bar Harbor where there is another PO. That issue never got solved either.
We all saw this coming and yet I do feel sorry for those 170 people who are going to lose their jobs. Even if the economy picks up there’s no way they’re going to find another job that even comes close to the pay and benefits they were getting at USPS.
What are you talking about???
This happens all the time…look at all the Paper Mills in Maine that have closed etc…these people will survive and find new jobs. It will be a big adjustment for many people, and may take some time…but many of us have been there or know someone who has. Good luck to you all.
Very nicely said and so true. My husband and I were both mill workers when they shut it down, instead of crying about, we picked up, moved on and found other jobs. No, the pay wasn’t as good, but we did it because we had to. we made more 11 years ago thank we do today. Life will go on if they want it bad enough. My prayers are going out to everyone that may loose their job. Stand strong, you CAN do it.
I am sorry to hear about what happened to you. It happened to me but I was very young and really it turned out for the best. I have debated with people making the point that many people choose to do exactly what you and your husband did. The response always seems to be reasons why people cant do it. I learned that you first do everything in your own power to help yourself, even if it means making some tough sacrifices. It appears you learned that too.
How did we ever get from yes we can(on our own) to no we cannot and we need government to help maintain us? The fact that the state is maintaining you in a bare-bones existence does not occur to these people.
Very nicely said.
To hell with the layoffs. Crissy Rowe is a nice looking lady.
This is the latest result in the Republican “austerity” campaign. As you can see, it results in local job losses.
These laid-off workers will no longer be buying goods and services in their communities. Local businesses will see their incomes fall. They will start laying off workers. Some of these laid-off workers will be Tea Party Republicans.
Will they start to realize that the “trim the fat” measures they eagerly endorsed have cost them their own jobs? How will they feel when it’s suddenly their own turn to apply for unemployment benefits and MaineCare?
Of course, if the Republican leaders get their way, unemployment benefits will last only a few weeks, and MaineCare will no longer exist…
I forgot, who is in the White House? Who controls the Senate?
Who obstructs everything President Obama tries to accomplish?
What are you looking for a monarchy? Dictatorship? Obstruct, or protect the citizens from an overreaching government that tries to regulate virtually everything one does. I’m not a Dem, or a Rep, but what I see from the Dems is scary, and the opposite of the principles that this Once Great Nation was founded. Not saying the Reps are better, but the socialist agenda from the WH is about as far left as the country can, or should tolerate.
I believe the major anti-regulation propaganda is coming from the far right wing politicians, and the huge corporations that finance them. Corporations hate regulations of all kinds, since the less they have to worry about poisoning the environment or people, the more money they make. They’re very short-sighted this way, since their leaders have no choice but to live on the same Earth as the rest of us, and even gated communities can’t entirely protect them from toxins in the air and soil.
They’ve succeeded in convincing many people that any and all regulations are bad, and that it would be a lot more fun to live in America if only corporations could do as they pleased, without regard for people’s health or the environment. They try to characterize any committment to regulations as “socialism” (a really, really scary word–eek!).
Needless to say, I disagree with that notion.
obama needs to GO, he is doing nothing for this county, except making it worse!
They aren’t state employees…does the USPS ring a bell???
Welcome to the aftermath following decades of failed, dellusional baby boomer economic policies that shoveled piles of debt onto an unspoken-for majority of young, upcoming Americans…
I told you before to “stay tuned”. Hampden has had a serious staff problem for years and the usps would close it in a heart beat if they could have, before the money crunch ever happened. Some employees were playing hard nosed union tactics with the postal service in Hampden and it caught up to them. I feel sorry for the “good guys” in all of this, but this is proof that a few rotten apples will indeed spoil the whole barrel.
That’s fast……less than three months away.
You are insane.
Just saying.
So is management going to keep there jobs. Like Rizzo and alot of the ones that do nothing. I would think you would see a alot of wcomp. claims. Big buy outs or are you going to have to ship all Hampden workers to southern maine so the mail can be worked… Southern,Maine will never keep up with it. We will be lucky if we get our mail every 4days know. Thanks Postal Service and I am talk managment for selling Eastern Maine P&D out. You did a fine job.
I wonder if Christopher McBride is one of the employees whos job has been saved – he can work in the distribution department.
Neither party is the answer, quality people are. Politicians only care about their jobs and themselves! The stimulus was an ill conceived plan from the start and really only a rewards program for those who supported Obama. It was unsustainable and as such failed.
That’s wrong on many levels. The stimulus was a success. It created or saved millions of jobs. The unemployment level is falling, private sector jobs are being created even as public sector jobs are being cut, the stock market is doing great, housing is starting to make a comeback, the automotive industry is adding jobs at a great pace.
Stimulus measures aren’t meant to be sustainable. They’re meant to be a short term shot in the arm. That’s what it did, and it worked. The improving economy is the proof of that.
The fact that it has taken so long for the economy to make even the slight improvement if any that it has made is direct proof of how badly the stimulus failed. Allowing the companies that were going to fail, to fail, and letting industry pick up on it’s own would have gotten us out of the slump much faster.
You have been lied to by the Media.. The Stock Market is fictious and creates inflation, So when the Stock market is up everyone (every Class) except the rich suffer, by paying higher prices from fuel, food, housing etc..etc..
What planet do you live on? Where are the facts you quote? Has unemployment dropped in Maine? Who’s buying houses in Maine? Chevy Volts are not selling. Where in Maine are there new businesses being created? Where in Maine is the private sector adding jobs? Look at the clasified section of this paper. Can i make aliving with those jobs listed? By the way, ,,,,,the price of a gallon of gas was less than $2. 3 years ago and you were crapping on George Bush for being in bed with big oil and screwing the country. With $4. /gallon gas, ,,,,,still George Bush and the Halliburtan Hurricane? Give me a break.! you moonbats continue to drink Nobama’s Kool Aid,,,,,,,,it’ll make you feel so much better.
I’m only going to address your gasoline claims. Have you forgotten that in the first week of August, 2008, that the nation average for a gallon of gas was $4.01 and during the summer crude oil was over $140 a barrel? Then the economy crashed and oil prices went into a freefall resulting in a drop to$1.94 by the end of January.
Bush was given crap because he promised his close association with the Saudi’s would keep prices low. The rise of prices proved that a President cannot control a world market. Bush cannot be blamed for the spikes during his administration nor can Obama, now.
Give me a break. Sunoco is shutting down a refinery in Philadelphia, PA and Conoco is shutting one down across the river in NJ. The US is now exporting more gasoline than it is using. I’m guessing that your solution is for the government to embargo exports and put controls on the oil industry? You have ZERO facts (that means you have no clue what you are talking about), only repeating what you are fed by your handlers.
LOL….wow, are YOU in for a surprise!!
Really? A reward to Dem supporters? That must explain why the stimulus paid for the high speed internet link to Houlton. Everybody knows eastern Maine is a hotbed of Democratic strength. Not!
So far as unsustainable, it was only supposed to be a one time help. How do you define unsustainable, or is that out of your grasp like the facts are?
get a life. postal workers have been slowing down for decades taking twice as much time to do a job as is necessary. The unions are the only ones to blame, along with idiotic bureaucrats afraid to enforce work rules. The post office is getting what it deserves. It is the consumers who are getting the shaft.
oh so you think postal workers drag out their days..usps workers get paid by route size,,say your allotted 5 hours, you get paid x amount..if your day is light(which doesnt happen often) you get paid x amount..if it takes you 7 hours you still make x amount..no overtime..definately its broken..just pray they can fix it, but it wouldnt happen overnight
You have no clue what you are talking about. educate yourself on a subject before commenting please.
i assume your qualifications on commenting on me are that of a happy postal worker?when in reality you have absolutely no qualifications on commenting on me. I was quantifying on a broken system and you are making a self made qualification on me! Have you ever met me, or talked to me or no anything about me? No, I didn’t thinks so. Next time load your vindictive mouth with ammunition before you shoot it off, check to m ake sure it is teh right ammo. Having said that, have a wonderful day.
Wow are you bitter or what?? I am extremely happy postal worker. I love my job. I would not want to do anything else. We are not paid by the hour. We are paid by the route. So no matter wether it takes you 4 hours or 10 hours you are still only paid whatever the route is evaluated for. So my vindictive mouth would like to tell you that you do not know what you are talking about. If we were slowing down and taking twice as much time as the job allowed then we would still be paid the same. And the postal service has numerous rules which are enforced. Some of them are completely ridiculous but are still enforced. You also stated that the postal service is getting what it deserves and the consumer is getting the shaft. On my route the customer always comes first. I have many customers that I count as my friends. If you were to check the rates on first class mail in other countries you would see that the usa has one of the lowest rates and the best mail service. I am very embarrassed by the service we are delivering right now. We are in need of a change. I agree with you on that, But that is the only thing I agree with you on.
Once again, proving that Northern Maine doesn’t exist. With mail coming through Portland, it’ll be slower than snail mail than it is now. Stupid.
well we bail out the banks and car dealers,how about helping the post office.
I feel badly for the people who will be uprooted and moved to a new location (that is, if there are openings). However, is the USPS going to keep that large building going (heat, lights, air conditioning, etc.) for 13 employees? How many of the 13 will be supervisors?
this is one big travesty!! USA in the shi**er!!
well said
This is what happens when policies are set by lawmakers in Washington who couldn’t punch their way out of a paper bag. Eliminate the prefunding of pensions and see if that doesn’t help(it will, and may solve USPS’s financial problem).
I can understand some prefunding of pensions based on the potential for bailouts in future years. However the amount the are being forced to prefund seems a bit excessive. Who came up with that figure?
as he always does…
Lovely. Now that everyone has been fully indoctrinated into believing that we ‘save’ everyone (especially the corporations we do business with and of course the trees – don’t forget the renewable resource that is a tree) any money by paying bills online, we can set about post haste blaming unions alone for this massive decent-paying job loss.
Ready. Set. Go.
I agree with the closing of the postal facility in Hampden. If the Post Office is to remain afloat, they have to cut costs. Unfunded liabilities in retirement and health care plans have become a serious issue with all businesses. The distance between the Scarborough and Hampden is only 109 miles. How can it affect deliver so much as many think? I rarely rely on the USPS to pay any of my bills, and most companies prefer e-billing without a paper copy. I communicate via email, text, and Facebook with family and friends.
The USPS is just not as important to most Americans as it once was. It’s not the price of a stamp that keeps me from using the system, it is the inconvenience of using the USPS. I have to go to a Post Office to buy stamps, while they are open as we don’t have a stamp machine. I have to mail my letters at the Post Office. I long gave up mailing important things from my mailbox as crime and theft of checks, and credit card payments give identity theft a free reign. I have to shred important documents that come in the mail to keep other identity thieves at bay.
I do support the Post Office for those who use it as their only means of doing business. If the USPS is to survive, they have to cut corners. I don’t want to see the USPS disappear, so if they have to close these facilities to stay viable, so be it. I mean how much longer is it going to take a letter to go 109 more miles, maybe a day at best?
I do mourn for the loss of the jobs, but from what I understand, aren’t the postal workers guaranteed a job somewhere else? I have lost jobs and had to relocate so I know their pain. Please correct me if I am wrong about the job guarantee.
Things change, we must adapt our current methods to keep up with the change. It apparently means a downsizing of the post office. I wouldn’t mind 3 day a week delivery. If I have a critical package, I use Fedex or UPS.
I read many of the posts before I wrote this comment. It seems to have degenerated into a liberal vs. conservative political thing. To me, it isn’t political at all, it is just adapting to a new set of facts that clearly show people are using the mail less. It is just a business decision people!
We are so divided in America that both political parties and their patsies do nothing but point fingers at each other.
PS – how many of you gave your letter carrier a Christmas present last year? I remember as a child that my mother gave our carrier a little something every year. Things change, don’t they?
What do you buy one stamp at a time ? What about all the hackers that hack in to companies computers an steal all you info.
From now on I am going to flag as inappropriate any comment I see containing the phrase “Democrat party.” Disagree on the issues all you want, but it’s the Democratic party.
yes because spelling as we all know is far more important than content…..
Probable right should use over the top( progressive entitlement party) now.
If we had light rail, we could speed members of the Democrat party to social justice emergencies where they could immediately raise taxes, organize unions, and trade welfare for votes.
Clearly, American workers are incapable of producing light rail.
Right?
Once took a sleep car train trip from Kiev to Yalta (25 hours). Most fascinating & horrifying trip I’d ever been on up to the Amtrak trip last year. From NYC to Boston we lost some of our brakes just before Providence and had to creep into the city 3.5 hours late at half speed. I kept looking around for Denzel Washington.
love this!!
If a a member of the Republican Party is a Republican then does that mean that a member of the Democratic Party is a democratic? It seems to me that the English Language and its grammar rules are what the real issue is. What do members of the Democratic party call themselves?
This is a shame but true, obviously there was an evaluation of efficiencies and this was the right decision to make. Efficiency costs jobs. The USPS was just taking money in not being able to adjust to changing markets to maintain its efficiency.
Not true, the real story is political
This is sad. The people who are really going to be hurt by this are the businesses in the northern and central parts of the state and people who rely on timely delivery of things such as medicines. The layoffs at the Hampden facility are another shot to people who earn a good living, but the repercussions of this event will affect all of us that live up here.
People will miss the postal service when it is gone. Over 80% of their overhead concerns the manner of funding the pension program, 75 years in advance; noone else does this. This smells of fraud for sure.
I support the postal workers and am grateful for their service.
This was a bill that Sen.Collins co-sponsored.Now she can’t duck resposibility for those layoffs.I just hope those people remember that in Nov.This was a bill that was put in during a republican controlled s congress.They can’t duck responsibility. It is doing exactly what they wanted, trying to force privatization of the post office and destroying a union in the process. This will be a big blow to the economy of the Bangor area.
Amazing how Susan Collins is tap dancing around this.
For some time it has been getting worse and worse. 6 days for a letter from calif. I ordered a package from Calif, 22 days ago and it still not here ? What kind of delay do they expect in the future ?
It will get worse
The is not D or R issue… the post office is becoming a dinosaur as mail goes electronically and their income is slashed…this is like the base closings…politicians cannot do anything about this one.. the USPS is losing billions even if you take out the payments to pension liability[ by the way, what a concept ..actually paying for pension liability] politicians should stop the hand wringing and find ways to the private sector to grow and re employ some of those folks..this is not their fault but it is reality that they are in a declining business model..
The Republicans and Susan Collins did this to the Postal Service back in 2006.
They done it.
yessah
I’ll never mail another package via 2 day Priority Mail. During Christmas, the Hampden center was so backed up that my 2 day package took 3 weeks. I was told there are no guarantees for actual 2 day delivery, although I paid a steep price for the extra service. When Hampden closes, I won’t gamble the Scarborough center can handle the increased volume. Thank goodness there’s a UPS center nearby. They’ll get my parcel business from now on. And now that all my bills can be paid online, I may never have to buy another stamp either.
66..remember usps has a contract with ups..we deliver some for them amd fed ex everyday
An you will pay the price too. So you think paying you bills on line is safe ?
Funny how you blame the Hampden plant when Priority mail gets dock transferred and sent to the Priority Mail Processing Center in NH to be processed. Only exception being if it were an in state package. Then it would go to either Scarborough or stay at EM.
But then again, there is no mail volume (especially during Christmas!) and they are over staffed and stand around all night with nothing to do according to many, so I doubt they were backed up.
Hallmark better get right on this issue!
As a fellow postal worker(who has been layed off since November), but still work on and off substituting , I just want to wish the Hampden people best of luck..hope something works out
A friend of mine has been a Postal worker for 30+ years.He makes over $30 an hour!!! He has never gone to college in his life.Pretty good money for unskilled work.Hello? Postal workers have been overpaid for years.They have a great Union.The pre-funding thing seems a little fishy?They 40+ BILLION IN DEBT!! Hello again.They will have to take cuts like the rest of us.I took a $13,000 cut 5 years ago myself.I am now up to my old salary but I love my job and it was necessary.
I’m calling BS on this one. Unless your friend is in management or is an electronics tech he doesn’t make $30 and hour.
Maybe not $30 but if he is a city carrier he is making at least $26/hr based on a 40 hr week.
And that’s right in line with what UPS and Fed Ex get.
amen!
Typical GOP Fairy Tale – I bet your “friend” also smokes weed on the job, collects welfare and is a union thug.
To me , this makes no sense. But then again, nothing Postal management does makes sense these days.
They want to eventually get down to around 70 plants if I recall. That could easily be done AND keep timely delivery. They should keep the most centralized plant in each state and some big states (TX and CA for example) would probably need two plants.
Doesn’t seem that hard to me.
Look in the mirror if you dare……that is who is to blame. buy a stamp now and then
Fed-Ex and UPS have been ‘partnering’ with USPS for some time now, to get better rates. This often results in a much longer shipping time after being turned over to the USPS. Often two to three days longer. Check the shipping links on items shipped this way to see for your self.
The USPS has change over the years. the major changes back years ago. Thoughts were “Well that’s it “.Needless to say were challenging. everyone survived. Give the USPS a chance. A lot of these change’s are already in place .
During Christmas > most of these package’s WERE NOT in any Maine processing plants..as I had a few I was waiting for also
Looks like we have 170 new truck driving school students , JOB SECURITY FOR ME ! Or 170 new unemployment claims / or both !
How disingenuous of Senator Collins for railing against this closure after the party she walks nearly lockstep with planted the poison pill that created this disaster back in 2006.
If you feel like drastic cuts to postal services are not what our economy needs, the blame should be squarely focused on the GOP. FedEx and UPS gave generously to the GOP who supported the fateful law so this exact scenario would play out. This is a means to privatize the postal system by first saddling them with obligations they cannot afford; second resulting cuts deteriorate service and then the final step, service is not good enough and we must pursue private sector options.
The GOP is selling America and its most basic institutions off to the highest bidder. This costs us jobs and costs consumers money in the long run. This is what the GOP stands for and if you elect them you can expect more tactical assaults on our institutions. They are coming after education next. Do not lose focus, neighbors. You are seeing a glimpse of the real cost of theses insidious policies right here.
It’s not who ordered or served the drink,
It’s Who slipped the Micky in it!
Another Obama created issue!!!! Laws were passed that created this mess by Obama and now you are surprised…
Politicans made the Post Office Political.
Susan Collins and the GOP passed legislation in 2006 to overburden the Postal Service with undo and unnecessary expenses related to the pension program.
The GOP and the GOP alone is responsible for this.
Ask the postal workers that lost their jobs about this.
They’ll tell ya.
yessah
Obama doesn’t sign off on it???
No. It was already a law passed by Republicans to destroy a necessary service.
Avoiding banned comments. The Republican congress passed the 75 yr. funding for pensions. Please, please, learn to read.
Force ups and fedex to pre-fund their pension 75 yrs. in advance and see how fast they go into bankrupcy protection.
Lets force ups and fedex into pre-funding their pension 70 yrs. in advance and see how fast they apply for bankrupcy protection.
I’m pretty sure that would be seen as unfair.
Dear Susan Collins – your plan to destroy the Postal Service is working marvelously.
170 new names on the unemployment rolls.
We will remember this in 2014.
yessah
And, just what will 13 people do? Flush toilets, keep the heat going, run the A/C, clean the office floors?
Some will sort mail to the Bangor carriers. Others will be used on the dock as mail from SM will still come back up here to be sent out to PO’s. The Bulk mail office will also still be there.
Well in the “other” Maine the snail mail will be even slower. It is barely crawling now, just wait until the sorting facility closes it will take a week to send a letter from one to the the neighboring town. Thank God we have the internet, email, faxes and the like. I am still willing to bet the junk mail will still arrive on time.
Not ever one has a computer .
The Post Office is broke and changes need to be made – sorry for those who may be laid off but I’m tried of dumping tax dollars into a broken system…
Your tax dollars don’t fund the USPS.
Thus is another liberal twist on things but you are correct over paid, over the top pensions, over managed with out expectations is the problem.Both parties are to blame…
It is time for a New Party to get involved.. Join the TEA PARTY now and help save our countrty!!
Haven’t you noticed? The republicans have killed the tea party?
The united states postal service is a failing business model that has been supplanted by better competitors (Fedex UPS, etc) not to mention being replaced by email for normal correspondence…it is just a matter of time till most post offices go the way of Hampden, or close period…Heart goes out to those families looking for another job…
It will cost a lot of money to send a letter to . From waterville to Portland would cost 11.35 to send that same letter to the west coast will cost 13.00 plus I know because i went to UPS an ask them an showed them the letter an she looked it up on the computer . If they pick up the letter at you house it will cost even more
The “better competitors” only service profitable areas. Without a USPS, what about the rest of the country?
No privately owned company could ever survive having to fund a pension plan for 70yrs. into the future!
Everyone seems to forget that part of it!! Thank you!
Unfair competition is usually remembered by those who care about justice.
If you really want the post office to save money have one post office 20 miles apart. If people need stamps let them put money in the mail box
there is also usps.gov
If you have a computer you can get them that way plus you need a credit card or a debit card .
I think driving 40 miles round trip to pick up the company’s mail might be cost prohibitive.
But the post office is saving money !
One of the biggest employers in the US is the US government.
Number one Walmart. Sell cheap chinese crap to buy more cheap chinese crap. Socialistic companies. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2011/performers/companies/biggest/
I never liked the post office anyways ! All they do is bring me bills ! LOL
maybe u need some friends..lol
Snowe needs to cut another deal with her buddy Obama to save this one.
Definitely some overstaffing issues .
Cianbro adds 150 post office looses 183.Maine is on the move
Down.
All the more reason to vote for third party and Indepdent Candidates. People have to get their heads out of taking ONE side.
I don’t care what party “is responsible” for this. Do any of you have any compassion for these people losing their jobs? Come to think of it, respect and compassion are not adequate qualities for people to have now a days. Not as long as everyone gets their money.
No they do not have any compassion for them as long as it dose not effect them .
Great so now mail coming from Fort Kent To Mapleton will be longer than the 5 days it takes now!!
This is going to create a flood as 170 people look for work in an already impoverished state. I fear more unfortunate stories like this are on the horizon. What Maine needs to do is create an environment that will promote economical strength. Playing to Maine’s strengths would be a benefit seen by all residents. One such strength is Maine’s highly devoted work force. Opening more factories and providing local legislation that would be appealing to out – of – state companies would be a huge boost to local economies state wide. The fact is that Maine’s reluctance to change is going to lead to its’ already spiraling downfall. Your coastal views and beautiful fall foliage will mean nothing when your children are starving…
Perhaps the former postal workers can open a postal service of their own as a cooperative.
The USPS is not a government entity, as so many people have believed.
I like like the idea of a Pony Express. You could send mail over the river to Brewer from Bangor a few times a day. Or even out to Carmel or Levant for a bit of oats. And then maybe someone can work on bringing back television reception that is at least as good as the 1950s, not to be picky or anything.
It is sad, no doubt. However times change. There are no whip and buggy factories either. Progress, like the tide, waits for no man.
Stop crying Hampden Plant , 223 other Postal Processing Plants are also being shut down nationwide. This was announced by the Postmaster General today. The Postal Service is bankrupt and had to act in order to try and save itself. Only a Major Downsizing nationwide can save the Postal Service at this stage.
I thought Al Gore invented the Internet?……….HMMMM!!!!!!!!!
No, Al Gore did not say he invented the internet. Please get over the talking points and the ignorance.
Have no fear Mainers Cainbro is hiring 150 jobs. All temporary of course…
Are you mad at cainbro for hiring????
Tip of the Iceberg…get ready as the times are going to get harder not better in the next 5-6 years.
You whine about junk mail the post office gets 17.3 billion dollars a year from junk mail as you call it .
There will always be a need for the post office i read on line were a guy tries to get information from a company about his account they would not give it to him over the phone he needed to put it in writing companys do that
I can understand making some cutbacks of staff. But to suddenly determine that a facility can be run with nearly a 92% reduction in staff is quite telling to me. In this case it tells me that the US Postal Service is loosing business fast.
This is no different than a paper mill shutting down a paper machine due to a lack of business. Or a store going out of business as it is not profitable to operate it for reasons such as lack of business.
What people need to do is call our senators, From now on if you live in Brewer and mail a package, letter, etc to the next town over, say Bangor. it will be shipped down to Scarborough and processed and then will be trucked back up to Bangor to be delivered. In northern Maine it will takes days to get a letter to the next town over. All of this is because southern Maine wanted to get all the business. The multi million dollar processing plant was built there a few years ago and mail was shuffled there and the numbers were skewed to make it look like they processed wayyyyyyyyyyyyy more mail than Hampden. Good luck. The post office is not subsidized by the Government, as many people think, The USPS is non profit so when it makes a profit as it did for many many years the Government took that profit. Now that a profit is no longer seen, and the postal service has to fund many years of retirement for employees. Which no other business is required to do. They are going under. ups does not have to get approval from anyone to raise their rates. Neither does Fed ex. The postal service is more hindered by the Government than helped.
Snowe personally toured the facility in December and pledged to workers that she would fight to keep it open at its current staffing level. She is more concerned about the stock market than us folks here in Maine.
Looks like she didn’t do better or worse than senators from other states.
Patterson said they also were told that of the 200 USPS facilities
targeted for consolidation or closure nationwide, all of them would be
either closed or downsized.
MY bad I guess, I was used to her taking credit for saving BIW.
I sort of expect politicians to take credit for things like that. Makes no difference what party they are from. I think the bottom line in all states is that there are fewer jobs and lower incomes for many who still have jobs. I’ll give them all credit for that.
The U.S. Postal Service ended the first three months of its 2012 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2011) with a net loss of $3.3 billion. Without the requirement to prefund retiree benefits, the net loss would have been a positive net gain of $200 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, compared to a net income of $226 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. It made a profit last year too, of slightly more, $300 million, although it’s hard to remember hearing anything about it when you take into account for the prefunding requirement.
Back in 2006, the last time it tried to save the post office, Congress wanted to make sure that there would be plenty of money to pay for the health care of retired postal workers. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) therefore required the Postal Service to pay about $5.6 billion a year over a ten-year period, 2007 through 2016, into a fund to cover retiree health care — for the next 75 years. That remedy has practically killed the patient.
The trust fund payments are the cause of the USPS losses since 2006. Without them, the USPS would have been profitable over that time period. All of the current USPS debt is money it has had to borrow from the Treasury so that it can then loan it back to the Treasury for the “trust fund”. It’s a shell game designed to take “off budget” postal revenues, and apply them to an “on budget” trust fund, artificially lowering the federal budget deficit.
The USPS Inspector General, David C. Williams, said that the fund is in better shape than comparable funds in any other government agency or private-sector business. “Prefunding retiree healthcare is rare in the public and private sectors,” wrote the Inspector General. “We have been unable to locate any organization, either public or private, that has anything similar to the Postal Service’s required level of prefunding of retiree health benefits. The Postal Service is currently funded at 49% of its estimated current liability. The federal government does not prefund its retiree health benefits AT ALL, and the military is funded at a 35% level. Only 38 percent of Fortune 1000 companies who offer retiree health care benefits prefund the expense at all, and the median funding level for those organizations is 37 percent.”
Furthermore, Inspector General said the programs are flush with funds. He said the Postal Service has “significantly exceeded” the amount that the federal government and the nation’s most profitable corporations have socked away for pension AND retiree health care. “The USPS has built a war chest of over $326 billion to address its future liabilities.”
No other company or agency has the same obligation to prefund retiree healthcare benefits.
Even if one accepts a need for some level of prefunding, the 2006 law was based on assumptions as to volume and workforce levels that no longer apply, yet no adjustments have been made to the payment levels. If the USPS had been allowed to run like a business since 2006 (i.e. without prefunding and Congressmen micro-managing its operations), it would be a profitable enterprise facing the recession with ample cash reserves. Between the “mythical” trust fund with its very real $44.1 billion, and the undisputed $6.9 billion FERS overpayment, the supposedly “insolvent” USPS effectively has almost $51 billion. With this future retiree health benefit account earning 3.5 to 4 percent interest every year, it could be fully funded in the next 21 years without the need for additional funds.
Republicans refuse to drop the accounting gimmick that places USPS operations “off budget”, while its retirement funds are “on budget” This allows them to cry “BAILOUT” if the USPS asks for some of its own money to be returned to fund its operations. Congress created the “crisis”, not the USPS unions or managers, and Congress needs to correct its mistakes before it destroys the US Postal Service.
Don’t blame the salaries of postal workers: their selection by high exam scores, training and accountability, plus good wages and benefits has produced high productivity and a low quit rate. The postal workforce has, in fact, shrunk from nearly 800,000 in 1999 to 550,000 career employees today. Most of those job cuts had to do with increased automation, but many have come at the price of service – despite the post office’s original constitutional mandate.
Let’s be clear: these short-term accounting efforts will not solve the long-term financial problems facing the U.S. Postal Service. In order to do that, the Postal Service needs to adopt an entirely new business model which makes it much more entrepreneurial, pro-business, and pro-consumer compared to where it is today.