50-Cent Stamp, Other Postal Changes Coming

[CountAllVotes]

The United States Postal Service may raise the price of first class postage to 50 cents.

The U.S. Post Office, facing financial losses of up to $18.2 billion a year by 2015, wants to charge more for postage, more for services, and to suspend Saturday delivery.

The 50-cent stamp would represent an 11 percent increase in postal rates.

USPS delivers 40 percent of the world's mail. Its revenues exceed $65 billion a year.

http://news.yahoo.com/50-cent-stamp-other-postal-changes-coming-190143222--abc-news.html

I'm glad I stocked up on Forever Stamps when they first came out (cost me $.32 each being I put them on a 1.25% cash back credit card (which no longer exists I might add thanks to our rip-roaring economy!).

I hope this rate increase will help the Post Office.

[ScarletFyre]

1. I heard they were closing a bunch.

My Post Office is probably going to be one of them. I guess in a town of 70 and shrinking, it's to be expected.

[CountAllVotes]

2. The one where I live is going part-time

That should be real fun -- trying to figure out when it is open/closed.

[bluestateguy]

3. I am not against paying a little more for stamps

That's fine. What I am against is curtailing service, ending Saturday delivery, closing post offices and firing employees, all of which will slow down service and drive still more people away from using the post office. And then their problems will worsen.

Kind of like European BS austerity that only makes their problems worse.

[mikekohr]

69. I worked at the USPS for 10 years

This is exactly what needs to happen. Saturday delivery won't be missed except by periodicals and newspapers. Why should we support their business model?

Smaller post offices can be covered by rural letter carriers for a fraction of the cost of keeping a small PO open. Small town Post Offices are yet another example of rural America being subsidized by larger metro areas.

For every small town that is whining that they need the local post office to remain open because it is the social/gathering place of the community, offer them the choice of keeping it open through their property taxes. Not a single town will take you up on that offer.

[libinnyandia]

4. Many Republicans want to put the USPS out of business.

[CountAllVotes]

5. this shows how stupid the pukes are

WHO, yes WHO, is going to deliver their mail and all of their pornography?

[CatholicEdHead]

8. UPS and FedEx

Private companies who in their minds are vastly superior to the "government" USPS.

[madrchsod]

11. fedex uses the postal service to deliver their packages in rural/remote areas of the country

i`m not sure if ups does the same.

[RC]

15. Yes, UPS does the same thing.

They both say so on their web sites.

[2pooped2pop]

35. I believe they sometimes do.

I've had them delivered and I've had them passed off to the p.o. on snowy days.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Not just rural

I have had many packages delivered by USPS that were sent by companies via "Fedex Super Saver" shipping. And I live in the 5th largest city!

[Art_from_Ark]

12. Republicans, like Darrel Issa

He's the worst of the worst when it comes to the Post Office. Just google "Issa Post Office bill" and you'll easily see why.

[JohnnyRingo]

20. They like to point out how inefficient the govt is.

They always point out the silly old adage about how slow and surly the post office and BMV employees are. Truth is, since email and online registration there's no better public service.

I never have to wait more than 15 minutes to get my license renewed or to buy stamps. Still, the conservatives complain endlessly about how their letters get lost in the mail every day and tell tales of long hours at the BMV while the worker takes her eighth smoke break of the day.

Bulshit, it's about crushing the very public unions that they seek to bury.

[Cosmocat]

29. The same morons who use USPS for the campaign literature

and whose backers use the USPS for their advertisements and to send bills to people.

[blondie58]

60. yeah and those morons pay next to nothing for their mailings

Yet it must be treated like first class mail. This results in some OT pay for the carriers, who really deserve it.

[2pooped2pop]

34. have they found a way

to make money by getting rid of it? Republicans only do shit for the money.

[REP]

59. Fuck them sideways. I love the USPS! For real - they do a great job

And it is a good job (tough and stressful, but Union and pays decently).

[RZM]

6. He's getting his own stamp? Already?

It took Elvis years to get one. Way too soon.

[Codeine]

39. A letter with a Fiddy stamp on it will be so bad-ass

it will deliver itself. . .

or die tryin'.

[flying rabbit]

48. heh!

[Liberal_in_LA]

61. The title of the OP had me thinking the same thing!

[glinda]

7. We never see more than one or two PO workers at sites.

[onehandle]

9. Raise it to a dollar. One dollar for First Class Mail coast to coast? Bargain. nt

[joshcryer]

17. +1, seriously. Fedex 3 day would be $15 for the same letter.

Priority Mail = 3 days tops.

It's a damn steal.

[Auggie]

40. Yep

[kimmylavin]

49. I'm with you.

Seriously, what the Post Office does is amazing!
They take something from you (sometimes even from your house), and then deliver it to someone's door.

Worth a dollar.
(Worth more, really, but let's start there...)

[madrchsod]

10. the only thing that will help the post office is....

changing the way their pensions are used against them. the postal service is the only corporations that has to have their pensions fully funded each year. there is`t a business in the usa that is required to do the same. well over half of each years profit has to go to the pension fund.

this was done by the republicans to destroy the unions and bankrupt the postal service. the postal service is not a government service but it is in the constitution under the postal clause.

[bl968]

13. The Postal Service Poison Pill...

Try fully funded for 75 years. The Postal Service is being required to pay roughly 5.5 billion dollars into a fund each year over 10 years to prepay 7.5 years of employee health care benefits for a total of 75 years.

Sec. 8909a. Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund

(a) There is in the Treasury of the United States a Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund which is administered by the Office of Personnel Management.

(b) The Fund is available without fiscal year limitation for payments required under section 8906(g)(2)(A).

(c) The Secretary of the Treasury shall immediately invest, in interest-bearing securities of the United States such currently available portions of the Fund as are not immediately required for payments from the Fund. Such investments shall be made in the same manner as investments for the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund under section 8348.

(d)(1) Not later than June 30, 2007, and by June 30 of each succeeding year, the Office shall compute the net present value of the future payments required under section 8906(g)(2)(A) and attributable to the service of Postal Service employees during the most recently ended fiscal year.

(2)(A) Not later than June 30, 2007, the Office shall compute, and by June 30 of each succeeding year, the Office shall recompute the difference between--

(i) the net present value of the excess of future payments required under section 8906(g)(2)(A) for current and future United States Postal Service annuitants as of the end of the fiscal year ending on September 30 of that year; and

(ii)(I) the value of the assets of the Postal Retiree Health Benefits Fund as of the end of the fiscal year ending on September 30 of that year; and

(II) the net present value computed under paragraph (1).

(B) Not later than June 30, 2017, the Office shall compute, and by June 30 of each succeeding year shall recompute, a schedule including a series of annual installments which provide for the liquidation of any liability or surplus by September 30, 2056, or within 15 years, whichever is later, of the net present value determined under subparagraph (A), including interest at the rate used in that computation.

(3)(A) The United States Postal Service shall pay into such Fund--

(i) $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2007;

(ii) $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2008;

(iii) $5,400,000,000, not later than September 30, 2009;

(iv) $5,500,000,000, not later than September 30, 2010;

(v) $5,500,000,000, not later than September 30, 2011;

(vi) $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2012;

(vii) $5,600,000,000, not later than September 30, 2013;

(viii) $5,700,000,000, not later than September 30, 2014;

(ix) $5,700,000,000, not later than September 30, 2015; and

(x) $5,800,000,000, not later than September 30, 2016.

(B) Not later than September 30, 2017, and by September 30 of each succeeding year, the United States Postal Service shall pay into such Fund the sum of--

(i) the net present value computed under paragraph (1); and

(ii) any annual installment computed under paragraph (2)(B).

(4) Computations under this subsection shall be made consistent with the assumptions and methodology used by the Office for financial reporting under subchapter II of chapter 35 of title 31.

(5)(A)(i) Any computation or other determination of the Office under this subsection shall, upon request of the United States Postal Service, be subject to a review by the Postal Regulatory Commission under this paragraph.

(ii) Upon receiving a request under clause (i), the Commission shall promptly procure the services of an actuary, who shall hold membership in the American Academy of Actuaries and shall be qualified in the evaluation of healthcare insurance obligations, to conduct a review in accordance with generally accepted actuarial practices and principles and to provide a report to the Commission containing the results of the review. The Commission, upon determining that the report satisfies the requirements of this subparagraph, shall approve the report, with any comments it may choose to make, and submit it with any such comments to the Postal Service, the Office of Personnel Management, and Congress.

(B) Upon receiving the report under subparagraph (A), the Office of Personnel Management shall reconsider its determination or redetermination in light of such report, and shall make any appropriate adjustments. The Office shall submit a report containing the results of its reconsideration to the Commission, the Postal Service, and Congress.

(6) After consultation with the United States Postal Service, the Office shall promulgate any regulations the Office determines necessary under this subsection.'.

(2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT- The table of sections for chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 8909 the following:

8909a. Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund.'.

(b) Review-

(1) IN GENERAL-

(A) REQUEST FOR REVIEW- Any regulation established under section 8909a(d)(5) of title 5, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), shall, upon request of the United States Postal Service, be subject to a review by the Postal Regulatory Commission under this paragraph.

(B) REPORT- Upon receiving a request under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall promptly procure the services of an actuary, who shall hold membership in the American Academy of Actuaries and shall be qualified in the evaluation of healthcare insurance obligations, to conduct a review in accordance with generally accepted actuarial practices and principles and to provide a report to the Commission containing the results of the review. The Commission, upon determining that the report satisfies the requirements of this paragraph, shall approve the report, with any comments it may choose to make, and submit it with any such comments to the Postal Service, the Office of Personnel Management, and Congress.

(2) RECONSIDERATION- Upon receiving the report under paragraph (1), the Office of Personnel Management shall reconsider its determination or redetermination in light of such report, and shall make any appropriate adjustments. The Office shall submit a report containing the results of its reconsideration to the Commission, the Postal Service, and Congress.

[eyewall]

51. How many corporations could,

or would even be asked to, absorb $5.5billion a year in unnecessary expenses?

How many corps would be willing to pre-fund benefits for 75 years? How many others have been forced to do so by congress? (zero of course)

[Yupster]

73. That's why corps got rid of their pensions and replaced them withg 401 k's

They don't have obligations to pensioners for the next x years.

The person leaves employment, takes his 401k with him with a handshake and the corp is done with their obligations to him.

It's pretty much only government workers who have pensions today.

[former9thward]

57. Except it wasn't the Republicans.

The bill was introduced and co-sponsored by two Democrats, Henry Waxman and Danny Davis acting on behalf of the postal union. Waxman and Davis are two of the most progressive reps there. The bill passed the Senate unanimously and the House on a voice vote with no one being recorded against it. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-6407

[quakerboy]

63. Or just bringing them back in house

No reason they should not be fully a government program(again). With a cabinet level postmaster even.

[mikekohr]

70. This is a big part of the problem

but as a 10 year vet of the USPS there has to be cut backs. Simple mathematics dictates. Mail volume is collapsing and has been for the last 6+years.

[high density]

14. I spent $24 to ship an envelope Express Mail this week

And so far the service has been slower than what first class probably would've been. My "guaranteed overnight" package mailed on the 15th now will not arrive to the destination business until the 21st. Next time FedEx is getting my money. I'm really rather sad because I've never had a problem with the postal service before, and the contents were a loan payoff that will now certainly be short by the time the lender receives it.

Outside of a few packages every month from online shopping, just about everything else the USPS brings me goes directly into the recycle bin or the shredder. I'm not sure how you can make a viable business model out of delivering daily packets of garbage mailed in bulk for pennies to every household in the country.

[tclambert]

26. Waive the signature requirement.

I've never understood why the default is to require a signature for Express Mail. If no one's home to sign for it, back it goes to the Post Office, and someone has to find time to go pick it up there. If you want it delivered fast, waive the signature. Then they can leave it on the front porch, delivered on the first try.

The cheap garbage delivery is another sellout to business interests. The Post Office provides delivery for that business advertising BELOW COST, supposedly subsidized by first class mail.

[lastlib]

47. If they'd charge all that junk the full rate, they'd be swimming in money...

[joshcryer]

16. About time.

Still the cheapest most efficient way to ship within the US.

[JDPriestly]

18. Today I mailed a small package from the West Coast to the Midwest.

UPS wanted over $13 to deliver it.

The United States Post Office wanted $3.45 or thereabouts.

It was a simple knitted item that cost less than $13 to make. UPS's charges are outrageous. Thanks to all the postal workers who keep the Post Office going. They do a great job.

[thesquanderer]

31. UPS can be cheaper

If the Post Office wanted $3.45 and UPS wanted over $13, you probably went to a retail store of some sort to use UPS. Stores build their own extra fees into the price. To find out what UPS actually charges, enter the package weight, dimensions, and zip code into their form at ups.com -- and if you want, you can then pay it online, print out the paid shipping label, put it on the box, and give it to any UPS driver.

[mikekohr]

71. The USPS is far cheaper on small, light parcels

Priority Mail is the best value in the small package delivery world. UPS is cheaper on larger, heavier parcels.

[JohnnyRingo]

19. Half a buck to get a letter across the country?

I can afford two.

Why anyone would carp about this rate is beyond me. Ask Fed-Ex how much they charge for three day delivery.

[FrodosPet]

23. Raise it to $5 - it doesn't affect me

With online bill payment, email, Facebook, unlimited minutes and texts on the phone, etc. it has been years since I sent anything by first class mail.

[tavalon]

21. Do the forever stamps still mean, forever?

[JohnnyRingo]

24. I never use them

i live across the street from the post office, and I enjoy buying stamps with personal meaning. I go over and ask what stamps they have available, including shelter pets, legendary blues singers, and American comic artists.

Why send Allied Waste and Sprint boring payments?

[LarryNM]

22. Wait till people have to pay the "free market" price for Postal Services

We will be told by the greed masters that you must pay the "free market" price after they destroy the USPS. Then the days of the USPS stamp at $1 will seem like a penny postcard. Just more marginializing, demonizing, dividing and theft of the Public Commons by the enemies of humanity. They never complained about deficits until it was a useful tool to cut social programs.

[tclambert]

27. Germany and Japan tried privatizing their Postal Services. Rates about double ours.

Japan hated it so much they went back to government running the Post Office. Interestingly, in both cases, their Postal Service also ran a bank. In Japan it was the biggest bank in the country.

[JJW]

25. On-line shopping

Fed-x and UPS are so costly that they make most on-line shopping too expensive. I run into on-line merchants charging a minimum of $9.95 to $ 12.95 which really makes buying low priced items impossible. Whereas, USPS might charge a dollar or less to delivery the same item.

[thesquanderer]

30. Online shipping fees aren't necessarily due to actual costs

A lot of online merchants consider shipping to be another profit generator. Just because they're charging you $9.95 or $12.95, that doesn't necessarily mean Fedex or UPS are that expensive, any more than the places that give you free shipping are basing that on their actual shipping costs either.

[PuffedMica]

28. Take a guess at what the artwork will look like

[nxylas]

33. I can imagine the reich-wing reaction to this

"It's an example of the imposition of hip-hop culture on the nation by our hip-hop President (blows dog whistle)".

[thesquanderer]

32. 50 cent stamp and 5-day delivery isn't enough...

Based on the figures in the article, those two changes would only save 3.7 billion a year, when losses are already over 14 billion and growing. What kind of solution is that? It would only reduce losses to something else that is still unsustainable.

[JJW]

36. Just use corporate logos

Have employees where corporate logos and costumes. Put corporate logos on all mail and stamps.

[kemah]

38. Why do mass mailings or junk mail uses the Post Office and not FED EX nor UPS?

I hear all the time that Fed Ex and UPS are more efficient than the post office. Then why is 100% of junk mail delivered by the post office. You would think that those more efficient Fed Ex and UPS would be delivering more junk mail. Because the post office is more efficient and cost effective then FED EX and UPS.

[sofa king]

41. Those guys don't do mass mailings.

If they did, each piece would cost ten to twenty times as much to ship.

That of course is what we would face if the USPS shut down--an order of magnitude increase in mailing rates before the non-government shippers cornered the market and found the "market will bear" price, which will certainly be higher than that.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

46. And ONLY the USPS has the coverage and network to pull it off ...

... both UPS and FedEX (or the others) use USPS to deliver their packages to places they don't cover, which is substantial.

Without USPS, all of the private delivery companies would go deeply into the red to build the network they now use via USPS, forcing prices through the roof (though, I suspect, the Republicans would find some really nice piles of the taxpayers' money to give to those companies to bring them up to current USPS network, cause that's typical Republican small guvment thinking).

For all the talk of privatizing, it would actually be a nightmare for the private companies.

[Incitatus]

68. The USPS gives those junk mail mass mailers huge discounts. They are not paying 50 cents

for every piece of crap they send , but we have to pay 50 cents if we want to mail a bill or send a relative a card.

[JCMach1]

42. About time someone honored his genius!

[caseymoz]

54. Damn! You beat me to it!

Though I still had the better setup line.

[JCMach1]

55. Come on! Spill it!

I could use a good laugh about one of the poet laureates of our time...

[Marthe48]

43. Here are some ideas

If there is room in a P.O. building, get a Netflix kiosk in there. P. O. gives returned dvds to the kiosk, films can be marked returned faster locally, and the ship order can be processed sooner. If there are other companies that rely on fast shipping, see about clustering them in a P. O. Our local P.O. is a huge old building, but I know not all P.O.s are that big.

How about having sales on stamps and other services? The P.O. never has sales and maybe people would like having a cheap day to send things. How about having an account to get a few free cards sent out? You buy so many stamps, you get to send a free card.

And of course, do something about the money skimmed off the top of the P.O. earnings to cover health piracy and they'd be all set.

[HopeHoops]

44. The rates just changed a week or two ago, and not by much, HOWEVER...

How the hell else can you get a physical piece of mail from Maine to Hawaii for under a dollar???

[slackmaster]

45. I'm more glad than ever that I spent over $200 on Forever stamps when they were 39 cents

[eyewall]

50. I get free USPS shipping from a vendor I've used many times.

They are in a small town in GA and I'm in a town not far from a big city on the west coast. If I order something Tuesday morning, it gets picked up, driven to Atlanta and then shipped west on an airplane, arrives in the city by 8:00 pm, is driven to my town and is in my PO Box the next morning.

One day service.

The worst it has ever been is two days, but only twice in over twenty orders, the rest have been there the next morning. This is first class mail for a small package. They offer Fedex or UPS for about $15 as an alternative which guarantees two day delivery.

I get angry when I hear people complain about how bad the PO is.

We sent boxes of goodies to my son and his platoon in Iraq and in Afghanistan, every week. It cost $8.00 per box, going to an APO which is like a NY address wherever in the world it may be. A service they provide for our military. Without it we couldn't have done that.

I'm sure the majority of people, especially the elderly, do not use email or computer services like bill pay, they rely on the Post Office. The republicans are insane with greed and are destroying America. This is the best example there is. It's like the mafia is taking over the country when they propose changes to our way of life.

[eyewall]

66. It's one of the great American institutions.

There should be far more public outrage than we see. Times are very strange. Too many couches and too many TV's.

[blondie58]

52. as,a retired member of NALC branch #47

I am pleased to see so many positive things about the postal service. There is a bill we are trying to get passed HB1351 to save it.

The unions have come up with many good ideas, but management never goes for them. I have often wondered how many of the top management are In cageoots with the repubs to end the nations largest amount of union members.

Please contact your representatives to try and save this American institition, founded by Benjamin Franklin. We don't need to put 200,000 workers put of work. This includes many families. Husband and wife and veterans. The vets get an extra 10points on the entrance exam, so we have our fair share of veterans.

[caseymoz]

53. Rap has certainly gone mainstream in a blink.

I thought it would be another decade before we'd see 50-cent on a stamp.

[JCMach1]

56. Whoot there it is!

[REP]

58. Still a bargain (and I still mail stuff!)

I still write real letters and mail plants Priority across the country - the Post Office is a bargain for what they do. And my Post Offices are staffed by very nice and efficient clerks - bonus!!

[razorman]

62. It won't affect me much. I can't recall the last time I actually wrote a letter.

[Snake Alchemist]

65. I can honestly say I haven't bought a stamp in

Years. Either email or a cell call for me.

[sarcasmo]

67. IF 50 cent gets a stamp, when does Snoop Dogg get his stamp?

[ChromeFoundry]

74. Coffee + Spit = Computer Monitor is not happy. n/t

[sarcasmo]

75. Sorry about the moniter :)

[PoliticalOne65]

72. Postal rates.

I used to get 12 records delivered for a penny. It was an amazing deal. You will never see those rates again.