From the Office of Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana)
(U.S. SENATE) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester is demanding to know why the head of the U.S. Postal Service made $800,000 in total compensation while eliminating local Montana positions as the organization is dealing with a multi-billion-dollar shortfall.
Tester, during a Senate hearing on the nominations of Mark Acton and Robert Taub to the Postal Regulatory Commission, said that the salaries of top executives should be at the top of the list when cutting costs.
“Quite frankly, when times are tough, when you start cinching your belt down, that ought to be the first place we’re looking, not the last place,” Tester said.
Tester, a member of the Senate Committee that oversees the Postal Service, added that this week’s decision to consider the closure of 85 rural post offices in Montana would “raise heck in Rural America.”
Tester told Acton that the Postal Regulatory Commission must play a big role in rural America with its recommendations to the Postal Service.
“I also understand you guys give recommendations, and I appreciate that,” Tester said. “And I think they ought to be listened to a heck of a lot more than they’ve been listened to, quite honestly. You guys have important jobs–an important connection–and quite frankly, from my constituency’s base, you guys are a big deal. Because you can make a difference.”
The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent agency that has oversight over the Postal Service.
Tester recently wrote a letter to the Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe calling on the U.S. Postal Service to keep mail service available in rural communities.
Tester’s letter to Donahoe can be read HERE.
Video from Tester’s hearing
Tester: Closing rural post offices or reducing mail delivery will ‘raise heck with Rural America’
I’ve yet to see what the “Mystery Shopper” program costs the USPS. I’d venture to say, it doesn’t come cheap. That should be the first thing the USPS should discontinue. That’s a cost cutting measure that would make sense. .
Just listening to this man on C-span who is the essence of a political bureacrat overpaid and overweight….The extravagant salaries for a special few at the top in all levels of government and business the past 50 years in America is coming home to roost whether it be education, top heavy with over paid management people or congressional salaries and pensions, state legislatures saturated with long terms, big salaries, pensions and inefficiency is definitely catching up with America. Corrupted bankrupt states like Illinois opening the state treasury to iIlegals in Chicago and taking medicare benefits away from seniors who worked all their lives and paid into the systems…what other country gives priorities to illegal aliens …only stupid American governments on all levels…
The 2 main goals of the postal service have always been to create high paying unneeded job for friends and relatives and to give large contracts whomever pays the best kickbacks to high level postal officials. Delivery of the mail is just sort of a way to laundry the funds. I worked at usps for 32 years , never saw a new po build that did not involve these things and saw at least 60 of higher level jobs filled this way, most of the rest were filled through the EEO.
That’s why overtime was cut. They don’t care if the mail has to suffer they need the money to pay the 800 thou, well, well, well WTF.
to mailhandler al of fl actually the Pres of USA gets $400,000 a year plus $50,000 for his expense account
I wonder what the Chief of Staff’s salary is in the military? Isn’t that comparable as far as amount of employees they handle? Possibly close I think. And the military’s budget is far greater than the USPS has.
PMG is grossly overpaid. PMG is a position in a semiquasi government service organizatiopn. The, Harry Potter Position, PMG position is not one of a CEO in a corportation that exist to benefit stockholders which is dependent on share earningsor EPS. The PMG job should be a cabinet position with a salary of a government employee not comparable to a corporate CEO. PMG should operarte USPS on A BUDGET; REDUCE LAYERS OF MANAGEMENT THAT PRODUCE ZERO. Restructure USPS based on service needs. Decreases in revenue
generation should mandate service reductions as mailer demand for Postal Products and services has decreased. Reduce services to meet Postal customer demands. The massive financial losses must be eliminated by closing Post Offices, reducing delivery days, reduce all levels of management and other craft unions that have only have their groups concern.
Who pays for the massive financial losses of the USPS.?
The USPS debt ceiling must not be raised when social security and federal employee monthly checks are in question as to money on hand to cover.
Could borrow from China to keep USPS loosing money as Congress and PRC are failing in reducing and eliminating Postal monatary losses. A real joke!
POTUS annual salary is $400,000.00 plus $50,000.00 expense allowance. But what difference does that make? As the proverb goes, “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” So, the only escape if you are not comfortable with being a servant or being poor, is to be rich. More power to anybody that run a successful hooky-do. Every Pookie wants a piece of the pie.
Why can’t you little people just accept that you will be making 2 dollars a day in the near future. We can’t maintain our obscene profits without taking everything you own. Thank you for your cooporation.
POTUS’s salary after retirement is $200,000
Bla Bla Bla Pass the Kool Aid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Screw the little people !!!!!!!!!!!!! This is America if you don’t like it drink the Kool Aid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one of the very reasons the Postal Service is going under. Because of ridicously high salaries at the top management positions are receiving. They have vbeen receiving these salaries for years, yet now they want to pout the reasons the Postal service is in trouble, is because of Union wages. Union employees get nowhere close to $800,000 per year. This is a joke. Union members make an average of $60,000 a year including heallth and vacation benefits. Thjis is not ev3en a fourth of the Postmasters General and other top managerial employees that are making decisions to close every rural and substion in the country!! They would rsather let the Postal Service go down rather than adjust their salary to the conditions the mail volume is in, and let rural america do withiout getting their mail on a daily basis. What about Potter getting that $5 million bonus on his way out of office! That also was a slap in the face to the employees who actually do the work, and now are at risk of losing a average decent paying job. This is what Rep. Issa is making also, while he constantly puts postal workers down, and do not care about us making a halfway decent living!! Shame on all of them! What Donahoo should be doing is trying to get the retiree pre-0fund overpayment back from his buddies in congress, ro save our jobs!!
Actually the POTUS’s salary is 400K not 200K
SEN TESTER…why when the Post Office is losing 1 billion a month and no profit since 2006…do the mismanagement get PFP Bounus Money?
SEN TESTER..why do we have 110,000 mismanaging losers vs 469,000 workers, a ratio of mismgt to worker of 1 to 4.7…..in private industry the ratio is 1 to 25-50?
SEN TESTER..why are you not putting Post Office into recievership and appointing former retired Chairman & CEO Robert Crandall of American Airline Corporation a legend in Finance & fixing broken companies run by idiots-to fix this dump?
WHY, WHY, WHY,WHY ????????????????????????????????????
I’m so sick of the idiots in charge of the post office refering to it as a business! It’s not a business! The purpose of the post office is to provide universal mail delivery to EVERY American, not just the ones that are profitable. It’s in the constitution! Senator Testor is right. When cuts are made, it’s always reducing staffing or closing post offices. Why not get rid of the people who do nothing to deliver the mail? Upper management!
The Postal Service is on track to lose over 8 Billion this year because of the pre-funding of health benefits. If there were 10,000 people working for the Postal Service making what the PMG makes and you fired them all that would equal the * billion. One mans salary is NOT the problem.
P.S. THOSE OF YOU WHO TYPE IN ALL CAPS. IT IS CONSIDERED YELLING IS IS VERY RUDE. Learn how to use a keyboard.
WHILE YOUR AT IT SENATOR COULD YOU PLEASE LOOK INTO MANAGERS AT THE NJ NDC IN JERSEY CITY N.J. WHO ARE DRIVING POSTAL ISSUED VEHICLES FOR THEIR OWN PRIVATE USE. THEY USE THESE FORD FOCUS CARS TO DRIVE TO AND FROM WORK,THE SUPERMARKET,THE GYM WHEREEVER! WHOSE PICKING UP THE TAB FOR THIS PERK? IM JUST I LOWLY CLERK HOW ABOUT P.O. WHO IS SUPOSE TO BE BROKE THROWING A FORD FOCUS MY WAY!
my craft have gotten their ass kicked for 7 years go get the suits for crying out loud
The senator would find far greater savings if he were to examine EAS overstaffing at all levels at USPS.
$70K and $80K “managers” that play computer solitaire and generate useless reports. And groups of $100K+ “executives” wasting everyones time by stopping by local facilities to stare at workers and talk among themselves.
Finally someone is telling it the way it is. The fat should be trimmed starting at the top and work down. Some journalists have written that those of us in craft earn about $100,000 a year. I don’t know who they are talking about, most of us earn about half that. And if you want ot make more then you are on the OTDL. I just want my 40 hours and that’s it. You can always make money, but you can’t get that time back. My time is valuable, and I’m not going to give it up for the PO.
Compared to other CEO’s, our PMG is in line and deserves every penny.
The PMG salary is less than the president.
Tester is just JEALOUS! Bring back the Dept. of the Post Office. It can’t be run like a business under Congressional control. It’s a Government Agency, a civil service, fund it like one!
IT’S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE CAUGHT ON. HOW ABOUT POTTERS SALARY AND BONUS? THEIR ARE GROUP IN THE PO MADE UP OF BOSSES THE ARE CALLED OPP SUPPORT THAT ALL THEY DO IS WASTE PO MONEY. THE PO WILL SEND IN 10 OR BOSSES TO WATCH CERTAIN GROUP CLERKS AND CARRIES WATCHES WHAT THEY DO TRY TO SAVE 5 MINUTES BUT WASTES MILLIONS A DAY FOR THERE SALARIES AND THERE REPLACEMENTS., THAT COST THE PO BILLION A YEAR SINCE IT IS DONE ALL OVER THE US
Maybe with America $trillions in debt Congress should be cutting their Salary and staff,paying more of their Health benefits ,and work more years before they get retirement benefits.
WTF!!!!!!!!!DOES THIS INDIVIDUAL NEED A $800,000 SALARY FOR? THE PRESIDENT OF THE US SALARY IS $200,000 THIS JAMOKE GETS 4!! TIMES THAT AMOUNT.AND FOR WHAT? THE TOP IS SO HEAVY IT IS DISGUSTING.ELEVEN LAYERS OF———–.(PARDON MY FRENCH).49 VICE PRESIDENTS AND 9 BOARD OF GOVENORS ALL BEING PAID $200,000 OR MORE IN SALARIES EACH!THE FINANCIAL WOES OF THE USPS ARE SIMPLY GREED AND RECKLESS SPENDING AND BULL__________.CONGRESS WILL NOT BAIL IT OUT BECAUSE IT IS AN INSIDE PLOT TO PRIVATIZE IT.KILL IT FIRST.JUST LOOK AROUND YOU ARE WITNESSING THE END AND THEY DON’T:GAF! THE USPS IS A HUGE CASH COW!! WHAT BIZNESS COULD EVER FUNCTION LIKE THE USPS?(NONE!) BECAUSE THEY CANNOT WIPE OUT NUMBERS AND LIE ANYTIME THEY WOULD WANT TOO.THE USPS WANTS TO BE RUN LIKE A BIZNESS WITH TEMPORARY LABOR PAID AND NO BENEFITS AND YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN RETIREMENT AND HEALTH BENES.MEANWHILE THE TOP RAPES IT EVER MORE.THEY OUGHTA RELEASE A NEW STAMP TO THE PUBLIC.(A FINGER STICKING STRAIGHT UP LIKE AN OBSCENE GESTURE) AND A SAYING” THANKS AMERICA THIS IS FOR YOU”.