WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, released the following statement on the U.S. Postal Service’s announcement regarding changes to its distribution network:
“Obviously I am deeply saddened to learn that the Hares Corner processing center in Delaware has been included in the U.S. Postal Service’s list of nearly 250 distribution centers around the country – including two others in our region – that will be studied for closure. It is painful any time the possibility emerges that a community could lose a postal facility – be it a post office or a distribution center – and I know that communities in Delaware and around the country are struggling with the ramifications of the Postal Service’s proposals.
“Like the recently released list of 3,700 post offices also being studied for closure, today’s announcement is just the start of an official process that must be reviewed by both the Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission. This review process involves a public comment period and additional studies on the impact this decision could have on the affected community before it can move forward. I will be following the review process closely to ensure that it is transparent and fair to employees and customers – both business and residential – in Delaware that depend on the Hares Corner facility.
“Today’s announcement is part of an ongoing effort by the Postal Service to streamline its business operations to reflect reduced demands for its services. This dramatic step of proposing to close hundreds of distribution centers around the country underscores again the very dire financial challenges it faces. The hard truth is that, if nothing is done, the Postal Service is going to lose $10 billion this year. Congress and the Administration must act quickly to help the Postal Service save itself. Failure to act will result in the Postal Service being insolvent within a year, if not sooner, bringing more pain to communities across the country and wreaking havoc on our already fragile economy.”
I don’t feel bad for the postal service the management is poor not respectful. workers get paid way to much for what they do.Let them out in the real world and find a hard paying job.I worked for mashpee and yhe supervisor is rude and mean and rushes everyone around the office while she sits and eats her food and an occasiomal spy on the carriers on the road.Really do we need this kind of workers getting paid high salary get rid of her and others like her.
To Dan: My impression was that once the pre-funded health care amount of $5.5 Billion per year paid to 2016 would mean that all Retired Postal Workers after 2016 would have free health care via the USPS. Speculators were stating that the reason why the USPS wants employees out now is because they want to lessen the numbers to be covered later. I think everyone has their own spin on why the USPS is now pursuing consolidations. Have you ever worked for a Mail Presort Company? Are you familiar with PSI (aka Pitney Bowes Inc.)? I’ll get a second opinion on your comment. Thanks.
Sounds like Sen Carter is ready to agree to what the Postal Service wants. He seems to agreeing with them out one side of his mouth and saying he will make sure his district is fairly treated out the other side of his mouth. By the way Wage Slave, Sen Carter is in the Senate, not the House and he seems to think the Postal Service is right more than wrong. Guess you just want to bash the Repubs and the Tea Party.
We definitely need more senators to back these idiots running the USPS! Gee, the whole congress needs to be studied, similar to the amp studies that the Postal Service uses. Maybe we could just shut down congress and save a lot of money!
Where is the $20.2 billion the USPS already paid for the pre-funding of the retirees health care benefits? If it is invested, the interest should be rolling in.
When a payment arrives late to a creditor, a late fee applies, the interest rate rises and the credit score is affected. Does Postmaster General Donahoe care at all about his customers? Just change the delivery standards-it doesn’t matter.
And with previous Postmaster General Potter collecting $800,000 annually, how many 44 cent stamps must we sell?
Don’t go after the $125 billion that’s owed to the postal service, just shut it down! The country’s unemployment lines are’t long enough yet!
Oh, and Mr. Donahoe, what happened to the $3.5 billion you saved when you signed the APWU contract? Was that just another bonus for you? How many years with no COLA for the working people? Now you want to trash the contract that you just agreed to.
Jake is 100% correct is his statement about Senator Carper of the State of Delaware pertaining to the U.S. Postal Service.
Senator Tom Carper is the number one person that has caused this great mess that is currently facing the USPS. Senator Caper with his Postal Reform Act of 2006, inventing his pre-funding of future medical retire’s health benefits with a strong mandate in the law. Plus Carper’s giving mailers a very deep discounts for major mailer where-as the US Postal Service has loss millions of dollars over a long period of time.
Now Senator Carper wants to introduce his so called POST ACT for 2011, and finish off the U.S.Postal Service for good. I wander what have the lobbyist for FED-X, DHAL or UPS have been offering Senator Tom Carper for the Postal Service complete distruction for their own monetary furture gains. Senator Carper is nothing but a career politician out for himself and the good old boys club. Who are self serving in the US Senate. I hope and pray to God that the people of the Great State of Delaware vote Senator Carper out of office come their next election in 2012. Then see which Wall Street Company Mr. Carper lands with.
Timmy T., you’re way off on the pre-funding requirement info. Retirees still pay over $300/ month for their health benefits. The requirement is for the postal services share of the negotiated health benefit with the affected union to be pre-funded, and done so in a 10 year period when no other (yes NO other) government agency or private company does so. They usually amortize it over a 30 year period. Absent this requirement the postal service would have turned a modest profit even in the worst recession in 3 decades. Get your facts straight.
I agree with the senator, and so dose everyone esle in this country. Time to streamline this out dated postal service !
Sen. Carper is an honorable man. He is not to blame. The pre-funding of our future medical is one of the best suggestions anyone can make for a business. His intent was to have all postal workers vested by 2015 inwhich when we retire our medical plan would be covered for life.
My wife worked for the City & County of San Francisco for 10 years and she retired after being one of the first to be laid off in 2000. She is paying $.46 a month for her medical plan. That is correct……. 46 cents a month because the City of San Francisco pre-funded their medical plan way before Sen. Carper proposed the pre-funding.
You have to be crazy if you want $300 – $500 coming out of your postal pension each month to pay for your medical plan.
What the Senate should be doing is holding a Senate Sub-committee on the Fraudulent Business Practices that the Postal Service has been engaging in in the past 10 years. I would be more than happy to bring my files in on the San Francisco Post Office and testify to the corruption from OIG to EEOC and the Postal Management.
The Postal Management engaged in fraudulent business practices with the intent to pad their pockets with Bonuses and Raises by submitting false reports showing how efficient we were when in fact they were cooking the numbers. This was happening in other Facilities across the U.S. The U.S.P.S. can not justify the drastic drops in mail volumes, they want to close the Facilities based on deleting run files and changing employees LDC’s (Labor Distribution Codes).
This is what the Senate and Congress need to focus on to put the Postal Service back on the right track. The Dept. of Justice needs to get involved since OIG is part of the problem. OIG interviews Management and not the employees that see the fraud. The Postal Inspectors do nothing about the strong arming by management to keep the employees silent.
The Senate should invite me to Washington, D.C. I’ve been there many a times. They should be ready for an ear full.
People should not pay attention to Issa. Issa issa (pun intended) a–hole and he will not be in office for long. He wants to destroy working family jobs with the intent to create minimum paying, non-benefitting, with no medical jobs that are similar to themail presort businesses throughout the U.S.
If the USPS really wanted to be profit making they would decrease the amount of money that they charge Pre-sort Mail Company’s for doing our work. The USPS gives a Mail Presort a discount of $.04 – .08 (cents) a letter. The USPS should cut into their profit margin instead of attacking Craft employees.
The Postal Inspectors should be investigating these Companies that meter U.S. Mail to see if they really have money on the books and also inspect their meter machines and meter permit numbers. It’s easy to add postage. A child can do it.
Enough said. As I stated before, Senators Carper and Collins are good people. So is Congressman Lynch. They are trying to stop Donohoe from fleecing the USPS like prior PMG’s.
Its all politics as usual…….MARK MY WORDS TODAY………THE REVOLUTION IS COMING……WE WILL TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY FROM THE DEGENERATES WHO ARE RUNNING US INTO THE GROUND….SO THEY CAN PROFIT…..YOU MUST SUFFER!!!!!! THE U.nder
S.ecret
A.dvising from The NWO…(the next 3rd world country to dominate America) also the NORTH AMERICAN EURO($) COMING TO A BANK NEAR YOU SOON…the dollar has been forced to lose its value so it can be replaced….fyi
The USPS has to pre-fund the health care for people that aren’t even born? Sounds like some war machine money that the government needs…..so then the U.S. can keep fighting all over the middle east…. anybody ask why are they being forced to aggressively pre-fund a bill for the next ten years by paying 5.5 billion a year..if they didn’t have to pay this money the USPS would be showing a substantial profit(but we are not allowed to know this because the government is using this money for wars) Isn’t it funny how Clinton who didn’t start any wars or get involved in any B.S. over seas, had a country with no debt, no major loss of jobs, and no spinning one incident(911) into something else(Iraq). All the man did was have a little sex in white house…..like we all should in our own house.
I hope Congress knows what to do with 200,000 laid off Postal Workers. Maybe we could pitch a tent city up in front of the Capital Buillding! Management went thru our PO and told clerks that they were only going to keep 53 clerks out 300 when they close our PD&C here. 1 to 1 mangement.
The Employees at the processing center at hares corner in New Castle Del. should thank Carper for his hand in helping the Postal Service decide to close down shop. Sen Carper was a co-author the the 2006 Postal Reform act that required the Postal Service to prefund the retirement/ Health fund over a 10yr period that has caused the finacial crisis the Postal Service is in.
Now Carper has introduced a new bill to save the postal service from failing. Carper’s 2006 bill not only required the 10yr 75 Billion payment, it also provided the postal service the ablity to provide deep discounts the major mailers. The Postal service now losses money on evey catalog it delivers.
So, for all the postal workers who will be affected by the closure of the processing plants, send Carper a thank you by voting him out of office.
The USPS should not have to pre fund the retiree benefits. That way the fat cats can get more and bigger bonuses immediately, and triple their own retirement packages. Just like the fat cats on wall street, when the president bailed them out. Any bailout money goes to the CEO’s first and then the next in line until there is nothing left. What a joke paid for on the backs of hard workers who have spent over half their lives trying to make a living.
The House of Representatives will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help the USPS.
It is to the ADVANTAGE of the PARTY THAT CONTROLS THE HOUSE to let the
situation deteriorate to the point of INSOLVENCY in order to TRIGGER THE ISSA/
ROSS PLAN AND LEGISLATION.
It is unbelievable that IT WAS CONGRESS THAT CREATED THE LAW THAT HOBBLES THE POSTAL SERVICE and it is CONGRESS THAT REFUSES TO
ACT TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM.
And while CONGRESS sits on it’s hands and watches, the PMG AND HIS STAFF
ACT TO DESTROY THE CORE OF THE POSTAL SERVICE in the name of
RESTRUCTURING in order to “SAVE” the Postal Service.