Lissie, Texas, is a cluster of ranch-style homes lined with tractors, one church, and a post office. Just 200 people live there. Joyce Hodde is one. She says the post office is much more than just a place to buy stamps. “This is kind of a community center for us,” Hodde said. “We get our mail, talk to our friends and go home.” It’s also where residents pay bills and pick up retirement checks. “I enjoyed the post office mostly because I got to see all the people every day,” said Janie Crane, who was Lissie’s postmaster for 27 years. “I was used to talking to everybody, listening to their problems and helping them out when they could.” A month ago Crane received a notice that her post office might close. The Postal Service says its network of rural post offices was established decades ago and is no longer needed. People in Lissie disagree. More Than a Post Office- KUT Austin
13 thoughts on “Video: Residents in Lissie, Texas May Start ‘Occupy’ group to save Post Office”
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Politicans should have fortitude to propose amendment to constitution to adjust USPS to mailing needs of the American public. The demand for USPS services and products have declined resulting from advanced technology in communications. First class mail volume has declined resulting in loss of revenue. USPS starts 2012 with $139 million dollar loss. The USPS needs overhauling with cost effective operations starting with headquarters STAPH who make more than cabinet members. A real joke. The pressure is on plant operations, clerk, and carriers to increase workload with no additional time to create means to pay these so called decision makers to meet goals for pay for performance, a travisty.
USPS needs another reorganiztion to adjust all operations to be cost effective.
Offices that are a duplication of services due to changing demographics need to be closed or consolidated. Employees must be reduced to maximize automation: an early out with necessary years back to age 50 with no penalty would be taken by many.
The major waste is 6 day delivery to physical street addresses..Sat..mail delivery is no longer needed. The american public no longer depends on written commuunication via postal delivery to a street address requiring purchase of a postage stamp with a 1-2 day delivery time. The delivery of advertising bulk mail could be delivered on Mon. as it is not revealant to American public.
The sob story of affecting rural delivery is a joke as many surburban areas are delivered by rural delivery as route time is evaluated for necessary time to handle route. Rural areas will continue to receive same delivery with exception of Sat.. and failing to receive advertising mail will not adversely affect rural life style. The UNITED STATES does not have rural areas such 3rd world countries. Means of communication are the same in rural as suburban and urban areas. Rural areas have electriciity, INTERNET, computer, cell phones with texting,Ipods, smart phones, tablets and other means of communication same as other Americans.
Sat. mail delivery anywhere in the US is a waste of money and a major contributor to annual MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF LOSS. Politicans should take action starting at the top to reduce cost to a breakeven point. The PMG should be a cabinet position and held accountable for USPS operational cost as present management group is PLAYING POST OFFICE.
” the sick, lame, lazy, homeless and professional complainers in the Occupy movements” You mean the 99%? Who say say F the1% Tea Baggers its time to pay up you bailout rich greedy bastards instead of always taking and us carrying you so you can get richer on are sick, lame, lazy, homeless and professional complainers Occupy movement backs? Oh
NewsFlash…
APWU local unions can’t muster up enough interest from their own dwindling membership rolls for pickets, demonstrations and the like, so they hook up with the sick, lame, lazy, homeless and professional complainers in the Occupy movements. Take pictures and videos then contact media outlets to film the entire farse under the guise that postal workers have had enough. If you’re tired of the farse, tired of your union dues paying for Issa’s previous campaigns, tired of your dues paying for 30 second prime time TV slots that fail to convince the public…if you’re tired of the politics, tired of stewards being protected against layoffs and excessing…if you’re tired of the slugs on the workroom floor being protected by the same union that takes your dues money to do so, if your tired of that piece of crap contract that your union supported – then you too can join the Occupy movement and make a difference for change. Just like Bank of America felt the sting of mass displeasure, you can send a BIG message to APWU HQ in Wash DC! Occupy them today! Just fill out a PS Form 1188 and send it now. Even though it might not be in conjunction with your anniversary date, APWU will have to address each submission advising you of the time frames however, it is GUARANTEED that the mass threat of an exodus to their membership rolls will MOST DEFINITELY get APWU’s attention! For those of you lucky enough to make the time frames for quitting…CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST GOT YOURSELF A RAISE!
Just Dont See The American People Seeing It Your Way Simion Says? now if its a flute you’d like to play?
As long as the unions keep blocking necessary changes in postal reform the post office will have no choice but to resume the closing of more small offices throughout the country in the net couple of years. The union would rather have us continue to toss out 9 billion a year on Saturday and curbside deliveries so long as their dues purses aren’t affected. They’ll keep playing their postalcopolipse flute while their members to their own peril just sing and dance around them. Congress and the white house need to grow a pair and tell not ask the USPS that these changes will for a fact happen. All of you wanting to keep these small offices open need to support a bill that will restructure the post office for the future that will allow it to continue to provide the best delivery at the best price, but cut out the unwanted and ludicrously expensive 6th day of delivery.
FOR ALL YOU RIGHT WING..NO GOVT. VOTING HILLBILLYS IN THE LONE STAR STATE….YOU ARE NOW GETTING WHAT YOU VOTED FOR….!!!
Maybe A TEA BAGGER WILL VOLUNTEER AND DELIVER YOUR CARDS AND GIFTS THIS CHRISTMAS…OR MAYBE UPS AND FED-Ex will DELIVER TO YOUR ISOLATED BUFFALO##ck town!…..EXPECT TO PAY MUCH MORE HOMEYS!!!
CLOSE THESE RURAL OFFICES IN REPUBLICAN DISTRICTS NOW!!
Make the lone star state ..A LONE POST OFFICE STATE!!! …..and by the way,doesn’t Herman Cain look like the GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS?
thomas is right. If the local p.o. is such an important part of a community, institute a post office franchise tax. Postal customers enjoy free a/c and heat, free trash service, free community bulletin board, free ink pens and in our office, a shelter for the crackheads and drunks to sleep at night. Although bathroom facilities are not available, they crap in the floor and urinate in the trash cans. The Postal Service provides these services for free. No wonder the local p.o. is considered a community center.
Hope you didnt close the Essex or Amboy PO in CA. or others on route 66.
Have you no souls…you critics of universal service?
Article I, section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution grants Congress the power to establish post offices and post roads, which has been interpreted as a de facto Congressional monopoly over the delivery of mail. Accordingly, no other system for delivering mail – public or private – can be established, absent Congress’s consent. Congress has delegated to the Postal Service the power to decide whether others may compete with it, and the Postal Service has allowed an exception to its monopoly for extremely urgent letters.
The mission of the Postal Service is to provide the American public with trusted universal postal service at affordable prices. While not explicitly defined, the Postal Service’s universal service obligation (USO) is broadly outlined in statute and includes multiple dimensions: geographic scope, range of products, access to services and facilities, delivery frequency, affordable and uniform pricing, service quality, and security of the mail. While other carriers may claim to voluntarily provide delivery on a broad basis, the Postal Service is the only carrier with a legal obligation to provide all the various aspects of universal service at affordable rates.
Proponents of universal service principles claim that since any obligation must be matched by the financial capability to meet that obligation, the postal monopoly was put in place as a funding mechanism for the USO, and it has been in place for over a hundred years. It consists of two parts: the Private Express Statutes (PES) and the mailbox access rule. The PES refers to the Postal Service’s monopoly on the delivery of letters, and the mailbox rule refers to the Postal Service’s exclusive access to customer mailboxes.
Proponents of universal service principles further claim that eliminating or reducing the PES or mailbox rule would have an impact on the ability of the Postal Service to provide affordable universal service. If, for example, the PES and the mailbox rule were to be eliminated, and the USO maintained, then either billions of dollars in tax revenues or some other source of funding would have to be found. As the operating environment of the Postal Service continues to change, additional flexibilities will likely be necessary to fulfill the USO.
Some proponents of universal service principles suggest that private communications that are protected by the veil of government promote the exchange of free ideas and communications. This separates private communications from the ability of a private organization or company motivated by profit to corrupt. Security for the individual is in this way protected by the United States Post Office, maintaining confidentiality and anonymity, as well as government employee’s being much less likely to be instructed by superiors to engage in nefarious action related to communications between persons, organizations or competitors in all nature of associations. It is seen by some as a dangerous step to extract the universal service principle from the post office, as the untainted nature of private communications is preserved as assurance of the protection of individual freedom of privacy.
Critics of universal service principles include several professional economists advocating for the privatization of the mail delivery system, or at least a relaxation of the universal service model that currently exists. Rick Geddes argued in 2000:
•First, basic economics implies that rural customers are unlikely to be without service under competition; they would simply have to pay the true cost of delivery to them, which may or may not be lower than under monopoly.
•Second, basic notions of fairness imply that the cross-subsidy should be eliminated. To the extent that people make choices about where they live, they should assume the costs of that decision.
•Third, there is no reason why the government monopoly is necessary to ensure service to sparsely populated areas. The government could easily award competitive contracts to private firms for that service.
•Fourth, early concerns that rural residents of the United States would somehow become isolated without federally subsidized mail delivery today are simply unfounded. … Once both sender and receiver have access to a computer, the marginal cost of sending an electronic message is close to zero.
In the end it will fall on our government what happens to the US Postal Service.
Occupy ??? Why not put your community money where your mouth is? Find out the operating budget of this post office and offer to pay it ! $75000 divided by100 taxpayers is a mere $750 per year. Oh wait, I forgot, everyone else in the nation should have to chip in to pay for “your” post office.
Needed get can do women that have nothing but positive flowing
Enough of this slug fat boy crap!
“The Postal Service says its network of rural post offices was established decades ago and is no longer needed.”
It looks to me that it’s no longer needed by them not you. Everywhere you turn people are not going along with this BS concept of HQ/PMG (AKA Postal Service), lets shut down postal service idea.
Well boys & girls truth be told as we can see next its going to be The Postal Service says its network of post offices was established decades ago and is no longer needed.
(The Postal Service says)…yea right, more like poor mismanagement says.
If u can’t get Bush an Perry to go to bat for you…..then the tiny minded bureacrarts in the usps will win ….they could care less about our wonderful institution….
one ex pres. and one wannabe….u can’t go higher than that….
good luck
DON”T LET THEM WIN…..YOUR VOICES HAVE TO BE HEARD….
JOE IN VEGAS…RETIRED AND STILL ACTIVE….