What's Happening to the Post Office?

(CBS)  This segment was first broadcast Oct. 4, 2009.

I got an e-mail from a friend I never heard of the other day suggesting I do a story about the trouble that our U.S. Postal Service is in - that's what the post office calls itself, the U.S. Postal Service. I don't take suggestions gracefully, but they're thinking about closing post offices to save money and I think it's crazy.

According to them, there are 37,000 post offices in the United States and if they closed 10 percent of them they could save $3 billion a year. They're also talking about reducing mail delivery from six to five days a week and naturally they thought about raising the price of stamps again, too. Most of us don't like any of these solutions to the post office's problem.

The best mail is the letter from a friend or a relative. It's sad to say that very little of what most of us get these days is that kind of mail.

The postal service is a government agency but it's supposed to operate like a business. Most people don't realize that - I know I didn't realize it - but the post office doesn't get tax money. It has to pay for itself.

In 1900, there were 77,000 post offices around the country. Today with four times as many people, there are only 37,000 post offices - 40,000 fewer post offices for 230 million more Americans. No wonder it wasn't in the mail. We have a lot of things that need cutting, but post offices are not among them.

There's something special about a letter. We all like to get one. An e-mail, on the other hand, has all the charm of a freight train. When I was growing up we all knew when the mailman was coming and we waited for him even though we hardly ever got a letter.

People actually wrote letters to each other though, which they don't do as much anymore. They e-mail each other.

I would rather have a mailman or woman deliver junk mail to me, than to get an e-mail.


Written by Andy Rooney

[Xepman]

I have been working for the Postal Service for 14 years now. I am an active 37 year old letter carrier that first started as a clerk. This is a statistic that is startling. Bargaining unit employees such and clerks and carriers have decreased 21% in number over the last few years. Management positions have increased 38% during that same period. What is wrong with that picture?? I am not a crazy UNION FIRST employee. Some workers blame management for the sake of blaming management. We all need to chip in, work harder, go above and beyond to make the USPS more successful. Management cares about all the wrong things. Like leaving a coffee cup or water bottle in the truck overnight. If the time you leave office matches what the computer says, regardless if you have an employee that works very quickly and efficiently on the street. Supervisors that literally sit filling out USELESS reports all day long that affect nothing. Busy work. We have the technology to remotely manage carriers now. Get rid of supervisors that do NOTHING ALL DAY LONG! Yes, they are busy but busy doing what? But let's be real. I use the internet to pay my bills. Makes no sense not to. All college aged people do the same. Some kids don't use stamps at all. The USPS is a dinosaur and is dying fast. There is no need to deliver mail everyday. It is senseless. I hate to say it but the USPS we know now will be nothing like it in 5-10 years. With the advent of tablet devices, smart phones, etc along with the recycle concern and killing trees for paper, the postal service is doomed. What company loses billions and then raises prices to make up for it? Supply and demand. Demand is going down!! HOW can you raise prices and cut service and expect to survive. Let's face it. It is over. And the management has been saying how we would not be that bad off if we didn't need to pre fund the Health Benefits. The USPS has done that for a long time. Now it is what kills us? Come on. And also, losing 7.5 billion is bad. Take 5.5 away and losing 2 billion is STILL BAD! The fat lady is singing...

[scooterjockey]

I have seen a postmaster general get coke machines into all the postoffices, then retire and start working at Coke. I have seen the current postmaster (Potter) increased total compensated salary to over 1 million a year from 180,000yr 4 years ago...And, adding 40% more managers while trying to get more money from Obama, AND raise the stamp price again. I work here(USPS), and I know that is wrong. I have seen the government try to take us over, then decided not to, then took our retirement money before sending us off on our own again. I have seen CRS(civil service retirement) gone and replaced with TIPS where we pay social security like everybody else(for 25 years now). I've seen lower managers so afraid that they are willing to fire any&all carriers/clerks to get ahead. Micro management has taken over and everyone is afraid. So, that is why we say the job is great but management is the worst of any company I have seen...I know we are not alone. When I first came to work, an area manager gave a speech where he told us "it is your job to make the postoffice work in spite of our managers". He's gone! AHHHH! The good old days.

[moondoe3]

Can someone talk about Postal Management accountability? Many USPS Managers make tens of thousands of dollars worth of mistakes and have NO accountability. Take the MS-47 violation that cost 48 Million dollars. Was anyone fired? Was anyone disciplined?

[cyberus-2009]

They need money they should eliminate the special prices for junk mail and such, everyone should pay the same.

[MegaProcrastination]

Our post office is already closed on Saturday and has been for years. They also close at 4:30 every day of the week and close daily for an hour for lunch. I went in to mail something to my sister on the 30th of December and they had left early that day for New Year's. I was thinking, "Wait a minute here! You need another four-and-a-half days off for New Years after having who knows how much time off for Christmas? Our poor post master (whose kids are grown) will bemoan how he and his wife just can't live on what he makes, so his wife had to go to work, yet we have a family of five that lives just fine on about half his annual salary.

I guess since I never get any mail that isn't junk it shouldn't matter to me one way or another, but I do still have two bills I mail every month because that works better than paying those two online. Honestly, though, I think a private company could probably do better than USPS and for less money.

[msay3]

Hey folks, it isn't all bad....The Postal Service can take all of the loafers and open a shoe store....

[leepoe1]

Privatizing the postal service was stupid in the first place. They had to cut offices, staff and services to afford the middle managers they hired. Now they have more bosses and fewer carriers. In fact, employees with experience and seniority are running away from the sinking ship as fast as possible. Those that remain are bitter, angry and counting the days until they can leave. This started long before e-mail and will continue until this once great entity has disappeared.

[dblbar1]

You bet.....I'll take an e-mail any day of the week, especially if it's from a loved one in IRAQ or AFGHANISTAN!!! Our postal workers in my small town, like to sit and discuss what everone receives in the delivered mail.....illegal or not, it happens folks.

[Ron_Betts]

Andy...you want a suggestion for partially fixing the finances of the USPS? How about tearing out all those postcards in the magazines and periodicals that we subscribe to (or don't) and send them through the mail back to the sender? You know, the little cards that clearly state:

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL
first-class mail permit no. xxx
postage will be paid by the addressee

NO POSTAGE
NECESSARY
IF MAILED
IN THE
UNITED STATES

Now, if you don't fill in the back-side of the postcard and it still gets sent through the USPS, then the sender of "BUSINESS REPLY MAIL" must pay the postage fees to the USPS (are you getting my drift?).

I've been doing this for a year or two now and I figure that I've earned the USPS the equivalent of about 500 business-class stamps!

ps: I don't do this to just everybody...some of them I'm likely to sympathize with.

~~~Ron, way out here in Oregon

[oldcarrier03]

At least snail mail gave us the ability to communicate with each other. The new methods we use such as texting are driving away interaction among people, particularly the young. The USPS definitely serves a purpose with management (mismanagement) being its greatest fault. The carriers and clerks are very hard working people but the lazy ass managers take all the credit and none of the blame. Unfortunately, this is actually a common practice among business people. I retired from the USPS after 25 years and can relate to all the problems my current letter carrier describes as if they happened to me over and over again just yesterday. With all the modern communication methods we have at this time, we seem to have actually fallen behind. No real people answering phones just a machine and the young people using their thumbs to communicate are driving us deeper into a anti-social system that is frightening. Although I may be considered an old dinosaur to most young people, I believe the old ways are still the still best ways.