and Slashing hundreds of Thousands Of Jobs
From the office of Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17)
POST OFFICE NEEDS OVERHAUL, NOT U-HAULS
11/18/11
Washington, DC — Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) issued the following statement condemning the U.S. Postal Service for singling out post offices for closure, and considering slashing hundreds of thousands of jobs, while failing to identify root causes for their massive debt.
“I am fed up with the continued bumbling from the Postal Service who are pinning their financial woes on seniors and working families in New York, and around the nation, rather than looking at the real reasons why they have lost money. They argue locations targeted for closure have lost money, but for a department awash in billions of dollars in red ink, it is logical to assume there are few post offices actually making money nationwide. The people of the Bronx, Rockland and Westchester Counties rely on their neighborhood Post Offices and it will be a hardship for many residents who are not able to easily travel to other locations.
“I find it puzzling that their plan to correct their financial woes is to make access to post offices more difficult and inconvenient. They are charging more for services, but make them less accessible. And they wonder why they continually lose business. This is a business plan designed for failure. If they wish to essentially go out of business, they risk abandoning many of their most loyal and dependant customers.
“The Post Office needs to find ways to be more efficient, not be more secluded. It needs to waste less, not deliver less often. It needs to be more responsive to the people, not shutter their windows and move out of town. I want the Post Office to succeed, and for the American people to have ample access to facilities, but I need to see that the Post Office is serious about correcting their own flaws.”
Our facility is one of the most profitable in the region. We are always out producing most of the facilities in our district. We process more mail per square foot than most in the nation…..and they want to shut us down….why, because we are too close to an underachieving facility that has friends in high places…
Engel is right on. The Usps is making poor decisions. If you have to figure out what to do with all the employees you have after closing just about half of distribution centers. You might as well leave every body where they are, except those PDCs’ that are really close together, with all the investment put into the equipment to run the mail. Consolidation is being done to make maximum use of automation in the absorbing facility. So what do we do with all existing machines in facilities being closed? Throw them to the scrap heap. The Post Office has spent millions on updated machinery over last 15 years. All the security systems added and Bio hazard detection systems, hand held scanners, automated scanners, will all end up on the scrap heap. But wait I heard them say they will take some machines into absorbing facilities, and some of those plants will have to knock down walls and expand the buildings. Sounds like they like to waist money. If you want to get serious cut out half your headquaters, in D.C. and in regional areas of high paid employees who have nothing to do with getting the mail delivered.
when 6407 could get to prsdnts desk why not H.R.1351 and s.1781 get the prsdnts attn? …is there so much to do? if so why not hire someone to help!
It is quite the can of worms. Given the mass exodus for competitor mailing concerns, maybe the post office has been used as a parasitic host. They place the virus of privatization in 2001, they negotiate a new Contract in 2006 – and they make sure the 5.5 Billion dollar debacle will topple the USPS in time. Meanwhile they’re positioning their new companies, readying for the privatization of the Postal Service.
2001 – Potter Creates the Mail Industry Task Force (MITF) with DPM Nolan and Pitney Bowes CEO Critelli co-chairs creating a platform for Postal Reform (Privatization).
2002-Critelli becomes Council President of the Mail Industry CEO Council (MICEO), allowing MICEO to lobby MITF which is championing Postal Reform (Privatization).
2002 – Nolan praises the work of the MICEO giving tacit USPS approval to Postal Reform (Privatization) ideas submitted therein.
2002 – Potter submits USPS Transformation Plan to Congress which was chock full of short- and long-term options for change in USPS operations and delivery practices, and was a partial basis for the landmark Postal Reform and Accountability Act (H.R. 6407) passed in late 2006.
2005 – Mail Express, Inc. a startup business-to-consumer lightweight package delivery company is created. (In 2010 renamed Streamlite, Inc.)
2005 – USPS Board of Governors Attacks Union Pay and Benefits.
2006 – Nolan and Critelli tout the importance of their Postal Reform (Privatization) plans.
2006 – Nearly dead H.R. 6407 rises, Lazarus-like, and somehow crawls onto the desk of Pres. Bush to be signed into law on Dec. 20.
2006 – H.R. 6407 the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) includes “pay for performance” language that enhances Potter’s retirement package (Super-size me, please), while saddling the USPS with 5.5 Billion dollar prefunding leading to present day fiscal insolvency.
2007 – Nolan who co-chaired the MITF from 2001 to 2006 leaves the USPS for Mail Express just three months after passage of H. R. 6407. Gail Sonnenberg also leaves USPS for Mail Express (According to Streamlite, Inc. Sonnenberg is credited with establishing “pay for performance” during her tenure as Vice President of Human Resources at USPS). 2010 – Dec. 3, Potter retires with a 5.5 Million retirement package, enhanced by the PAEA, and “Pay for Performance” bonuses.
2010 – Pitney Bowes spends one million lobbying the Post Office and another million lobbying the Postal Regulatory Commission.
there are clerks in Elmira NY who do little if any work, standby, now when they tell them to, they have nervous breakdowns, see this is across the USA, USPS says we need 7 clerks, so 7 have to work the butts off, even OT, while those allegedly not needed but they are, do crossword puzzles and order out, USPS is a joke !
to rg: as an active letter carrier in the Boston district, I fully understand what you’re talking about vis-a-vis incompetent management (don’t know how long you’ve been retired, but brother, you should see it now !)….BUT please re-read my post…I’m not blaming congress for the PO’s poor management decisions, just blaming them for their own actions in 2006 when they came up with a scheme to rob the PO of $5.5 billion a year….they’ve taken $21 billion out of the PO’s operating budget since 2006, and the PO’s losses in that time amount to a little more than $20 billion….we actually would have been in the black coming into this fiscal year, without their BS….it is totally disingenuous for any congressman to try to deflect blame and complain about service cuts, when they’re responsible for the financial mess, and they could easily fix it….DON’T DRINK THE KOOL-AID
mr engel you are my congressional rep but you really needed to speak up sooner the train wreck that is USPS is a rollin’ to disaster
The PO has the largest distribution network in the world and it’s leader can’t figure out how to make a profit. While the $5.5 b payment was a poisen pill put in to privatize this PMG Donough is the leader of the cause of all the other problems, I would say that he’s incompetent except I don’t believe that is true he is bought and paid for by the 1% that want to privatize any and all gov departments. He should be investigated as should Ross and Issa as to their connections to the business world, follow the money this will lead to the criminals trying to destroy the middle class.
“to john doe the pse”
john doe,
you better find a way to channel your frustration in a healthier way. if the machine is a mess then hit the e-stop and clean it up. if MANAGEMENT allows the lazy guy to engage in conversation instead of working, as you state, then go join the conversation! if you just started as a pse you ain’t seen nuttin yet. try not
to get angry anf stuff your feelings, it’ll kill you in the long run.
I just saw the financial statement for usps for the year 2011,
actually it looks like the buisness is turning around, or atleast stagnant compared to the steep fall in profits compared to the past. proof
1. increase in mail volume from shipping in all classes except the first class mail( main revenue for the postal service)… this can be a eye sore for the private company rivals.
their loss is mostly in
1. increase in transportation cost… gas price and increased delivery points due to expansion of neighbour hood
2. increase in employee benifits… although there is decrease in work hours..due to retiree pre funding (excess to the tune of 60 billion$ so far in 5 years), increase in payments towards health insurance premium! pay, I am guessing this also includes legal charges for those who sue their former emplyoer.
3. workers comp fair value adjustment…compensation increases when there is loss! this is due to legislation, not only company rules I am guessing.
USPS is a company but federal.. that is where the problem is..needs communication and innovation in the field fo co-operative judgement making by many in the top positions, who decide for the many more “less important(according to few selfish thinkers)” hard working building blocks of the company.
I think USPS shold thrive through, otherwise it will be sad.
he is a typical bad politican, he combines what people want to hear “why are you closing” he contradicts his statement ” they need to waste less!”
he gives no solution ” they need to do more” ..he is in congress .. he can ask for justice for the overpayment…. he can ask for govt assitance to poorer neighbourhoods which need the P.O but are loosing.
I am baffled by some politicians, jumping in to the lime light just because they need to say some thing, after that they are gone! constituents…suffer..no change..
But I respect those who put the extra effort to prop up the system… they cannot win if all us join and share the win… those few are from both the party lines and also individual people who car for the community welfare in general
BELIEVE IT OR NOT THERE IS AN ORGANIZATION OUT THERE THAT IS TO OVERSEE THE POST OFFICE AND BRING INTEGRITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE USPS. HARD TO BELIEVE ISN’T IT. THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL IS SUPPOSED TO DO JUST THAT. VISIT THEIR WEBSITE AND AT THE TOP IT SAY….”PROMOTING INTEGRITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY”
LOL, PRETTY FUNNY ISN’T IT? the OIG has failed so very miserably to bring integrity or accountability to the usps and that is a big reason we are seeing the train wreck we are seeing now. it seems to me that the ofice of the inspector
general’s real goal is to sweep postal mismanagement under the rug and give the appearance that there is a gov’t body overseeing the operations of the usps.
if the OIG would do their job there is no way the public would have to put up with a usps that is so inundated with waste, fraud, corruption, and unethical behavior.
As a PSE I have worked my ass off for half of what some people make sitting in the break room for an hour, you want to know what the hells wrong on the inside ? How about the people that make 30 plus dollars an hour to sit in the break room for a damn hour for their friggin 15 minute break. While I the PSE who makes 14.73 an hour plus night differential bust my ass on the damn dbcs machines aka automation . I did 166,000 letters today while some people bitch about being on flats or manual. I am part of the union but Jesus Christ I am only promised 2 hours of work a day while others get promised 8 hours and then sit around after a slow day in the GMF. I have worked overtime every day this week, and also thank you for screwing me on the sweeping when I went to lunch the past several days. Nothing puts a smile on my face more than a P.O vet that takes advantage of the union and stands around talking to friends while the damn shelves fill up only to leave me in a damn mess when I come back from lunch. Thats part of whats wrong with the P.O overpaid zealots who have forgotten the meaning of work. Granted not all the vets are like that but the ones who are need to be let go.
FINALLY,
A PUBLIC SERVANT WHO UTTERS THE OBVIOUS BUT SO FAR HIDDEN TRUTH. make your service business more difficult and inconvenient to use and your customers or ex-customers will simply leave and find alternatives. such a basic business concept but one that clueless donahoe dosen’t get. the sad part is if donahoe is allowed to proceed with his closures of post offices and consolidation of plants (which REQUIRES DELIVERY SERVICE ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO BE DEGRADED FROM OVERNIGHT TO 2 DAYS AT BEST) then he will put the u s post office into a revenue declining death spiral that they will not recover from. if donahoes plan is allowed to proceed the death spiral will start and knucklehead donahoe will blame it all on the internet and electronic communication when the truth of the matter is that donahoe is responsible for much of the revenue decline due to his sservice-slashing policies! while i think engel is a crook and should have been removed from office long ago, it is still refreshing to see that at least this “crook” understands basic business logic.
stop donahoe before he takes the entire postal service down!! then, donahoe will
fly away on his “golden parachute” and probably be connected somehow to the scavangers that come in to feast on the scraps of what used to be the USPS.
Amen. American people need to hear how useless management in the po is
Management doesn’t know how to stop selfdestructing.
Time to call DR. PHIL
response to door couch.How can you blame congress for the way the p.o.is run .they have 10 mailhandlers making over 100,000 a Year in Waltham ma.At the same time they have unassigned mailhandlers doing nothing nothing at all.This is a no brainer!All they have to do is assign mailhandlers to these areasthat are working 7 days aweek 12 hours aday!
Congressman Engel is so right. The USPS is full of incompetent management and that is perhaps the biggest reason it’s going down hill. They need to start at the top and clean house, in a big way. In fact, go back and re-review all those in management and see what qualifications they have, and what they have done/not done. Of course the motto is: Screw up…Move up! And so many have, and that’s why we are in this situation, some of those have actually made it to the uppermanagement and given the authority to make stupid decisions. We need more in the craft positions and next to none in management. They are all worthless in my eyes.
These fools that run the p.o.do not have a clue! They are running this buisness into the ground.There is so much dead weight running the p.o.they should start getting rid of these people first.
am talking about the managers making 100,000 plus that do not have a clue!They could not run a paper route in the real world.I will not mention any names but these people know who they are! Boston ma.
Gee, congressman, we’re all kinda fed up with the continued bumbling from you and your colleagues, who see fit to pin your financial woes on the PO, by siphoning off $5.5 billion a year from our operational budget, just to make your deficit cluster***k look better……don’t know if you’re just uninformed (check out the 2006 PAEA that you guys enacted), or genuinely dishonest, but understand this: the PO’s financial problems are entirely the fault of congress…..while you’re absolutely correct in saying that ‘this is a business plan designed for failure’, you’re dead wrong about the PO ‘correcting their own flaws’…..the only viable solution is for you guys to return what you’ve stolen, and keep your greedy fists out of our till.
congressman Engel hit it on the button.he seems to be the most informed politican that i have heard from in the last 6 months.Mr.Engel knows exactly what the problem is.the p.o.should listen to this to this man.EXCELLENT!! Retired in Boston ma.