Feb. 16, 2012
WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Postal Service, released the following reaction to the announcement of the U.S. Postal Service’s most recent business plan:
“Today the U.S. Postal Service provided members of Congress with an updated version of its business plan – including revised financial statements and projected future losses – that painted a disturbing, but unfortunately all too familiar, picture of the Postal Service’s bleak financial outlook. This comes a week after the Postal Service announced that it had lost $3.3 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 – traditionally the most profitable time of year for the Postal Service.
“The picture here is perfectly clear – unless Congress acts quickly and significantly to provide the Postal Service with the tools and resources it needs to modernize its business model, this American institution will be insolvent within months. This is a dire situation, but it is not hopeless. We can save the Postal Service for future generations – and without further burdening taxpayers – if we act decisively and strategically.
“Make no mistake, the Postal Service’s financial situation is very grim and growing worse by the day. Any responsible and effective solution will require shared sacrifice from Postal customers, Postal management and Postal employees. We can’t simply nibble around the edges if we want the Postal Service to survive – we have to move forward with significant reforms. I am committed to working with my colleagues to move forward in the coming weeks with comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to provide the freedom and the flexibility the Postal Service needs to survive and ultimately thrive in the 21st Century. Given the current financial outlook of the Postal Service, it is abundantly clear that we haven’t a moment to waste in this important effort.”
how many more times do i have to hear someone in comgress say that they need to act quickly? really? then why is nothing getting done if they have to act so quickly? all talk. SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT!
I just want to know “WHERE DO YOU THINK CONGRESS IS GOING TO STEAL 5.5 BILLION A YEAR WHEN THE USPS GOES UNDER!!!”
Dear Senator Carper- It is unfortunate that neither you nor any of your staffers did the necessary work in studying the Postal Service’s first quarter financial report. If you had then you would have noticed that the Postal Service had charged itself 3.3 billion dollars for pre-funding health care costs when it did not have to pay that much. It is also interesting to note that the biggest economic drag to USPS over the past several years has been these pre-funded benefits mandated by you folks up there in Washington. I have the solution to the entire fiscal debacle that YOU FOLKS have created. Here it is: Rather than YOU FOLKS in Washington setting Postal rates let them march in line with those of our competitors i.e. Fedex and UPS who’ve raised their rates by 15% over the past 3 years while the free marketers in Congress have kept their jackboots firmly on the throats of USPS. It is incredibly naive of you people up there to think that you have the wool pulled over everyone’s eyes and that no one sees the situation as it really is. Sure, USPS is in dire straits but the underpinnings of the greatest part of those problems originate in Washington D.C. in the hallowed halls of our Senate and Congress. When you folks correct the mess you’ve created in USPS you’ll find that the problems will self correct over the next few years through attrition. YOU FOLKS are responsible for the dire economic conditions in this country. YOU FOLKS are responsible for the problems at USPS. We Postal employees are just the poor unfortunates being whipsawwed back and forth at the end of every ridiculous piece of legislation you pass. By the way since the pre-funding model used for USPS is used by no other government agency and no Fortune 500 companies please explain to me Senator who came up with the idea, where he/she got it from, and why they are not outted for this piece of stupidity. I live by this motto: IF I broke it then I fix it and not at someone else’s expense. It’s a euphemism for accountability. Perhaps YOU FOLKS in Washington should adopt it!!!!
so sad when elected dems are such obvious sell outs to big biz/management hacks…. wonder what the background story is on sen carpers’ obvious partiality to usps management over the workers??? whats in it for him??
Last call and senator wakes right up and realized he is in a bar. This man is quicker then a bannana slug race uphill against the wind! Way to go senator
lets give you more money!