The end game for Republicans is the privatization of the USPS

[azmouse]

Quote:The plot to kill the Postal Service was hatched by the then Republican controlled Congress in 2006. The Republicans passed a bill that required the USPS to fund 75 years’ worth of future retiree health benefits over a 10-year period. This mandate immediately pushed the Postal Service into debt, and it has led to the end of Saturday mail delivery.

House Republicans could easily fix the problem, but they won’t.

The end game for Republicans is the privatization of the USPS. The end of Saturday mail delivery is the first step in killing off the Postal Service. It would be easy to think that ending Saturday mail delivery is no big deal, but there are 230,000 jobs on the line. If the Republicans are successful, they will end up closing 3.700 post offices, and throwing almost a quarter million people out of work. The Postal Service has already cut its workforce by 28%, which translates to 193,000 jobs already lost.

Republicans pushed the USPS into debt as way to kill it. The death of Saturday delivery matters because it could be the first step in the end of the USPS, and the killing of 230,000 good paying jobs.

http://www.politicususa.com/bernie-sande...-mail.html

Bernie Sanders plans to fight for the Post Office to continue on. I hope he can find a way to save it.

[cannae1]

The GOP desire to privatize the USPS is the best explanation for that bill.
The other is that they are stupid and do not understand the meaning of the word, 'consequences'.

[Born_A_Truman]

That was obvious. And another way to cripple a union on the way to killing it off. Imagine what a first class letter will be when it goes FedEx.

[canetoad]

Nah, I can't grok the idea that ending Saturday delivery is the death knell of the US postal service.

During various Conservative governments over the past 40 or so years, crumb by crumb our federally owned services and utilities were sold off and contracted out. Australia Post remains as a government service. They have somehow managed to re-invent the service to cater to 21st C demands.

Closing post offices will alienate the voters. Saturday post - meh. I'm surprised it's lasted this long. Commerce, law and government work Mon - Fri; they are the main users of letter post.

The job losses are a worry. We had them too, as many delivery functions were contracted out. Some recompense comes in small business people gaining contracts for parcel delivery which, in these days of online purchases, has grown considerably.

I can't think of any first world country where the postal service is not a government department. (will stand corrected if anyone knows different....) I'd imagine this is because of liability issues. The government does it's business in writing and needs a 'chain of command' in official correspondence for all sorts of legal reasons. You, as citizens should expect reciprocal responsibility in your written communications.

This seems to me a no-brainer. Either the Repubs are far dimmer than I imagined or the writer of this article is trying to beat up trouble where none exists.