U.S. Postal Service on the Verge of Collapse

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I mean, that's a service we can no longer afford.In summary, the US Postal Service is facing financial troubles due to a decrease in mail volume and revenue. They are currently operating at a deficit of $9 billion and have proposed cutting costs by up to $20 billion in the next few years. Some proposals include ending Saturday mail service, reducing the no-layoff contract, and closing small post offices. However, there is debate over which proposal is best and some believe that Congress will not be able to fix the problems. It has been suggested to end individual home delivery and switch to community mailboxes, similar to those in apartment buildings. There is also potential to outsource neighborhood deliveries to other companies.
  • #36
russ_watters said:
So...across political and international lines, it kinda sounds like everyone agrees with the idea that the USPS should function basically like a business. Ie, it should be fully self-funded, including actually funding its pension program. Am I seeing that right?
There are many other blessings of government granted to USPS besides access to the US Treasury. If it is to be said that the USPS must fairly compete with other business, then it must do more than fund its own operations. It must also borrow at the same rate as a UPS/FedEx; it must not have right of way rules which UPS/FedEx do not have, and so on.
 
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  • #37
If they have a backlog of extra employees that must be handled by 12 years of attrition, how will eliminating Sat. delivery help the problem?
 
  • #38
Vanadium 50 said:
That's what I keep trying to tell you. The USPS is not allowed to reduce staffing, except by attrition. They have to pay their staff whether they have work for them or not. So all these great ideas on how to improve efficiency won't do beans.

Expenditures are (approximately) fixed, and revenue is falling. That's why the USPS is in trouble.

I thought they could petition Congress to allow the elimination of positions. Wasn't part of the restructuring request intended to allow a reduction in the size of the work force?

Also, I would think that the number of deliveries per route is a large driver of costs.

Just to be clear. I didn't suggest post-office only mail boxes. I was talking about the community boxes already used in newer neighborhoods where they may have one for each block.
 
  • #39
In 2001, the operating revenues of the USPS were $65.8B. They had salaries, wages and fringes of $51.4B. That's 79%. So the number of deliveries per route - or anything else - can only make an impact on the small one-fifth, not the large four-fifths of the budget.

In FY2010, the USPS had revenues of $67.5B and expenses of $76B. To see the problem more clearly, since labor costs are fixed (rising, actually, as pay increases exceed attrition), take out the ~$61B in payroll for both: they have revenues after they pay their staff of $6.5B and expenses after they pay their staff of $15B. You're not going to fix this by idling a truck or two.
 
  • #41
KingNothing said:
I would be completely unopposed to a more central mail system whereby they just deliver it to the post office location. Then people can go and pick up their mail.

What's the carbon footprint of 1,000 people going to the post office to pick up their mail vs 1 delivery driver driving his daily route of 1,000 residents?


OmCheeto said:
About the only thing the USPS delivers to my house anymore is paper to be recycled. Which for me is ok, since I have a wood-stove, and I think I heat my home for about a month in the winter from what I collect in the big box in the corner during the summer.

Isn't that nice of all those companies who advertise to spend that money supplying you with fuel? You'll have to send them a nice thank-you note. Er, e-mail.

Considering how little most of us pay to mail spam, it'd make more sense if they just sent us a log or two every month.

Vanadium 50 said:
That's what I keep trying to tell you. The USPS is not allowed to reduce staffing, except by attrition. They have to pay their staff whether they have work for them or not. So all these great ideas on how to improve efficiency won't do beans.

Expenditures are (approximately) fixed, and revenue is falling. That's why the USPS is in trouble.

Time for executive intervention, specifically, for someone (the executive branch of the U.S. Government comes to mind) to call a foul on the play, overrule the recent boondoggled union contract, and say, "Tough! We're not raising your rates, and if your position is no longer needed, you're no longer working."

Our government has downsized the military several times over the last 20 years. Why not downsize the postal service workers?

If they're a private company, they've done a very bad job of managing themselves, so let 'em fold.

This raises the question as to why they've done such a bad job of managing themselves. Could it be they've come to expect a bailout, thereby operating with an entitlement mentality instead of a competitive mentality like Fed-Ex and UPS?

Speaking of which, I read the following about http://www.upsmi.com/services/domestic_mail.html" [Broken]:

"UPS Mail Innovations domestic services rely on our extensive network and unique work share program with the U.S. Postal Service. Because we perform functions such as labeling and sorting of qualified mail that would normally be handled by USPS, we are able to pass along reduced rates to our clients.

"Along with our ability to provide cost savings, our UPS technology enables us to reduce handling, speed processing and improve accuracy when completing typical USPS functions. Through our methods we are able to process and transport domestic mail to its point of induction, on average, within 24-48 hours of pickup. This enhanced process is detailed below (see linked article for details)"

So, if the U.S. Postal Service is allowed to fail, will our mail system fail? Of course not. In all liklihood, both UPS and Fed-Ex would step into fill the void.

So I say, "Let it fail." Some of those workers will be needed by UPS and Fed-Ex, but they'll be hired on a cost-effective competitive basis rather than on a cost-waste union basis.

jtbell said:
I suspect the solution will probably have the USPS declaring bankruptcy so it can tear up its contracts and reorganize as a new, reduced-size entity. I don't know how its legal status (neither a government agency, nor completely private) would influence this.

Provided the U.S. Government can control themselves enough to resist bailing out the USPS, it should fail just fine. :)

russ_watters said:
So...across political and international lines, it kinda sounds like everyone agrees with the idea that the USPS should function basically like a business. Ie, it should be fully self-funded, including actually funding its pension program. Am I seeing that right?

I don't think any entity can afford to "fund" a pension program by means of ongoing income, yet that's exactly what the USPS recently managed to negotiate. Where was the oversight on that decision? That only works in strong growth environments. Steady-state environments would have to match the full amount of an individual's salary throughout the individual's employ in something like a 401k in order for the individual to have even a small pension at retirement.

Ivan Seeking said:
I didn't suggest post-office only mail boxes. I was talking about the community boxes already used in newer neighborhoods where they may have one for each block.

Door-to-door delivery isn't a contract. It's merely expected. If the USPS installed community boxes at their own cost, there may be a bit of an uproar, but that's just too bad. Times are tough all over.

mheslep said:
I note for comparison that the http://www.google.com/finance?hl=en....&biw=1280&bih=899&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=we" Wiki has the USPS at 574,000 employees.

Good comparison! Do you have any data with respect to their pension programs, as in how much of their current operations revenue is used to pay for pensions? Or were their pensions funded as 401ks or similar instruments?
 
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  • #42
DoggerDan said:
Time for executive intervention, specifically, for someone (the executive branch of the U.S. Government comes to mind) to call a foul on the play, overrule the recent boondoggled union contract, and say, "Tough! We're not raising your rates, and if your position is no longer needed, you're no longer working."

That's hopelessly naive. The APWU has donated millions over the last several years to candidates just to make sure that never happens.
 
  • #43
Vanadium 50 said:
That's hopelessly naive. The APWU has donated millions over the last several years to candidates just to make sure that never happens.
A good reason why government employee unions should be prohibited.
 
  • #44
mheslep said:
A good reason why government employee unions should be prohibited.
We have a serious disconnect, here. Government workers and private-sector workers should be encouraged to participate in collective bargaining so that the rights and desires of the workers are considered in any labor agreement. Such groups should not be allowed to bribe our elected officials. Neither should any other entity, including business groups.

I can't afford to pay either of my senators $20,000 to come to my home and speak to my wife and myself over breakfast, so that our views are at least noted. Thanks to K street, any senator willing to sell out their constituents can retire as a millionaire. Is that right? Postal service workers should have the right to bargain collectively. They should not have the right to bribe elected officials, nor should any business group or wealthy individual. Maybe we'd have healthier government and a bit more turn-over in DC if lobbying was banned to cut off that gravy-train to congress.
 
  • #45
turbo said:
We have a serious disconnect, here. Government workers and private-sector workers should be encouraged to participate in collective bargaining so that the rights and desires of the workers are considered in any labor agreement.
Private-sector employees, of course. Government employees, no, as there can be no true 'bargaining' when the employees elect the guy across the table that purports to do the bargaining. Even FDR knew this.
 
  • #46
turbo said:
We have a serious disconnect, here. Government workers and private-sector workers should be encouraged to participate in collective bargaining so that the rights and desires of the workers are considered in any labor agreement. Such groups should not be allowed to bribe our elected officials. Neither should any other entity, including business groups.

I can't afford to pay either of my senators $20,000 to come to my home and speak to my wife and myself over breakfast, so that our views are at least noted. Thanks to K street, any senator willing to sell out their constituents can retire as a millionaire. Is that right? Postal service workers should have the right to bargain collectively. They should not have the right to bribe elected officials, nor should any business group or wealthy individual. Maybe we'd have healthier government and a bit more turn-over in DC if lobbying was banned to cut off that gravy-train to congress.

The US Postal Service is BUDGETED to lose nearly $8Billion this year - it's their plan - these deficits are subsidized by taxpayers. Their union is ultimately using taxpayer (subsidized) funds to make political donations - how is this fair to taxpayers?
 
  • #47
WhoWee said:
The US Postal Service is BUDGETED to lose nearly $8Billion this year - it's their plan - these deficits are subsidized by taxpayers. Their union is ultimately using taxpayer (subsidized) funds to make political donations - how is this fair to taxpayers?
It is not fair to any voters to have to compete against organized labor or business groups for the attention of our elected officials. I made that abundantly clear in my post.

The union cannot force the USPS board of governors to do anything. The governors made some very bad choices, and they are expecting us (the taxpayers) to pay for their mistakes. It doesn't take too much thinking to see that digital transfers of data, money, bills, etc will increase in popularity, driving down the volume of mail.

I didn't have the Internet in the early 90's but already I was minimizing the amount of paper that I was shipping to my clients. Instead of a bulky chapter (paper pages) of a system description with illustrations, I would mail them a floppy disk or two, and they could print out their own hard-copies.
 
  • #48
turbo said:
It is not fair to any voters to have to compete against organized labor or business groups for the attention of our elected officials. I made that abundantly clear in my post.

The union cannot force the USPS board of governors to do anything. The governors made some very bad choices, and they are expecting us (the taxpayers) to pay for their mistakes. It doesn't take too much thinking to see that digital transfers of data, money, bills, etc will increase in popularity, driving down the volume of mail.

I didn't have the Internet in the early 90's but already I was minimizing the amount of paper that I was shipping to my clients. Instead of a bulky chapter (paper pages) of a system description with illustrations, I would mail them a floppy disk or two, and they could print out their own hard-copies.

How does one support unionization of postal workers and at the same time be against the practices of unions - the two are inseparable.
 
  • #49
USPS needs legislative action to negate and reverse over-payments to its pension fund.

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0411/040511l1.htm
 
  • #50
It would be interesting to see how it would work out if UPS and Fedex were required to deliver tons of junk mail to rural areas, or anywhere for that matter.

I recently watched an interesting political town hall on C- Span. The event was being held by one of Pennsylvania's US Senators. A postal management worker in uniform asked the senator why the USPS was outsourcing the sorting of bar coded mail at 12.4 cents per piece when they could do it in house for 2.4 cents per piece.

According to the postal worker the outsourced sorted mail was then brought back to the main center and dumped into the regular mail bin where it had to be sorted again by postal workers so that it could be integrated for delivery status.

I couldn't find a link to verify what the Postal worker said. On the other hand if that type of thing is going on it would be an obvious scandal.
 
  • #51
WhoWee said:
I just met my mailman at the curb. He was wearing a (not a uniform) grey t-shirt and jeans - was talking on a Blue Tooth headset. He drives a regular mail delivery vehicle - but I'm on a rural route - must be a different dress code?

He handed me 4 pieces of mail - 2 of the 4 pieces belonged to other people (2 other people that lived on 2 different streets) - neither of their house numbers matched mine.

I posted this on 9/7/11. At the time, I didn't explain why it was necessary to greet the mail carrier that day. Accordingly, a very important document was mailed to me from 80 miles away on 9/1/11 - it had not yet arrived on 9/7/11 and it still hasn't arrived today - 9/12/11.
 
  • #52
It would be interesting to know how much of the following left wing propaganda is true:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl92Exgh9yI

Did she say $50 billion in pre-funded retirement?
 
  • #53
edward said:
It would be interesting to see how it would work out if UPS and Fedex were required to deliver tons of junk mail to rural areas, or anywhere for that matter.

Why would they be "required" to deliver anything? They're private institutions and may very well restrict their services to legitimate mail.
 
  • #54
edward said:
It would be interesting to see how it would work out if UPS and Fedex were required to deliver tons of junk mail to rural areas, or anywhere for that matter.

Is this meant to be something profound?

Why not say you wonder if a $80/night hotel would offer 1000 sq ft luxury suites. Of course it wouldn't because it's a stupid idea. All you're pointing out is the USPS does stupid things that no one else is dumb enough to do .
 
  • #55
DoggerDan said:
Why would they be "required" to deliver anything? They're private institutions and may very well restrict their services to legitimate mail.

They are commerical instutitions. They will deliver anything for a price that means they make a profit from it.

If that price was out of reach of the junk-mail originators, I doubt many of the recipients would complain.
 
  • #56
Pengwuino said:
Is this meant to be something profound?

Why not say you wonder if a $80/night hotel would offer 1000 sq ft luxury suites. Of course it wouldn't because it's a stupid idea. All you're pointing out is the USPS does stupid things that no one else is dumb enough to do .

Please finish the thought - and we (as taxpayers) are forced to pay for their decisions - like the extension of the union agreement ratified in May in spite of losses this year projected to exceed $7Billion.
 
  • #57
Minimum rate for a FedEx letter delivery to a residence: $7.621 (add $14.01 for shipments to Alaska & Hawaii)
Minimum regular rate for a USPS letter delivery to a residence: $0.44 (including Alaska & Hawaii)
Minimum junk mail rate for a USPS letter delivery to a residence: $0.1392 (not counting the non-profit rate, which starts at $0.067 per piece)

hmmm...

Everyone hates junk mail. No one would want to pay $7.62 to send a letter. 90% of mail in our boxes is junk.

Solution: Raise the junk mail rates.

ref 1: http://www.fedex.com/ratetools/RateToolsMain.do"
ref 2: http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#1553346"
 
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  • #58
The junk mail rates already subsidize first class mail. Indeed, UPS and FedEx have tried to get into the junk mail business, only to be told that it's a federal crime for anyone other than the USPS to do it. The problem is that if these rates are raised substantially, advertisers will go elsewhere. You're already seeing it - "opt into Megacorp's email list, and we'll give you a coupon every week".
 
  • #59
The Postal service has had to survive by delivering Junk mail for a number of years now. We all know that.


Just before the economy tanked and the flow of junk mail slowed, the Postal Service was hit with the pre funding mandate for retirees health care.

At the heart of the matter is a 2006 Congressional mandate put on the US Postal Service contained in the “Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006” to pre-fund health-care benefits of future retirees, a 75 year liability over a 10 year period. No other agency or corporation is required to do this. This provision costs the Postal Service $5.5 billion a year. When you add in an adjustment that was made in how workers’ compensation costs were calculated based on interest rate assumptions and long term predictions concerning health care and compensation of $2.5 billion (a non cash accounting adjustment), you come up with $8 billion in cost.

http://my.firedoglake.com/mmonk/201...wn-the-american-postal-workers-union/#more-42

75 Years? Apparently they have mandated pre funded health care for people who aren't born yet.
 
  • #60
Pinguino said:
Is this meant to be something profound?

Why not say you wonder if a $80/night hotel would offer 1000 sq ft luxury suites. Of course it wouldn't because it's a stupid idea. All you're pointing out is the USPS does stupid things that no one else is dumb enough to do .

WOW your sure jumped all over that like white on rice.:smile: I was actually thinking more along the line of something else entirely. The Postal Service delivers mail everywhere from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the wilds of Alaska where they use snowmobiles.

Are those Fedex trucks going to work out?? Fedex does want to get some of the junk mail in high density areas but there is no way they would touch any area where they can not make a profit even though the Postal Service is required to deliver in those areas.

Advertising junk is a part of life whether in the mail or in a television commercial.
 
  • #61
edward said:
WOW your sure jumped all over that like white on rice.:smile: I was actually thinking more along the line of something else entirely. The Postal Service delivers mail everywhere from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the wilds of Alaska where they use snowmobiles.

Are those Fedex trucks going to work out?? Fedex does want to get some of the junk mail in high density areas but there is no way they would touch any area where they can not make a profit even though the Postal Service is required to deliver in those areas.

Advertising junk is a part of life whether in the mail or in a television commercial.

On the other hand, does junk really need to be delivered on a daily basis and separately (versus a weekly/bi-weekly or monthly junk bundle)?
 
  • #62
WhoWee said:
On the other hand, does junk really need to be delivered on a daily basis and separately (versus a weekly/bi-weekly or monthly junk bundle)?

Good point, although I would imagine that the originators of the junk mail would want some kind of timely delivery.
 
  • #63
Vanadium 50 said:
The junk mail rates already subsidize first class mail. Indeed, UPS and FedEx have tried to get into the junk mail business, only to be told that it's a federal crime for anyone other than the USPS to do it. The problem is that if these rates are raised substantially, advertisers will go elsewhere. You're already seeing it - "opt into Megacorp's email list, and we'll give you a coupon every week".

I don't understand how junk mail works in the slightest. What is considered "junk-mail" and if it's the cheapest type of mail, how can it really subsidize anything? I would expect the opposite to happen, the more expensive mails subsidizing cheaper ones.

I'm trying to think of what kind of junk mail is actually half decent... but I'm having problems with that.
 
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  • #64
Pengwuino said:
I don't understand how junk mail works in the slightest. What is considered "junk-mail" and if it's the cheapest type of mail, how can it really subsidize anything? I would expect the opposite to happen, the more expensive mails subsidizing cheaper ones.

The price doesn't matter. What matters is the difference between what you charge and what it costs. Junk mail has a low price, but an even lower cost. It comes directly to the local Post Office, and doesn't have to be sorted: just delivered, one per house. (This is why they don't allow opt-out of junk mail) It goes straight on the truck, which was making the route anyway. So the incremental cost is close to zero - it's pure profit.
 
  • #65
Vanadium 50 said:
The price doesn't matter. What matters is the difference between what you charge and what it costs. Junk mail has a low price, but an even lower cost. It comes directly to the local Post Office, and doesn't have to be sorted: just delivered, one per house. (This is why they don't allow opt-out of junk mail) It goes straight on the truck, which was making the route anyway. So the incremental cost is close to zero - it's pure profit.

Thanks! Like any good forum member, I realized I should just wiki it after I had already made the post.

So what about mailings from credit card companies? They seem to always have my name/address on it but I assume those can be given to USPS in one massive distribution, but it seems like that would still need to be sorted by address on the delivery end.
 
  • #66
WhoWee said:
On the other hand, does junk really need to be delivered on a daily basis and separately (versus a weekly/bi-weekly or monthly junk bundle)?

Let me say this again. This will not help. Under the present UPWA contract, the Post Office cannot cut staff, except by attrition. Finding less and less for the USPS to do won't save any money, because you still need to pay the staff.

This can't be solved on the expenses side - it has to be attacked from the revenue side. Perhaps an individual mandate, where each citizen is legally obligated to send a certain amount of mail?
 
  • #67
Vanadium 50 said:
Let me say this again. This will not help. Under the present UPWA contract, the Post Office cannot cut staff, except by attrition. Finding less and less for the USPS to do won't save any money, because you still need to pay the staff.

This can't be solved on the expenses side - it has to be attacked from the revenue side. Perhaps an individual mandate, where each citizen is legally obligated to send a certain amount of mail?

:rofl: take that internet!

How in the world did the USPS get into such a horrid contract?
 
  • #68
If the USPS is overstaffed, and the staff can not be cut under current contract, might it be possible to assign postal employees to other tasks, outside of normal mail handling, where labor is short and they could be useful in reducing net government expenses?
 
  • #69
Pengwuino said:
How in the world did the USPS get into such a horrid contract?
The contract negotiated last April contains no raises for the next two years, and establishes a two-tiered pay system that would pay new hires less than current employees. That's not so horrid. USPS is in a bind partly because of a $5.5 B requirement to pre-fund the retirement fund. Congress can change this if they wish.
 
  • #70
Pengwuino said:
So what about mailings from credit card companies? They seemto always have my name/address on it but I assume those can be given to USPS in one massive distribution, but it seems like that would still need to be sorted by address on the delivery end.

It's been a while since I had anything to do with bulk mail, but this is most likely presorted first class. Essentially, you get a 5 cent discount if you meet certain minimum volume requirements, put a machine-readable bar code on the address, and give it to the post-office sorted by Zip Code.

If this saves the post office a dime, and they refund a nickle, they have made an extra five cents profit on this.

The problem is that this is not infinitely elastic - if they raise the margin too much, outfits will crop up that will presort the mail for you. They actually do to some degree already, but they are fairly specialized.


Pengwuino said:
How in the world did the USPS get into such a horrid contract?

"Horrid" depends on your point of view. It's a good contract if you are a postal worker.

It's also not clear who has any incentive to oppose union demands. In the private sector, management often owns stock, so if they reduce labor costs and increase profits, they get a fraction of the savings. USPS management are political appointees, and enraging 500,000 voters (the size of the USPS staff) is a bad idea for any political appointee. Finally, if they aren't solvent, the only consequence is that they have to go to Congress and explain that they really, really, really need the money.

As Turbo points out, the problem can be solved by diverting the money that goes into funding the pension program into operations. Of course, when the money in that fund runs out, the USPS will have to go to Congress and say, "But we promised these people a pension...it wouldn't be fair not to pay it. We really, really, really need you to gives us the money to pay them." But it wouldn't be happening under this administration.

mheslep said:
If the USPS is overstaffed, and the staff can not be cut under current contract, might it be possible to assign postal employees to other tasks, outside of normal mail handling, where labor is short and they could be useful in reducing net government expenses?

It would depend on the nature of the work and on what the union contract permits. I suspect that the contract is fairly restrictive on this, but don't know for sure.
 
<h2>1. What is causing the U.S. Postal Service to be on the verge of collapse?</h2><p>The U.S. Postal Service has been facing financial struggles for several years due to declining mail volume, increased competition from private delivery services, and a congressional mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits. These factors have led to significant losses for the Postal Service and put it at risk of insolvency.</p><h2>2. How is the Postal Service addressing its financial issues?</h2><p>The Postal Service has implemented cost-cutting measures such as reducing staff and consolidating facilities, as well as increasing postage rates. They have also proposed changes to their retiree health benefits funding requirements and have asked Congress for legislative reform to allow them to operate more like a business.</p><h2>3. Will the Postal Service completely shut down?</h2><p>It is unlikely that the Postal Service will completely shut down. However, without significant changes and support, it is possible that they may have to drastically reduce services and operations, which could have a major impact on mail delivery and businesses that rely on the Postal Service.</p><h2>4. What would happen if the Postal Service collapses?</h2><p>If the Postal Service were to collapse, it would have a significant impact on the economy and daily life for many Americans. Mail delivery would be disrupted, and businesses that rely on the Postal Service for shipping and communication would be greatly affected. It could also lead to job losses and have a ripple effect on other industries.</p><h2>5. What can be done to prevent the collapse of the Postal Service?</h2><p>There are several proposed solutions to prevent the collapse of the Postal Service. Some suggestions include legislative reform to ease financial burdens and allow for more flexibility in operations, increasing revenue through new services or partnerships, and implementing cost-saving measures. Ultimately, it will require a combination of efforts from the Postal Service, Congress, and the public to ensure the sustainability of this essential service.</p>

1. What is causing the U.S. Postal Service to be on the verge of collapse?

The U.S. Postal Service has been facing financial struggles for several years due to declining mail volume, increased competition from private delivery services, and a congressional mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits. These factors have led to significant losses for the Postal Service and put it at risk of insolvency.

2. How is the Postal Service addressing its financial issues?

The Postal Service has implemented cost-cutting measures such as reducing staff and consolidating facilities, as well as increasing postage rates. They have also proposed changes to their retiree health benefits funding requirements and have asked Congress for legislative reform to allow them to operate more like a business.

3. Will the Postal Service completely shut down?

It is unlikely that the Postal Service will completely shut down. However, without significant changes and support, it is possible that they may have to drastically reduce services and operations, which could have a major impact on mail delivery and businesses that rely on the Postal Service.

4. What would happen if the Postal Service collapses?

If the Postal Service were to collapse, it would have a significant impact on the economy and daily life for many Americans. Mail delivery would be disrupted, and businesses that rely on the Postal Service for shipping and communication would be greatly affected. It could also lead to job losses and have a ripple effect on other industries.

5. What can be done to prevent the collapse of the Postal Service?

There are several proposed solutions to prevent the collapse of the Postal Service. Some suggestions include legislative reform to ease financial burdens and allow for more flexibility in operations, increasing revenue through new services or partnerships, and implementing cost-saving measures. Ultimately, it will require a combination of efforts from the Postal Service, Congress, and the public to ensure the sustainability of this essential service.

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