US Postal Service Offers Buyouts to 45,000 Workers

[st louis steve]

US Postal Service Offers Buyouts to 45,000 Workers
Friday, 25 May 2012 07:13 PM

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service will offer buyouts this summer to nearly all of its 45,000 mail handlers, part of a plan to consolidate operations at 140 mail-processing facilities in the next year.
The mail agency, which lost $3.2 billion in the first three months of 2012, plans to begin this summer moving mail-processing activities away from smaller sites to reduce annual costs.
As part of that plan, the Postal Service will offer $15,000 in two installments to full-time mail handlers who take early retirement or leave the agency, USPS spokesman Mark Saunders said on Friday.


Read more on Newsmax.com: US Postal Service Offers Buyouts to 45,000 Workers
//www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/postal-service-buyouts-summer/2012/05/25/id/440341
EDIT to fix Link
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/postal-service-buyouts-summer/2012/05/25/id/440341

[SueAnn]

This is frightening for those mail handlers and their families, to be sure, but it is not an endictment of a poor economy. It is simply the changing times. The Postal service is becoming redundant. Email, Fedex and UPS, online banking, etc. What does the postal service bring us that we can't get another way? Even junk mail has been digitized into online SPAM.

90% of all the mail I get in my real-life mailbox is "Auto Sort" junk mail or advertising from phone companies, internet providers and sale mini-newspapers from my local grocery stores.

Pretend it is 1910. The horseless carriage is starting to take over the roads. Just about every town in America had it's own blacksmith shop. Every town had at least one commercial stable. Let's not forget to mention carriage makers, harness makers and veterinarians.

Entire industries dried up in a relatively short amount of time due to the birth of a high-tech industry that rendered transportation by horse or mule totally obsolete.

Probably 100s of thousands of people had the rug pulled out from under their careers/businesses. Simultaneously, 100s of thousands of new jobs were created in designing/building and maintaining automobiles.

What businesses will be obsoleted during your lifetime? Might be something you can't even dream about now.

[Abiding in His Word]

Excellent post, SueAnn! Time does march on and perhaps the Post Office is going the way of the 8-track tape, the TV picture tube, party-line telephone, and the milkman. The only constant in life is change.

[Jericho]

The only constant in life is death and taxes.

Fixed

[Abiding in His Word]

You're so right, Jericho! (...and change)

[laney]

Why is it that I still have to stand in a long line in the Post office I go too and every postal station is maned? If they close the one on my side of town it will be a great inconvince to say the least.

[GodsStudent]

My post office has a PO Box that my clients mail checks to me in. My taxes are a nightmare (self employed) and I still get all of my bills the old fashioned way, because as a business owner, I need to be ready for an audit, and that means I need the paper trail.

When I went to the hospital recently, I saw and got billed by numerous doctors, ie: radiologists, pathologists, anesthesiologists, my surgeon......and then, of course the hospital sent me a bill.

Since I couldn't pay them all at once, some are still sending me bills with "new balances" on them.

My daughter will be gone for 9 weeks this summer. I want mail from her, and I need to send mail to her. I would hate to have to pay $17.50 to send it UPS of FEDEX.

While I agree the mail service needs to be revamped, I cannot imagine relegating it to the dustbins of history.

[Abiding in His Word]

My understanding of the article is that the focus is the consolidation of mail-processing facilities not local post offices. I'm unsure of the function of processing facilities, but my guess is they are the centers where mail (including air mail) is sorted and distributed to appropriate post offices in the region.

I believe the function of the post office must be important enough to warrant rethinking their proposal to eliminate Saturday deliveries which was their first effort at curbing financial debt. Seems this consolidation (plus offered retirements) will accomplish a portion of their goal.

[SueAnn]

My daughter will be gone for 9 weeks this summer. I want mail from her, and I need to send mail to her. I would hate to have to pay $17.50 to send it UPS of FEDEX.

GS, Just before my nephew left for Spain to be an exchange student, he set my sister up with SKYPE. He is very close to both his parents and wanted to make sure he could communicate with them frequently, without $$ concerns.

Because of SKYPE, they yakkety-yakked almost every day, for free, through the computer.
He also wrote frequent letters, but sent them via email instead of snail mail.

If you want or need further info I would be happy to ask my nephew if it is OK for me to give you his email addy.

[GodsStudent]

you are so sweet SueAnn! The issue here is my daughter will not be allowed to have electronic devices at the location she will be heading to. These kids are going to be outdoors ALL SUMMER!!!!!

The "idea" is to get them back into physical fitness and outdoor living and get them away from all of these devices which have become their resting place after school. Also, she will be able to receive packages from home, and of course, mailing letters is encouraged, so....we just need the US Postal Service to stick it out! We need that, and most of all, we need safe passage, which is only afforded by the Will of our Lord.....

[SueAnn]

:mrgreen: you are so sweet SueAnn! The issue here is my daughter will not be allowed to have electronic devices at the location she will be heading to. These kids are going to be outdoors ALL SUMMER!!!!!

The "idea" is to get them back into physical fitness and outdoor living and get them away from all of these devices which have become their resting place after school. Also, she will be able to receive packages from home, and of course, mailing letters is encouraged, so....we just need the US Postal Service to stick it out! We need that, and most of all, we need safe passage, which is only afforded by the Will of our Lord.....

Wow, GS, sounds like quite a program. Keep us posted on her progress.
You really are going to be dependent on the Post Office, for sure!!!

[OneDay]

Yeah GS, we have that summer program here in Colorado too! It's good for the kids to get outside and away
from video games and such! We get those & a lot of APO's for our military also. Listen, if we are hit w/ any kind of EMP attack we may very well go back to the horse and buggy mail system! I pray we don't lose our postal system. It goes back a long way in this country, it needs to go back to what it was made for. A service for the American people, not a for profit business. Ah, but I'm just a disgruntled postal worker...

[GodsStudent]

Ugh, I miss my baby terribly and it's only been one week. They post pictures daily, and ya'll wouldn't believe the fiend of a mother I am....sometimes logging on the website four times a day before actually getting to see the day's fare of photographs. My husband had to console me for a while as we drove away! In spite all of that, she called yesterday, and though she lamented that the program was hard, she also reported the loss of 8 pounds, and told me of countless things she's tried this week (she did soccer, volleyball, etc). She is having a good time even though it's hard to build muscle and stamina. She is such a trooper....proud mommy am I.......We are encouraging her to do this so that she can turn around the couch potato setting that she was moving into. She hasn't ever really been willing to try sports out, and now, she is getting the full fare, which will help her figure out her interests once she returns home and gets back into her life. I am concerned that she be fit, and that she have things to do after school, when homework is done....things that will help her build her physical self! It's working well, but boy do I miss my baby!!!

Sorry for derailing the thread. If it's any consolation, our entire family and even extended, is helping out with the postal problem while she is gone! We are all sending her letters and cards of encouragement, and today, I will mail a package to her, too!!!

[OneDay]

You are a good mom GS! My baby girl lives in Calif., is married, and is 27 years old....
I still miss her & worry! They will always be our babies!!