Slog Comments
US Postal Workers Hunger-Strike to Protest Budget Cuts
2
If only workers in the typewriter manufacturing industry had staged a hunger strike, I'm sure it would still be thriving.
3
@2. Agreed. Deadtree mail is on the way out. It's terrible that people are losing their jobs, but this is progress overall.
4
The postal workers should just force people to watch The Postman. Although, they probably don't want to resort to torture.
5
If the Postal Service runs in the black, which it does without the future employees' benefits pre-funding requirement Congress imposed, it remains a viable enterprise. The point is not to hunger strike over a dying industry, it is to call attention to a deliberate attempt by Congress to put the USPS in the red, in order to speed privatization. Congress's actions are directly responsible for the closing of many mail processing centers in Washington and across the country, and potentially ending Saturday delivery and door-to-door delivery.
Making the USPS slower and less consumer-friendly will also hasten its demise. Then we'll all be at the mercy of UPS, FedEx and the like, and whatever they want to charge us.
Making the USPS slower and less consumer-friendly will also hasten its demise. Then we'll all be at the mercy of UPS, FedEx and the like, and whatever they want to charge us.
7
"Then we'll all be at the mercy of UPS, FedEx and the like, and whatever they want to charge us."
And that's just the way Jesus and the Free Market like it!! Just look at the bang up job they did with the banks and health insurance. What could possibly go wrong by privatizing the USPS?!?!?
And that's just the way Jesus and the Free Market like it!! Just look at the bang up job they did with the banks and health insurance. What could possibly go wrong by privatizing the USPS?!?!?
8
Don't UPS, FedEx and the like rely quite heavily themselves on USPS to make pick-ups and deliveries in rural areas where distance and low-volume make it unprofitable for them to serve?
9
If the USPS goes under we will regret it in ways the limited imaginations of many SLOG readers simply cannot comprehend. But. Hey. Yeah. Progress and shit. Right?
10
@2 and 3,
The USPS does plenty of package deliveries; Amazon's free shipping is usually USPS, not UPS or FedEx. Do you think Internet shopping is on its way out?
The USPS does plenty of package deliveries; Amazon's free shipping is usually USPS, not UPS or FedEx. Do you think Internet shopping is on its way out?
11
@8, yes. The rural hicks and 'baggers all point to the USPS as an example of 'Wasteful Big Gub'mint Programs', while utterly failing to realize what will really happen if the USPS is fully privatized. They will have screwed their own selves.
12
@11:
Well, that pretty much sounds like SOP for tea-baggers: screwing themselves over in an attempt to screw everybody else over in the process.
Well, that pretty much sounds like SOP for tea-baggers: screwing themselves over in an attempt to screw everybody else over in the process.
13
2&3: you must be living under a rock. yes, letter sending is greatly declined, but the amount of packages being shipped through USPS is massive. ever heard of ebay? amazon? etc
14
That absurd "pre-funding" requires the USPS to put money aside to cover retiree healthcare as much as 75 years into the future. In other words, Congress is forcing the USPS to insure retirees who haven't been born yet.
15
I wonder how much UPS or Fedex will charge to deliver a piece of junk mail? I bet it's not practically free, like it is for presorted bulk mail.
That's one thing I won't miss when USPS goes under.
That's one thing I won't miss when USPS goes under.
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