Part of the problem is the pension plan. No I'm not against fair is fair, but the funding is far above what any private sector has for requirements. Something in the area of, people who aren't born yet and don't work for the USPS will be protected?

Annual salary
$51780 per year

Hourly wage
$25 per hour

When they work overtime postal workers get 1 + 1/2 and on a holiday triple time. USPS are not required to pay into social security, probably why their plan works so well. They have excellent medical coverage, long term. You can barely get a USPS employee fired for poor quality or many work related problems. However if someone steals, they are gone in a flash. (good news compared to some other countries.)

The world has changed. I pay bills electronically, I get bills, I'm on auto pay. I haven't received a bill in the mail for years, and that was the "tree guy" who did yard work. I have written almost 20 paper checks since 2013. Maybe not for everyone but for the majority of people, mail is over 90% fire starter.

It's against the law for the USPS to deliver anything at a loss. The package rates are very competitive and for small packages, especially under a pound, very, very competitive. I don't have the details and rates change, plus there's a maze of different ways to ship the same thing at the same weight and pay various rates. While FedEx and UPS go by weight, not a confusing, what label is on the box system?

Does anyone here really need Saturday delivery? Start thinking that a 5 day week, wouldn't include overtime. If the person is working their standard 40 hours, there has to be one utility worker to cover the other days of the week. 1 for every 5 or 6. I know, I'm mean, people will be put out of work at their filler positions and the USPS will save millions of dollars.

The question I'd ask, outside of politics, is, do we want to fund the USPS as they loose billions, or run the operation like a real business, with costs for customers determined by expenses, and a lean company that hires what they need, not run like some government agency with deep pockets. $4 billion a year in losses and going for $7 billion. BILLION? Irresponsible to expect the taxpayers to fund a business that run like a playground candy store.

ps Amtrak gets $2 billion a year in federal funding and people cry over that. But they don't see how we could streamline the USPS which is going to lose three times more. And it's not small numbers. Billions a year?

Here's my plan, give the money to Amtrak, use the rail to carry mail, like it used to be. A letter will take a day or two more, but won't be flying on an airplane. Cut waste and wasteful spending.