Post office doing just fine...

[Straw Man]

What's wrong with profit? Profit is the economic reward for taking resources which are less valuable and turning them into a product which is more valuable.

Privatizing the Post Office would remove it from this arena of political bickering that is keeping it down by your own admission. It would also remove it from being affected by other forms of government failure, e.g. rent seeking by public unions.

nothing

didn't I say we should let the USPS make a profit (something that are not allowed to do now)?

I don't see any benefit to the country or it's citizens by allowing a small group of people to make a profit at our expense and the downside of privatization is a disaster

I know that many people believe that private industry can always do everything better and cheaper than the government (not saying that is your belief) but I don't agree and there is ample evidence that this premise is not valid

[howardroark]

nothing

didn't I say we should let the USPS make a profit (something that are not allowed to do now)?

I don't see any benefit to the country or it's citizens by allowing a small group of people to make a profit at our expense and the downside of privatization is a disaster

I know that many people believe that private industry can always do everything better and cheaper than the government (not saying that is your belief) but I don't agree and there is ample evidence that this premise is not valid

You implied that profit is bad.

Profit is a very important mechanism. More profit is a reward for taking resources worth less and turning them into a product valued more. Private industry must necessarily live by profit and loss. However, government does not. That is why there are all sorts of public choice problems associated with government that do not exist in the free market. That is also why the Post Office should be privatized - if it were, then it would focus on best serving its customers, not political interests.

[Straw Man]

You implied that profit is bad.

Profit is a very important mechanism. More profit is a reward for taking resources worth less and turning them into a product valued more. Private industry must necessarily live by profit and loss. However, government does not. That is why there are all sorts of public choice problems associated with government that do not exist in the free market. That is also why the Post Office should be privatized - if it were, then it would focus on best serving its customers, not political interests.

I don't recall doing so

can you tell me which quote of mine you're referring to?

[howardroark]

This seems like you're equating "profit" with "bad:"

why

so a small group of people can make a huge profit?

Might not be what you were trying to convey, but that's how it came off.

[Straw Man]

This seems like you're equating "profit" with "bad:"

Might not be what you were trying to convey, but that's how it came off.

I was talking specifically about the privatization of the post office

why should we hand that over to a group of private individuals

how would that benefit us

I also mentioned letting them make a profit on page 1 of this thread (no worries if you didn't read it - I don't read all pages of every thread that I post on either)

Here's an idea

let them raise the first class postage rate rather than having a below market rate as compared to any other country

Another idea, don't require them prepay into a defined benefit pension plan that they've already overpaid by into by an estimated 6.9 billion**.

Even better, get rid of the defined benefit pension and switch completely to defined contribution plan

Finally, get rid of the rule the the USPS has to be revenue neutral.   This makes no sense.  Why shouldn't they be allowed to make a profit so they will have a surplus when times are good.
There are lot's of things they can do to fix the problems

**
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-22/u-s-postal-service-will-suspend-contributions-into-employee-pension-fund.html

[howardroark]

I was talking specifically about the privatization of the post office

why should we hand that over to a group of private individuals

how would that benefit us

I also mentioned letting them make a profit on page 1 of this thread (no worries if you didn't read it - I don't read all pages of every thread that I post on either)

Well then, I think you know why profit would be beneficial 

Profit would be the incentive to provide as high a quality product as possible.

And when it comes to private vs. government ownership, isn't this answer obvious as well? Look, you're complaining about restrictions that the government has placed on the USPS that is bankrupting it. A government-run business doesn't care about serving the customers - it cares about serving political interests. THAT is what's ruining the USPS, any way you look at it. And then there's the rather obvious problem of government not caring about profit one way or the other - it always has tax revenues and inflation to fall back on.

[Straw Man]

Well then, I think you know why profit would be beneficial  

Profit would be the incentive to provide as high a quality product as possible.

And when it comes to private vs. government ownership, isn't this answer obvious as well? Look, you're complaining about restrictions that the government has placed on the USPS that is bankrupting it. A government-run business doesn't care about serving the customers - it cares about serving political interests. THAT is what's ruining the USPS, any way you look at it. And then there's the rather obvious problem of government not caring about profit one way or the other - it always has tax revenues and inflation to fall back on.

I don't believe privatization would make things better and could potentially make things much worse

there is no need to privatize it to relieve ourselves of the problems we created

[howardroark]

I don't believe privatization would make things better and could potentially make things much worse

there is no need to privatize it to relieve ourselves of the problems we created

How would privatization make things "much worse?"

And don't you see that these problems are endemic to government? These weren't mere freak accidents.

[Purge_WTF]

  Now they're getting rid of guaranteed next-day delivery. I work for Netflix, and I posted a thread in the Religion forum asking fellow believers to pray for my job. 

[Soul Crusher]

Postal employees stole millions in federal checks
 Washington Guardian ^ | December19, 2012 | PHILLIP SWARTS

Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2012 12:48:20 PM by


And the Georgia workers aren't alone. Between April and September of this year, 171 Postal Service employees were arrested for theft, willful delay or destruction of mail, according to a new report by the USPS inspector general. The Service has about 546,000 employees.

"We have taken two corrupt postal workers, including a supervisor, off the streets who were responsible for stealing thousands of checks worth over $3 million," U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates in Atlanta said. "We will continue to target these theft rings, both those on the inside and their network of check cashers, to address this serious problem.”

Gerald Eason, 47, pled guilty to stealing more than 1,300 checks while working at the postal facility. His accomplice, mail handler Deborah Fambro-Echols, 49, has also pled guilty. The two employees pled guilty to conspiracy and theft of government money. Eason pleaded guilty to several other charges including possession of stolen Treasury checks. There's a wide range of jail time they could be serving, though. Each charge carries anywhere from five to 30 years in prison.

Investigators became aware there was a problem in December 2010, USPS Office of Inspector General spokeswoman Agapi Doulaveris said. Federal agents watched and investigated Eason and his accomplices before they were arrested in early March, Doulaveris said.

"Eason and Fambro-Echols reflect just a very small percentage of employees who failed to uphold the trust and integrity placed in them," said Paul Bowman, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General's special agent in charge. "The majority of Postal Service employees are honest, hardworking, and committed to providing the timely and reliable service that customers expect and deserve."


(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonguardian.com ...