Mailers say oversized, overpaid workforce is biggest contributor to USPS financial woes
TweetThe Affordable Mail has filed additional comments with the Postal regulatory Commission, opposing the USPS request for an “exigent” rate increase. In its comments, the AMA cites last week’s testimony by postal executives, which it says bolster its case by demonstrating that the proposed rates are not necessary for the service to continue in business, and are in reality a reaction to a long term reduction in mail volume that has been predicted for many years.
Then the AMA attacks the USPS position that it is unable to do more to cut costs without action by the PRC or Congress- here’s the AMA’s summary:
- The Postal Service maintains an inefficiently large network of undersized and obsolete mail processing facilities.
- The Postal Service has an oversized work force, inflexible work rules, and low productivity.
- The total compensation of Postal Service employees—more than $80,000 per employee on average—is well above the amounts paid in the private sector for comparable work. According to the Postal Service’s own experts, this compensation premium is probably more than 30 percent. This inefficiency costs the Postal Service and the public $10 to 14 billion or more in needless costs annually.
- The loss of mail volume to the Internet was not an unforeseeable surprise. The Postal Service had notice of this threat years before significant volume losses occurred.
- The Postal Service’s failure to cope effectively with the 2008-2009 recession is further evidence of structural inefficiency. The average firm in the private sector saw its revenues collapse by nearly as much as the Postal Service; and many large firms saw their revenues collapse by 20 percent or more. Well-run private firms, including the Postal Service’s competitors, responded to the downturn with immediate headcount reductions and other aggressive and painful austerity measures that resulted in a return to profit relatively quickly, even while sales volume and revenue remained depressed. The Postal Service, by contrast, contented itself with a business-as-usual incremental approach to cost cutting that allowed productivity to plummet and unit costs to get further out of control.
- The Postal Service’s financial loss projections in this case assume no major improvements in cost control in the future.
August 18th, 2010 13:48
Oversized AND Overpaid? Eliminate all of Management and that will fix everything. Clerks, Carriers and Mailhandlers running the whole thing by themselves. Let’s put Rolando and Bill in charge as the co-PMG. Slugs rule the world!
August 18th, 2010 14:16
This is a LINK off their members. Time to boycott any company that has being getting by on below cost service & no want’s to strip the food off the table of working Americans!
http://www.affordablemailalliance.org/more_about_the_alliance.html
BOYCOTT these slimeballs!
August 18th, 2010 15:21
I am a usps employee and I bought lots of mags thru the mail. I give annually to an organ from CFC. In the future I will ensure that the companies I am dealing with is NOT associated with the above company. So when profits are coming down you can blame me directly. Also I would like to know which employees are making 80000 a year, I want their job.
August 18th, 2010 15:36
Mrs C. is quite handy with a calculator….Please follow along: (number of employees was taken from USPS published figures for 2009)
A) 613,793 total USPS employees X $80,000 average salary = $49,103,440,000/year
B) 560,511 non-management postal employees, with a rough estimate of $50,000/year salary=$28,025,550,000 ( I know, I know……a few of you make a little more than this, a majority of you make less that this, but I was averaging………..)
C) $49,103,440,000 (total) minus $28,025,550,000 (non-management salaries)= $21,077,890,000 remaining
D) $21,077,890,000 divided by 53,282 management postal employees = $395,591/year average salary
Who would you now like to claim is “overpaid” ?
By the way,
E) 560,511 non-management employees divided by 53,282 management employees = 1 management employee for every 10.5 non-management employees.
With F***ed up math like this, it’s no wonder the ship is taking on water……………
Today, 2:54:29 PM– Flag – Like – Reply – Delete – Edit – Moderate mrs c
I realize those are huge numbers…….let me break it down like this:
Management makes up 8.5% of the workforce
Management rakes in 43% of the total wages paid, NOT INCLUDING all of their bonuses.
August 18th, 2010 15:46
well they got ONE thing right at least:
Inflexible rules!!
August 18th, 2010 15:54
I got some oversized balls for you to lick.
August 18th, 2010 16:14
I think one of the biggest fallacies is the “comparative wage premium”… UPS drivers make 5 bucks an hour more than Letter Carriers. Likewise, the insurance contributions comparison. Yes, we have more paid by the postal service, We dont get the locality pay that ALL other federal employees get. Sure ill pay 10 percent more on my insurance premium, if i can get a 20% raise in my salary.
Lastly, who does the AMA think will deliver their product if the unions did agree to these concessions? The contract workers? Oh, the ones the OIG kept finding were throwing away mail?
August 18th, 2010 16:14
I am a usps employee, the plant where i work does have a overload of managers. ther are supervisors and plenty of 204b’s. management is always looking for 204b’s. i say take out at least half the managers and you could save billions. there is a manager for everythig you can think of. management only will care about the loss of revenue when it threatens their jobs. the management will keep on wasting money as long as the usps exists
August 18th, 2010 16:32
Everyone of you know this article is true. You let the unions protect the slugs among your ranks. They are a drag on your salaries.
Arbitrators award cash for no reason but to even the score.
What company has to pay its employees to not come to work when it snows. On top of the 26 days of AL, 13 days of SL, and 10 holidays.
Are forced to staff a non existent operation just because of a the same arbitrators whim.
August 18th, 2010 16:46
have these mailers come and carry mail in january in new england when its 33 degrees and sleeting in your face and have them say we earn too much $$$$$
August 18th, 2010 17:31
Hey Jim, You sound like a typical management kiss-ass. I’ve got 32 years as a carrier and walk all day in 100+ temps, pouring rain , freezing sleet and snow. Winds that howl 30, 40 miles an hour. We watch UPS and FEDEX DRIVE-BY with only the most profitable of the parcels, and what we as carriers consider the easiest part of our job, Driving out parcel Post. I work hard for every dollar I earn and just hope I can physically hold up until retirement another 4 1/2 years. Management keeps running the numbers thru route checks and the idiots they have trying to make us believe we can carry what there CORE program spits out is pure trash. Fire the dumbass that bought that garbage. They transfer territory from a route traveling south to one traveling north and now the genius has you make left hand turns all day long so it now takes much longer and is much more dangerous to do the SAME amount of work. Yeah lets fire all the DUMBASSES! leave the carriers to do their work . Go find a useful job and quit complaining about the unions. If it weren’t for them we will all be working part-time with no benefits. Then who would purchase all those homes, autos and goods and services so the CEO’s can have their BLOATED salaries! THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK AND DON’T SPEAK OF WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT OR OF A JOB YOU HAVE NO EPRIENCE AT. P.S. I suppose you’re one of my neighbors whose sitting at home every SATURDAY watching football drinking beer with your buddies while we’re out toting the MAIL.
August 18th, 2010 17:35
sounds like the mailers are trying to kiss up to Potter to get the discount rate. I wonder why they didnt mention the big raise Potter got a couple of years back? Get rid of the workers, get rid of service give management bigger raises. I heard today that Brett Favre may get 20 mil this year to play football over 1 mil per game.How many hours does he actually play in a game, granted they have to practice etc… but my body is out their in 120 heat index and below zero for about 50,000 a year? Don’t let them talk you out of anything, it’d time for Rolando to let loose of some of that money so we can do some arbitratin. You think management is going to give anything up?
August 18th, 2010 17:51
Mrs. C, I am confused by your estimate of $50,000 per year. The article states that the TOTAL COMPENSATION of all employees averages $80,000. Total compensation includes salary, which you estimated at $50,000, plus whatever the USPS pays for each employee’s health insurance, pays into Social Security for the employee, pays into 401K and retirement funds for the employee. When you take those figures into account, the total for each non-management employee is much closer to $80,000 than $50,000.
August 18th, 2010 18:30
Bill,
I am a female letter carrier with 25 years and work very hard for my $’s. Very well said.
August 18th, 2010 18:37
I am a lettter carrier..believe me we are way under payed..we are a step above walmart workers c’mon people….there is alot of waste on health care cost for sure… when we retire we only get like 17% of base pay..you are talking about $9,000 a year.. that’s peanuts..
August 18th, 2010 18:41
the problems with the USPS won’t be solved by getting rid of management altogether, or craft altogether. both sides need to agree to WORK for their money for all hours paid. BOTH SIDES. We also need to enhance CSRS retirements to enable more senior employees to retire into this economy, freeing up hiring of lower wage, younger, healthier, and better educated (hopefully) employees to lead us into the future. It has been a good ride, but we do have to try and do more with less.
Oh by the way, I am a retirement eligible manager.
Better ideas?
August 18th, 2010 19:29
various aspects of the contract which some may believe out of line were the result of labor/mgt talks. yes, even I find some of them hard to believe and still wonder why some others are not in the contract at all. the bottom lineis, that is the way it is. If you do not like it, hit the road or lump it. (your chance of changing it is slim) I must say that many of the problems the Usps is in are because of our contracts. I am a carrier but some things that have been neogiated between craft/and mgt are mindbogging.
August 18th, 2010 19:53
Everyone just take a deep breath, keep on walking and let these jerks at the AMA realize what they have said.
August 18th, 2010 21:06
They don’t want us to raise rates, close Saturday, close Post Offices.
Their answer, just pay us less. Typical republican tea baggers.
August 18th, 2010 21:24
I work for the Postal Service and have for over 30 years, I am a single mother of one. i am middle class, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. It is time to wake up America,We need to stop the greedy bastards. It is time for a change, you have been breaking the back of the little guy long enough I work hard for every penny I make, and I deserve all of it. Time to stand together and fight the greedy corporations.
August 18th, 2010 22:22
Let the usps close down for one year and see how the AMA likes that.
August 19th, 2010 00:39
Give me a break, I have been a union rep for the APWU,NALC, an arbitration advocate for the craft, a supervisor, Vice President of NAPS, a Postmaster and over 35 years of service. For all you bashers of one another, we are very fortunate as Postal Workers. Do you think no else is downsizing. I read these blogs and I laugh at the bashing the craft does of management and then managers that are defensive. Well having worked “both sides of the fence” the truth is the service has deficient employees in both management and in the craft. How many of your friends have been laid off from the private sector? Lighten up and do whatever you can to save this historic institution. I find the biggest cry babies in our organization are usually the one’s that waste their individual energy on complaining and shortcutting. And a high percentage of those have not had much exposure to working in the private sector. Remember, you all have free will, no one locked you in a room and put a gun to your head. If things are that bad, if you are that mistreated why do you stay? Look for employment elsewhere. It may be for less money, but you will be free of the horrible clutches of an inept management team and of workers that try to get out of work. I believe firmly that 80-85% of our workers are excellent in both management and the craft. It is the 10-15% who give the Postal Service a bad rap. So stop feeding the public with crap on these blogs and work to keep the Postal Service functioning.
August 19th, 2010 06:23
you seem to forget well run private firms got 75 billlion in tax payer bailouts. You seem to forget the USPS has been trying to close these “oblsolete facilities” but your congress is priventing it. You foget to mention to the public that the people you represent mail out their mail at up to 10 to 20 cents cheaper than the average person who has to pay .44 cents. So instead of you having to pay a few cents more you attack the 600k hard working people. You also fail to mention that your local congressman has assistants that make close to 160k of taxpayer money. You also fail to mention that the average UPS driver makes more than a postal employee.
August 19th, 2010 06:24
Thank you, Unreal. Right on every single point, and you have earned the right to be heard.
August 19th, 2010 06:25
Thank you, Unreal. Right on every single point, and you have earned the right to be heard.
And right on, Brian.
August 19th, 2010 07:07
‘Unreal’, you’ve said it all. Nice credentials and nice explanation and advice. : )
August 19th, 2010 11:14
Why are people complaining about UPS drivers making $5.00 more per hour??? They work so much harder than anyone at USPS! And what business in America does not have the largest customers paying less than the smallest?? You people are so out of touch with reality it is really sad. Great post ‘Unreal’! I hope people actually read it and think about it.
August 19th, 2010 20:26
UPS works harder than USPS? I don’t see them trudging thru the snow, sleet and rain. Or walking with no shade in 105 degree weather. Give me a break! Out of touch with reality? I don’t think so!
August 20th, 2010 11:43
The mailers are just mad because we are finally going up on their cheap rates. Well boo hoo everyone has to pay. As for we get paid too much. Get real!! I havent gotten any decent raises since I topped out. Now they havent given us a cost of living raise in 3 years. Ummm I think the cost of living has gone up dramatically…am I wrong here? At least in my area. Rent is high, groceries out the roof…water bill goes up 23%, phone bill another raise. Gas is up and down. Anyway yes we earn a decent rate, but we all earn it. I see our carriers come back with not a dry shirt on….you can imagine their shorts!!! No ac in the trucks. At least UPS can open their huge doors and cruise………and I think that FED EX has ac. As for the mailers, well let them throw all the mail to the carriers, or haul it around. It weighs a ton…If we could get rid of half the managers that would be a good start as to saving some money at the PO. Believe me we earn every penny we all make there.
August 20th, 2010 14:20
A little late for this post, but I don’t spend alot of time on my PC unless something catches my eye such as this article. While unreal’s post has good merit I’m still confused by the AMA’s stance on postal employee wages. I started thinking about what’s really driving costs for everything. You may laugh, but, again knowing your facts and being observant helps in explaining your point of view. Mine is ” OIL “, Oil prices drive everything. AMA why are you not concerned with salaries of oil companies? And not just the big one’s either? I live in an area where Oil Co.’s are everywhere. I have family and friends in the business. They pay HUGE salaries and BENEFITS. You may think since they are profitable they should be able to do so, Well if the Post Office could sell a stamp for $3.00 apiece or whatever they could charge based on there location we would not be having this discussion, right? A little food for thought ,A Driller makes $125,000 a year. His workers on the rig who work a week on a week off make between $85,000 & $90,000 per year. They have excellent health care benefits to include dental. A great 401k, 10% being matched by the company. No degree’s required by the way. These are the bottom feeder’s of the food chain in the oil business. These same oil companies provide there employees with guided fishing trips monthly, go golfing on the company dime weekly. Provide them with free clothing, hats ,dress shirts. Some even have a company car with credit card. They purchase in a somewhat limited supply, free tickets to the local professional sports teams. Basketball,Hockey,Baseball and our Highly ranked University Football team who’s ticket’s are sold-out every game and have about a 5 year waiting list to purchase season tickets. These same people along with the Banker’s and Stock broker’s live on my mail route and have been spending money like wildfire on upgrading there homes. (During what the rest of us were experiencing as a recession and downturn in our 401k pension funds). Which by the way, originally sold $350,00 & UP. Totally gutting these homes. These same folks have a minimun $100,000 in vehicles in the drive way, go snow skiing at spring break, hunting during Thanksgiving, Vacation all over the world in the summer. They’re wives don’t work. They have a maid to clean the home. A gardener and lawn company. They hire -out all the handyman jobs your average man preforms himself. Oh and there in their late 20′s some maybe 30. Also a good friend a “REPUBLICAN” who is a “Landman” (independant) , who is as upset with his 401k being wiped -out as I am. Tells me about all the tax write-offs Oil CO.’s get and I don’t have the time or space to explain all of those. But G. Bush ex. pres. gave them a big time hook-up from everything from they’re vehicle purchase to wear and tear to re-investing profits, depreciation of personal equipment to keep from paying taxes. This may sound negative or a bit jealous, But I’m really not! Just don’t come knocking on the mailman”s door for give backs when we’re not THE BIG PROBLEM!