Postal Service May Begin Paying Employees With IOUs

[jcs44]

Speaking of the postal service & budget issues, sometime late last year (or early this year) they were kicking around the idea of cutting out some delivery days in rural areas, and were looking at eliminating either Saturdays or Tuesdays. Well, I never heard much more on this, but I live in a rural area and was thinking today- I can't remember getting mail on Tuesdays in what seems like forever. Saturdays are still being delivered, but I wanted to know if any other rural area LATOCers had noticed anything like this or if they'd heard about them implementing the plan at all.

[Brill]

One of the 'causes' of the Great Depression was a contraction of the money supply.  The response of thousands of communities was to create their own money locally.  California started using IOUs, now the Postal Service, and who knows who will be next.  This is pointing out the problem of our money system: Debt based money requires constantly accelerating growth.  Without increasing oil extraction, the economy can not grow, which leads to debt defaults and a contracting money supply.  The smart local governments will not wait for a bailout from Uncle Sam, they will begin printing up their local money!

Did you notice how California handled the refusal of BofA, Citibank and others refusing to accept their IOUs?  California is accepting IOUs for payment of state taxes.  Local governments can do the same thing to make their local currencies valuable.  You can bet The FED is watching this very closely.

[mtlouie]

Time for the "free" market to take over the postal service.  They've already got forever stamps.....well, forever.  They bought enough of those to put the U.S. Postal Service out of business.

I'm sure this has been thought up by all those free marketeers.  Think of the money they could make by owning the mail delivery.

And think how much money they'd get from the gov when it FAILED, which it inevitably will when the "free" market takes over.

[Phildo]

Did you notice how California handled the refusal of BofA, Citibank and others refusing to accept their IOUs? 

Sure.  They are members of the Fed.

California is accepting IOUs for payment of state taxes.  Local governments can do the same thing to make their local currencies valuable.  You can bet The FED is watching this very closely.

We could go from One Nation Under The Dollah to One Nation Slipping Out From The Dollah? 

Sweet.

 

[nepenthean]

I worked for the postal service as a mail handler temp years ago. The lifers were instructing me on how to do an ok job while taking naps between cargo containers. They even had a small mattress hidden behind boxes. Some lifers were so drunk driving forklifts they puked and passed out in it. Amazing.

[mtlouie]

There's some pretty good tinfoil on what a captive audience postal employees are for gov experiments.  You know....going postal and all that.

[mtlouie]

There's some pretty good tinfoil on what a captive audience postal employees are for gov experiments.  You know....going postal and all that.

[Midatlantic]

I don't understand your disdain for capitalism Mtlouie.  What system would you replace it with?  Any way of life is frought with difficulties and suffering, because there are bastards among us who will make it that way, whether you have anarchy, communism, socialism, any damn system.  You know that. 

[mtlouie]

I don't understand your disdain for capitalism Mtlouie.  What system would you replace it with?  Any way of life is frought with difficulties and suffering, because there are bastards among us who will make it that way, whether you have anarchy, communism, socialism, any damn system.  You know that. 

You're joking, right?  I mean, you are on a PO site.  We didn't get to this point by living in communes.

It's the -isms that cause us problems, that's my point.  Religious or otherwise.  I just like to imagine a different future.

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wicked men will do the most wicked things for the greatest good of everyone."  John Maynard Keynes

I can't understand why people want to cling to their chains, but that's just me.

[Ming]

A couple of puzzeling things about this story.

First, the postal workers I know get their health benefits from work BUT THEY PAY FOR IT THEMSELVES.  The only benefit is being in a big plan and getting better rates, but not that great.

Maybe older retirees had it in their agreement that they get health benefits, but again I have to ask why?  There is medicare and then maybe you would want a supplemental policy.

If I remember the USPS has been in the red for many years a LOT of $.  Why pay with IOUs now?

I say they should close up just like any other company would have to if they were failing.

[Midatlantic]

They'll just print/electronically create the money needed for the postal service.  No worries, except inflation once the money starts to hit the streets.

[Ming]

Article about last year's budget deficit.

By cutting back on spending the post office had a net operating income of $2.7 billion in 2008, but still ended up in the red because of the requirement for a $5.6 billion payment to a health benefit fund for retirees.

Even so, the $2.8 billion loss was well short of last year's $5.1 billion postal deficit

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/13/us-post-office-28-billion_n_143651.html


There was $2.8 billion loss for 2008
There was $5.1 billion loss for 2007

You can go back to 2001 and see losses.  I'm not sure they ever showed a profit.

Should have closed down long ago.

[Grower]

I'm trying to imagine a privatized postal service. Mail twice a week. No mail pick-ups from homes, must visit postal center. $50 a month fee residential. $200 and up commercial. $1.00 stamps (and up). Extra charge for anything not a standard 1 oz. envelop. Packages left at the roadside mailbox, no porch delivery.

If you ask me, I like the PO not making a lot of money when it's not ME making up the difference.

[Bill Hicks]

I'm trying to imagine a privatized postal service. Mail twice a week. No mail pick-ups from homes, must visit postal center. $50 a month fee residential. $200 and up commercial. $1.00 stamps (and up). Extra charge for anything not a standard 1 oz. envelop. Packages left at the roadside mailbox, no porch delivery.

If you ask me, I like the PO not making a lot of money when it's not ME making up the difference.

Agreed - for all the crap we give the Post Office, and some of it IS legitimate (we have a carrier who can't speak English and often delivers mail to the wrong house) it IS very much a bargain.

The founders knew that regular mail service would help unify the country.  When it goes away due to Peak Oil, the U.S. as a nation-state will likely go with it.  That's one thing the sci-fi novel The Postman got right. 

[Ming]

Another "Too Big To Let Fail" entity.