Thread: Unions Killing U.S. Post Office making it uncompetitive

The Post Office is losing billions a year because unions and politics won’t allow it to make common sense business decisions

Unions Killing U.S. Post Office

By Warner Todd Huston
Saturday, April 17, 2010

Union contracts are killing the U.S. Post Office, making it uncompetitive and driving costs through the roof according to the Government Accountability Office.

The U.S. Post Office lost $12 billion between 2007 and 2009 and has reached its borrowing limit of $15 billion already. On top of that the union pension fund is underfunded. Even as Congress cut benefits by $4 billion the agency faces a $3.8 billion loss.

The GAO report also states that one of the reasons why the Post Office has lost so much cash is because it doesn’t have the freedom to close fiscally inefficient offices. Politicians have stepped in and prevented a logical, financial sensible reassessment of the Post Office’s operations.

But it is union contracts that prevent the proper rearrangement of the work force to reflect the financial situation that faces today’s Post Office.

“Limitations on the workforce mix of full-time and part-time postal employees and workforce flexibility rules contained in contracts with USPS’s unions are key detriments of how postal work is organized and, thus, of its cost,â€

Union contracts are killing the U.S. Post Office, making it uncompetitive and driving costs through the roof according to the Government Accountability Office.

So what else is new. Unions eventually destroy everything they come into contact with....

Actually the post office is more harmed by the promoting of unqualified
people into management jobs. Think of it much like congress.

Unions Making Postal Service Unsustainable, GAO Says

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer


In this Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 file photo, U. S. Post Office letter carrier Tim Bell delivers the mail during a snow storm in Havertown, Pa. The U.S. Postal Service is increasing the pressure for dropping Saturday home delivery as it seeks to fend off massive financial losses. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma, file)


(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Postal Service’s business model is not sustainable, and union-backed generous employee benefits along with collective bargaining contracts are a big part of the problem, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

As mail volume has plummeted by 17 percent – or by 36 billion pieces – in the past three years, collective bargaining contracts have forced the Postal Service to keep full-time employees with full health and retirement benefits and preclude outsourcing of services.

“Limitations on the workforce mix of full-time and part-time postal employees and workforce flexibility rules contained in contracts with USPS’s unions are key detriments of how postal work is organized and, thus, of its cost,â€