Obama goes postal

[Flashy]

surprised nobody here has mentioned this yet...i swear, when this guy does not have his teleprompter, he makes gaffes that would make Bush proud.

for someone as intelligent as he is, who on earth would hold up the US Postal Service as an example for the public health option

“UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.”

President Barack Obama - August 11th, 2009

i think when trying to get your health care proposal some good press and attention, the last thing you would want to do is compare the future government run-health plan to the United States Postal Service, LOL.

considering that the post office is considered "High Risk" by the Government Accounting Office, that is not really a big positive to show the public as an example of an efficiently run government program

as of this year, the Postal Service is estimating an annual loss of 7 billion, it has a debt of 10 billion as well and is only able to stay in business by shell shifting its prices and with government subsidy.

frightening how bad it is, when it has the monopoly on first class mail. It still cannot run efficiently. It loses money on all its "efficient" services like overnight and next day air, so it *LOWERS* its prices on those, and RAISES the price of stamps.

you cannot find a better program for demonstrating government inefficiency than the USPS...

way to go Mr. President.

next he'll compare the government health option to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

i swear, for someone as intelligent as he is, he is remarkably dumb when speaking off the cuff on important issues.

i think the guy must be deliberately trying to kill his plan if he is trying to reassure people by bringing up the US Postal Service.

 

[B_New End]

That was on The Daily Show a week ago.

 

[Flashy]

That was on The Daily Show a week ago.

I don't watch the daily show

 

[B_VinylBoy]

In all honesty, Flashy, I have much better luck with the delivery of important mail and packages using the regular Postal service than with UPS or Fedex. The problem is, UPS & Fedex advertise a hell of a lot more. Because of that, they get more of the business.

Our regular postal service isn't without flaws... I mean, the lines can get extremely long and they do have some backwards rules in pertaining to packaging and sending mail. But overall, I would put them over some of the premium services any day.

 

[B_New End]

I don't watch the daily show

Yes, and your mocking is a week late. Good sleuthing, jack.

 

[tripod]

i swear, for someone as intelligent as he is, he is remarkably dumb when speaking off the cuff on important issues.

I highly agree and wince whenever I hear his voice crack or hear him stutter... his townhall meetings have been pure crap.

As usual, the rhetoric coming from the right is waaay stronger than the rhetoric coming from the left.

I wanna grab Obama, shake him good and then slap the shit out of him for being such an incoherent pussy.

 

[MovingForward]

I highly agree and wince whenever I hear his voice crack or hear him stutter... his townhall meetings have been pure crap.

As usual, the rhetoric coming from the right is waaay stronger than the rhetoric coming from the left.

I wanna grab Obama, shake him good and then slap the shit out of him for being such an incoherent pussy.

I disagree, I look at him attempting to change the country and having these town halls, and then I think to myself. Can I imagine George Bush holding these same town halls. NO!

I would rather have my president try something, then do nothing

 

[B_New End]

I disagree, I look at him attempting to change the country and having these town halls, and then I think to myself. Can I imagine George Bush holding these same town halls. NO!

I would rather have my president try something, then do nothing

I can agree to that. The whole Bush administration either never talked to the press, or couldn't recall.

 

[D_Causlay Chilidick]

I disagree, I look at him attempting to change the country and having these town halls, and then I think to myself. Can I imagine George Bush holding these same town halls. NO!

I would rather have my president try something, then do nothing

I know it is from 2002, but it does show that the protests existed then as well.

Analysis: Press Largely Ignored Incendiary Rhetoric at Bush Protest - Political News - FOXNews.com

 

[Flashy]

In all honesty, Flashy, I have much better luck with the delivery of important mail and packages using the regular Postal service than with UPS or Fedex. The problem is, UPS & Fedex advertise a hell of a lot more. Because of that, they get more of the business.

Our regular postal service isn't without flaws... I mean, the lines can get extremely long and they do have some backwards rules in pertaining to packaging and sending mail. But overall, I would put them over some of the premium services any day.

well VB, USPS advertises plenty...and do not forget...USPS has a *MONOPOLY*...nobody else in this country is allowed to deliver first class mail.

also, do not forget, that the USPS is the 2nd largest employer in our fine land, behind only the Department of Defense, with 700,000 people

the problem with the USPS, is 80% of their costs are dedicated to salaries.

we are living in a time when there is less mail being delivered and less stampts being bought because of the shift towards paying bills and corresponding online.

the post office has not kept up (predictably)

10 years ago fully 80%+ of US households paid bills through the mail. now, only 56% (and dropping) do. Admail has fallen 20% in little over a year...and actual letter correspondence represents only 6% of USPS volume (remember when we actually used to write letters??!?!?!?!?! can't remember the last time i did that)

as for the advertising:

the USPS annual advertising budget for 2009 is roughly 103 million dollars
FedEx advertising and marketing budget was 100 million in 2008.


the USPS is in huge trouble at the moment.

 

[Flashy]

Yes, and your mocking is a week late. Good sleuthing, jack.

it is not mocking, it is making a point.

and considering your history of nasty uselessness on this board, not to mention your most recent idiocy, you are in no position to criticize.

so keep up the good work, felon.

 

[2322]

The USPS also has some very unusual circumstances. They have to maintain unprofitable offices in rural locations all over the country and perform rural mail delivery at great labor cost. Even if only 3 households on a road receive any kind of mail on one day, that 20 mile to-and-from route will destroy any profit from postage paid in delivering that mail simply on labor cost to say nothing of vehicle costs. Labor is expensive for them because they need to hire so many people to cover every single road every single operating day whether there's mail to deliver or not.

FedEx and the rest don't have to do that. They use their trucks as mobile offices, picking-up and delivering only when necessary and they can charge for that delivery based upon distance. USPS can't do that. Whether it's a 20 cent postcard or an insured priority parcel paying top rate, a USPS truck still has to roll to get that piece of mail delivered. Even if there is no mail to be delivered, the carriers still have to run their routes to collect mail.

USPS operates on the principle that mail has to be accessible to everyone and at reasonable costs. FedEx and the rest don't have those principles because they're not profitable.

 

[tripod]

it is not mocking, it is making a point.

and considering your history of nasty uselessness on this board, not to mention your most recent idiocy, you are in no position to criticize.

so keep up the good work, felon.

Holy shit Flashy, what was with all of the fucking venom? I read New End's post and it didn't contain anywhere near the amount of venom that you just spit out... why do you have to be so damn mean and spiteful?

 

[mynameisnobody]

I would rather have my president try something, then do nothing

The entire tripartite structure of the federal government is designed specifically to minimize this. Trying "something," no matter how unwise, dangerous, or expensive, is not government, it's mere petulance.

It does, of course, appeal to those whose first reaction to every event is "why doesn't somebody do something!" And it appeals to younger voters, who don't realize that most of those "somethings" have already been tried in the past, with poor results (else they would not have been merely "tried," they would have been made permanent).

 

[Flashy]

The USPS also has some very unusual circumstances. They have to maintain unprofitable offices in rural locations all over the country and perform rural mail delivery at great labor cost. Even if only 3 households on a road receive any kind of mail on one day, that 20 mile to-and-from route will destroy any profit from postage paid in delivering that mail simply on labor cost to say nothing of vehicle costs. Labor is expensive for them because they need to hire so many people to cover every single road every single operating day whether there's mail to deliver or not.

FedEx and the rest don't have to do that. They use their trucks as mobile offices, picking-up and delivering only when necessary and they can charge for that delivery based upon distance. USPS can't do that. Whether it's a 20 cent postcard or an insured priority parcel paying top rate, a USPS truck still has to roll to get that piece of mail delivered. Even if there is no mail to be delivered, the carriers still have to run their routes to collect mail.

USPS operates on the principle that mail has to be accessible to everyone and at reasonable costs. FedEx and the rest don't have those principles because they're not profitable.

true, Jas.

but also the resistance of the USPS to change is part of the problem...34,000+ locations, many that are only half staffed is a tremendous strain...but the problem is still, at the most basic levels, the massive cost of employment and benefits to those employed by the USPS.

there have been plans on the works to close 700 of the facilities that you spoke about...but even that would only have a very marginal impact on the costs associated with running the operations of the USPS.

there are four unions that all have their contracts up for negotiation in 2010 and 2011.

it will be interesting to see what happens, but something must change.

 

[Flashy]

The entire tripartite structure of the federal government is designed specifically to minimize this. Trying "something," no matter how unwise, dangerous, or expensive, is not government, it's mere petulance.

It does, of course, appeal to those whose first reaction to every event is "why doesn't somebody do something!" And it appeals to younger voters, who don't realize that most of those "somethings" have already been tried in the past, with poor results (else they would not have been merely "tried," they would have been made permanent).

very well said.

 

[B_New End]

Holy shit Flashy, what was with all of the fucking venom? I read New End's post and it didn't contain anywhere near the amount of venom that you just spit out... why do you have to be so damn mean and spiteful?

I hate Flashy, he hates me. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Flashy]

Holy shit Flashy, what was with all of the fucking venom? I read New End's post and it didn't contain anywhere near the amount of venom that you just spit out... why do you have to be so damn mean and spiteful?

why don't you mind your own business?

he is in fact a felon.

if he chooses to insult me, he should expect the same in return.

he was nasty and venomous towards Vinyl Boy and others in his most recent screed in another thread.

i would suggest you read his other remarks and once again, mind your own business.

i find it telling you did not critique the illustrious felon for his venomous posts in the Obama thread he is currently shrieking in.

and you should not be accusing anyone of being "mean and spiteful" considering your track record...

this plum a few posts ago is a perfect example of your style of kindness

"Americans are fucking retarded"

 

[HazelGod]

In all fairness, it was an off-the-cuff analogy presented to address the general concern that private entities cannot compete in a market where the government is also a service provider. To that end, it serves quite well.

It was not intended as an assertion that USPS itself is a perfect (nor perfectly run) organization, nor that it is a model of any proposed government operation in health insurance.

 

[Flashy]

In all fairness, it was an off-the-cuff analogy presented to address the general concern that private entities cannot compete in a market where the government is also a service provider. To that end, it serves quite well.

It was not intended as an assertion that USPS itself is a perfect (nor perfectly run) organization, nor that it is a model of any proposed government operation in health insurance.

true HG, but, in fact they cannot compete with an efficient, government supported program. the USPS is not a government supported program that is efficient.

so there are only two outcomes:

1. A super efficient public organization, that would in fact have a very distinct advantage over private companies in competition.

or

2. A government public organization, mired in inefficiency, incompetence, red tape and debt/losses.

neither is very appealing, and considering the track record of our government, which is the more logical result?

the creation of a super-efficient, incredibly competent, highly functional system run by a government agency...

or

the creation of a super-bloated, totally incompetent, bureaucratic, perpetually failing, systemic horror show agency controlling 17% of the US economy?

if this was all about creating a Federal Department of Prairie Dog Militancy Control, that would only be in charge of making sure that prairie dogs could not get their hands on assault weapons, and we could spend 1 million dollars a year on it and restrict it to solely the historically militant prairie dog regions of South Dakota, i would be less worried about it...

but when it involves 17% of our nation's economy, i am decidedly more fearful to allowing the government to get in there and meddle.

as Reagan once said (one of his finer moments) The scariest words in the English language are "Hello, I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help."