Postal Service troubles

I recently retired from the post office after 20 years as a letter carrier. I hate to see the Postal Service going through such a massive upheaval, and I am concerned about fellow employees losing their jobs and security (8/17, A1, “Pushed to brink, U.S. mail continues cutbacks; The Postal Service faces a loss of $7 billion and may raise rates or cut delivery to five days”). Something must be done to save the Postal Service and its many hardworking employees.

Here is one suggestion. Why doesn’t President Obama write a $7 billion check to the post office and call it even? He gave General Motors $60 billion, and banks and insurance companies hundreds of billions of dollars. So $7 billion is a paltry sum or, as they say on the street, chump change.

Have you heard the infamous words “too big to fail?” It applies here.

John Dodsom
Kansas City

Every day my mailbox is stuffed with junk mail, unsolicited catalogs and requests from charities, businesses and political parties. Most days 80 percent of my mail ends up in the recycled paper sack. I assume every home has this same experience.

It’s a shame the U.S. Postal Service has to handle such a volume of material at such a reduced rate. If bulk mailing rates reflected the true cost to the U.S. Postal Service, maybe they could be more profitable. Higher bulk rates might even reduce the volume of junk mail and lighten the load for the poor mail carriers.

Charlotte Robinson
Raytown

Comments

[MAIL CARRIER]

I WORK AT THE POST OFFICE. I SEE WASTE EVERYWHERE, MOST CAUSED BY MANAGEMENT. THEY HAVE JUST REDONE THE ROUTES AT MY STATION. ITS A NIGHTMARE. MY ROUTE IS NOW 10 HOURS LONG AND THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE ME DO IT IN 8. I HAVE BEEN HURT 4 TIMES IN 8 YEARS AND THEY HAVE ONLY PAID FOR ONE OF THE INJURIES. MOST OF OUR UPPER MANAGEMENT HAS NEVER CARRIED MAIL. MAKE ALL THE ROUTES 8 HOURS LONG. THE POST OFFICE WINS, THE EMPLOYEES WIN, AND THE CUSTOMERS SURELY WIN. WHY PAY PEOPLE OVERTIME HOURS TO DO THE SAME WORK? IT KILLS ME WHEN I FINISH MY ROUTE AND HAVE TO GO DO PART OF ANOTHER ONE. I CAN'T EVEN GO HOME. I HAVE GIVEN 8 YEARS TO THE PO AND DON'T KNOW IF I'LL HAVE A JOB TOMORROW. THEY ARE DOING EVERYTHING BACKWARDS. IF YOU GIVE THEM MONEY WITH THE SAME MANAGEMENT, YOU WILL SEE THE SAME PROBLEMS COME BACK LATER.