On Wednesday, April 7, 2015, the United States Postal Service (USPS) unveiled its newest postage stamp, a commemorative tribute to the renowned and beloved poet and writer, Maya Angelou. The celebration attracted First Lady Michelle Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Oprah Winfrey, who is an Angelou mega-fan. Unfortunately, within hours of the stamp’s launch, it was revealed that the quote printed on the stamp was not written by Maya Angelou, but by another writer, Joan Walsh Anglund.
Study: Postal Service Receives $18 Billion Per-Year in Monopoly Benefits
A report by former top Commerce Department official and Clinton economic adviser Robert Shapiro reveals the inherent subsidies and monopoly benefits provided to the United States Postal Service (USPS) result in more than $18 billion in financial competitive advantages per year.
USPS Labor Woes: A Greek Tragedy
In the myth of Sisyphus, the protagonist angers the gods so much that they condemn him to spend eternity fruitlessly rolling a weighty boulder up a steep hill. This turns out to be an apt description of the fate of labor costs at the fiscally stressed United States Postal Service (USPS).
USPS In-APPtitude on Display
Sometimes, when it comes to grAPPling with the overarching, mind-numbing problem of trillions in government waste across all federal agencies, it’s the little vignettes that really illustrate and crystallize the larger story. And so it goes with the newest mis-hAPP unveiled by the United States Postal Service and reviewed by a reporter for Popular Mechanics: […]
Postal Delivery Times for Mail Slip, But Groceries Get Delivered in San Francisco !
Even as the USPS has ramped up a demo project to delivery groceries with Amazon in a few cities and made a deal to deliver some parcels for certain retailers on Sunday, the USPS is scaling back delivery standards for core customers, the folks who pay their bills, first class mail customers. While we support […]
USPS Delivers Groceries: Jack of All Trades, Master of None
The United States Postal Service (USPS) seems to be on a frenzied crusade to delve into new areas of business, even as it is posting billions in quarterly losses and mismanaging its core line of business, delivering first-class mail. Its latest entry into a new market, grocery delivery, ignores the fact that the USPS is […]
Clarity on Costs Essential To Postal Reform
USPS is posting one thing very well; losses. The USPS is hemorrhaging money. It ended its last quarter with a $2 billion net loss, as compared to a $740 million net loss for the same period last year. The revenue that was generated came as a result of a very anemic increase of 0.9 […]
USPS Inspector General’s Foray Earns Ire of Top House Fiscal Watch Dog
“Mr. Williams, I was madder than hell at your proposal. I think the idea that you’re trying to be the chief innovation officer and promoting banking within the [Inspector General’s] office is reprehensible. I am shocked than an Inspector General would go from the waste, fraud, and abuse and inefficiency to promoting a specific agenda, and I’m disappointed.”
Death, Taxes, and Postal Rate Hikes
It seems that, in addition to death and taxes, one more thing is certain: the price rise of postage stamps. My earliest recollection of the price of a stamp? It was in 1972: an 8-cent stamp, providing my first appreciation for Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose visage was pasted to the upper right-hand corner of any […]
To Boldly Go Where No Congress Has Gone Before
The 113th Congress is headed toward a very humble place in the record books by passing the fewest number of bills signed into law since that statistic was first tracked more than 70 years ago. Thus far, the House and Senate have passed only 15 bills, including one all-important piece of legislation that specified “the size of precious-metal blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins.” The current record low of 220 bills was set in the 112th Congress.