Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount
So reads the title of this NY Times story by Steven Greenhouse. The problems of the Postal Service should surprise few: email, electronic bill paying, competition from the package delivery services, the ability to get catalogs via electronic delivery. What caught my attention, however, is some of the proposed solutions to the agency's severe financial problems:
They include eliminating Saturday mail delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — nearly one-fifth of the agency’s work force — despite a no-layoffs clause in the unions’ contracts.
Nice to hear of laying off almost 20% of the agency's workforce - on Labor Day.
But it gets worse.
Labor represents 80 percent of the agency’s expenses, compared with 53 percent at United Parcel
