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Art Sackler of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service on the solution to the money problem at the USPS.
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Some big changes coming to your mailbox the US Postal Service announcing Saturday mail delivery -- and in August.
Packages available continued to be delivered on Saturdays and post offices -- open on Saturday will continue to be open on Saturday as well.
The hope is that these changes will -- two billion dollars a year are.
But what about those companies who depend on sixty -- week delivery art sackler is the coordinator of the coalition.
For -- 21 century Postal Service and I are members are pretty evenly split on whether this is a good idea or not what are they telling you.
They are indeed Melissa some of them.
Are willing to tolerate.
The changes in the interest of trying to save the postal service -- money and save the system and others.
Absolutely depend on the Postal Service delivery on Saturday for their business plans and business survival so -- they do so we have a clear -- Well if the Postal Service does in fact.
Is allowed in fact to cancel Saturday deliveries.
What they're telling us is a fair number of safe small newspapers will go out of business other small newspapers will.
Leave and go to competitors of the Postal Service or find their own way.
Of delivery.
There are other industries that care about it some of the financial institutions there's went to.
Some of them depend on remittance processing through the weekend -- including.
I don't know the answer -- here because the post office is losing 25 million dollars a day mean they're hemorrhaging -- of their losses for last year were triple what the losses work for the year before.
Mean maybe -- this really need to raise prices a lot of your customers are are your members pardon me.
Send step out at this snail mail rate -- that's just too cheap and they need to dramatically raise their prices to cover costs.
Well what will have.
And then Melissa is that because.
The entire system now is fully competitive including first class you'll drive a huge amount of additional business onto the Internet and into the arms but I competitor meet.
Maybe that's what needs to happen right now because -- way they're doing it is an economical I mean there obviously.
Not charge it they're charging a rate that's below what it's costing them so we can't go on no matter how you slice it either need to raise prices in those who can afford it will do something else.
Or what else what's the other solution well.
-- the underlying reason here is a combination of the cultural shift from paper to electronic communications right mind with the left over impact of the recession.
Mailers are already.
Diverting a lot of mail from the system if you're gonna continue to have a postal system.
That serves the country as a whole you have to retain.
That business and in fact the first.
Let you pay for their -- -- how do you do this -- what's the solution to the money problem.
Okay that the big thing that has to happen here is congress has to act.
Both they're both houses.
Had.
A lot of progress made last year but they ran out but I do what would you like -- -- -- them do I mean you wanna see them actually what could they do to make this more profitable it seems like at the post office problem -- -- they need to figure out how to make this business profitable.
Well first of all.
They are -- that they the Postal Service are saddled with these huge payments for pre funding their retiree health benefits that's five and a half billion dollars a year.
That's a big part of what their loss yes.
And if congress can find a way to re amortized that over the course of forty years instead of current record is probably why people asking them to not -- a promise they made out in the future and -- not funding your liability is not a solution no problem that's what we've seen -- country.
Maybe you have to cut the benefit down the road and say we're not gonna give you.
What we said we're going to we're not gonna get new employees this benefit but not funding the promises you party made its and -- -- -- just -- about the crisis to another time.
But that's it.
That's a separate question.
Because what we're talking about here is re amortizing.
That payment were not talking about cutting it off.
We're saying paid in over forty years instead of over ten which was just the scoring in quotes convenience for the Congressional Budget Office -- you pay in over forty.
Like a mortgage.
You're gonna ultimately fully fund whatever liability is there and the taxpayers are not gonna be left holding the -- nobody saying don't pay it at all.
Then they're -- they want to check some 80% instead of that a 100% but if you if you stretch out the payment.
I -- -- -- you are putting off the cost you are occurring more interest and you're also saying.
That I mean you still can't afford to run this business at this price that's the bottom line labor costs account war.
80% of what they're spending you've got to cut the labor costs and it doesn't not -- -- liability.
Well it but but nobody is talking about not funding liability they already -- 45 billion dollars in that account they're -- about that one at a lower percentage.
That the they want to find -- an 80% instead of a 100%.
The proposal that congress -- last year that was in the senate bill was simply to amortize the existing obligation.
For forty years okay and that was it -- so that's a lot of money there's been -- payments.
Retiree.
Pension contributions.
If that money were returned to the Postal Service that would help.
Okay -- myself and I thought that's a lot of heated up a lot of hocus -- map as opposed to really attacking the costs that are here are we're out of time we appreciate your -- thanks -- -- -- You're welcome that.
