Money for anything but the U.S. Postal Service
By Frank St. John
On Friday, Aug. 24, supervisors at the Odd Fellows Road Mail Processing Facility in Lynchburg received notice that their jobs would be eliminated by March 8, effectively sending notice to all employees at that plant that the era of processing mail there has come to an end.
Some mail has already been siphoned to Roanoke and, if everything goes as planned, Roanoke processing will be moved to Greensboro, N.C., in early 2014. Again, that is the plan, according to postal management. The same thing is taking place around the country.
You, the citizens and taxpayers of this country, should be reminded that the United States Postal Service is a service to all of you, and it costs you, the taxpayers, nothing except the stamps or services you choose to purchase.
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St. John lives in Bedford.
November 24, 2012 - 8:00 AM
Frank St. John is making a very VALID point in his commentary! As a former Supervisor in the Postal Service I have watched upper level management make cuts in the necessary services letter carriers and mail handlers provide to get the mail delivered; yet, I haven’t seen the first indication that members of upper level management are making any cuts to their positions! Folks, 39 members of upper management are making more in salaries that members of the U.S. Congress!! When does this insanity stop and when do members of the Congress step in? They are the only ones who can intrude into the Postal Services’ autonomy, the PO answers to no one and that is a major part of the problem.
The deliberate ‘monkey on the back’ of the Post Office is unconscionable in a democratic republic. Congress went too far and America should care. Funny how some mandates bother people and some do not. I do not blame Congress for not wanting to have to cover pensions and health care benefits the Post Office may not be able to cover, but making sure they cannot cover them is not a good answer.
No doubt the bureaucracy of the Post Office has created an imbalance in who suffers, sacrifices, or loses. That is the nature of a bureaucracy and a free market.