Privatization.
They (Republicans, corporations, Wall Street, banksters, et al, AKA motley crew) have been afer the USPS for years.
The USPS existed before the US part did:
The USPS traces its roots to 1775 during the Second Continental Congress, where Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The cabinet-level Post Office Department was created in 1792 from Franklin's operation and transformed into its current form in 1971 under the Postal Reorganization Act.
Furthermore, USPS exists independently of U.S. tax dollar support:
The USPS has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters. Since the 2006 all-time peak mail volume, after which Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, (which mandated $5.5 billion per year to be paid into an account to pre-fund retiree health-care, 75 years into the future, a requirement unique among organizations and businesses in the U.S.), revenue dropped sharply due to recession-influenced declining mail volume, prompting the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to reduce its budget deficit. The USPS lost US$ 5 billion in 2013, and its revenue was US$ 66 billion.
Forcing the USPS to run independently of U.S. tax dollars was the first attempt of the motley crew to take down the post office, under Ronald Reagan, of course. That did not work. The USPS continued to thrive and prosper. That's why it was necessary to ram through the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006, under George W. Bush, of course, causing the USPS to lose millions of dollars in revenues annually.
Nevertheless, the USPS continues to limp along, to the consternation of motley crew. So now, the next onslaught, below the fold ... Staples:
The USPS employs about 626,764 persons, many of them pretty well paid, relatively, because they belong to a very large public union. Horrors!
Soooo:
.... a deal between the Post Office and Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) that was struck late last summer and has so far resulted in the opening of 82 contract postal units in Staples stores around the country. The protests are set to take place Thursday at 56 additional Staples locations that are being added to the program.
The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) represents 200,000 USPS workers, about half the total number of Post Office employees, and their average wage is $25 an hour according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. According to Glassdoor.com, a sales associate’s average salary at Staples is $8.52 an hour, in a range of $7 to $11.
And the question is fervently asked:
Can Staples Break the Postal Service?
Then, there's Staples ... and Mitt Romney:
Romney almost always responds by saying he actually created jobs, and helped start Staples. Did Romney really have a hand in creating an office supply giant?
He did. More accurately, he convinced a bunch of people with a lot of money that Staples' business model would work. He also put in a few shifts at the first store.
Let’s start at the beginning.
In 1984, Romney left consulting firm Bain & Company to co-found their new private equity investment firm, Bain Capital. Not long after, supermarket executive Thomas G. Stemberg approached Bain with an idea. According to Staples company lore, Stemberg was working on a business proposal over a holiday weekend when his printer ribbon broke. "After driving from store to store and not finding the correct ribbon," Staples.com explains, "Tom came to a realization: The world needed a supermarket for office products."
When Stemberg went looking for a venture capital, he got laughed out of offices all over Boston. ... When Stemberg took the idea to Bain, Romney was intrigued, but his colleagues were uneasy. Romney decided to do a little research and the firm began surveying small businesses in the area. .. He took his survey results to his partners and convinced them that Stemberg’s model could work. ... Romney’s role didn’t end there. He was very involved with the first Staples store when it opened. Stemberg was short on hands, so the Bain Capital guys helped out, picking out the computer system and stocking shelves for the first few weeks it was open.
Interesting. Um, is Mitt Romney going to start personally delivering mail to sell the deal?
Oh, and there's that billion dollar fund set aside for retiree health-care, 75 years into the future, a requirement unique among organizations and businesses in the U.S., how much money is now in that fund and ....
Who gets it if the USPS keels over dead?
And there's also another wee little problem:
Staples will close 225 stores in North America by the middle of next year as the office supply retailer tries to trim costs in the face of weaker sales.
The store closings will come to about 12% of its stores in North America. The closings build upon the 40 stores it closed in the region in 2013. Staples said it is aiming to save $500 million annually through the closings and other cost cutting measures.