Postal Service Losing $25m A Day
Is this any way to run a business? Officials at the United States Postal Service report that the business of delivering the mail is costing them a loss of $25 million daily.
The Postal Service had high hopes of saving at least $2 billion annually by eliminating mail delivery service on Saturday, but that effort was blocked by the U.S. Congress who has control over how the Postal Service operates and refused to approve the change in service to five days a week.
There may still be some glimmer of hope for curtailing its massive financial losses as some Senators in Congress believe that the Postal Service would be legally able to curtail some of its delivery services on Saturdays without totally eliminating Saturday service. The Post Office may be allowed to alter what kinds of deliveries it makes on Saturdays, such as continuing with package delivery and essential deliveries such as pharmaceutical drugs but eliminating the delivery of first class mail and magazines.
Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn and California Representative Darryl Issa are behind the effort to help modify the current six day work week to allow the Postal Service to save money. Most U.S. citizens are in favor of a shorter mail delivery week.
In American urban dialect, a “bag boy” is the person who makes an illegal drug delivery. The vernacular derives its etymology from the common method of concealment: a paper bag. Now who would’ve thought of the venerable delivery company UPS as performing any similar role, but that is exactly what a Justice Department criminal probe was investigating.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced that it had reached a deal with UPS whereby the delivery company would cease making deliveries of drugs from illegal online pharmacies.
UPS also agreed to pay a $40 million fine; the sanction represents the estimated amount of profit UPS is believed to have made from the “bag boy” errands. In addition, UPS will devise and take proactive measures to refuse business from known dealers of illegal drugs.
“We believe we have an obligation and responsibility to help curb the sale and shipment of drugs sold through illegal Internet pharmacies,” UPS spokesman Bill Tanner said. “UPS will pay a $40 million penalty and has agreed to enhance its compliance policies with respect to Internet pharmacy shippers.”
The deal both ends the criminal probe and leaves UPS without any formal charges from the investigation. It should be noted that FEDEX is also currently undergoing a similar criminal probe.
UPS also issued a public statement declaring that they have “an obligation and responsibility to help curb the sale and shipment of drugs sold through illegal Internet pharmacies”. UPS also affirmed that its employees always acted in “good faith”.
Source:
Losing $25M a day? Congress shrugs off USPS losses
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0418/Losing-25M-a-day-Congress-shrugs-off-USPS-losses
