A 2007 GAO study looked at the Postal Service’s use of facilities, and concluded that, “A 2005 contractor assessment of 651 randomly selected postal facilities revealed that two- thirds of these facilities were in less than “acceptable” condition, including 22 percent that were rated “poor.” Inspection of one facility in Dallas led the inspector to recommend that the building be immediately evacuated.
The decaying buildings provide a handy visual clue to the quality of service. Unfortunately, we don’t know how bad the service is, because the Postal Service collects data on its own service quality, but it refuses to make the data public. Isn’t it nice that your tax dollars pay for data that you’re not allowed to see?
The Postal Service’s ability to lose mail is, of course, legendary. Here is an example of how bad it has become: last week the American Postal Workers Union had to postpone their national election of officers because so many of the ballots were lost in the mail.
I have two remarks on this.
[blockquote]Unfortunately, we don’t know how bad the service is, because the Postal Service collects data on its own service quality, but it refuses to make the data public. Isn’t it nice that your tax dollars pay for data that you’re not allowed to see?[/blockquote]
How does that not fall under the Freedom of Information Act? Surely this is not a matter of executive privilege or national security. I don’t see why that information is not free to the public, given the federal parameters.
Secondly, I read doom and gloom articles about “crumbling infrastructure” with a grain of salt. I am sure some of the reports are true, but I always remember the Minnesota bridge collapse fiasco a few years back. Everyone, particularly the media, wailed and lamented the “crumbling infrastructure” of the country over and over. The final governmental investigative report on the tragedy came out, and it turned out to [i]shocker[/i] design flaw, i.e. absolutely nothing to do with crumbling infrastructure. It would have collapsed regardless of how much money the government would have spent to keep it up.
That was my first thought too, Archer. Has no one submitted an FoI request? I suppose the writer may simply mean that it’s not publicly available to all and sundry.
This is a prime example of why public employee unions should be illegal. Thankfully, where I live, in Virginia, that is still the case. It doesn’t prevent government waste and fraud completely, but neither does it institutionalize it via campaign contributions from public employee unions.
Actually, your tax dollars, via TARP, were used to prop up public employee jobs, and if you then follow the mandatory union dues to the union coffers and back to the Democratic party hacks, your tax dollars are being used to fund Democratic party campaigns. Nice trick, huh?
The USPS continues to dream of a First-Class rate increase to 50 cents. They were content to ask for 46 cents, now declined.
I assume the extra two to six cents per stamp are intended to cover the costs of [i]STORAGE[/i], because the mail is obviously held for several days in unidentified warehouses.