I think this is the beginning of the end. QB
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the closing of 223 plants nationwide will impact 35,000 jobs.
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. Postal Service announced on Thursday new plans to consolidate or close 223 mail processing plants, putting 35,000 jobs at stake starting in late May or June.
The processing plant consolidations would save $2.1 billion and are a part of the agency's broader effort to save $20 billion in the next three years. The Postal Service is in debt due to declining first-class mail volumesand a congressional mandate to prefund retirement health care benefits.
The agency was reaching out to impacted employees on Wednesday, officials said. Not all impacted workers will lose their jobs. Many will be offered jobs at other processing plants miles away or even in other states. Some will be urged to retire.
"This is an important part of the network consolidation," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview with CNNMoney. "Some employees will retire. A mail clerk may want to become a letter carrier. . .We know how to move people and find landing spots."
The plant consolidations are the latest in an array of controversial cost-cutting measures under consideration at the Postal Service including: Slashing Saturday service,delaying delivery of some first-class mail, closing post offices and hiking the price of a first-class stamp by a nickel to 50 cents.
The Postal Service says that, if nothing is done, it faces $18 billion in losses by 2015.
The Postal Service can't close anything until May 15, after the moratorium on closures ends. The agency originally agreed to the moratorium to give lawmakers time to pass legislation to save the agency. But so far, those efforts have been slow going.
Donahoe said he would like to complete most of the consolidations, including job cuts and changes to 30,000 full-time positions and 5,000 non-career employees, by Oct. 1.
Nearly every state is impacted and would lose a mail processing plant, according to the Postal Service list, which includes 14 in California, 12 in New York and 9 in Illinois.
Mail processing plants closures can yield a particularly devastating toll on communities. A plant in Tulsa, Okla., slated to be consolidated, employs nearly 600 employees.
Just thought I would toss this in as the competition is heating up. QB
Mossberg: Dell's XPS 13 Is a Well-Built Ultrabook 2/22/2012 9:00:00 PM
Many PC makers have come out with ultra-light laptops, like Apple's Macbook Air and others. Now Dell is joining the field with its first ultrabook, the XPS 13, which starts at $999. Personal Technology columnist Walt Mossberg finds there's a lot to like, but poor battery life may be a deal-breaker for some.
19 comments:
NHS v Cedars Sinai Hospital
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2105680/This-woman-emergency-op-Americas-hospital-stars-NHS-So-did-best-care.html
I have been to this one
http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/facilities/region/diablo/area_master/departments/walnut_creek/
and I cannot say it looked any better than your average NHS hospital. The only difference being was at a NHS hopsital I do not have to present a credit card to get seen
Queenbee, that photograph of the postmaster should be used in a 'guess the caption' contest.
I'll take the first shot at this:
"If we weren't required to pay the benefits that we promised to our retirees, we would still be solvent."
I'll take the second...
"We are NOT the crooks--but had our government paid attention to technology and its advances in the 60's with the growing rise of FedX, UPS (United Parcel Service), and utilized the rise of the internet, maybe now we'd still be flying high as eagles instead of laying about like an overfed turkey."
He is a cave man. Although dinosaurs did not inhabit the planet at the same time, a lot of cavemen were lunch.
Let's don't forget that Romney would be proud of the layoffs and increasing the bottom line.
They really had no choice. Congreff wasn't going to stand for the losses and cuts had to be made. The Post Office was a job many military men came home to after the war and never left. They never moved into the 21st century until it was too late.
Let me fix that for you:
Congreff wasn't going to stand for the losses IN AN ELECTION YEAR.
There, done.
You're welcome.
Thank you Mammoth I don't know what I was thinking. LOL
Well profit taking in the mining sector today as IAG is getting hammered down 7% and my whole Watchlist is pretty much in the red.
Now Mammoth get back to work!
Also the post office worker union could go on strike and no one would care. A lot less junk mail in my mailbox. I think too many promises were made to the rank and file along with the retirement benefits as Mammoth mentioned. This was done at all levels of government when money was falling for the sky.
Seems the US Dollar continues it downward slide and PMs take a breather. Happy days though as the Dow is over 13k again.
Wow Mugabe did you call it right on Oil last week or not? Glad I put about 10 miles a week on my car. Oops I might have only gone 5 this week. It is a half mile to the grocery store and a mile to the coin shop and I went to the coin shop twice and the grocery once. 2+2+1=5. I may go to the bank and that is 2 miles so I may put on my average 10 miles a week.
Oil Prices Kick Europe While It's Down
Remember - when Oil rises, you don't just pay extra at the pump. This drives up the cost of everything else.
A point that seems to be missing from 99% of the news articles about the recent oil price increases.
Not investment-related, but then again - what is more valuable to you than the time you spend alive?
A nurse who has comforted the dying during their last days has recordeded the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives.
The top five regrets of the dying:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Linkey: http://tinyurl.com/7ngmgg8
Back to work now. If I am not spending my employer's money, than I am not doing my job.
Thank you for sharing those observations as oil costs do tend to bleed into the cost of everything else. Also the comment made by the dying to the nurse was very poignant.
I am liking NG right now as all the squiggly lines and curvy chart stuff is pointing in a preferable direction. I am also getting a clear buy signal from my new crystal ball I bought yesterday.
In regards to the computer video I was astounded that 5 hours use was poor. I never had a laptop that last more than 2 hours on a good day.
For a couple days there we had miners UP with the general indexes, indeed they rose much more than the general indexes. Today the S&P and TSX were near flat but miners took it in the teeth. This is more than just "risk on", "risk off"...who knows what's going on? We won't know until the general market really tanks some day an we see how the metals perform in that scenario.
Noticed APMEX is selling their 2010 5 oz Silver ATB 5-Coin Sets, graded by PCGS as MS-69 DMPL First Strike for $1,695.
When these came out last year I sold my set - which contained only two MS-69 DMPL coins - for $1,800 three days after receiving it. I am glad that I did not hang onto it.
Those 25th anniversary Silver Eagle sets may also drop in value. Queenbee, I think both of us did well to sell ours while there was still high demand for these.
Kreditanstalt I cannot agree more. Today's action made no sense at all in the mining sector. Perhaps someone with more insight can enlighten me, but this was bizzare. The dow was down .01 and the miners down 1%. IAG finished -8.88% and why? Silver was up and SLW down? I don't know what is going on that is for sure.
Mammoth I am not feeling bad at all selling ASE anniversary set for twice what I bought them for. No regrets either for not sending them to get graded and then find a sap who would pay 1500.00 for them. I am however sitting tight again on buying PMs. I feel a storm is brewing. again just a woman's intuition. Probably just going to rain. FYI 91F today. Maybe the hottest day ever this time of year.
GAW I gotta tell you that "Fred on Everything" has the sarcastic wit that cracks me up. I would laugh so hard at some of his stuff it brought me to tears.
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