THE USPS lost $2 billion last year. This year, so far, it has lost $7 billion. The increase in the price of stamp recently to 42 cents will not stop the hemorrhage of cash. The USPS will continue to lose money at an alarming rate in the future. Electronic mail has become the preferred means of communication between humans because not only is there no delay in getting the message to the other side, it’s also free. On the other hand, the cost of mailing out a letter that will get to it’s destination in several days is the cost of an envelope, 42 cents for the stamp, gasoline to get to the post office, depreciation of your car because you use it to get to the post office, and at least half an hour to get to the post office and back to your house. Thus, people now prefer to pay their bills electronically, text their friends, send emails and twitter. All of these activities are being done at the expense of the post office. Communicating by paper and mail is getting less everyday. Think of Kodak film and Polaroid cameras. Once the behemoths of business and industry now obsolete because of digital cameras. An advance in technology, particularly communication technology, has rendered the USPS practically obsolete. There will come a time when people will only mail packages, not letters. The writing is clearly on the wall. Thus, the recent announcement by the General Accounting Office that the USPS is in danger of financial insolvency should not come as a surprise to anybody.
It’s not a good time to the Postmaster General. He had to ask for permission from Congress to stop delivering mail on Saturday to cut costs. US mail volume sank by 13 percent this year, about 20 billion fewer pieces of mail. Unfortunately for the USPS, mail volume will continue to sink until everyone starts using electronic mail to communicate with each other. When this happens, and it surely will, the USPS will be left with mailing packages and doing passport pictures. This is of course, the worst news for the 700,000 employees of the USPS who will have to start thinking of working for UPS and change their uniforms from blue and white to brown, and driving a large parcel truck, instead of a small mail truck. They might do well to start sending their resumes to UPS and Fedex by email now.
A bankruptcy reorganization for the USPS where thousands of post offices will be freed of their lease contracts, collective bargaining agreements voided or drastically amended to conform with the new USPS, and a significant number of employees terminated without separation pays, and perhaps even a doubling of the price of stamps to one dollar or more is in the horizon.
Debtors who are overburdened by accumulated debt would do well to take the cue from GM and Chrysler who were in and out of bankruptcy court in 45 days. Even a formidable virtual monopoly as the USPS will not be able to survive if it continues to have more expenses than income. The USPS is currently losing $1.0 billion a month. Even if it slashes it’s operating expenses to the bare minimum with a machete, it still has to deal with steadily declining revenues as more and more of the public use electronic mail instead of paper and mail. Even Obama may see the futility of giving bail out funds to the USPS. He uses blackberry.
If your monthly expenses are beyond your net income because of accumulated debt and debt service, and large multiple mortgage payments, maybe it’s time you seriously considered a fresh start in life without debt. If GM, Chrysler, and the USPS require bankruptcy relief to emerge as leaner and profitable organizations, you may also require a bankruptcy makeover to become productive again. You will keep most if not all of your assets.
If you need debt relief, contact my office. I will analyze your case personally.
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Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S. Fremont Ave., Bldg. A-1 Suite 1125 Unit 58, Alhambra, CA 91803.
( Published on August 22, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. C4 )
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