...or Townhall or from any of the cut-and-paste journalists at the various conservative online outlets.
The USPS announced a $1.2 billion operating profit for fiscal year 2015 that ended in Sept of this year. This makes three consecutive years with an operating profit and the second straight where that profit exceed $1 billion.
This despite our so-called obsolete business model. It is projected that the USPS will have delivered 15.5 billion pieces of mail in FY 2015, of which 600 million pieces will be parcels -- a 10.5% increase over last year's volume.
Once again, it is important to point out here that the USPS's financial problems stemmed almost entirely from the 2006 Congressional decision to force the USPS by law to fund future retiree health benefits 75 years into the future. Something no other public or private business in the country is required to do. As I have said in countless comments sections -- hang that $5.5 billion pre-pay on FedEx or UPS and let's see how skippy they are.
There are a couple of factors driving the upturn in profits at the Post Office. One is that upper management has mistakenly assumed that the decline in letter volume is a straight line and would not plateau. This is a bit ignorant and as any reasonable person would conclude, there would be a point where it would level off. The assumption that letter volume would decline to an eventual zero is simply ridiculous. So those projections were bound to not come true.
Also, as correctly projected by yours truly (and roundly ignored as I usually find myself) there has been an increase in catalog mailings as online stores vie for your business. With the proliferation of ad-blocking software, the only sure way to get news of your business into a consumer's hands is to send them a catalog. They can't block that. And if you create an eye-catching mailing, you can get some business. As I pointed out repeatedly -- people may buy from Victoria's Secret online, but they shop those catalogs. Studies have shown that direct mail advertising is still the best value in the industry. And businesses are taking advantage of that this year in a big way. My mailbox at home is packed every day. Isn't yours?
And finally, despite the totally inaccurate statements to the contrary, the PO has been downsizing and reducing the number of full-time employees. CCA's and PSC's take the place of the PTF's of old and work for a fraction of the pay rate that PTF's earned in the old days. It's a bit harsh and the CCA's quit in droves, but it makes good business sense. So there ya go.
So we're keeping Saturday delivery. We're doing Amazon parcels on Sunday because UPS can't afford to. We still do door-to-door delivery (unlike Canada, which may be changing its mind on that), and we're making money.
What's so obsolete about that?
Speaking of business models . . . I've never quite understood how models like Nikki Sims and Jordan Carver stay in business. After a few years of the big tease, paying customers should be realizing they're never going to get to see these gals in all their unexpurgated glory. But they keep on keepin' on. Case in point:
That's about the closest I've seen from Nikki. Guess it's a point of principle or something. She can always answer with a straight face "No, I never did nudity" when years from now someone asks about her internet modeling days.
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