Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by jasonjayr on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:04PM
(#50432113)
Don't forget, pre-fund pension accounts for future 'yet-to-be-hired' employees.
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by ThinkingGuy on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:13PM
(#50432243)
Wasn't that requirement finally repealed recently?
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by xp84 on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:34PM
(#50432526)
Oh, wow. Apparently it was! https://www.uspsoig.gov/focus-areas/did-you-know/what-did-po...
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by kulahan on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:04PM
(#50432116)
Don’t forget about their needs to fund retirement for 75 years.
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by pwg on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:44PM
(#50432679)
> I assume this is there because their unions would strike
If postal employees are federal GS employees, they are not legally allowed to strike:
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by eks391 on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:56PM
(#50432828)
Exactly. Therefore "Have postal employees still be federal employees [...] because their unions would strike [...]" can be translated to "If we allow them to strike (by them not being federal employees), then they will strike".
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by aners_xyz on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @08:12AM
(#50439833)
Why shouldn’t they be federal employees?
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by xp84 on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @07:35PM
(#50461226)
I mean, I don't care what they are personally. But with making the USPS self-sufficient and not requiring infusions from the taxpayer being a goal that has been pursued and achieved, you could construct a world where the USPS simply IPOs, or its ownership tranferred to a weighted consortium of all 50 states or something, and a change in ownership like that would render those postal employees not federal employees anymore. So it was more that "keeping them federal employees" places some constraints on what we can do with USPS.
1. Mandate universal delivery of letters regardless of distance or remoteness, even out in some wilderness region of Alaska, guarantee everyone the right to get a letter for the same stamp price as to deliver a letter from one office in the Chrysler Building to another one.
2. Have USPS not get taxpayer funds for anything
3. Impose arbitrary price controls on postage based on Congressional vibes
4. Have postal employees still be federal employees and qualify for cushy benefits and retirement (I assume this is there because their unions would strike if it was taken away)
5. Micromanage how that retirement plan is funded
6. Give USPS special privileges like the one being discussed... or like the basic monopoly on 'delivering non-urgent letters' that bars UPS from delivering mail into your mailbox.
If all the above sound extremely confused, that's because the USPS has been the object of political meddling for at least 5-6 decades, so it still shows the fingerprints of many ideologically-conflicting schemes and agendas all at once.