Another Government Failure: The Postmaster General's Golden Parachute

Update 11/24/2010 via The Washington Times: "Outgoing U.S. Postmaster John E. Potter, who earned nearly a quarter-million dollars in incentive pay in 2010 on top of a $273,000 salary, is telling fellow Postal Service executives that from now on bonuses and salary increases will be tied to the agency's financial condition. Mr. Potter said in a memo obtained by The Washington Times that for fiscal 2011, the Postal Service's board of governors decided that 'all future officer executive pay and incentives will be linked to the Postal Service's financial condition.' . . . It's unclear whether the pay policy will affect top executives who already have employment contracts that include incentive payments. In one recently approved contract with Paul Vogel, the $245,000-per-year president of shipping and mailing services, a provision states that he'll receive, at minimum, a performance incentive of 25 percent of his basic salary at the end of each year. . . ." [No change though for US Postmaster John Portter - he keeps all his $228,000 in incentive bonus for 2010 and $5.5 million in deferred retirement package.]
-----------

Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: Ed O'Keefe, Federal Eye, WPO gives us another reason not to cheer the ineptness of government supported operations. Even Generals who have been in combat in their former careers get the following special treatment. Below is a summary from O'Keeefe's report:

Outgoing Postmaster General' Golden Parachute
Postmaster General John E. Potter could earn about $5.5 million in deferred compensation, retirement benefits and accrued annual leave for the rest of his life when he leaves the U.S. Postal Service next month, according to financial statements.

Potter also is eligible for up to two years of outplacement assistance and may continue receiving health-care insurance from USPS for up to one year after his departure.

Potter's departure package includes payouts from about $1.3 million earned in a special USPS pension benefit established for him from June 2001 to June 2007. He's also accumulated about $3.06 million in benefits through the Civil Service Retirement System. CSRS payments are made annually and Potter's sum is on par with the earnings of other federal employees who've served for more than 30 years, postal officials said.

Potter has also accumulated about $881,500 in deferred performance-based awards he's accumulated with 5 percent annual interest since joining the USPS executive suite in the 1990s. Finally, Potter is due $243,900 in accrued leave time. . . . [Full Story]

O'Keefe's article also pointed out that the government had attempted to compensate the Postmaster General position after consideration of certain of earnings by other business executives like United Parcel Service CEO Michael L. Eskew and FedEx CEO Frederick W. Smith. It seems they forgot that 1) The USPO Master hasn't been held responsible for the operational inefficiency and operating costs for the failing USPO and 2) the position was supposed to be that of a public's servant. If UPS and FedEx operated as poorly as the USPO, both of their executives would have lost their positions or their operations would have ceased to exist and the void filled by new alternative market competitors.

Also, the USPO even has the Federal Government backing up its failures. If it weren't for 3rd class junk mail, non profit bulk mailing, campaign literature, IRS related mail, and celebration cards and gifts mailed for birthdays, mother's day, father's day, Christmas and other special days, the USPO mail delivery would be minimal and a lot of trees would be alive (pandering to the "greenies").

As reported previously, "The federal agency with the largest back-tax bill? The US Postal Service, where hundreds of thousands of employees owed a total of more than $283 million." Maybe it is time! Time for America to make some hard choices and eliminate or severely down size the US Post Office. We can no longer afford the cost of the USPO's inefficient operations. Neither can we afford the USPO's over paid management nor its employees who fail to pay their taxes. Time to place the USPO out for bid or to close its doors and allow the private business, the Internet and technology fill the void.

---

Tags: USPO, United States, Post Office, postmaster general, golden parachute, income, retirement, performance bonuse, inefficient operations, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!