host: patrick donahoe is our guest. rock hill, maryland, ben. caller: i live near several post offices. they are never open before business hours. they want to get their mail before business hours, not after. every morning, there's always a line. i cannot take an hour or two hours set aside to go to the post office. maybe -- what can we do as far as our availability? a carrier who goes out and delivers, i bet they have lower health insurance cost than someone who works in an office all day. thank you. guest: we appreciate your business. i'll look into the rockville hours. you may want to consider if your mailing packages usps.com, you can request a free carry a pickup. they will pick your mail at your business. we will look at that. we have changed hours in many cases. people have been asking about additional hours on the weekend. we pay uniform health care cost. we have never seen any real difference between people who work in the office verses out in the street. it would be harder to manage health-care payments based on the person's job. every

host: patrick donahoe is the postmaster general of the united states. donald works for the post office in massachusetts. caller: i retired as a letter carrier. i was also a clerk. i have an observation. the post office seems to be top- heavy with supervisors. most of them take the job because they don't want to get dirty or sweat. they perform no useful function as far as i can saee. these people can be used in other areas that involve work. to follow people around with a stopwatch is just a form of harassment. host: mr. donahoe. guest: donald, thank you for your service. we have management like any other business. you can take a look over the past few years. we he reduced the headcount by 250,000 people. 250,000 people. we have reducedanagement by 20,000 people. 10% of the total. you have to have people to take care of things like purchasing. you have to have people that take care of payroll. a substantial portion of management does that. from a standpoint of making sure that things run correctly, you have to have people to do that. i appreciate donald

host: patrick donahoe is our guest. rock hill, maryland, ben. caller: i live near several post offices. they are never open before business hours. they want to get their mail before business hours, not after. every morning, there's always a line. i cannot take an hour or two hours set aside to go to the post office. maybe -- what can we do as far as our availability? a carrier who goes out and delivers, i bet they have lower health insurance cost than someone who works in an office all day. thank you. guest: we appreciate your business. i'll look into the rockville hours. you may want to consider if your mailing packages usps.com, you can request a free carry a pickup. they will pick your mail at your business. we will look at that. we have changed hours in many cases. people have been asking about additional hours on the weekend. we pay uniform health care cost. we have never seen any real difference between people who work in the office verses out in the street. it would be harder to manage health-care payments based on the person's job. every

postmaster general patrick donahoe confirmed it today, in the face of mounting losses. he said the agency also wants to quit the federal health and retirement systems and provide benefits itself, at lower cost. congress would have to let the postal service break its labor contracts to make the changes. donahoe said he hopes that can happen by the end of september. crowds across syria stepped up their defiance today in the face of a growing military crackdown. in some cities, protesters shouted for the death of president bashar assad. activists said assad's soldiers shot and killed at least 14 demonstrators. we have a report narrated by john ray of independent television news. >> reporter: after friday prayers, in their thousands, they filled the streets once again. five months on, these demonstrators seem as determined and as defiant as ever, despite the all-too-obvious dangers. there was panic in this suburb of the capital. one witness has told itv news they were shot at by snipers who claimed security forces threw what he called a nail bomb. there is no way to verify

host: patrick donahoe has been with the post office all of your career. guest: i was an afternoon clerk and was going to schl in the morninat the university o pittsburgh and a worked after school for the first few years until i graduated. host: he has been the seventh 73rd post -- office in general. guest: you compete for the job, you were appointed to the job. i served at the pleasure. host: new york city, ken. caller: good morning. i live in a large city which could be any large city. there are these derelicts who are picking up trash, some put their containers in canisters. it says on the side, property of u.s. post office. how much they cost and why nobody doesn't do ything about this tremendous waste. my second question -- the same with the little plastic grip buckets. sanitation picks them up and disintegtes themn the back of the trucks. in this day and age of electronic communication and all kinds of gadgets, why is the that will go to track, you have no communication with the driver? you would not have to attract if a package did not take five day

on the "washington journal," patrick donahoe. we will talk to michael hirsch about a federal job-training programs. it begins live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> this week and nonbook tv, it's frederick olmstead is remembered for designing the central part. but justin martin looks at his life as a journalist and abolitionist. we stopped by a large party for latest.liams' pirating in the 21st century is with night vision goggles and gps units. we take you inside the pirates of somalia. sign up for a book and tv alerts. >> the u.s. announced a new round of sanctions against syria and response to the violent crackdown on protesters and the nuclear proffer -- a proliferation activities. here is victoria . >> should the president stepped down? >> let me say the focus of our activity, as you know, based on the meetings can and numerous phone calls with the foreign minister is to continue to sanction the international correspondence regarding the a solder bridging. i think that this community of countries willing to call assyria out