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USPS did it Again
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<blockquote data-quote="Coyote Shadow Tracker" data-source="post: 2973294" data-attributes="member: 116439"><p>[h2]<strong><strong>What are the long-term problems with how the Postal Service is financed?</strong></strong>[/h2]<p>The fundamental problem is that while the USPS generates enough revenue to cover its operating costs, its pension and retiree health care liabilities push its bottom line into the red. The USPS has operated at a loss since 2007. From 2008 to 2018, it reported <a href="https://www.gao.gov/key_issues/us_postal_service_financial_viability/issue_summary#t=0" target="_blank">$69 billion in losses</a>. For the 2019 fiscal year, <a href="https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-usps-reports-fiscal-year-2019-results.htm" target="_blank">it lost $8.8 billion on $71.1 billion of operating revenue</a>.</p><p></p><p>Because of the rise of email and digital communication, USPS has seen the volume of <a href="https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/first-class-mail-since-1926.htm" target="_blank">First-Class Mail decline from a peak of 103.5 billion pieces in 2000 to just shy of 55 billion pieces in 2019</a>. USPS has tried to increase the delivery of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/seeking-revenue-postal-service-plans-to-deliver-more-junk-mail.html" target="_blank">marketing mail</a> and has tried to compete with UPS and FedEx in the parcel delivery sector, including by forging a delivery deal with Amazon. (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/04/is-the-post-office-making-or-losing-money-delivering-amazon-packages/" target="_blank">This has provoked criticism from President Trump</a>.) As of 2017, the USPS held a <a href="https://www.prc.gov/docs/107/107901/Order4963.pdf" target="_blank">market share of over 19 percent</a> in U.S. package delivery. By law, the Postal Service has an obligation to provide universal service—that is, to deliver mail to "<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-84/pdf/STATUTE-84-Pg719.pdf#page=5" target="_blank">as nearly as practicable the entire population of the United States</a>." This <a href="https://about.usps.com/news/testimony/2019/pr19_pmg0430.pdf" target="_blank">forces USPS to deliver to more addresses</a> each year, even as fewer pieces of mail are being delivered.</p><p></p><p>[h2]<strong><strong>What has Congress done to support the Postal Service?</strong></strong>[/h2]<p>In the CARES Act, Congress <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1071#:~:text=Press%20Releases-,Treasury%20and%20United%20States%20Postal%20Service%20Reach,Terms%20of%20CARES%20Act%20Loan&text=The%20CARES%20Act%20authorizes%20the,operating%20expenses%20without%20borrowing%20money." target="_blank">provided a $10 billion emergency loan to the USPS.</a> The loan is sufficient to cover immediate cash needs for the Postal Service, according to the <a href="https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/0807-usps-reports-third-quarter-fiscal-2020-results.htm" target="_blank">agency's 2020Q3 Fiscal Report</a>. The conditions that the Treasury imposed on the loan led the vice chairman of the USPS board, David Williams, a former USPS inspector general, to resign, alleging that the Treasury demands threatened to turn the agency into a "<a href="https://cpc-grijalva.house.gov/uploads/WitnessTestimony_CPC%20Hearing%20USPS%20.pdf" target="_blank">political tool</a>."</p><p></p><p>The loan postpones, rather than solves, the USPS looming liquidity crisis. The House of Representatives passed a bill on August 22 to provide $25 billion in additional government funding to the Postal Service. In addition, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/8015" target="_blank">the bill</a>—which is unlikely to pass the Senate—mandates that the USPS must reverse any policy changes that have led to delays in mail delivery and refrain from any new policies that would reduce its mail delivery performance until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.</p><p></p><p>The LOANS to the USPS are considered to be AID which will not be required to be paid back to Tax Payers per the "CARES ACT".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Coyote Shadow Tracker, post: 2973294, member: 116439"] [H2][B][B]What are the long-term problems with how the Postal Service is financed?[/B][/B][/H2] The fundamental problem is that while the USPS generates enough revenue to cover its operating costs, its pension and retiree health care liabilities push its bottom line into the red. The USPS has operated at a loss since 2007. From 2008 to 2018, it reported [URL='https://www.gao.gov/key_issues/us_postal_service_financial_viability/issue_summary#t=0']$69 billion in losses[/URL]. For the 2019 fiscal year, [URL='https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1114-usps-reports-fiscal-year-2019-results.htm']it lost $8.8 billion on $71.1 billion of operating revenue[/URL]. Because of the rise of email and digital communication, USPS has seen the volume of [URL='https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/first-class-mail-since-1926.htm']First-Class Mail decline from a peak of 103.5 billion pieces in 2000 to just shy of 55 billion pieces in 2019[/URL]. USPS has tried to increase the delivery of [URL='https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/business/seeking-revenue-postal-service-plans-to-deliver-more-junk-mail.html']marketing mail[/URL] and has tried to compete with UPS and FedEx in the parcel delivery sector, including by forging a delivery deal with Amazon. ([URL='https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/04/is-the-post-office-making-or-losing-money-delivering-amazon-packages/']This has provoked criticism from President Trump[/URL].) As of 2017, the USPS held a [URL='https://www.prc.gov/docs/107/107901/Order4963.pdf']market share of over 19 percent[/URL] in U.S. package delivery. By law, the Postal Service has an obligation to provide universal service—that is, to deliver mail to "[URL='https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-84/pdf/STATUTE-84-Pg719.pdf#page=5']as nearly as practicable the entire population of the United States[/URL]." This [URL='https://about.usps.com/news/testimony/2019/pr19_pmg0430.pdf']forces USPS to deliver to more addresses[/URL] each year, even as fewer pieces of mail are being delivered. [H2][B][B]What has Congress done to support the Postal Service?[/B][/B][/H2] In the CARES Act, Congress [URL='https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1071#:~:text=Press%20Releases-,Treasury%20and%20United%20States%20Postal%20Service%20Reach,Terms%20of%20CARES%20Act%20Loan&text=The%20CARES%20Act%20authorizes%20the,operating%20expenses%20without%20borrowing%20money.']provided a $10 billion emergency loan to the USPS.[/URL] The loan is sufficient to cover immediate cash needs for the Postal Service, according to the [URL='https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/0807-usps-reports-third-quarter-fiscal-2020-results.htm']agency's 2020Q3 Fiscal Report[/URL]. The conditions that the Treasury imposed on the loan led the vice chairman of the USPS board, David Williams, a former USPS inspector general, to resign, alleging that the Treasury demands threatened to turn the agency into a "[URL='https://cpc-grijalva.house.gov/uploads/WitnessTestimony_CPC%20Hearing%20USPS%20.pdf']political tool[/URL]." The loan postpones, rather than solves, the USPS looming liquidity crisis. The House of Representatives passed a bill on August 22 to provide $25 billion in additional government funding to the Postal Service. In addition, [URL='https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/8015']the bill[/URL]—which is unlikely to pass the Senate—mandates that the USPS must reverse any policy changes that have led to delays in mail delivery and refrain from any new policies that would reduce its mail delivery performance until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The LOANS to the USPS are considered to be AID which will not be required to be paid back to Tax Payers per the "CARES ACT". [/QUOTE]
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