Hope Yen, Associated Press. “Understanding that universal service (to every U.S. ZIP code) is a requirement, it may need to look different as we emerge post pandemic,” he said. More recently, it began a pilot program this holiday season to provide cheap next-day service with packages delivered Sundays to people’s homes. Market data provided by Factset. Report warns USPS may not be able to pay health benefits, Cops: Lazy NY mailman trashed 1K letters, packages, Sen. Rand Paul clashes with ABC's Stephanopoulos: 'You're forgetting who you are as a journalist! “These numbers are beyond troubling,” said Art Sackler, manager of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, a broad trade group that includes mailers such as Amazon and the National Retail Federation. A new analysis explains just how much the USPS benefits from the subsidies it receives from the federal government. The Postal Service lost $8.8 billion in FY 2019, it lost $3.9 billion in FY 2018, and it lost $2.7 billion in FY 2017. Postal Service’s financial straits could disrupt daily mail delivery, Postal Service may get more freedom to raise stamp prices, Dog attacks of U.S. postal workers highest in three decades. "Despite our efforts and our hard work, we cannot return the organization to profitability or secure our long term financial outlook without the passage of comprehensive reform legislation," Jeffrey Williamson, United States Postal Service executive vice president, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently. The Postal Service reported a loss of $2.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The lower revenues were driven largely by accelerated declines in First-Class and Marketing Mail volumes. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Adam Clark Estes at Vox writes—How the Biden administration can save the Postal Service. Market data provided by Factset. The Postal Service’s finances are a disaster. At this stage, even the Postal Service admits it needs help. The Postal … Postal Service nevertheless is in need of a bailout. The lower revenues were driven largely by accelerated declines in First-Class and Marketing Mail volumes. It might feel like first-class postage is going up every few weeks, but the U.S. All rights reserved. by Jesse Nankin and Krista Kjellman Schmidt, ProPublica, Updated April 15, 2009. The circles below represent the relative size of each U.S. government bailout of … Even though the USPS hasn't been making those payments, it continues to book the theoretical cost as an expense — $16.8 billion since the start of the 2017 … © 1996 - 2021 NewsHour Productions LLC. Delaware Democratic Sen. Tom Carper and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn have a bill with bipartisan support in the Senate. The audit explains that the Postal Service lost $62.4 billion between FY 2007 and FY 2017, with $54.8 billion of these losses relating to retiree health care prefunding that it had been required to pay down as part of Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. Legal Statement. Postal Service just revamped its priority mail program to raise revenue and drive new growth in its package delivery business. The USPS 2012 10-K states that the total projected liability for the two pension funds combined is $300 billion, and there’s currently $284 billion in the fund. The Senate proposal would move to five-day delivery after 2017, keep all processing facilities open for at least two more years, and allow the U.S. That was better than a $5.6 billion loss in the prior year but was mainly due to fluctuations in interest rates that reduced workers’ compensation expenses. Legal Statement. Business Insider cited a 2017 Citi analysis which calculated the USPS was undercharging Amazon by $1.46 per package, which a Morningstar analyst said still holds true today. U.S. Treasury staff analysis found that in 2017, the per-employee cost for USPS was $85,800, compared to $76,200 for UPS and $53,900 for FedEx. The Senate offered a lifeline to the nearly bankrupt U.S. This evolution, which pits postal management against postal unions and the USPS’s bloated workforce, is nevertheless a vital step toward staving off bankruptcy and a taxpayer bailout. As Director of Planning and Policy Analysis for the Office of Personnel Management from 2010 to 2017, he managed OPM’s relationship with the U.S. The White House’s 2019 budget proposal addresses the ailing finances of the Postal Service and says that reforms are needed to allow it to “meet its financial and service obligations with business revenue, as intended, rather than a taxpayer-financed bailout.” USPS Financial Problems. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-postal-service-marks-11-straight-years-of-financial-loss, “Our financial results will continue to deteriorate and likely at an accelerated rate.”, U.S. It’s not known by how much. He joined FNC in 1997 as a Los Angeles-based correspondent. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Still, its parcel success hasn’t translated to profits. Postal Service, as Trump refuses to help the agency in what could become a … But what’s missing from those receiving a federal bailout is the U.S. Postal Service … Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. It pleaded for more freedom to raise stamp prices to help keep pace with consumer demand for ever-quicker deliveries from online shopping. Nobody else can say that.” Delivery Boy? A United States Postal Service worker pushes a mail cart past a floodwall on Treat Ave in the Mission District of San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. White House rejects bailout for Postal Service battered by coronavirus. Postal Service is up in the air, as President Donald Trump continues to starve the institution of financial assistance. Postal Service to recover overpayments into the federal pension system. That means the pensions are funded at 95 percent of their projected liability. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. or redistributed. ©2021 FOX News Network, LLC. The future of the U.S. Post your thoughts and opinions here about current Postal employee topics. The U.S. "Much of what I have to do is to get my fellow Republicans to swallow the pills of five-day delivery -- going to the curb for delivery, right-sizing the size of the post office, quite candidly changing their medical retirement system to make it streamline with the rest of the workforce in America, by putting them on Medicare and out of a very expensive private program that you and I pay for," Issa told Fox News. The Postal Service reported a loss of $2.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. It continues to hemorrhage money and routinely reports big losses when the agency announces its financials at the end of each quarter or year. While they seek to blame the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the facts are plain. Claim: The U.S. economic downturn due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 was forcing the United States Postal Service to close. ©2021 FOX News Network, LLC. Without help, “our financial results will continue to deteriorate and likely at an accelerated rate,” said Postmaster General Megan J. Brennan. The circles below represent the relative size of each U.S. government bailout of … Postal Service officials are seeking a $75 billion bailout from taxpayers. In introducing the Postal Reform Act of 2017, lawmakers hope to use Medicare funds to bail out the retirement funds awash in red ink at the USPS. Mike Emanuel currently serves as chief congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). ', Michael Goodwin: I'm ignoring Biden's 'unity' talk, here's why you should, too, DOJ IG investigating whether officials tried to overturn 2020 election, Hawley calls for ethics investigation into Dems who filed complaint against him. All Rights Reserved. As for the challenges of getting such an overhaul passed during an election year, Issa says the time is now. Medicare cannot afford a reckless USPS bailout. It reported a $540 million net loss in the latest fiscal quarter, and for 2017 it reported a $2.7 billion net loss. Democrats and U.S. By a 62-37 vote, senators approved a measure which had divided mostly along rural-urban lines. "There is no better time than in an election year for people to call up and say I don't want to be paying out of my general tax revenue for somebody else's junk mail being delivered," Issa said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s newly announced "relief" proposal, titled the “ Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act,” cancels the U.S. In introducing the Postal Reform Act of 2017, lawmakers hope to use Medicare funds to bail out the retirement funds awash in red ink at the USPS. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. A United States Postal Service worker pushes a mail cart past a floodwall on Treat Ave in the Mission District of San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Use our quick tools to find locations, calculate prices, look … WASHINGTON — The beleaguered U.S. The article went on to say Amazon strategically bulks up its own parcel volume in easier-to-serve, dense ZIP codes that are more … The commission might limit how high prices could go, but the cost of a first-class stamp could jump. But adding billions of dollars to an already-beleaguered program is simply the wrong solution to a longstanding problem. ... A bailout for the Postal Service seems almost like … 2017 Edition; Order 2018 Edition; Benefits Guide; E-Newsletter; Forum; Blogs; Online Education; Pay. by Jesse Nankin and Krista Kjellman Schmidt, ProPublica, Updated April 15, 2009. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. The price of a first-class stamp, now 49 cents, is slated to increase by one penny in January because of inflation. In introducing the Postal Reform Act of 2017, lawmakers hope to use Medicare funds to bail out the retirement funds awash in red ink at the USPS. But adding billions of dollars to an already-beleaguered program is simply the wrong solution to a longstanding problem. USPS Financial Problems The Postal Service’s finances are a disaster. Posted on August 10, 2017 August 10, 2017 by 21cpw. Thank you. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The Postal Regulatory Commission will issue a decision in the coming weeks that could give the Postal Service more flexibility to raise prices beyond the rate of inflation, marking the biggest change in its pricing system in nearly a half-century. Through rain, sleet, hail and even a pandemic, mail carriers serve every address in … "Not only does our bill modernize the Postal Service and give it the tools and resources it needs to make tough but necessary business decisions to cut costs and increase revenue, but it also directly addresses the source of the Postal Service's two biggest financial liabilities -- retiree pension costs and health care costs -- so taxpayers won't be left on the hook for these obligations in the future," Carper told Fox News. The 2017 loss came after a double-digit increase in package delivery was unable to offset drop-offs in letter mail, which makes up more than 70 percent of total postal revenue. Find information on our most convenient and affordable shipping and mailing services. Photo by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images. U.S. The Senate proposal would move to five-day delivery after 2017, keep all processing facilities open for at least two more years, and allow the U.S. All rights reserved. Postal Service reported revenue of $69.6 billion for fiscal year 2017 (October 1, 2016 - September 30, 2017), a decrease of $1.8 billion compared to the prior year. In introducing the Postal Reform Act of 2017, lawmakers hope to use Medicare funds to bail out the retirement funds awash in red ink at the USPS. Please check your inbox to confirm. Frank Todisco, chief actuary for the Government Accountability Office, told a House committee last week that the agency had $100 billion in debt and unfunded health benefit liabilities at the end of the last fiscal year. "That kind of message will cause people to make a reform this year. “No other shipper delivers as many e-commerce packages to the home.”. Postal Service (USPS) crates sit on the floor at the Brookland Post Office in Washington, D.C., U.S. No customer data was stolen in a recent data breach, USPS officials say. Welcome to USPS.com. “We cannot generate enough revenue or cut enough costs to pay all of our bills.”. Postal Service reported a financial loss Tuesday for the 11th straight year, citing declining mail volume and costs of its pension and health care obligations even as it predicted another strong holiday season of package deliveries. Postal Service on Wednesday, voting to give the struggling agency an $11 billion cash infusion while delaying controversial decisions on closing post offices and ending Saturday delivery. Legislation in 2006 required the Postal Service to fund 75 years’ worth of retiree health benefits, something that neither the government nor private companies are required to do. Less than $13 billion, but not exactly chump change and also getting bigger every year, all without the coronavirus. Mail volume fell by roughly 5 billion pieces, or 3.6 percent, as people in the digital age rely more on email for online bill payments. Mike Emanuel reports from Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON — The U.S. The USPS and some congressional leaders are … The Postal Service, an independent agency, is trying to stay financially afloat as it seeks to invest billions in new delivery trucks to get packages more nimbly to American homes. “There are 7.5 million private sector jobs that depend on the postal system, and these jobs are at risk unless Congress takes action on postal reform.”, Left: Last year, it tallied a $5.6 billion loss. The U.S. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., has ideas for how to fix it, and says part of that is convincing members of his own party that six-days-per-week mail delivery doesn't make sense. To become financially stable, the Postal Service is also urging Congress to provide it relief from the mandate to prefund retiree health benefits. The U.S. The U.S. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Revenue came to $69.6 billion, down from $71.5 billion last year. “The Postal Service continues to win e-commerce customers, grow our package delivery business and increase market share,” Brennan said, attributing its strength in part to affordable pricing compared to rivals UPS and FedEx. Inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Hope Yen, Associated Press The audit explains that the Postal Service lost $62.4 billion between FY 2007 and FY 2017, with $54.8 billion of these losses relating to retiree health care prefunding that it had been required to pay down as part of Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. Then in 2017, it transitioned to using the PSRHBF to pay benefits, and was required to begin paying into the fund the normal cost (annual benefit accrual for active employees) as well as a … Postal Service could be headed for a bailout if budget woes are not addressed with significant reforms, argued an expert Friday. “The USPS goes to every residence six days a week. Postal Service reported revenue of $69.6 billion for fiscal year 2017 (October 1, 2016 - September 30, 2017), a decrease of $1.8 billion compared to the prior year. Night Owls is a themed open thread appearing at Daily Kos seven days a week. ", Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. The 2017 loss came after a double-digit increase in package delivery was unable to offset drop-offs in letter mail, which makes up more than 70 percent of total postal revenue. The $2.2 trillion relief bill (CARES Act) gave a $10 billion loan to the USPS, but that does not solve any underlying problems. Postal Employees. Only the $10 billion loan to the Postal Service made it into law, over Mnuchin's objections. To avert bankruptcy, the post office has defaulted on the multibillion-dollar health prepayments each year since 2012. The GAO has reported that many experts consider at least 80 percent prefunding to be sound for government pensions. Analysts have cheered the Postal Service’s promise in the digital age. With the holiday season approaching, Brennan said, the Postal Service added hours to include early morning and evening package deliveries and was expanding service on Sundays. Postal Service just revamped its priority mail program to raise revenue and drive new growth in its package delivery business. Mail volume is now at a 29-year low, and for the past 10 years, USPS recorded annual losses as high as $15.9 billion. ... 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