“But USPS didn’t run on federal tax dollars ~ they operated on the fees charged for mail services. My salary, and therefore my pension, arose out of that conjunction of need and service.”
Sorry if I’m missing something in your post about the USPS “not running on Federal $s” and your “salary & pension arose out of fees charged for mail services”, but....
“Postal Service on tap for $11B break in 2012 budget
By Ed O’Keefe
President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget doesn’t say anything about raising stamp prices, ending Saturday mail deliveries or closing post offices, but it does attempt to remedy the perilous financial condition of the U.S. Postal Service by recommending about $11 billion in relief.
With mail volume and revenues plummeting, the Postal Service is on course to lose about $7 billion in the fiscal year that ends in September. The losses are due in part to hefty personnel costs not borne by other federal agencies. One is a requirement, imposed by a 2006 law, that it set aside money each year to cover the costs of future health insurance benefits for its retired workers.”
>snip
“The Postal Service also pays into the federal retirement fund to pay the future annuity costs for its retirees. Estimates by the Office of Personnel Management suggest USPS has overpaid the fund by about $6.9 billion. Obama’s budget would refund that amount over 30 years, beginning with a $550 million payment in fiscal 2012.”
more here:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2011/02/postal_service_on_tap_for_11_b.html
USPS is actually overpaid more like $79 billion. The Obama budget was rejected by the Senate and House. None of that happened.