Posted on 03/14/2014 7:29:09 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) currently owes $99.8 billion in benefit payments to its current and retired workers but does not have the money, and if Congress does not act to fix the problem, the Postal Service may have to “implement contingency plans to ensure that mail delivery continues,” according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
“At the end of fiscal year 2013,” said the GAO, “USPS had about $100 billion in unfunded liabilities: $85 billion in unfunded liabilities for benefits, including retiree-health, pension, and workers’ compensation liabilities, and $15 billion in outstanding debt to the U.S. Treasury—the statutory limit.”
“USPS continues to be in a serious financial crisis, with insufficient revenue to cover its expenses and financial obligations, a continuing decline in profitable First-Class Mail volume, increasing unfunded benefit liabilities, and borrowing limitations due to having reached its $15 billion statutory debt [borrowing] limit,” said Frank Todisco, a GAO chief actuary, in prepared testimony before the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census on Mar. 13. …
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
but we’re reminded they are not government. until they want to be government, then they are government.
USPS is always broke - and continually raising the cost of first class delivery never seems to fix the problem.
Break them up and sell off the assets. Every year we hear the same thing from these guys.
They have a legal monopoly on first class mail and they still can’t turn a profit.
I agree
Have they tried doubling the junk mail postage?
Golly, I wonder where they will find the money they need???
No government or agency should be allowed to have unfunded pensions. They should all be forced to switch to funded 401k plans like most corporations have.
It’s just too easy to write your self a check for the future that a government can’t cash, and that is far out of line with what private jobs are paying.
USPS does partner with UPS on some package deliveries. They take over for DHL in certain areas of the country.
Time to shut down all U.S. Post Offices. Privatize the routes..rural routes get service 2X a week.
Profit = Income - Expenses. A simple audit should identify the problem.
Future headline:
ACA Faces $100B in Debts and Unfunded Benefits
YeahBut keep that 4th class junkmail YOU subsidize for the directmail industry clogging up your mailbox.
Can’t they just pay for this with some of Obama’s “stash”?
let them go into bankruptcy and reorganize without the union. It can be done.
Any time the USPS tries to make a rational business decision to make ends meet, Congress says “NO!”. They are basically damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
They wanted to cut off Saturday delivery to help stop some losses, but Congress calls the shots.
No wonder the federal government claws back part of my payment. But they were kind enough to reduce the amount they wanted back.
and yet we seem to have a trillion sitting around to pay for affordable health care?
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