[ManORight]

The Post Office does not receive taxpayer subsidies and has not for some years. It used to be reimbursed for the cost of allowing Congress-people to frank their mail but that stopped along with the subsidies for allowing the blind to mail for free.
The problem with the USPS is Congress. First USPS asked to stop prepaying retirement funds when it was proved they had overpaid significantly. Congress let them stop paying $1.7B per year for that but made them set aside $3B to be used as Congress dictated. Then USPS asked that the 1971 Postal Reorganization. Act be rewritten to take technological changes into consideration. Congress responded by making them prepay the retirement health benefits for all their employees - in 10 years! The annual payment is $5.3B. This has been going on since 2007 with no help in sight. If Congress was trying to bankrupt USPS they could not have come up with a better plan.

[fightinJAG]

Wow, thanks for that information. I had no idea, so obviously was running my trap without a license. ;) Based on what you’re saying, things are even worse than most people realize.

What I take from what you’re saying is that Congress more or less could see the writing on the wall, that being that the Post Office was going to be an expensive anachronism that could not be justified for too many more years, much less decades.

Therefore, Congress said before the USPS goes out of business completely, so to speak, it better pay up to its retirees into the future.

UGH.

This is no more than telling a company that needs to restructure or even go out of business that it is not allowed to because it has to pump money into retiree benefits and pensions. I know it’s tough if your company goes out of business and can’t pay your pension, but stuff does happen.

I think this is a matter that we need to get Republican attention on ASAP.