In 2014, delivery-time targets fell short seven out of eight times and in 2015, on-time delivery from January to March fell to 63.1 percent, down from 84.1 percent in the same quarter last year. This extraordinary mandate created a financial “crisis” that has been used to justify harmful service cuts and even calls for postal privatization. The agency has 300,000 fewer employees than it did a few decades ago. The Postal Service is operating at a profit U.S. If the costs of this retiree health care mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, the Post Office would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years. It’s also true that the Postal Service faces challenges; albeit not as often pictured. And no.. this is not an article from The Onion. She also interned with the Heritage Foundation and Pacific The pandemic offered the president his first opportunity to truly threaten the agency he calls Amazon’s “delivery boy.” "The odds that a bailout will eventually become unavoidable increase as the sea of red ink continues rising.". Postal Service turned a profit in a financial quarter for the first time in five years, though President Obama still proposed the agency slash 12,000 employees in his fiscal 2017 budget. Ali Meyer is a staff writer with the Washington Free Beacon covering THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed.\" The Tax Foundation says it is doubtful that the Postal Service will be able to meet its obligations. Early History of the U.S. Jazz ShawPosted at 4:41 pm on February 10, 2016, This is something akin to seeing a Pegasus in your horse stable one morning. "The Postal Service will almost certainly register another multibillion dollar loss in 2015; for the first two quarters of 2015, it suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion.". "While the Service does have greater operational discretion than many federal agencies, it has much less than a typical private-sector business because Congress often micromanages its actions," the report says. The American postal service is on the verge of default. The Washington Free Beacon's morning email lays out everything you need to know about the world of politics, foreign affairs, and, California Blocks Release of Spending Records, Buttigieg: Warren’s Medicare for All Math Is ‘Controversial’, Warren Claims Non-Billionaires Won’t Pay Higher Taxes Under Health Care Plan, MSNBC: Warren’s Medicare Plan Is ‘Ultimate Clapback’, Ernst Pushes Bill to Prevent Fed Splurge on Lobsters, Candies, Video Games, Nearly $267,000 of Minnesota Taxpayer Money Given to ‘Tonight Show’, Watchdog Exposes $15.3 Billion in Congressional Waste, Rep. 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Post office makes a profit Congress won’t let it keep Editor, Times-Dispatch: Robin Beres’ Commentary column eloquently discussed the value of the U.S. The U.S. to the Free Beacon, she was a multimedia reporter with CNSNews.com "USPS is in desperate need of reform," said Curtis Kalin, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. They’ll do anything to cancel conservatives, “the construction, approximately 4.5 kms within Indian territory of the de facto border, will be of huge concern to India.”, “We are trying to separate the aspirational from the intentional.”. Still, USPS has 500,000 employees and 600,000 retirees who receive health and pension benefits. The postal service is a not-for-profit, self-supporting agency that covers its expenses through postage (stamp use in the United States started in 1847) and related products. In other words: the Post Office is pretty much screwed. (Government Executive). Newsweek noted back in November that they were starting to get their head above water but more work remained. Postal service, which operates on sales of stamps, last had profit in 2006 and took last taxpayer aid in 1982 Jim Hightower, the populist commentator and … In the topsy turvy world of Washington, however, it means the USPS is still "bleeding cash"- … In terms of mail service by private citizens, that’s pretty much a given I suppose. 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The United States Postal Service has lost $51.7 billion between 2007 and 2014 and has not earned a profit since 2006, according to a report from the Tax Foundation. If the USPS was a private sector company, that would translate to a pretty healthy profit. The task at hand is figuring out not just how to make the USPS financially viable, but also relevant in our wired world. Must See: Father Absolutely Nukes Loudon County School Board and Teachers in Viral Video, Ten Reasons a Post-Presidency Impeachment of Barack Obama Should Happen, Firearms Company Finds New Home After Passage Of Gun & Ammo Tax, Gun Control Group Has a Racist Take on Black and Brown Gun Owners, CCPA - Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Don’t look now, but the post office just turned a profit. where her work appeared on outlets such as Drudge Report and Fox News. The net loss of nearly $2.3 billion comes on the heels of an already bleak fiscal year that saw a combined loss of $3.6 billion—$2.1 billion in quarter two and $1.5 billion in quarter one. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational, academic context and the like, and in the body of text discussing factual subject matter relevant to the fact being presented. Postal Service lost money in six out of the 10 years from 2001 through 2010, according to its financial reports. The major one has nothing to do with the mail and everything to do with congressional politics. They Help To Track Down Criminals; Working for the postal service means more than just delivering the mail and fighting crazed dogs every day. Is it really a good thing or not? In 2006, a lame-duck Congress mandated that the Postal Service pre-fund retiree health benefits. The USPS isn’t without competition so how did they climb back into the black? A new analysis explains just how much the USPS benefits from the subsidies it receives from the federal government. This brief spasm of profitability is based largely on a somewhat stronger economy, with more people buying and shipping things. Total operating expenses came in at $19.3 billion. The days when the post was the primary conveyor of intellectual goods (i.e. "There is no turnaround in sight," states the report. Research Institute. In fact, the USPS annual report detailed not only challenges but also several highly positive trends. The U.S. Postal Service turned a profit in a financial quarter for the first time in five years, though President Obama still proposed the agency slash 12,000 employees in his fiscal 2017 budget. Bulk mailings and junk mail aren’t all that profitable. What happened to its profits prior to 2006? Without this unique and unfair burden, the narrative would be as follows: Here’s a government entity that, with no taxpayer money, and faced with a still soft economy plus the growing reach of the Internet, once again earned a billion dollar-plus operating profit. All Rights Reserved. Postal Service . Is the USPS allowed to generate a profit? WASHINGTON - The U.S. The U.S. The USPS is a quasi-government business that has many odd restrictions. Postal Facts 2020 provides the public with information about the Postal Service. And the USPS can’t increase costs to fix its problem because the government has limited how it can increase price to the rate of inflation, currently 0.9%. USPS posted a net income of $307 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, the first such gain since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. economic issues that expose government waste, fraud, and abuse. This calls for some cool headed thinking, a rational plan and some consensus in Congress on a path toward a solution. Profits grew $1.1 billion over the same period last year, when the Postal Service lost $754 million. If the USPS found a way to legally keep its profits is that good or bad? For the Founders, a well-informed citizenry, not profit-making for even letter delivery, was the reason the Postal Service was so crucial to the future of the republic. In terms of USPS innovations, that’s them at their most efficient, by far! As noted, the increase is almost entirely due to package delivery. Excessive Losses. House Dems wonder: Would any of Trump’s former White House aides be willing to testify against him at the trial? The USPS loses money, but cash flow has been more stable. Postal Service reported operating revenue of $70.6 billion for fiscal year 2018 (October 1, 2017 - September 30, 2018), an increase of $1.0 billion compared to the prior year. The U.S. Postal Service reported operating revenue of $71.1 billion for fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 - September 30, 2019), an increase of $514 million compared to the prior year. address is meyer@freebeacon.com. However, the last year the Postal Service recorded any profit was 2006, and its cumulative losses since then totaled $83.1 billion as of March 31. Postal Service turned a profit in a financial quarter for the first time in five years, though President Obama still proposed the agency slash 12,000 employees in his fiscal 2017 budget. For the sixth consecutive quarter, the U.S Postal Service turned an operational profit when accounting for its controllable costs. "Although the Postal Service has not yet received an explicit taxpayer bailout, it has failed to meet its legal obligations for several years in a row," the report states. Instead, revenue for the Postal Service has risen more than $500 million in the past nine months, driven by a 20% jump, or $3.4 billion, in sales from shipping packages that has … The report says that if the enterprise had more operational flexibility, its losses would not be as large. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it would end Saturday letter delivery beginning in August. Claim: The United States Postal Service (USPS) is losing money due to a 2006 law mandating it fund its pensions 75 years in advance. The United States Postal Service on Friday reported total revenue of just over $17 billion for the third quarter of fiscal year 2019. “letters”) is pretty much over and we shouldn’t expect to see it come back unless an EMP knocks out the grid for a few years. This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Government Spending. Her Twitter handle is @DJAliMeyer, and her email That $5.6 billion annual charge is the “red ink.”. From early in his term, Trump has complained that the Postal Service doesn’t charge Amazon enough money for shipping packages (in fact, package delivery is one area where the USPS makes a profit). Seven months into the current fiscal year, the US Postal Service's revenue exceeds its expenses by $1.353 billion. (And even then, stamps will probably be hard to come by.) All it would take is another even modest downturn in the economy and the USPS would be right back in the red. Bookmark the permalink. Post office workers have been useful to the police by helping to find criminals, investigating crimes, and gathering evidence. The United States Postal Service first began moving the mail on July 26, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the nation's first Postmaster General. Claim: \"Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. The Postal Service also owes $11 billion to the Treasury and more than $59 billion in required but unpaid contributions to its employee pension and retiree-health funds. Bipartisan Senate pitch: Let’s censure Trump instead of an impeachment trial; Plus: A bill of attainder instead? "If the agency truly is to act as a business, it must do what failing businesses are routinely forced to do: right size its workforce and return to the basic services where it had peviously operated effectively. I’d assumed that this was pretty much never going to happen again, but against all odds the United States Postal Service has recorded a profit. How can an organization this large function with a no profit requirement? In addition, the report finds that USPS has failed to make legally required payments to the U.S. Treasury and will default on its statutory obligations, which include the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund. That is because as mentioned above, the USPS has some unusual expenses, imposed by … No other agency or company in the country has to pre-fund for even one year; the Postal Service must pre-fund 75 years’ worth of these benefits in advance. Copyright HotAir.com/Salem Media. The United States Postal Service (USPS; also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, including its insular areas and associated states.It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Postal Service letter carrier Michael McDonald gathers mail to load into his truck before making his delivery run in Atlanta on Feb. 7, 2013. Operating revenue ticked up 3.3 percent to $19.3 billion between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2015, driven largely by a record volume of package delivery. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the Postal Service’s unfunded liabilities grew 62 percent from 2007 to 2013. USPS posted a net income of $307 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, the first such gain since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. While Gallup found in 2014 that 72 percent of their respondents said USPS is doing a good job and only 8 percent regard its performance as poor, the report finds that there have been issues with service. Congress could probably step in and ease some of that burden but then they’d be taking on the unions along with a few other headwinds. Postal Service but incompletely depicted its financial status. WASHINGTON - The U.S. Does that sound likely to happen in an election year? In accepting the position, Franklin dedicated his efforts to fulfilling George Washington's vision. 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