Over the past decade, the debt and unfunded liabilities like pensions and health care have outpaced the … The move to cut workers’ overtime is part of the US capitalist class’s decades-long drive to dismantle USPS, a public entity that occupies a valuable portion of the logistics industry. The USPS has lost $78 billion since 2007, but … More than 25 percent of votes in recent elections were … That was better than a $5.6 billion loss in the prior year but was mainly due to … "The Postal Service is insolvent," he says. By Veronica Mohesky September 16, 2020 U.S. Mail Volume […] Further, USPS has missed $48.2 billion in required payments for postal retiree health and pension benefits as of September 30, 2018. (AP Photo) The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost $5.5 billion last year. Postal workers throughout the world are facing the same struggle. July 29, 2020 at 4:36 p.m. UTC The Treasury Department agreed to loan the U.S. And That Was Before COVID-19 Hit. House passes legislation to ease USPS debt burden Feb 7, 2020, 10 AM The House of Representatives passed the legislation Feb. 5 with bipartisan support. 04/16/2020 11:12 AM EDT. Chart 1. The Postal Service, meanwhile, continues to gather debt. "It needs debt forgiveness, not debt extension. My credits include Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Magazine, Zenger News, NBC News, CBS Moneywatch, Technology Review, The Fiscal Times, and Inc. Get. Post Office. As demand for some mail products has declined, USPS has been unable to cover its costs as it is required to do—putting it on our High Risk list. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. Link Copied. Use our quick tools to find locations, calculate prices, look … Pension funds get invested to grow over time so they can meet obligations. Postal Service (USPS) ran a deficit of $3.9 billion. Welcome to USPS.com. The answer can be traced back to a 2006 law from Congress. That means all pension obligations including those from when the person was in the military and not a postal worker. Just one example of Amazon’s growth has been the acquisition of 2,300 trucks to expand its delivery network. It was 44% of the 2020 federal discretionary budget. If you’re ever dealt with business finance, this is ludicrous. But the new USPS became responsible for the ongoing increased pension benefits. The Postal Service is in dire financial straits because its revenues are insufficient to support its operational costs and liabilities. Along with $8 billion of cash it has on hand, USPS would have about $22 billion in liquidity that would hopefully get it through the 2020 calendar year and possibly into 2021 even if … House Democrats have called … Except, when you look at the history and basic business math, it’s hard to argue with. The only silver lining is that the loss was below the red-ink tsunami of $15.9 billion in 2012. The Postal Service needs billions, the agency told Congress, and Democrats want to provide a bailout. You don’t require full funding in advance, including pensions for people who haven’t been born, let alone hired, unless you want to make it difficult to run the organization. According to its website, the USPS handles 48 percent of the world’s mail volume, generated $71.1 billion in revenue in 2019 and—if it was fully privatized—would be number 44 in the Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies. While pre-funding other retiree benefits is normal for both private and … If banks couldn’t be bothered with them, postal banking, with branches everywhere, was available. President Nixon transformed the postal service from a department of the executive branch into a public corporation in a move that provoked a powerful national strike by postal workers. Kevin R. Kosar is the vice president of research partnerships at the R Street Institute. ... the 1,400-page bill would also forgive the Postal Service’s $11 billion debt to the Treasury Department and … The memes resurfaced in April 2020 as a bill in the House of Representatives proposed to forgive the agency’s debt as part of a stimulus package aimed at mitigating the economic fallout associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.. on August 05, 2020 in New York City. ... Another $14 billion is needed to pay off long-term debt … As a nonprofit news organization, our future depends on listeners like you who believe in the power of public service journalism. 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. International Committee of the Fourth International. Maloney and Connolly noted the House's $2.5 trillion coronavirus relief package would send $25 billion to the Postal Service in emergency funding … 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. USPS and all logistics workers should follow suit to organize a common fight against the privatization of USPS and to defend jobs and living standards and guarantee safe working conditions for all logistic workers. Management at the United States Postal Service (USPS) has taken a big step toward privatization with the July 10 release of an internal memo stating that mail deliveries would be delayed due to cost cutting and a subsequent directive prohibiting overtime and promising “more to come.”. The dues extracted from each worker go toward funding the bloated salaries of leading union bureaucrats and to the Democratic Party, through funding PACS and direct donations. Postal Service reported total revenue of $19.4 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 (October 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019), a decrease of $363 million, or 1.8 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. President Trump in recent weeks has called the Postal Service "a joke" as the agency is experiences delays in mail delivery due to the coronavirus pandemic and financial pressures. (Let’s remember, by the way, that the odds of voting fraud occurring are so low that it’s more likely you’d be struck by lightning or attacked by a shark.). (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images), America's Top Givers: The 25 Most Philanthropic Billionaires, EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, Had Your Income Drop In 2020? 2 Compounding the Postal Service’s debt problems has been a lack of revenue growth. On top of that, it has many years’ worth of … Ultimately, much of it comes down to a scheme that was a subsidy for the Department of Defense—responsible, by the way, for 18% of all on-budget spending in the 2019 fiscal year. Postal Service 'Unsustainable,' Says GAO. It couldn’t move beyond letter and package delivery, although at one point there was a postal banking system that helped low-income and rural people. The U.S. The agency’s total revenue in fiscal 2019 was $71.2 billion, enough to place it 43rd on the Fortune 500 (higher than Intel) if it were a private company. You may opt-out by. WASHINGTON – The U.S. The United States Postal Service will play a critical role in the 2020 election. ... Another $14 billion is needed to pay off long-term debt … They gained traction again in August 2020 when Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Trump campaign megadonor, was called to testify before Congress over … Postal Service (USPS) ran a deficit of $3.9 billion. This was outlined clearly by President Donald Trump’s 2018 plan calling for the privatization of USPS either through the launch of an Initial Public Offering on the stock market, or sale to an existing company. When you were, say, 25, would you expect in ten years to have put aside full retirement savings for yourself and your children and maybe even grandchildren? That is the eighth annual loss in a row and the third-highest ever. Publications & References Check out our various publications and manuals to learn more about what the Postal Service can do for you. My credits include Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times Magazine, Zenger News, NBC News, CBS Moneywatch, Technology Review, The Fiscal Times, and Inc. Get my free newsletter at https://eriksherman.substack.com. The answer can be traced back to a … The U.S. It’s no surprise, then, that Congress has started looking for ways to remedy this. Instead, you’d start over. Postal Service 'Unsustainable,' Says GAO. 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