Washington – The U.S. Postal Service says it lost $5.1 billion last year as a weak economy and increased Internet use drove down mail volume.
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The bleak financial report for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 was not as high as the $10 billion in losses previously estimated. But that’s because an annual payment of $5.5 billion the post office owed the federal government has been deferred to a later date.
Postal officials called the financial situation “dire.” They say the Postal Service will not be able to make the $5.5 billion payment due this Friday due to low cash flow.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has warned of a postal shutdown next year unless there is congressional action to address the agency’s long-term money problems.
The postal service is the poster child for everything that’s wrong with government agencies.
And why is that? Is it because they’re not pulling in enough money selling stamps?
Nope.
It’s because after the 2006 elections the Republicans rammed through a bill that forced the Post Office to siphon off enough money to pay the projected health care and retirement costs 75 years into the future. No business can run like that. No business would be crazy enough to try and run like that. But the GOP has an ideological hatred of any government program which works. So it took the Post Office, which would otherwise be turning a profit, and forced it to work at a loss.
The original bill was H.R. 6407 – Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. Sec. 802. It seems to show that money would only be put aside if there is a surplus. Did that change?
Saturday mail delivery should have been ended years ago. Most of the mail which is received the rest of the week, is junk mail. Most people pay their bills and receive their bills, online. Also, most people order their stamps via the internet. Pertaining to parcels, the services of UPS and Federal Express are available. Therefore, why bother to use the Post Office? I remember the horrible service at the Midwood Branch of the Post Office on Coney Island Avenue. Most of the windows would be closed. One window would be open, and there would be long lines. There were always numerous employees chewing the fat in the back, while they could have been servicing the customers out front. Also, that post office, would occasionally lock one of the exit doors, in violation of the local fire codes. In short, if 200,000 postal workers were terminated right now, they would not be missed, one iota.