U.S.P.S. Financials
To the Editor:
Several news outlets recently reported that the US Postal Service posted a $1.5 billion loss for
the Jan-Mar 2015 quarter. This cyclical story has been repeatedly carried in the media over the
past several years, prompting speculation ranging from questioning the future viability of the
USPS, calls for ending Saturday delivery, to outright privatizing these services and eliminating
the USPS entirely.
There are many moving pieces, considerations, viewpoints, and stakeholders involved in this
issue which most news reports do not include beyond the apparently “bad numbers.” As a
citizen, it seems that Americans should know the facts and reality behind these headlines.
The USPS is the second largest employer in the US after Walmart. However, unlike Walmart,
which is allowed to pay so little that its employees qualify for government assistance, the
Postal Service employs over 600,000 workers who enjoy unionized, well-paying jobs with
benefits. This kind of workplace situation used to form the bedrock of what is often called
the “Middle Class.”
The major reason that the USPS runs such large deficits is that in 2006 Congress enacted a
requirement that it pre-fund 75 years of retirement benefits. This means that the Postal
Service starts every year in the hole, being required to take nearly Six Billion Dollars off the top
of annual receipts and profits. No other government agency or private company has to do this.
Hearing this, most reasonable people would ask, “Why did they do that?” The reason is that the
Republicans have been promoting efforts to privatize the USPS for decades. Besides the
pension burden, Congress requires the Service to break even (unlike the Defense Department)
while, at the same time, restricting its ability to raise rates, enter lines of business, or otherwise
raise additional revenue. Congress even forced the USPS to remove public-use copiers from
Post Offices. (in case you wondered where they went)
What does “privatization” mean? It means dismantling government and public agencies/assets
and turning them over to private companies. Services which were performed by and for “We
the People” are ended or “contracted out” and operated for profit by the few at the expense of
the many, away from the oversight or government or taxpayers.
The Koch brothers’ Cato Institute has been advocating for privatizing the USPS and much of
government, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Amtrak, for years. They use language like,
“. . . freeing the mail from the government’s grip” and . . . “open U.S., mail delivery to
competition.” The Cato institute also favors the elimination of Unions, citing union membership
as a major cause of the Postal Service’s problems. (Dave Johnson: Ourfuture.org)
In “The Nation”, John Nichols notes, “Most Americans recognize the threats to Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid as pieces of the austerity plan advanced by House Budget Committee
chairman, Paul Ryan (R-WI) . . .threats to Food Stamps and Pell Grants, education cuts . . . But
The current frontline of the austerity agenda is the assault on the US Postal Service, a vital
public service that is older than the country . . . “
Do we want to live in a country where workers earn an honest wage for honest work, have
input into their workplace, provide an adequate home, food, and education for their families
or are we moving backwards to the “Grapes of Wrath”/pre-New Deal America where a wealthy
few owned nearly everything and workers could be hired and fired at will with no workplace
conditions/safety requirements, no/inadequate minimum wage, no benefits, and the police
were called in to deal with complainers or “troublemakers?” Recent evidence of the millions
of working poor in our current “Walmart” and “MacDonald’s” economy indicates that we may
be on our way back there now.
William E. Conti, PhD, CSAC
Honolulu, HI
