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. Financial collapse of the United States Postal Service is coming. Come 2012, it had hit its $15 billion legal debt cap [11]. USPS is $160 billion in debt. The USPS was not in debt to the federal government. The Postal Service subsequently reduced its debt by $1.8 billion, finishing the year with $13.2 billion in debt outstanding. What's going on at the Post Office? 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%. The U.S. Post Office owes $100 Billion in benefits to its workers/retirees but doesn’t have the money. Postal Service's (USPS) deteriorating financial condition is unsustainable as a result of trends including:Declining mail volume : First-Class Mail—USPS's most profitable product—continues to decline in volume as communications and payments migrate to electronic alternatives. Through rain, sleet, hail, and even a pandemic, mail carriers serve every address in the United States, but the coronavirus crisis is shaking the foundation of the U.S. “USPS has lost $69 billion over the past 11 fiscal years — including $3.9 billion in fiscal year 2018,” GAO says. The largest liabilities are unfunded retiree health benefits, worker compensation costs, and debt. Postal Service (USPS) recently closed its books for the 2019 fiscal year, and things aren’t looking so good as it heads into 2020.USPS has a whopping $120 billion in pension and other post-employment unfunded liabilities.That’s an amount equal to the GDP of Ukraine. The USPS was not in debt to the federal government. U.S. Chart 1. Postal Service (USPS) is in great financial trouble, and its ability to deliver ballots in the upcoming election has turned to some extent on the fact. The U.S. Defense subsidy and general debt underwriting At its creation, the modern USPS was required to take on increased pension benefits for its employees who … Privitization and Competition The USPS is shielded from healthy competition in 1st class mail by the federal gov't. The 2006 law was meant to correct that. The U.S. Last year, the U.S. Postal Service … The only silver lining is that the loss was below the red-ink tsunami of $15.9 billion in 2012. When most people think of the Postal Service, they think of letters from grandma or junk mail. The rest of the debt, the gross debt minus the debt held by the public, is known in government accounting as “intragovernmental debt.” – or basically debt that taxpayers owe to … Why the USPS is deep in debt… With too little revenue coming in and expenses too high, debt piled up. The federal government was in debt to the USPS. At the end of 2019, USPS had an estimated $160 billion in debt—and $119.3 billion of it came from pre-funding payments they defaulted on. Figure 4: USPS debt has spiked ($1B) [10] The Postal Service had no debt in 2005. 6. "The USPS is exactly what is wrong with America these days - another government run business that is mismanaged and can't pay its bills and therefore goes into more debt and steals from the taxpayer" - Matt You don't know what you are talking about and you sure as heck don't know anything about accounting and financing processes for a business. Expenses are a few billion a year higher than revenues. The USPS Doesn’t Run on Tax Dollars, and Its Funding Is About to Run Out. Luckily, the USPS has enough cash to make ends meet over the next few months. 5. The House of Representatives has taken a first step toward easing the United States Postal Service’s growing debt to the Department of the Treasury. That is the eighth annual loss in a row and the third-highest ever. The 2006 law was meant to correct that. About four-fifths of the USPS labor force is unionized. OTOH, as I understand it, it is the bulk mail that makes money at the USPS, that and being the last-mile for Amazon. If USPS charged $15 for every piece of advertising…but Congress won’t let them. Left: U.S. Congress authorized the USPS to borrow $10 billion from the US Treasury Department as part of the CARES Act (the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act). But its depleted cash reserve and new leadership have some worried. At 4:35 a.m. on December 9, 2006, the 109th Congress adjourned “in a blaze of bickering,” as the Miami Herald headline put it. Postal Service has the most cash on hand, though debt still looms If Your Time is short The United States Postal Service had $14.2 billion in cash on hand as of Aug. 12. But in negotiating the terms, the Treasury Department attached some significant strings, including the following: “Subject to confidentiality protections, USPS shall provide to Treasury copies of USPS’s top […] The organization plans to reduce its debt level by an additional $2.2 billion as existing debt matures in February and May 2019. The USPS Is in Debt $143 Million and Counting — Here’s Why. Postal Service (USPS) ran a deficit of $3.9 billion. 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. Postal Service has hit its $15 billion debt limit and can't borrow anymore from the U.S. Treasury. But its depleted cash reserve and new leadership have some worried. Postal Service is consistently viewed favorably by an overwhelming majority of Americans, ... UPS and FedEx, billions of dollars in debt, costly pension and … The U.S. These five charts depict the immensity of USPS’s financial challenges. (AP Photo) The United States Postal Service (USPS) lost $5.5 billion last year. USPS has been losing money for more than a decade. USPS, by the way, has not made a payment to its Retiree Health Benefits Fund since 2010 due to insufficient cash on hand. US National Debt Clock : Real Time U.S. National Debt Clock USPS Workers Are … The U.S. Mail Volume […] All this red ink has flowed despite USPS’s aggressive move [1] into the parcel delivery business. USPS assets are falling and liabilities are soaring. The United States Postal Service will play a critical role in the 2020 election. However, the more USPS skipped its pre-funding payments, the more debt the organization racked up. "The Postal Service's $15 billion debt is a direct result of the mandate," the Inspector General wrote in 2015. It’s no surprise, then, that Congress has started looking for ways to remedy this. So, in order to stay operational, USPS began defaulting (or skipping) these payments to the Treasury. Postal Service (USPS) crates sit on the floor at the Brookland Post Office in Washington, D.C., U.S. No customer data was stolen in a recent data breach, USPS officials say. The federal government was in debt to the USPS. “USPS’s total unfunded liabilities and debt ($143 billion at the end of fiscal year 2018) have grown to double its annual revenue.” The U.S. If approved by the Senate, the legislation would remove $5 billion a year in debts that the USPS pays for the expected costs of health benefits for future postal retirees. Unfortunately, losses are the rule rather than the exception for the agency. ... 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