U.S. Postal Service Has Not Earned a Profit in Almost a Decade

Well now people I am sure to outage some folks here, but I am going to say it. We need to get rid of the USPS, and just sell it off to a private company. With the likes of DHL,Fed Ex, UPS it's no wonder the USPS has multi billion dollar losses. There was a time, and a place for the USPS, but that time has long since passed.

Posting losses of $51 billion dollars over the course of seven years. All funded by us, and yet we continually bail out that government ran venture. No turn around in site sight, and more losses are on the way.

People need to wake up, and get it through their heads. Government has NO BUSINESS having business's.

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

The USPS is too big to fail! Thought we were 'suppose' to end them 'bailouts'?

This would put over 500,000 people out of a job. Instead of completely gutting it, maybe we should try to revamp it somehow. No ideas on my part but half a million jobs is a lot of people on unemployment or welfare.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

No one said a word about putting people out of work, and gutting it.

Sell it, and make it someone else's problem.

This problems goes back to Congress and not the USPS. Congress mandated the "pre-funding" of retirement accounts which congress uses as it's own personal slush fund.

USPS Pre-funding Information

If congress were to stop this foolishness and the Postal Worker's Union was not so strong, this matter would not be up for discussion.

a reply to: neo96

It's not your problem to begin with. You don't pay for it, none of us do except when we buy postage stamps. And the USPS wouldn't have any financial troubles at all if Congress didn't make them pre-fund their retirement, health and insurance obligations for the next seventy or so years within ten years time.

a reply to: neo96

Not sure why anyone would want to buy a service that has lost $51 billion in the past 7 years, that'd be the dumbest buyout ever. If a private company bought it by some miracle, they'd end up gutting it anyways because of the losses they'd be suffering.

I say the government keeps the service but revamps it. We'd be better off cutting our military spending in half instead of selling or killing off the postal service, that would make up for the USPS's losses sixfold.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: neo96

It's not your problem to begin with. You don't pay for it, none of us do except when we buy postage stamps. And the USPS wouldn't have any financial troubles at all if Congress didn't make them pre-fund their retirement, health and insurance obligations ten years in advance.

LOL we don't pay for it ?

Just how does that work when posting 50 BILLION DOLLAR LOSSES ?

For those that actually bothered to read the article:

“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. “The odds that a bailout will eventually become unavoidable increase as the sea of red ink continues rising.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the Postal Service’s unfunded liabilities grew 62 percent from 2007 to 2013. The Tax Foundation says it is doubtful that the Postal Service will be able to meet its obligations.

That's the same 'reason' GM was bailed out.

oops...already posted, I see.

a reply to: neo96

We

don't

fund

the

USPS

The USPS funds itself.

originally posted by: notmyrealname
This problems goes back to Congress and not the USPS. Congress mandated the "pre-funding" of retirement accounts which congress uses as it's own personal slush fund.

USPS Pre-funding Information

If congress were to stop this foolishness and the Postal Worker's Union was not so strong, this matter would not be up for discussion.

That sounds terrible. Actually funding your pension system.
Now just think about all the cities like Chicago and Detroit that have huge shortfalls in their pension funds. They will be looking for a bailout before to long.

a reply to: Bluntone22

You aren't understanding. Congress passed a bill in 2006 that required the USPS to fund it's retirement, health and insurance for the next seventy years... within ten years time. No other federal, state or private entity is required to do that. It's absurd.

a reply to: Kali74

Still refusing to read the article I see.

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. “The odds that a bailout will eventually become unavoidable increase as the sea of red ink continues rising.”

a reply to: neo96

Here is a helpful "Myths and Facts" page about USPS:

www.carper.senate.gov...

One such fact:

FACT: Under current law, Congress has prevented the U.S. Postal Service from making many tough but necessary business decisions on topics ranging from the number of post offices to the frequency of mail delivery to the rollout of innovative new products.

a reply to: FamCore

What would be helpful is if people would read the article.

It would be NICE.

Can't say I'm overly surprised. USPS service is the worst. I use UPS or Fed-Ex whenever possible.

Lets start with... COLLECTING THE MAIL !

They don't check the box, haven't in a couple of years now. If I'm not receiving mail, my out bound mail isn't picked up. I've literally chased the guy or girl down before screaming "I have a mortgage payment that needs to go out !!"

Or lets see... How does a person walk the same route for years, delivering to the same address for years... And still confuse a 21 for a 12 ? Half my mail goes across the street, which leads back to the first problem...

Packages ? LOL if I want them crushed, bent in half, torn open.. Sure then I use USPS ! Great work there guys...

Love getting a letter or bill sent back for "insufficient postage" when I'm using those ever soo cheap "Forever stamps"... They're not so "forever" after all.. Buy a roll of those and tell me they're cheap..



Now I don't hate the USPS, but I see why someone would rather use ANYONE ELSE, causing their revenue problems.

a reply to: neo96

People need to wake up, and get it through their heads. Government has NO BUSINESS having business's.

Very true... public servants have no business except the people's business: Serving the needs of the people for the greater good... not making a profit off of us.

The USPS has served the nation well. I still send real Christmas cards and birthday cards and stuff. I still use the USPS for all my shipping. I love their one-price shipping boxes! Many people depend on the post office for delivery. The USPS delivers to even the most rural areas; even Fed Ex and UPS will sometimes use the post office delivery when it just doesn't make financial sense to deliver it themselves. By all means, appropriate reforms should be made to best serve modern needs; and they have made some changes. People have been calling for a stop to Saturday delivery for years and years -- let's start there. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And we don't need another sweetheart crony capitalist deal that serves the few at the expense of the many. Sometimes the value is more important than the price.

a reply to: neo96

I read the BS article... it's BS.

Republicans will block a bailout for the USPS because their goal is to bankrupt it.

a reply to: Kali74

Personally I think the USPS losing over 50 billion dollars is the real BS.

Funny how people will defend those bailouts, and make any excuse for it.

a reply to: neo96

We are subsidizing international inbound posts at the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars:

International postage rates are set by an body called the Universal Postal Union (UPU), an organization established in 1874 and tasked with facilitating the international exchange of mail by requiring participant countries to provide universal postal service at predetermined rates. Currently, the rates set by the UPU for mail entering the U.S. are actually lower than the cost of delivery, effectively forcing the USPS to subsidize foreign mailers.

For most industrialized countries, international rates are based on domestic postage rates, and because the U.S. has among the lowest domestic rates of any such country, “the U.S. is one of the least expensive countries for foreign target countries to mail to, and the financial performance of inbound international mail for the Postal Service suffers.”

According to Amazon Vice President for Global Public Policy Paul Misener, however, the problem is exacerbated by a USPS agreement with China Post to make lightweight deliveries at even lower rates, with the result that “shipments from China to points throughout the United States are often cheaper than shipments entirely within the United States.”

source