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Originally Posted by BarryD

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Many of us have clear childhood memories of that mailman.
People are spewing wildly inaccurate statements. USPS is losing money now, but not for the reasons most often claimed. USPS did not use any tax dollars for years. The steep drop in mail volume and laws/rules from congress are like a python squeezing the air out of USPS. Amazon and Vote-By-Mail are not suddenly spiking a need for capital.
Mail Volume (The Volume Falls but the Fixed Costs Remain)
• Internet banking and email resulted in a massive (-33%) reduction in first class mail, marketing mail (-7.5%) in the past decade (severe revenue loss)
• COVID-19 caused an enormous drop in advertising revenue, including mail for USPS (marketing mail -36.4%) (severe revenue loss)
• Package volume including Amazon helps revenue. By law, USPS cannot offer package discounts at a loss (Amazon and other online sellers are paying their lawful share on the books). Package costs will go up after the next regulatory update of overhead allocations.

Congress/Regulator Laws and Rules (forced USPS to comply with rules no competitor has)
• They require USPS to deliver mail to everybody, rural or not, at the same price.
• USPS cannot just raise or fix prices (regulatory review required). Until 1970 it was a regular, tax supported agency of the federal government.
• There are many cost-saving actions that USPS is not allowed to take. For example, regulations prohibit them from buying and operating their own fleet of airplanes (to save money like FedEx/UPS do), weren’t allowed to cut Saturday deliveries.
• In 2006, USPS was given 10 years to fund retiree healthcare for 40(+) years in advance (NPV). The law took cash that should have funded more automation and efficiencies. No other firm or government agency has to do this. USPS defaults started in 2012.

Postmaster General (PMG) Actions (Making Mail Slower)
• Forbes reports that PMG dismantled and removed over 600 sorting machines, which each process 35,000 pieces of mail per hour. Forget any claim of innocence you may hear.
• PMG prohibited overtime and (replacement) hiring despite staffing shortages from COVID-19.
• Former Attorney General, Eric Holder said that anyone who “willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail” can face fines and imprisonment of up to six months.

Additional Remarks:
• USPS bankruptcy would damage people and businesses. People depend on delivery of prescriptions, social security checks, and legal documents and much more.
• Only USPS is set up to deliver your mail (not FedEx, UPS or anybody else). Almost all countries have government run postal systems. USPS has been with us since Ben Franklin became the first Postmaster General in 1775.

It’s elementary, Dear Watson. We have found the contract killer. Now we must uncover the suborner. Let’s follow the money and see who would profit by privatizing the post office.

Our grandchildren will profit by bringing USPS to cost neutral regardless of Ben Franklin's involvement. Yearly cost over runs are being added to national debt we all know we are not paying, our grandchildren are. You imply the USPS service is being treated unfairly due to being forced to fund future retiree healthcare cost. All public service retirement plans should be mandated to do this. We have become dependent on spending more than we take in with taxes and are very comfortable with letting next generations worry about it. USPS needs to be brought into 21st century. IMHO