(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) reacted with dismay after the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released its second quarter financial report in which it documents a net loss of an astonishing $2.04 billion.  The agency has lost more than $50 billion in the last nine years.

Postmaster General and Chief Executive Megan J. Brennan blamed the massive losses on the agency’s “contending with long-term financial challenges.”  However, Brennan did not mention the cost-saving opportunities provided to USPS by a familiar source.  In its November 2015 semi-annual report to Congress, the USPS Inspector General (IG) found $1.8 billion in funds that could be “put to better use,” and $455 million in questionable costs from April to September 2015 alone. 

CAGW Vice President for Policy and Communications Leslie Paige said, “USPS is an agency in a downward spiral, yet its leaders seem to be in denial.  Agency executives persist in the misguided belief that financial salvation lies in accounting gimmicks and starting new non-postal businesses.  The Postal Service’s opaque accounting practices, billion-dollar losses, and declining service quality highlight the need for the agency to focus solely on its letter mail products.  Straying from its original mission will only compound USPS’s problems,” concluded Paige.  

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. 

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