New Poll Shows Public Wants A Postal Audit Before Stamp Prices Rise Again;

Group Unveils “Commemorative Stamps” Asking, “Where’s Our Money Going?”

Washington, DC – Days before the US Postal Service is set to raise its rates for the third time in three years, and at the same time the Postal Service is billions of dollars in debt, a leading citizens group kicked off a national protest demanding a financial audit of the Postal Service. 

Speaking at an event in Washington, DC, Leslie Paige, Vice President of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), said, “Our nation’s Postal Service is headed for a financial train wreck and Postal officials are asleep at the switch.  They need to get their financial house in order.  Instead, at the expense of consumers and businesses, Postal rates continue to climb while, Postal managers continue to rack up staggering levels of debt.” 

On June 30th, the Postal Service will raise the price of a First-Class stamp from $0.34 to $0.37.  The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) confirms, that despite recent annual rate increases, the Postal Service is headed for its third consecutive annual deficit since fiscal year 2000, it is nearly $13 billion in debt with more than $80 billion in additional liabilities looming, and it has no debt reduction plan in place.  Due to this bleak financial outlook, GAO placed the Postal Service on its “high risk” list.

To back its call for greater accountability, CAGW released a new Wirthlin Worldwide survey confirming that 85 percent of the public wants independent auditors to investigate the Postal Service’s finances and make the results public, before the Postal Service is allowed to raise rates again.  Paige added,  “If Enron had to open its financial books to the world, doesn’t the public have the right to demand the same of our debt-ridden and hopelessly mismanaged Postal Service?”

To highlight the need for Postal officials to act more responsibly, CAGW unveiled a series of “commemorative stamps” depicting outrageous examples of recent Postal waste and mismanagement.  CAGW and other groups are making the stamps available online to their members and the public at www.cagw.org.  CAGW is launching a national protest to encourage supporters to download the “stamps” from the Internet, and –after affixing the proper postage – affix them elsewhere on letters to federal officials demanding a Postal Service audit.  [Note:  these stamps are clearly labeled as having “no cash value.”]

The six “commemorative stamps” visually depict the following:

“Where’s Our Money Going?” – represents the fact that the GAO confirms the Postal Service is billions of dollars in debt, despite annual rate increases, and has no debt reduction plan in place.

“Postal Execs – Gone Fishin’ ” – represents the fact that the very day after consumers are forced to pay higher Postal rates, top Postal officials are set to jet away on a junket to a luxury resort hotel in Anchorage, Alaska.

“Priority Mail – Not a Priority” – represents the fact that the Postal Rate Commission’s Office of Consumer Advocate recently revealed that Priority Mail is no faster, and sometime slower, than First-Class Mail – and the Postal Service continues to falsely advertise this service.

“Fat Cat Executive Bonuses” – represents the fact that the Postal Service’s own Inspector General confirms that the managers responsible for allowing the Postal Service to amass billions of dollars of debt, paid themselves $805 million in “performance” bonuses between 1998 and 2000. Still others used Postal funds to help pay their personal home mortgages.

“Postal Execs – Limo Lawbreakers” – represents the fact that top Postal managers were caught breaking federal law – over 500 times – by using chauffeured-driven limousines to shop and travel between home and office.

“Postal Service – High Risk” – represents the fact that, due to its deteriorated financial situation, the Postal Service was placed on GAO’s “High Risk” list.

At the conclusion of the event, CAGW officials affixed the six “stamps,” along with the proper postage, to the outside of an envelope bearing a letter to President Bush.   The letter, signed by CAGW and several other consumer and business groups representing millions of members and supporters nationwide, implored the President to instigate an independent financial audit of the Postal Service. 

While Paige says Postal officials are promoting a new plan that, among other things, would allow them to raise rates faster and focus more on non-mail related business – all with less regulatory oversight – CAGW has a simple solution:  “First, Postal officials should take a time out, focus on delivering the mail, and pull the plug on all non-mail related ventures. Second, Postal officials should submit to a top to bottom, independent financial audit, and the results should be made public. At a time when private businesses all across America are learning the public demands full accountability, it’s time for our nation’s Postal Service to get with the program, get its managers to act responsibly and get its financial house in order,” concluded Paige. 

The findings CAGW released today are based on a Wirthlin Worldwide survey of 1,002 respondents, 18 years of age and older.  The margin of error is + 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. 

Citizens Against Government Waste is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization representing more than one million members and supporters nationwide. CAGW's mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government