Even to the most neutral observer, the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) financial condition is dire. Notwithstanding it $18 billion annual advantage over other private sector companies (exemption from income; state local sales; and property tax exemption; power of eminent domain; monopoly control over mailboxes; and a $15 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury) the USPS has posted more than $50 billion in losses since 2007 and faces $125 billion in unfunded liabilities. Regardless of how the USPS arrived at this position, there is a broad consensus that reform is needed.
Inspector General: “Image is Everything” and USPS Facilities are Lacking
On August 29, 2016, the Office of the Inspector General (IG) for the United States Postal Service (USPS) released an audit report on USPS facilities in the Capital Metro Area. The Capital Metro Area, which includes Atlanta, Baltimore, Greensboro, Richmond, and surrounding areas, is home to 2,600 postal facilities (USPS leases and owns more than […]
Postal Workers Protest Privatization of USPS, and Other Wishful Reforms
On August 23, 2016, postal workers held a rally on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during the American Postal Workers Union’s convention in Orlando, Florida. The union has come out against the TPP because they believe the agreement would ban postal banking and other non-postal activities while leading to the privatization of the postal service and […]
USPS and the Next Gen Vehicle
The United States Postal Service isn’t known for its whiz-kid, early adoption of shape-shifting technology innovations. While the private sector has been screaming along, birthing cutting-edge, disruptive technologies in the communications, transportation, and logistics sector, the USPS has remained mired in its top-heavy, sclerotic, analog, bricks-and-mortar past. For example, the USPS has been preparing to procure […]
United States Postal Service Fails Despite Advantages
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is one of the largest employers in the United States, with 625,113 employees. But the agency’s financial results are not quite as impressive. The USPS lost $5.1 billion in 2015 and the cost of labor has increased while the size of the workforce has shrunk. Nonetheless, the USPS Office of the Inspector General (IG), which is required to uncover and expose waste and abuse, declared in an April 16, 2016 report that the USPS is “doing better financially than sometimes reported in the media.”
USPS Saves Less than Predicted from POStPlan
A recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) “Post Office Structure Plan” (POStPlan) has failed to achieve the savings first predicted by USPS in 2012. The POStPlan aspired to save money by reducing the retail hours of 13,000 offices (66 percent of all post offices) and staffing them with non-career or part-time employees; the plan offered reassignment or separation incentives of career employees. USPS estimated that this plan would save the agency $500 million annually, but POStPlan savings have only reached $337 million annually.
For USPS Inspector General, Everything’s Always Coming Up Roses
On April 18, 2016 the United States Postal Service (USPS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report positing a rosy future for the USPS. The report, “Peeling the Onion,” concluded that USPS is “doing better financially than sometimes reported in the press.” Postal IG David Williams seems to view the agency’s prospects through rose-colored glasses, but the fiscal realities contained in its financial statements, congressional oversight and Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports indicate that the agency is running on empty and in need of transformative change.
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For: USPS Vehicle Procurement
In 1987, U2 released “The Joshua Tree,” which included the popular single, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” A gallon of gas cost 87 cents, Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister for the third time, and “Good Morning, Vietnam” was showing in theatres that year. It was also the last year that the United States Postal Service (USPS) purchased vehicles, which were supposed to “last a lifetime.” However, much like neon-colored suits and shoulder pads in women’s blazers, those vehicles, known as Grumman Long Life Vehicles (LLVs), have outlived their usefulness and their style.
Floundering USPS Needs Reform, Not Expansion
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is a government entity and has operated as such since 1775. It has a straightforward mandate: “To provide postal services to bind the Nation together.” And furthermore, “It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons.” In 1970, Congress directed that USPS be run like a business, with its activities funded solely through its revenues.
Fail and Expand: The USPS Way
In the world inhabited by rational people, when a business repeatedly falters and fails make a profit, it is slated for downsizing and a return to the basic services where it had previously operated effectively. But, in the world of government-sponsored entities, the opposite impulse occurs. Having lost more than $46 billion since 2007, The […]