(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) broken business model reared its ugly head again following the release of the first quarter financial report for fiscal year (FY) 2020.  The agency reported a net loss totaling $748 million, a decrease in net loss of $789 million, compared to a net loss of $1.5 billion for the same quarter last year.  The USPS also reported total revenue of $19.4 billion for the first quarter, a decrease of $363 million compared to the same quarter last year.

Citizens Against Government Waste President Tom Schatz said in a statement:  

“The USPS must come to grips with the reality of its fiscal situation.  Several postal reform bills have been introduced and considered in the House and Senate committees of jurisdiction over the past several years.  None of these efforts have come to fruition, yet time is growing short.  Yesterday, Postmaster General Megan Brennan reiterated her warning that if the agency runs out of cash, it would ‘literally threaten our ability to deliver the mail.’  The USPS business model was deemed ‘broken’ in a 2011 GAO report, and no one seems to be picking up the pieces.  Without market-oriented reforms, like those proposed in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Postal Task Force’s Report, the USPS’s finances will remain in the red and eventually reach the catastrophic stage, where taxpayers will be left to foot the bill.”

Background:

• The Postal Service is starting its 14th consecutive year of losses, totaling $78.5 billion.
• The Government Accountability Office has consistently placed USPS on its High Risk List.
• The agency has reached its statutory debt limit of $15 billion and has more than $120 billion in unfunded liabilities.
• On July 11, 2017, USPS agreed to an across-the-board pay raise and added benefits. 

CAGW is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

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