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Forum Post: Save Us Postal Service and Restoration of Postal Savings System

Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 15, 2012, 2:56 p.m. EST by Wolfchen (6)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

We respectfully request that you support H.R. 1351, a bill introduced by Representative Stephen Lynch of MA.

Further, the US Postal Service should also be able to restore the Postal Savings System, a service it previously performed. This is already allowed in other countries, such as New Zealand and Japan.

Such systems allow the Postal Service to make a profit, and provide competition to the rapacious banks of Wall Street.

The U.S. Postal Service is currently facing a financial crisis partly due to the recession, but more significantly caused by the burdensome requirement of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) that it make payments averaging $5.5 billion dollars annually to prefund it retiree health benefits. Absent those prefunding mandates the Postal Service would actually be operating at a surplus over the last 4 fiscal years.

In addition, recent independent audits have shown that the USPS has already overfunded its Civil Service Retirement Fund by over $50 billion dollars and also has overfunded the Federal Employee Retirement System by nearly $7 billion dollars.

H.R. 1351 would resolve those financial inequities and bring the Postal Service into financial solvency with no use of tax payer money.

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7 Comments


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[-] 2 points by debndan (1145) 12 years ago

But that's the point.

The GOP passed that law to purposely kill the USPS

They admit they don't want ANY gov't sevices to succeed.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389006n

It's time to take these people at their word

If you want to keep the USPS, you need to be rid of the GOP in congress

[-] -1 points by DependentClass (19) 12 years ago

You should look into this called email. Turns out, it has major implications for mail delivery. Go figure, huh?

Government has terrific problems adapting to and accepting change. Toss in a union, and it gets even worse. That's the Post Office.

[-] 1 points by debndan (1145) 12 years ago

Hardly, after a hundred odd years, it took an act of congress to make the post office unprofitable

repeal the GOP's postal accountability and enhancement act and surprise surprise the post office is profitable again.

but, alas, it'll take this spring and fall when conservatives like me toss the GOP from congress till you guys wake the hell up.

[Removed]

[-] 1 points by infonomics (393) 12 years ago

Verbatim from the most recent 10-K of the United States Postal Service:

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the United States Postal Service at September 30, 2011 and 2010, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended September 30, 2011, in conformity with US generally accepted accounting principles.

As discussed more fully in Note 2 to the financial statements, the United States Postal Service, an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States, is dependent upon future actions of the Government to continue its operations in the ordinary course as a result of increasing operating losses and near term statutory funding requirements for employee benefit obligations. Losses in recent periods have increased primarily due to sustained declines in mail volume, and statutory and regulatory restrictions have constrained the ability of the Postal Service to implement strategies to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase revenues. On September 30, 2011, legislation was enacted that changed the due date of a $5.5 billion payment required by Public Law 109-435, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, to not later than November 18, 2011. The Postal Service does not expect to have sufficient cash to meet this obligation and a related additional obligation due by September 30, 2012 for $5.6 billion. Accordingly, management expects, but no assurances can be given, that additional legislation will be enacted in fiscal year 2012 to address the short-term funding requirements of the United States Postal Service.

The opinion of Ernst & Young LLP, McLean, Virginia, November 15, 2011

Tell the forum what the above excerpted opinion means.

From footnote 2:

As noted in previous filings, Postal Service losses for the past three years are attributable to a combination of the declines in mail volume that began in 2008, the statutory and regulatory provisions that have the effect of limiting the Postal Service’s ability to reduce costs and increase revenue, and the statutory requirement to prefund retiree health benefits. The declines in mail volume are primarily a result of the economic recession that began in December 2007 and the protracted economic weakness that has followed, along with the acceleration of a longterm trend of hard-copy correspondence and transactions migrating to electronic media. Revenue in 2011 was $65.7 billion, a $1.3 billion, or 2.0%, decrease from 2010 and almost $2.4 billion less than 2009.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe interviewed on PBS had this to say: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/government_programs/july-dec11/postoffices_09-06.html

The problem is, when you start to look forward, even with the funding, the pre-funding money given back to us, which there's not a lot of people coming forward telling us that they're going to give us that money, the problem is, when you start to go forward, the volume and revenues continue to go down. We are losing first-class mail at the rate of 7.5 percent a year. That's not going to change. That is not going to change. We have lost 26 percent of our volume in the last four years. We have made it up by productivity improvements.

[-] 1 points by Wolfchen (6) 12 years ago

Bravo.
As a correction, it should be noted that New Zealand, rather than Australia, is among the nations that allow a Postal Savings System.

[-] 1 points by RedJazz43 (2757) 12 years ago

I'd go further than that and suggest that the Post Office be restored as a Cabinet level administrative department.

[-] 0 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 12 years ago

Retirement programs should always be fully funded, but they should not be over-funded. It sounds like they need to do an in depth accounting and adjustment. They should be able to make real-time adjustments like any business.

See samples of how below.

183,361 signatures so far for Bernie Sanders petition as of 10:15am central time 01/15/2012

http://sanders.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=clickthru&gpiv=2100081904.557411.411&gen=1&mailing_linkid=34578

The petition to save abandoned houses has 15 signatures. We picked one up at around 9:50pm 01/13/2012. Were just rolling right along.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Savingpeople-savinghomes-payingdowntheNationaldeficit/

Here is a place where you can directly address change. Take part, it does not hurt and may very well heal/help. Forward the cause of reform and rebirth.

http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/Ag8nw/zL2Q/B18Bb

Sierra Club has some good things to take part in as well. Set-up and ready for you to take part in. http://sierraclub.org/