Thursday, July 30, 2009
With more and more Americans turning away from using mail service, causing its business to plummet, the U.S. Postal Service finds itself in serious trouble and in need of urgent restructuring. This conclusion was offered by the Government Accountability Office, whose recent report classified the USPS as a “high risk” government agency hemorrhaging money.
Between the recession forcing businesses to curtail spending and Americans increasingly relying on email and online bill options, the post office is rapidly losing customers. Last year postal workers handled 203 billion pieces of mail, but this year they’re only expected to process 175 billion—a reduction of almost 14%. In fact, the second quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended on March 31, was the worst for USPS in terms of mail volume since the early 1970s.
USPS officials did not disagree with the GAO’s conclusions, and are in favor of drastic moves to shore up their operation. Postal leaders want to cut mail delivery to five days a week and close several of its 38,000 postal processing facilities and post offices nationwide. USPS has already removed at least 200,000 “underperforming” blue mailboxes from across the country in the last two decades.
Also, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) has introduced legislation that would reduce the amount of money USPS must pay into its retirement fund and allow it to extend its borrowing to cover current shortfalls.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Postal Service Joins 'High Risk' List (by Ed O’Keefe, Washington Post)
Watchdog Adds Postal Service to High-risk List (by Robert Brodsky, Government Executive)
Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability (Government Accountability Office) (PDF)
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