A letter carrier I know has been explaining the status of the Postal Service over the past year. She made some pointed comments indicating that the USPS had overpaid some 75 billions of dollars into their retirement fund and would be in the black if the Feds properly credited the service's account. I searched and found a lack of focus on this topic on this blog. However I did find this report (2010 Inspector General's Report) which substantiates my friend's claim.
Looking back at artificially created emergencies such as the GOP debt limit scam and Governor Walker's Wisconsin corporate tax break / public pay cut switcheroo I wondered if the USPS is the intended victim of a similar ploy. What I found was more like well intentioned but inadequate attempts at reform creating a crisis which has allowed many in the GOP to claim the public mail is failing and needs to be dismantled.
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On December 20, 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act became law. The law required the USPS to pre-fund a special retirement account to the tune of 5.5 billion dollars a year even though no other federal entity funds retirement in that manner.
General funds are used to pay pre-1971 retirement liabilities as the Postal Service was spun off the federal rolls in 1971. The current Postal Service is liable for the retirement of workers after 1971. Since 1971 the Postal Service has been a self-funding organization operating under the executive branch. The dispute addressed in the 2010 report has to do with funding the retirements of those whose tenure spanned the pre- and post- 1971 divide. The Postal Service says it has overpaid $75 billion for the liabilities it inherited from the days before it was "independent". The report says if someone worked 50/50 pre and post '71 the new USPS has been held liable for 70% of costs.
This is where things get interesting. Republicans in congress say the Postal Service is failing ... despite delivering roughly the same amount of mail with about 10% less employees than a decade ago. Despite not being allowed to increase postage to match rising costs (our postage is about 50% that of European rates even though the US is a tad bigger than most nations). Despite having to deliver to each and every address in the realm. Despite more or less paying their own way despite imposition of the 2006 law.
Remember the Post Office was not created by legislation. It is founded and required by the US Constitution. Rachel Maddow had a good look at a part of this topic (Republicans Hate the Post Office) .
It seems the GOP would destroy our public institutions just to prove their world view which says that public institutions are evil and must, by definition, fail, even if they have to cause the failures themselves.
It is true that the mail is an old technology that is partially being replaced by electronic media. Let us not hasten the decline of a viable method of communicating, advertising and delivery of small goods which has served the nation since before Ben Franklin.