End Of Press Sheets?

The USPS is an 'independent' entity, unlike the US Mint.

It is the direct recipient of all of its income, unlike the US Mint, Park Service, Customs, IRS, et al.

(Revenues due other federal agencies are paid into the Treasury, and they spend what they are budgeted by Congress, with little connection between these two.)

If the USPS does not fully fund the future benefits due its current employees & retirees - benefits for which it is fully obligated right now - then that bomb will go off some day, and taxpayers will get stuck with that bill.

There is no reason to allow the geniuses managing the USPS to falsely inflate their P&L statement by letting them underfund their obligations, especially as the same act allows for performance bonuses.

I would not describe the law as being written in plain English - they rarely are - but the 'future employees' thing is demonstrable nonsense, to wit:




I (still) don't get the 'stupid' part or, for that matter, the 'future employees' part.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Leejb1,
Ah I see now, thank you.
I understand about painful health insurance costs. Although I have always been in the private sector, I paid faithfully into Blue Cross/Blue Shield for over 20 years without ever using it. Then last year I had some major medical issues. BCBS contacted me in December to tell me that my monthly insurance rate would be going up to $2250 per month with a $6k out-of-pocket deductible (total of $30k per year). Looked into Obamacare but it offered zero relief. Sigh.
Don

ikey,
It says, "Establishes in the Treasury the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund to cover the government's contribution for health care costs of current and future retirees." I have no idea what the difference there may be between an 'employee' and an 'retiree' but both seem to be reaching well into the future. So if the USPS hires a new full time 22 year old, I assume they must budget or account for the retirement benefits even if they aren't going to be touched for the next 40 years.

But bottom line, the USPS is not run like a company (Congress has it fingers in its business in many ways.) And it is not run like a typical Federal agency. It is run as an hybrid between the two. I think this is stupid, if you disagree than so be it.
Don

Oh. c'mon. One reports for work, and gets a paycheck. One does not report for work, and gets a pension check.




The retiree is going to be paid until s/he dies. Yeah, next year is the future, and so is the year after that. That's the future. Can't be helped, but it can be fully funded.

Every year that the employee works - to keep the math simple - they earn 1/20th of their 20-year pension. The employer incurs an obligation each year, equal to 1/20th of both the lifetime pension and the lifetime retiree healthcare costs.

(Obviously, the math is more complex, as some folks do not make it to pension, and some work more than 20 years, and life expectancy at retirement will vary and, therefor, the lifetime cost. That's why we hire actuaries to do the math.)

Q/ What sense would it make for us to allow the employer to say "yeah, don't worry, we'll be around, then, and we'll pay it, then, out of our operating income, then"?




I sure hope that you are not one of those guys who goes around grumbling about The National Debt "robbing our grandchildren", and all that ... because this law is how you meet your own obligations, instead of kicking the can down the road.




Easy, partner. You said that this law was stupid, to wit:




That law is not stupid.




Q/ Why should a hybrid be allowed to create an enormous unfunded liability to be covered by non-hybrid funds?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey