Cash-Strapped Postal Service 'In Peril' Without Intervention From Congress: Watchdog

There is a link in the article to the full May 2020 GAO report.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/po...ess-watchdog

Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress "To establish Post Offices and Post Roads".

If the USPS were to go bankrupt, would a private entity take them over and would existing stamps be valid for postage?

I do not believe the general population would allow Congress to let the USPS go fully bankrupt, or to privatize the USPS, or to have any large quantity of previous stamps effectively be demonetized. The voter backlash at the ballot box would be significant.

The current problem faced by the USPS is not new. The services needed by citizens for its services change over time. The post office has to keep evolving to meet todays circumstances and future needs. The challenge is to professionally run a solid business plan in this political environment.

The average citizen no longer needs the services of the USPS and while the USPS ranks high in satisfaction among government agencies, the majority of people would not shed a tear if it were eliminated, which I don't know how that could be done, given its constitutional mandate. Businesses and philatelists should be concerned about a private entity taking over the USPS and then not honoring the hundreds of millions of outstanding stamps in circulation or setting a time limit on their redemption/validity, much like when the Euro currency was introduced.

"The average citizen no longer needs the services of the USPS "

I suspect that the "average citizen" does not realize how much they still need the USPS; they would learn very quickly if it ever actually left us.

Random thoughts:

The First Class Mail volume decrease is impossible to overcome. You cannot incentivize using something that is no longer the way to do business. Electronic communication is only going to increase to the point where FCM is a thing of the past. When I read the report and background documents it becomes clear that USPS leadership did nothing creative to mitigate that revenue loss.

If people want last mile delivery of every piece of mail they are going to have to pony up when it comes to rates.

Saturday mail and a Post Office in every town is going to be a thing of the past. DPO collectors will have a growing list of offices to acquire in the not too distant future.

Taxpayer subsidizing of USPS shortfalls is not a viable option because it gives them little incentive to run in the black.

Congress did little to help the Postal Service when they mandated funding pension liabilities ahead of time. That is the catalyst for where the USPS is now. Poor business decisions compounded the problem.

The average citizen in 2020 most likely sends and receives little to no first class mail and probably mails zero packages a year, but his/her receipt of packages might cost more if e-commerce sites that use the USPS raise their shipping rates.

The average citizen would also be relived to no longer receive "junk mail."

All I can say is expect higher prices not matter what happens to send greetings cards, pay your taxes, stamps you mail and receive, mail that ballot, etc. Even the USPS wants to raise your rates.

From the last data I saw, first class mail is dead with just only 55 billion pieces handled so need to avoid that,

While I don't care for having to sort through the "junk mail" I find that easier to quickly process, recycle, and deal with than e-mail spam (I find it more time consuming to scan through to make sure I'm not inadvertently deleting something important) or robo calls and texts.

The volume of e-mail spam and robo calls/texts will inevitable increase if standard class postal mail is eliminated.

angore: What do you expect the price of a Forever stamp to rise to in the next 5 years?

The pharmaceutical industry will most likely be pushing to keep the USPS going. It's reason why we still have Saturday delivery. Too many other businesses, large and small depend on the USPS. It cannot fail without causing immense harm.

Hate to say it, but with Covid, the line of folks standing outside my post office every single day holding packages to send goes around the corner of the building. All day long.

They only let 5 people into the lobby at a time - everyone else stands outside.

Lots of packages being sent by John and Jane Doe...

Torin,

I have no idea but the USPS does have to price such that some rate classes are not losing money. First class has been the most profitable but cannot be expected to subsidize other rates in my opinion. Remote locations get subsidized by urban areas. First class is far from dead but cannot sustain the USPS.

Battlestamps: They are part of a coalition to stop the "package tax."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...giant-boost/


Perhaps if the cost to mail a 1lb Priority Mail box approaches $40, coupled with First class mail's rapid decline, then discount postage sales might be a thing of the past or you might see 32c stamps sell for 1/3rd of face value, since you can't fit 132 of them on a box.

The USPS also needs to be given more freedom from the meddling of Congress to run itself as a streamlined business and find some cash-saving ways of its own.

My mail is delivered to a box at the end of my driveway, the carrier passes both ways on my street - and has for 50+ years with a hundred or more stops and starts. Why hasn't my neighborhood been forced into delivery at 3-4 blocks of central boxes? Little things to chip away at the overall business process