1. The USPS is not technically “broke” — yet.
Operationally speaking, the USPS nets profits every year. The financial problem it faces now comes from a 2006 Congressional mandate that requires the agency to “pre-pay” into a fund that covers health care costs for future retired employees. Under the mandate, the USPS is required to make an annual $5.5 billion payment over ten years, through 2016.These “prepayments” are largely responsible for the USPS’s financial losses over the past four years and the threat of shutdown that looms ahead – take the retirement fund out of the equation, and the postal service would have actually netted $1 billion in profits over this period.
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I read elsewhere that the pension fund pre-payment requirements are well above what is typically needed, essentially requiring the USPS to pay into their pension fund for people that don't even work there yet. Some of the more conspiracy-minded think this is an intentional effort by the GOP that despises the idea of anything government related providing a service and doing so successfully. I'm not sure if that's the case or not.
Which is not to say that it doesn't face challenges as a result of the internet age and competition from other providers. Personally, I am ok with taxpayers funding a service that, or example, the poor and/or rural citizens of this country would otherwise not get. I don't think it would be cool to tell people in rural areas "tough ****, it's not profitable to mail letters for $.42 for you so you get to pay FedEx $10." But I'm a goddamned liberal, so.