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Money Matters

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MONEY MATTERS (1 October 2009).

Our US Postal Service is in a crisis and have been over the past twenty years. The service will experience a $1 billion cash shortfall this fiscal year: a net loss of $7 billion, along with debt exceeding $10 billion. Losses are expected next year as well.

The Service has repeatedly increased the costs of mail service, sought cost-saving measures, and requested larger subsidies from the US Treasury to cover the shortfalls. Lawmakers are (again) reviewing overhaul options, and there is no shortage of proposals and suggestions from interested parties. Options include a reduction in delivery days per week, attaining new sources of revenue, or changes to federal law as they require advance funding to retiree health benefits.

The reduction of service will affect mostly those in remote locations who depend on mail deliveries as their only means of communication, and as well, those who cannot afford, or not able to use alternative means such as email, on-ling banking, bill paying, etc. It now appears reasonable to assume that the Postal Service cannot continue its present course of increasing the cost of mail service, since even with this revenue tool, they continue to under fund their obligations.

It is important to most of the public that this problem with our Postal Service be resolved in some long-lasting mode, where all concerned, to include our postal employees, are not left in an unnecessary state of anxiety. Our US Treasury has its own limitations of subsidizing an agency created to stand alone.