The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition:
Overview and Issues for Congress
Kevin R. Kosar
Analyst in American National Government
January 19, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R41024
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
Summary
This report provides an overview of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS’s) financial condition, recent
legislation to alleviate the USPS’s financial challenges, and possible issues for the 111th Congress.
Since 1971, the USPS has been a self-supporting government agency that covers its operating
costs with revenues generated through the sales of postage and related products and services.
Recently, the USPS has experienced significant financial challenges. After running modest profits
from FY2004 through FY2006, the USPS lost $5.3 billion in FY2007 and $2.8 billion in FY2008.
In May 2009, the USPS warned that it might experience a cash shortage at the end of September
2009. Two months later, the Government Accountability Office added the USPS’s financial
condition “to the list of high-risk areas needing attention by the Congress and the executive
branch.”
On September 30, 2009, Congress enacted H.R. 2918, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act
[of] 2010. President Barack H. Obama signed the bill into law (P.L. 111-68) the next day. Section
164 of the law alleviated the USPS’s cash shortage by reducing the USPS’s statutorily required
September 30, 2009, payment to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund from $5.4
billion to $1.4 billion. (The USPS must repay the $4 billion deferred obligation after FY2016.)
While Congress alleviated the USPS’s FY2009 cash shortage, it is unclear what the future holds
for the USPS’s finances. Even with this assistance, the USPS had an FY2009 operating loss of
$3.8 billion. As the USPS’s finances have deteriorated, its ability to absorb operating losses has
been diminished. Between FY2005 and FY2009, the USPS’s debt rose from $0 to $10.2 billion.
(The agency’s statutory debt limit is $15 billion.) The USPS has predicted operating deficits in
FY2010, and its auditor has stated that there is “significant uncertainty” as to whether the USPS
will have the cash required to make its FY2010 payment to its Retiree Health Benefits Fund.
A number of ideas for incremental reforms have been put forth that would improve the USPS’s
financial condition in the short-term so that it might continue as a self-funding government
agency, all of which would require Congress to amend current postal law. The ideas include (1)
increasing the USPS’s revenues by altering postage rates and increasing its offering of nonpostal
rates and services; and (2) reducing the USPS’s expenses by a number of means, such as
recalculating the USPS’s retiree health care obligation and payments, closing postal facilities, and
reducing mail delivery from six to five days.
This report will be updated to reflect significant developments.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
Contents
Background ................................................................................................................................ 1
The USPS’s Financial Difficulties, FY2006-FY2009 ................................................................... 1
Flattening Then Declining Revenues ..................................................................................... 1
Growing Expenses ................................................................................................................ 3
Congress Acts to Alleviate the USPS’s Immediate Financial Distress..................................... 5
Issues for Congress ..................................................................................................................... 6
Increasing Revenues ............................................................................................................. 7
Altering Postage Rates .................................................................................................... 7
Offering More Nonpostal Products and Services ............................................................. 7
Reducing Costs ..................................................................................................................... 7
Reducing the USPS’s PSRHBF Obligation and Payments ............................................... 7
Reducing the USPS’s Contributions Toward Employee Health Premiums and Life
Insurance ..................................................................................................................... 8
Reducing the USPS’s Retail and Nonretail Facilities ....................................................... 9
Reducing Mail Delivery from Six to Five Days Per Week.............................................. 10
Increasing the USPS’s Powers to Control Labor Costs................................................... 10
Figures
Figure 1. The USPS’s Mail Volume, FY2004-FY2009................................................................. 2
Figure 2. The USPS’s Operating Revenues, FY2004-FY2009...................................................... 3
Figure 3. The USPS’s Operating Revenues and Expenses, FY2004-FY2009................................ 4
Figure 4. The USPS’s Operating Income Without the Annual PAEA Payments to the
Postal Service Health Benefits Fund, FY2004-FY2009............................................................. 5
Figure 5. U.S. Postal Service Retail and Non-Retail Facilities, FY2007-FY2009 ......................... 9
Tables
Table 1. Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund Payments Under PAEA.............................. 4
Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 11
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
Background
Since 1971, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has been a self-supporting, wholly governmental
entity. Prior to that time, the federal government provided postal services via the U.S. Post Office
Department (USPOD), a government agency that received annual appropriations from Congress.
Members of Congress were involved in many aspects of the USPOD’s operations, including the
selection of managers (e.g., postmasters) and the pricing of postal services. In 1971, Congress
enacted the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA; P.L. 91-375; 84 Stat. 725), which replaced USPOD
with the USPS, an “independent establishment of the executive branch” (39 U.S.C. 201). The
USPS is a marketized government agency that was designed to cover its operating costs with
revenues generated through the sales of postage and related products and services.1
Although the USPS does receive an annual appropriation, the agency does not rely on
appropriations. Its appropriation is about $100 million per year, about 0.13% of the USPS’s $75
billion operating budget.2 Congress provides this appropriation to compensate the USPS for the
revenue it forgoes in providing, at congressional direction, free mailing privileges to blind
persons and overseas voters.
The Postal Service Fund, which the USPS uses for most of its financial transactions, is off-
budget, and therefore not subject to the congressional controls of the Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-344; 88 Stat. 297; 2 U.S.C. 621).3 However, the
Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF), which was established by the Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA; P.L. 109-435, Sec. 803; 120 Stat. 3251), is
on-budget. (The PSRHBF is addressed further below.)
The USPS can and does borrow money from the U.S. Treasury via the Federal Financing Bank.
Federal statute limits the USPS’s annual debt increases to $3 billion, and the USPS’s total debt to
$15 billion (39 U.S.C. 2005(a)).
The USPS’s Financial Difficulties, FY2006-FY2009
Flattening Then Declining Revenues
After running modest profits from FY2004 through FY2006, the USPS lost $5.3 billion in
FY2007, $2.8 billion in FY2008, and $3.8 billion in FY2009.4 Were it not for congressional
1 The term “marketized” refers to a government agency structured to provide goods and services in the manner of a
private firm. On marketization as an alternative to privatization, see CRS Report RL33777, Privatization and the
Federal Government: An Introduction, by Kevin R. Kosar, pp. 23-29.
2 For further details on the USPS’s appropriations, see CRS Report R40801, Financial Services and General
Government (FSGG): FY2010 Appropriations, coordinated by Garrett Hatch, pp. 63-66.
3 For further background on the USPS’s budget status, see CRS Report RS20350, Off-Budget Status of Federal
Entities: Background and Current Proposals, by Bill Heniff Jr.; and Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the
U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2010: Appendix (Washington: GPO, 2009), pp. 1274-1276, at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2010/assets/appendix.pdf.
4 U.S. Postal Service, “Form 10-K,” November 16, 2009, p. 12, at http://www.usps.com/financials/_pdf/
FY_2009_10K_Report_Final.pdf.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
action to reduce a statutorily required payment to the PSRHBF, the USPS would have lost $7.8
billion in FY2009. (On the PSRHBF and congressional action thereon, see below.)
As the USPS’s finances have deteriorated, its ability to absorb operating losses has been
diminished. Between FY2005 and FY2009, the USPS’s debt rose from $0 to $10.2 billion. (The
agency’s statutory debt limit is $15 billion (39 U.S.C. 2005(a)(2)(C)).)5 In July 2009, the GAO
added the USPS’s financial condition “to the list of high-risk areas needing attention by the
Congress and the executive branch.”6
Many media headlines have characterized the USPS’s recent deficits as the result of a drop in
mail volume and attendant postage purchase revenue.7 This is not entirely accurate. Mail volumes
slid from 213.1 billion mail pieces in FY2006 to 212.2 billion in FY2007, and dropped to 202.7
billion in FY2008. Despite the drop in mail pieces, the USPS’s revenues actually held steady
during those years—$72.7 billion, $74.8 billion, and $74.9 billion—largely due to postage
increases.
However, FY2009 did bring both a drop in mail sent and postage purchased. Mail volume fell
12.4%, from 202.7 billion to 177.1 billion mail pieces, and operating revenues declined 9.1%,
from $74.9 billion to $68.1 billion (Figure 1 and Figure 2).
Figure 1. The USPS’s Mail Volume, FY2004-FY2009
220
) 210
s
n
200
illio
(B 190
180
Mail Piece 170
160
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Fiscal Year
Source: U.S. Postal Service, Annual Reports 2004-2009.
5 Ibid., p. 27.
6 Government Accountability Office, Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability,
GAO-09-937SP (Washington: GAO, July 28, 2009), p. 1, at http://www.gao.gov/press/d09937sp.pdf.
7 For example, see Associated Press, “Less Snail Mail, More Red Ink at the Post Office,” New York Times, August 5,
2009, at http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/05/us/politics/AP-US-Postal-Problems.html; and Ben Rooney,
“Postal Service Blames Mail Decline for Loss,” CNNMoney.com, August 5, 2009, at http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/
05/news/companies/US_postal_service/.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
Figure 2. The USPS’s Operating Revenues, FY2004-FY2009
$82.5
)
s $77.5
n
illio
B $72.5
(
rs
lla
o
D $67.5
$62.5
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Fiscal Year
Source: U.S. Postal Service, Annual Reports 2004-2009.
All told, then, between FY2004 and FY2009, the USPS’s mail volume and operating revenues
declined 16% and 1.3% respectively.
Growing Expenses
During this same period, the USPS has significantly increased operating costs. A great deal of the
rise in costs is attributable in part to the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA).8
The PAEA established the PSRHBF and requires the USPS to prefund its future retirees’ health
benefits at a cost of approximately $5.6 billion per year (Table 1) for 10 years.9 (Any remaining
obligation is to be amortized over the subsequent 40-year period.) In doing this, the PAEA moved
the USPS from funding its retirees’ health care costs out-of-pocket annually to prefunding these
obligations.10 In 2004, the GAO stated that the USPS’s unfunded retiree health benefits obligation
was between $47 and $57 billion.11 Using the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s)
valuation, the USPS reported that the unfunded obligation was $51.9 billion as of the end of
8 On the PAEA, see CRS Report R40983, The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act: Overview and Issues for
Congress, by Kevin R. Kosar.
9 P.L. 109-435, Sec. 803; 120 Stat. 3251-3252; 5 U.S.C Sec. 8909(d)(3)(A).
10 Put roughly, formerly the USPS calculated the number of retirees annually and then paid its portion of the health
premiums due. (USPS retirees also pay a portion.) The PAEA requires the USPS to do this and also to pay annually a
portion of the present value of future retiree health benefits of current employees. In accountancy terms, the PAEA
moved the USPS from “cash accounting” to “accrual accounting.” On these two approaches and their use for
accounting for post-retirement benefits, see Financial Accounting Standards Board, “Summary of Statement No. 106,”
December 1990, at http://www.fasb.org/st/summary/stsum106.shtml. See also David M. Walker, Comptroller General,
U.S. General Accounting Office, “U.S. Postal Service: Accounting for Postretirement Benefits,” GAO-02-916-R,
September 12, 2002.
11 U.S. General Accounting Office, “Need for Comprehensive Postal Reform,” GAO-04-455R, February 6, 2004, p. 2,
at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04455r.pdf.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
FY2009.12 (As noted later in this report, there is considerable disagreement as to the size of the
USPS’s unfunded obligation.)
Table 1. Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund Payments Under PAEA
Fiscal Year
Payment (billions)
2007 $5.4
2008 $5.6
2009 $5.4a
2010 $5.5
2011 $5.5
2012 $5.6
2013 $5.6
2014 $5.7
2015 $5.7
2016 $5.8
Source: Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (P.L. 109-435, Sec. 803; 120 Stat. 3251-3252; 5 U.S.C Sec.
8909(d)(3)(A).)
a. FY2009 payment amount of $5.4 billion was reduced to $1.4 billion with enactment of P.L. 111-68.
As Figure 3 shows, the USPS’s operating expenses spiked after the enactment of the PAEA.
Figure 3. The USPS’s Operating Revenues and Expenses, FY2004-FY2009
Operating Revenue
Operating Expense
$82.5
)
s $77.5
n
o
illi
B $72.5
(
rs
lla
o $67.5
D
$62.5
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Fiscal Year
Source: U.S. Postal Service, Annual Reports 2004-2009.
12 U.S. Postal Service, Annual Report 2009 (Washington: USPS, 2009), pp. 48-49, at http://www.usps.com/financials/
_pdf/annual_report_2009.pdf.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
The effects of the PAEA’s mandatory payments to the Postal Service Health Benefits Fund on the
USPS’s profitability were considerable. This may be illustrated with a hypothetical—if the USPS
did not have to pay into this fund each year, it would have experienced no operating losses until
FY2009. Figure 4 reproduces Figure 3 with the annual PAEA payments subtracted from the
annual operating expenses.
Figure 4. The USPS’s Operating Income Without the Annual PAEA Payments to the
Postal Service Health Benefits Fund, FY2004-FY2009
Operating Revenue
Operating Expense
$82.5
)
s $77.5
n
o
li
il
B $72.5
(
rs
a
ll
o $67.5
D
$62.5
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Fiscal Year
Source: U.S. Postal Service, Annual Reports 2004-2009; and Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (P.L.
109-435, Sec. 803; 120 Stat. 3251-3252.)
Note: The USPS made its first scheduled retiree health benefits fund payment at the end of FY2007.
Congress Acts to Alleviate the USPS’s Immediate Financial
Distress
In August 2009, Postmaster General John Potter estimated that after borrowing $3 billion, the
annual maximum permitted by law, the USPS might end FY2009 with a cash shortage of “up to
$700 million.”13 By this he meant that the USPS would not have had enough cash to pay all its
financial obligations as of September 30, 2009.
This did not, though, mean that the USPS would have shut down. Had this cash shortage
occurred, the Postmaster General said the USPS would have used the cash it did have to pay its
employees and continue its operations as long as it could. But, the USPS would not have made
13 Statement of John Potter, Postmaster General, U.S. Postal Service, in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government
Information, Federal Services, and International Security, The U.S. Postal Service in Crisis, hearing, 111th Congress, 1st
sess., August 6, 2009, p. 3.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
the full $5.4 billion payment to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund that was due on
September 30.14
Congress alleviated the USPS’s cash shortage when it enacted H.R. 2918, the Legislative Branch
Appropriations Act [of] 2010. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law the next day (P.L.
111-68). Section 164 of the law provided the USPS with an immediate reduction of $4 billion in
operating expenses by reducing the USPS’s FY2009 payment to the Postal Retiree Health
Benefits Fund from $5.4 billion to $1.4 billion. The legislation does not relieve the USPS of this
$4 billion obligation; rather, it defers USPS’s payment. Come FY2017, the $4 billion will be
added to whatever remaining outstanding health care obligation may exist, and amortized over a
40-year period.
Issues for Congress
While Congress alleviated the USPS’s FY2009 cash shortage, it is unclear what the future holds
for the USPS’s finances.
In November 2009, the USPS stated that it was expecting operating losses in FY2010, and
reported that its auditor had stated there is “significant uncertainty as to whether the United States
Postal Service will have sufficient liquidity to make this payment on Sept. 30, 2010.”15 The USPS
will release its FY2010, first quarter financial results (for the period of October 1, 2009, to
December 31, 2009) in early February 2010.16
The USPS’s financial challenges raise difficult questions: Did the USPS simply suffer from a
“perfect storm” of high retiree health benefits payments and declining revenue? Or is the USPS,
as currently constituted, incapable of responding to a shifting, and possibly declining, market for
its products and services?17
Answering these questions goes beyond the scope of this report. Nevertheless, a number of ideas
for incremental reforms have been put forth that would improve the USPS’s financial condition in
the short term so that it might continue as a self-funding, government agency.
14 Failure to make the payment would have placed the USPS in violation of federal law, the ramifications of which are
unclear. (The law is silent on this matter.) Gregg Carlstrom and Rebecca Neal, “What Happens if USPS Misses Trust
Fund Payment? No One Knows,” Federal Times, September 28, 2009, p. 5.
15 U.S. Postal Service, “Postal Service Ends 2009 with $3.8 Billion Loss,” press release, November 16, 2009, at
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2009/pr09_098.htm.
16 The PAEA requires the USPS to report quarterly results 40 days after the end of a quarter (120 Stat. 3214; 39 U.S.C.
3654(a)).
17 Some observers have suggested that mail volumes will continue to decline because of the substitution of Internet-
and World Wide Web-based communications. For example, see President’s Commission on the U.S. Postal Service,
Embracing the Future: Making the Tough Choices to Preserve Universal Mail Service (Washington: GPO, July 31,
2003), pp. 6-8. The USPS itself has cited this “electronic diversion” as one of the causes for the decline in mail
volumes. U.S. Postal Service, “Postal Service Ends Third Quarter with $2.4 Billion Loss,” press release, August 5,
2009, at http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2009/pr09_066.htm.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
Increasing Revenues
Altering Postage Rates
The PRC has found that the USPS carries some types of mail at postage rates that are below their
costs.18 Currently, federal law permits the USPS to increase postage annually at a rate no higher
than the Consumer Price Index (39 U.S.C. 3622(d)(1)(A)). Congress may wish to further examine
these apparent disparities and provide the USPS with additional pricing flexibilities that would
enable it to recover more revenue.
Offering More Nonpostal Products and Services
Federal postal law limits the USPS to selling postage stamps, stamped paper, cards, envelopes,
philatelic services, and ancillary items (39 U.S.C. 102(5); 39 U.S.C. 404(a)(4-5)). The USPS has
said that it would like to increase its revenues by offering a broader range of nonpostal products
and services, although it has not specified which ones.19 Congress may wish to consider whether
the USPS ought to enter into nonpostal business lines.
Reducing Costs
Reducing the USPS’s PSRHBF Obligation and Payments
The USPS has to make seven more PAEA-mandated future retiree health benefits payments from
FY2010 through FY2016. These remaining payments average more than $5.6 billion per year and
amount to $39.4 billion. These payments will make up a significant portion (more than 7%) of the
USPS’s approximately $75 billion annual operating expenses.20
The U.S. Postal Service Office Inspector General (USPSOIG), Office of Personnel Management
(OPM), and the PRC have disagreed on the size of the USPS’s future retiree health benefits
obligation. Therefore, they came to different conclusions as to the amount the USPS should pay
to adequately fund this obligation.
The USPSOIG said that the USPS needs to have $90.2 billion in the PSRHBF by the end of
FY2016 for it to be adequately funded. The USPSOIG argued that the current PAEA-mandated
payment schedule was too aggressive, and that the USPS should pay $1.6 billion per year through
2016 to fund its obligations.21
18 Postal Regulatory Commission, Annual Compliance Determination (Washington: PRC, March 30, 2009), pp. 5-6, at
http://www.prc.gov/Docs/62/62784/ACD Report_2008_FINAL.pdf. See also CRS Report R40162, Postage Subsidies
for Periodicals: History and Recent Developments, by Kevin R. Kosar.
19 On the PAEA’s limitation on the USPS’s ability to offer nonpostal products, see CRS Report R40983, The Postal
Accountability and Enhancement Act: Overview and Issues for Congress, by Kevin R. Kosar, pp. 10-13.
20 The USPS annual operating expenses have averaged $74.7 billion over the past five years including the full PAEA-
mandated retiree health benefits payments.
21 U.S. Postal Service Inspector General, Final Management Advisory Report–Estimates of Postal Service Liability for
Retiree Health Care Benefits (Washington: USPSOIG, July 22, 2009), at http://www.uspsoig.gov/foia_files/ESS-MA-
09-001R.pdf; and Statement of David C. Williams, Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General,
in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal
(continued...)
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OPM held that the USPS should have $147.9 billion in the fund by the end of FY2016. It argued
that the USPS should put $5.5 billion in the fund per year, but it said that it had “no objections to
legislative changes that provide for a solution in a manner that does not jeopardize the funding for
[postal] employee and retiree benefits.” 22
The PRC reviewed both the USPSOIG’s and OPM’s assessments, and found merit in both
approaches. The PRC suggested that the USPSOIG understated the USPS’s liability because it
underestimated the inflation rate for health care. The PRC argued that OPM significantly
overstated the USPS’s liability because it overestimated both the inflation rate for health care and
the future USPS workforce size. The PRC estimated that the USPS needs to have $113.2 billion
in its Retiree Health Benefits Fund by the close of FY2016. It said that the USPS could pay $3.4
billion per year to achieve this goal.23 In light of this, Congress may wish to reassess the PAEA’s
payment schedule and the differing calculations of the USPS’s obligation. It also may wish to
consider reducing the USPS’s annual payment by extending the payment schedule or by allowing
the USPS to amortize more of the obligation after FY2016.
Reducing the USPS’s Contributions Toward Employee Health Premiums and
Life Insurance
In his initial FY2010 budget, President Barack Obama proposed requiring USPS employees to
pay the same percentage towards their health premiums and life insurance as other federal
workers.24 (Currently, USPS employees pay 17% of their health care premium costs and 0% of
their life insurance premiums, while other federal employees pay 27% and 67% respectively.)25
The administration estimated this new policy would save the USPS $752 million in FY2010 and
$9.5 billion in the period of FY2010 to FY2019. Reportedly, the proposal was dropped because of
concerns that it would violate collective bargaining.26
(...continued)
Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, The U.S. Postal Service
in Crisis, p. 3.
22 Statement of Nancy H. Kichak, Associate Director for Strategic Resources Policy, U.S. Office of Personnel
Management, in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on
Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, The U.S. Postal
Service in Crisis, p. 4.
23 Postal Regulatory Commission, Postal Regulatory Commission Review of Retiree Health Benefit Fund Liability as
Calculated by Office of Personnel Management and U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (Washington:
PRC, July 30, 2009), at http://www.prc.gov/Docs/63/63987/Retiree%20Health%20Fund%20Study_109.pdf; and Ruth
Y. Goldway, Commissioner, Postal Regulatory Commission, “Statement of Ruth Y. Goldway,” in U.S. Congress,
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management,
Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security, The U.S. Postal Service in Crisis, p. 4.
24 Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2010: Summary Tables, March
2009, Table S-6, p. 126, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/documents/S-6.pdf.
25 Government Accountability Office, Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability,
GAO-09-958 (Washington: GAO, August 6, 2009), p. 2, at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09958t.pdf.
26 Darrell A. Hughes, “Obama Admin Halts Plans To Alter US Postal Workers’ Benefits,” Wall Street Journal (online),
May 11, 2009, at http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090511-719565.html.
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Reducing the USPS’s Retail and Nonretail Facilities
GAO has testified repeatedly that the USPS has not reduced its number of retail postal facilities
and mail processing plants sufficiently:
Excess capacity has grown with unprecedented declines of mail volume, which are projected
to continue through fiscal year 2010.... [A]s its mail volumes decline, [the] USPS does not
have sufficient revenues to cover the growing costs of providing service to new residences
and businesses while also maintaining its large network of retail and processing facilities.27
The PAEA was enacted in the first quarter of FY2007. The USPS has reduced its facility
footprint28 3.1%, from 34,318 to 33,264 (Figure 5).
Figure 5. U.S. Postal Service Retail and Non-Retail Facilities, FY2007-FY2009
40,000
30,000
ies
20,000
acilit
F
10,000
0
FY2007
FY2008
FY2009
Year
Leased Facilities
Owned Facilities
GSA/Other Government Facilities
Source: U.S. Postal Service, “2008 Report on Form 10-K Statement,” p. 10, and “2008 Report on 10-K
Statement,” p. 9.
Notes: The GSA/Other Government Facilities category refers to facilities owned by government agencies other
than the USPS.
In FY2009, the USPS announced that it might close more than 3,100 of its retail facilities, but by
early FY2010, that number had been reduced to 241.29
Congress may wish to consider providing the USPS with additional authority to reduce its
facilities. Or, Congress may wish to consider legislation similar to that introduced by Senator
Thomas Carper in 2003. S. 1285 (108th Congress) proposed establishing a Postal Network
27 Government Accountability Office, Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability,
pp. 3-4.
28 Here, facility footprint refers to the number of USPS leased and owned facilities. The facility footprint does not
include contract postal units and community post offices, which are owned and operated by private individuals.
29 CRS Report R40719, Post Office and Retail Postal Facility Closures: Overview and Issues for Congress, by Kevin
R. Kosar, p. 3.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
Optimization Commission to reduce the number of postal facilities in a manner similar to that
used to close military bases in the 1990s.
As a related matter, both houses of Congress also may wish to consider enacting rules to prevent
congressional intervention in proposed mail facility closures.30 Alternatively, Congress might
enact a law to authorize appropriations to reimburse the USPS for cost-savings lost because of
congressionally imposed delays in facilities closures.
Reducing Mail Delivery from Six to Five Days Per Week
GAO has suggested that Congress should consider permitting the USPS to reduce its delivery
schedule from six to five days, a policy with which the USPS concurs.31 To date, the estimates of
possible savings from a reduction in delivery days range from $1.9 billion to $3.5 billion.32 (No
studies have argued the contrary—that moving to five-day delivery would increase costs.)
The USPS is conducting a study to determine the cost savings of a switch to five-day delivery,
which it will release in early 2010. Congress may wish to examine it and the previously published
studies on five-day mail delivery.
Increasing the USPS’s Powers to Control Labor Costs
Critics have long argued that the USPS is required to be self-supporting but that federal law
provides it with very few authorities to control its employment costs—which make up
approximately 80% of its total operating costs.33 For example, in 2003 the President’s
Commission on the United States Postal Service noted that “postal workers enjoy special status
within the federal workforce. They are granted the right to negotiate wages, hours, and workplace
conditions through collective bargaining.”34 By law, the USPS is required to “maintain
compensation and benefits for all officers and employees on a standard of comparability to the
compensation and benefits paid for comparable levels of work in the private sector” (39 U.S.C.
1003(a)). The commission further argued that the current statutory process for resolving disputes
30 For example, see S.Rept. 111-43, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, FY2010, p. 131.
“The Committee is aware that the Quincy, Illinois AMP [Area Mail Processing plant] is among the facilities for which
a possible realignment feasibility study has been announced. The Committee is concerned about the impact on the
community and postal customers of eliminating jobs or transferring functions. The Committee directs the Postal
Service to provide the Committee with a detailed explanation of the criteria used to select the Quincy AMP for a study
no later than 30 days after enactment. The Committee further directs the Postal Service to not proceed with the Quincy
AMP study or any other related actions to implement that study during fiscal year 2010.”
31 Statement of Phillip Herr, Director, Physical Infrastructure, Government Accountability Office, U.S. Postal Service:
Deteriorating Postal Finances Require Aggressive Actions to Reduce Costs, p. 11; and Statement of John Potter,
Postmaster General, U.S. Postal Service, in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services,
and International Security, The U.S. Postal Service in Crisis, p. 7.
32 CRS Report R40626, The U.S. Postal Service and Six-Day Delivery: Issues for Congress, by Wendy R. Ginsberg.
33 Government Accountability Office, Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability,
p. 2.
34 For example, see President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service, Embracing the Future: Making the
Tough Choices to Preserve Universal Mail Service: Report of the President’s Commission on the United States Postal
Service (Washington: GPO, July 31, 2003), p. 108, at http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/usps/pdf/
freport.pdf.
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The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
between management and labor frequently results in arbitrators being empowered to make
binding decisions that favor employees (e.g., postal workers pay lower premiums for their health
insurance, and are protected from layoffs.) 35
Congress may wish to consider measures that would provide the USPS with increased means to
control its long-term labor costs. The 2003 presidential commission on the USPS advocated this
goal.36 S. 1507, which was introduced during the first session of the 111th Congress, would amend
39 U.S.C. 1207(c) to require arbitrators in rendering collective bargaining decisions to “consider
the financial condition of the Postal Service.’’
Additionally, the USPS has relied upon attrition to reduce its workforce from 803,000 to 712,082
between FY2003 and FY2009.37 According to GAO, 300,000 USPS employees will be eligible
for retirement between 2009 and 2013.38 The USPS offered early retirement incentives to “up to
30,000” of its employees in FY2009.39 As of the end of FY2009, the USPS reported that 20,100
USPS employees had accepted it.40 Congress may wish to assess the USPS’s efforts to offer
employees early retirement, and consider whether the USPS has sufficient authorities to further
reduce its workforce.
Author Contact Information
Kevin R. Kosar
Analyst in American National Government
kkosar@crs.loc.gov, 7-3968
35 For example, see Collective Bargaining Agreement Between American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO and U.S.
Postal Service, November 21, 2006-November 20, 2010 (Washington: APWU, 2006), pp. 9-18, at
http://www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/sc/APWU%20Contract%202006-2010.pdf.
36 President’s Commission on the United States Postal Service, Embracing the Future, pp. 138-140.
37 U.S. Postal Service, Annual Report 2009 (Washington: USPS, 2009), p. 81.
38 Government Accountability Office, U.S. Postal Service: Restructuring Urgently Needed to Achieve Financial
Viability, GAO-09-958T (Washington: GAO, August 6, 2009), p. 5.
39 U.S. Postal Service, “Postal Service Continues Cost-Cutting Actions,” press release, August 25, 2009, at
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2009/pr09_073.htm.
40 U.S. Postal Service, Annual Report 2009, p. 54.
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