In 2006, the USPS made money, and their outstanding debt was $2.1 billion.
In 2011, their projected losses exceed $11 billion, and they’re running into their outstanding debt ceiling of $15 billion and are looking at closing 3,700 post offices, laying off 100,000 people, ending Saturday deliveries and overnight deliveries, and closing down the USPS in mid-2012.
What happened?
People started paying their bills online, and doing other things via the Internet. That accounts for part of the drop.
The other thing that happened is that Congress passed a law in 2006 that stated the USPS must prepay 75 years of pensions in 10 years in order to keep their pension plans in good shape for the future. According to this article, within three years of implementation, the Post Office was $10.2 billion in debt.
Who is the idiot who thought up this dumb law?
75 years worth of pensions in 10 years? I think prepaying 5-10 years is much more reasonable than 75 years.
If Congress wants to save the Post Office, they should revoke and then rewrite this insanity. They can fund the retirement program at a much more reasonable rate than what they’re doing now. And without killing the Post Office too.
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