The numbers are mind-numbing as the postal service logs its ninth year in the red.
Even with increased revenue, the USPS has managed to lose more than $5 billion this fiscal year.
“Operating revenue grew $1.1 billion to $68.9 billion, a 1.6 percent increase over fiscal year 2014, while controllable income—that is, net loss excluding factors unrelated to the postal service’s core mail operations, such as employee retirement benefit funding—reached $1.2 billion, only a slight drop from last year’s $1.4 billion,” writes Greg Dool in Folio:.
The postal service cites legislative reasons for the ongoing red ink.
“Controllable income will be hard to sustain in the coming years, absent substantive changes to our business model,” said Megan Brennan, Postmaster General in a media briefing. “This requires legislative change. The losses we’ve incurred are due to outdated legislative constraints on our business model. We have been working with key stakeholders to land on a legislative approach that would gain broad support on both sides of the aisle. We believe were making progress in finding common ground.”
That’s some fairly dense language that boils down to the USPS throwing up their hands and saying “not our fault.” There’s some truth to Brennan’s claim, no doubt. But if they are waiting to find “broad support on boat sides of the aisle” before balancing their operating budget, it’s going to be a while.
Meanwhile total mail volume decreased slightly, while operating expenses rose, as did rates. It cost them…and all of us…more to handle less mail. Clearly that’s not sustainable. The American consumer and business users deserve better.
August 16, 2016, 8:13 am