In this week’s Heritage in Focus, regulatory expert James Gattuso discussed the recent news that the U.S. Postal Service is cutting $3 billion in costs in order to stay afloat. Click here to listen. What services will change as a result of the cuts? How will these cuts affect the broader economy? And what’s the proper course of action for the Postal Service to take moving forward? Be sure to listen to hear answers to these questions and more! To get regular updates on Heritage in Focus podcasts, visit our …
With nine days to go before the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces default, a Senate committee on Wednesday is expected to vote on a new plan to address the crisis. The plan takes a few steps in the right direction, but it falls short of the comprehensive reform that is needed. The immediate problem for USPS is a $5.5 billion payment to the federal treasury to fund retiree health benefits that is due on November 18, and it doesn’t have the money to pay. But USPS’s problem is much deeper …
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meets Thursday to consider the most substantive postal reform plan under consideration in Congress. The debate in Washington triggered a spending spree from postal unions opposed to the reforms, including a national TV ad campaign launched last month. Now the Oversight Committee is striking back with its own video that explains the crisis and why the Postal Service needs to be fixed before taxpayers are left paying the bill. Mail volume has dropped by 46 billion pieces since its peak in 2006. As …
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat is supposed to stop the United States Postal Service (USPS) from delivering mail, but can it be saved from mounting debt, plummeting volume, and the not-so-slow-motion postal train wreck coming quickly down the road? Last week, the USPS barely avoided default when Congress extended the due date for a $5.5 billion payment due to the U.S. Treasury for retiree health benefits. It lost $8.5 billion last year, and it expects to lose nearly $10 billion more in 2011. From 2006 to 2010, overall USPS mail volume …
The Postmaster General is warning that a postal budget crisis could cause mail delivery to be consolidated to just three days a week. Meanwhile, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is trying to convince lawmakers—and taxpayers—to keep all its union jobs. The APWU’s new radio ad airing in Washington, D.C., says the pounds of mail handled by workers don’t cost you “a single cent.” “The United States Postal Service doesn’t run on your tax dollars. It’s funded solely by stamps and postage,” the 30-second ad says. That’s technically true (unless …
Rep. Darrell Issa knows a thing or two about running a successful business. Before winning his seat in Congress, the California Republican turned a troubled company into a profitable enterprise that manufactured car alarms for the world’s most well-known carmakers. Issa is now turning his attention to saving the long-troubled U.S. Postal Service. “The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion last year. It is going to lose, at least, $8.3 billion this year. And it is projected to lose $8.5 billion the year after that,” said Issa, who serves as chairman …
Is the end near for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)? Things have been pretty glum over the past few years, as the government-owned organization has reported loss after loss. The latest hit? A whopping $2.2 billion for the second quarter. That follows a loss in fiscal year 2010 of some $8.5 billion. And if there is a light at the end of the tunnel for USPS, it’s an oncoming train, as it projects that by September it will run out of cash and default on a payment owed to the …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XTi-WdOu2s&eurl=http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/11/obama-government-health-care-will-be-like-um-the-post-office/&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] At his orchestrated townhall event today, President Obama defended the notion that his government-run public health care plan wouldn’t crowd out private insurers by referencing the symbiotic relationship between UPS, Fedex and the Post Office. Bad timing Mr. President. On Friday, the New York Times Business Section actually called for the privatization of the post office amid staggering losses, and even said it was in “General Motors territory.” So while the President sells you on his “post office” of health care plans, here are some questions to consider: 1.) …
