By Fredric Rolando, May 21, 2016, originally published by SentinelSource.com.
I’ve read numerous news reports and editorials from media outlets around the country about the situation at the United States Postal Service, but few have been as accurate and thorough as your editorial in late April.
Keene Sentinel readers are well served by your work.
It’s important to debunk the misleading conventional wisdom about USPS finances. Too many people still think that the Postal Service’s financial struggles are a result of the Internet having reduced the volume of first-class mail as more people pay bills online or send greetings via email.
In fact, the Internet is a mixed bag as far as its impact on postal finances. While it’s true that many people now pay bills online, first-class mail volume is stabilizing as the economy gradually improves from the worst recession in 80 years. And the flip side is that Internet-sparked online shopping has sent package delivery revenues skyrocketing. That’s why overall revenue at USPS has been steadily increasing for the past four years.
The real problem, as you point out, is flawed public policy. In 2006, a lame-duck Congress mandated that the Postal Service pre-fund future retiree health benefits decades in advance. No other entity in the country, public or private, has to pre-fund these benefits for even one year. That mandate, costing $5.6 billion annually, accounts for all the red ink; in fact, it disguises the actual profits postal operations are generating.
Indeed, since your editorial ran, the Postal Service’s latest financial report — for the second quarter of fiscal year 2016 — showed an operating profit of $576 million. That brings the operating profit for the first half of FY 2016 to $1.8 billion. And that’s on top of billion-dollar-plus operating profits in both fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Since the start of FY 2014, Postal Service operations are $4.4 billion in the black.
All this has occurred without a dime of taxpayer money. The Postal Service funds itself through the sale of stamps and other products.
Understanding the source of the red ink is critical because it helps determine the appropriate response. If USPS actually were losing money because of the Internet, citizens could do little other than shrug as mail services were cut to save money. But because it’s not a matter of technological process but rather of public policy, folks in New Hampshire and elsewhere can encourage their representatives in Washington to address the elephant in the room — the onerous pre-funding mandate.
Addressing these matters is imperative because of the Postal Service’s role in so many facets of American life; in few places is that role larger than in New Hampshire. As you note, “In many rural communities, the post office remains the center of commerce and culture.”
More broadly, the Postal Service is the centerpiece of the $1.3 trillion national mailing industry, which employs 7.5 million Americans in the private sector, including 63,689 New Hampshire residents.
It’s also the nation’s largest civilian employer of military veterans. Nearly one-quarter of all letter carriers are wearing their second uniform.
Along with delivering 40 percent of the world’s mail, USPS and letter carriers play a key role in the civic life of communities throughout the country. In mid-May, letter carriers conducted their 24th annual food drive — the largest single-day food drive in the country — to help replenish food banks, pantries and shelters in Keene and elsewhere.
And every day as they deliver mail on their routes, letter carriers around the country help save the elderly or other residents who have fallen or experienced medical problems, locate missing children, rescue people after automobile accidents or help stop crimes in progress.
If the Granite State’s elected representatives in Washington work toward constructive and targeted postal reform that addresses pre-funding while preserving and strengthening the invaluable and profitable postal networks, the Postal Service — based in the Constitution and older than the country itself — can continue to provide New Hampshirites and all Americans with the world’s most affordable delivery services.
Fredric Rolando
President of the National Association of Letter Carriers
100 Indiana Ave., NW
Washington D.C.
How do we REVERSE the 2006 bill ? And how did that bill ever get passed? Can’t we make a TV commercial that tells the American people what is really going on in the PO?