USPS Averts Insolvency for Several Years by Freeing Up $2.5 Billion
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 4
USPS Averts Insolvency for Several Years by Freeing Up $2.5 Billion
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 4
Summary
$2.5 billion in freed-up cash this fiscal year has given the U.S. Postal Service enough liquidity to avoid running out of money for at least several years, postal regulators told lawmakers Thursday.
An April decision letting USPS temporarily suspend some retirement-fund payments reversed warnings made in March that the agency could be out of cash in less than a year and forced to halt mail delivery.
Postal officials said the retirement fund remains better funded than those of other agencies and that the payment pause poses no immediate risk to retirees; the letter carriers union backed the move.
The reprieve does not solve USPS's deeper problems: it has already raised prices and slowed delivery standards as mail volume declines and structural costs rise.
Thursday's House hearing also exposed continuing divisions between USPS and its regulators, leaving a long-term overhaul of the agency's finances still out of reach.