The Truth About the Postal Service

Almost yearly politicians paint the United States Postal Service in drab, funereal colors and describe it as a sick institution in need of drastic measures to be saved. That is not true. The service has a prefunding requirement that makes it seem in trouble, but "without Congress’s prefunding requirement, the USPS would have zero debt, billions in spare cash, and a $15 billion line of credit."

In 2006 the Bush Administration enacted the PAEA law that allows Congress to skim around $5 billion a year from the institution. The Postal Service has a $42.5 billion trust fund and has overpaid in the neighborhood of $50-75 billion into its Civil Service retirement fund. A report from the USPS itself says that a cash shortfall would not cause service interruptions.

The right wing talking points on this subject allows them to carry out their agenda of crippling labor causes, spreading misinformation for election year gains and still reaping cash rewards for the lies. I worked for the United States Postal Service. It's run like a very tight ship, and would function very well without the false emergency that began at the hands of political masterminds. This crisis is concocted.

The GOP very successfully prevented our entire facility from receiving benefits, although that year and the year before the USPS turned a massive profit. That was before electronic mail and competition really ramped up, but the situation isn't the dire disaster referred to. Not that much has changed. The USPS is still a vehicle for Republican Party propaganda, and would function very well without these talking points we hear so often.