"Although the Postal Service has not yet received an explicit taxpayer bailout, it has failed to meet its legal obligations for several years in a row," the report states. Insufficient cost savings: The savings from USPS cost-reduction efforts have dwindled in … 2020 Election The Courts The United States Postal Service reported Feb. 9 “controllable income” of $522 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, which ended Dec. 31. 5To address its ongoing financial problems, the Postal Service’s management has urged Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission to authorize major changes in the way it does business – so far to no avail. Congressional Democrats want to pass … But after the Postal Service reported Feb. 9 it had “controllable income” of $522 million in its latest first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2016, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers said the Postal Service was burying the real news that it made a $1.4 billion profit for the quarter. Mail carrier Marissa Ogletree delivers mail in the historic Pullman neighborhood in Chicago November 20, 2014. The Postal Service has been identifying ways to cope with the decline of traditional mail over the years, only to have companies — and ultimately Congress — object. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. The past fiscal year yielded a $1.2 billion operating profit for the U.S. This marks 13 years of consecutive losses for the USPS, totaling $77.8 billion. Nonprofit postage is lower than regular prices, but not everyone can qualify. Want to save time and ship from home? A coalition of retailers plans a $2 million lobbying and ad campaign to oppose Trump’s plans and support a massive rescue package. President Donald Trump has long claimed that package shippers, particularly online retailers such as Amazon, aren’t paying enough. They say that without relief, the Postal Service could run out of operating cash as soon as this fall. (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax USPS’s total unfunded liabilities and debt ($143 billion at the end of fiscal year 2018) have grown to double its annual revenue. The basic issue is that revenue … Dec 10 The USPS reported a loss of $2.3 billion loss in the most recent quarter, with pre-funding health-care retiree obligations as a major factor. We decided to take a look at the U.S. To illustrate the point more visibly, the history of the number of postal employees over time shows that the workforce peaked in 1999 with 797,795 … 2020 Election The Courts However, living up to its government-sponsored reputation, the opposite desire is taking hold at the agency.". For example, in the District of Columbia, Delaware and Maryland, 60% or more of postal workers are black. Since then, the bulk of the cost of operating the postal system has been paid for by customers through the sale of "postal products" and … * P.L.112-33 had the net impact of a $5.5 billion reduction of expenses in 2011. By the end of the decade, the semi-independent government agency's losses had reached a record $8.5 billion, forcing the Postal Service to consider seeking an increase in its $15 billion debt ceiling or face insolvency. But Postal Service revenue has mostly fallen or stagnated since 2008, when it hit a record $74.9 billion. 1615 L St. NW, Suite 800Washington, DC 20036USA Publications & References Check out our various publications and manuals to learn more about what the Postal Service can do for you. Postal Service consistently tops the favorability list in Pew Research Center’s periodic surveys of public views of government agencies. The two funds that hold the Postal Service’s contributions for future retiree benefits are on budget. Unlike first-class or marketing mail, most of the agency’s shipping and packaging offerings are considered “competitive” services, meaning the Postal Service has more leeway to set rates in line with what it thinks the market will bear. Demographic data was drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey. The two funds that hold the Postal Service’s contributions for future retiree benefits are on budget. Postal service has been absolutely central to the history and development of the United States, and the USPS continues to provide fast and efficient service despite being beset by … In 2014, delivery-time targets fell short seven out of eight times and in 2015, on-time delivery from January to March fell to 63.1 percent, down from 84.1 percent in the same quarter last year. For the Founders, a well-informed citizenry, not profit-making for even letter delivery, was the reason the Postal Service was so crucial to the future of the republic. The Postal Service also owes $11 billion to the Treasury and more than $59 billion in required but unpaid contributions to its employee pension and retiree-health funds. Postal Facts 2020 provides the public with information about the Postal Service. The Postal Service reported a loss of $2.7 billion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The U.S. The postal service is a not-for-profit, self-supporting agency that covers its expenses through postage (stamp use in the United States started in 1847) and related products. Hispanics are of any race. Operating and financial data were compiled from the Postal Service’s annual reports to Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission; additional background was obtained from news reports and reports from the Congressional Research Service. Profit Margin is calculated using Net Income/Revenue. How has the Postal Service, which turns 50 next year, wound up in such a predicament? He has blocked a $10 billion congressionally approved emergency loan to the cash-strapped agency; threatened to veto any future emergency funds unless the Postal Service quadruples its package shipping prices; and named one of his major donors as the new postmaster general. But this was not how the Postal Service was supposed to work. "The Postal Service will almost certainly register another multibillion dollar loss in 2015; for the first two quarters of 2015, it suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion.". Find out with our income calculator, $10 billion congressionally approved emergency loan. The USPS quarterly operating profit of $1.3 billion, he added, “builds on back-to-back years of operating profits each exceeding $1 billion, without a dime of taxpayer money.” Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. 6Efforts to shrink the Postal Service payroll would likely affect racial and ethnic minorities, women and veterans more than others. The Postal Service is an inadvertent victim of this strategy. About six-in-ten of the agency’s employees – including mail carriers, postal clerks, and mail sorters and processors – are non-Hispanic white (57%), compared with 78% of the overall U.S. workforce. Veterans account for just 5.8% of all employed Americans, according to data for 2019. The New York Times reports. The U.S. Send Mail & Packages Convenient Domestic Shipping. Volume in that category has doubled over the past decade, to nearly 6.2 billion pieces last year. The Postal Service is an inadvertent victim of this strategy. However, the number of individual mailboxes, P.O. In fiscal 2019, shipping and packaging accounted for just 4.3% of total mail volume but 32% of revenue. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World. Last year, it delivered 142.6 billion pieces, a 31.4% decline. By contrast, marketing mail made up 53% of volume but generated just 23% of overall revenue. Through retirement incentives and attrition, the Postal Service has whittled its workforce down to 633,108 employees as of the end of fiscal 2019, 30% below its peak year of 1999. Ali Meyer is a staff writer with the Washington Free Beacon covering The USPS has been running deficits for years. P.L.109-435 had a net impact of a $6.8 billion increase of expenses in 2007 ($8.4 billion in additional retiree health benefits less $1.6 billion in CSRS savings). Mail carrier Marissa Ogletree delivers mail in the historic Pullman neighborhood in Chicago November 20, 2014. For more information about United States Postal Service financial … 1. The United States Postal Service has lost $51.7 billion between 2007 and 2014 and has not earned a profit since 2006, according to a report from the Tax Foundation. Postal rates to 1847. The Postal Service provides a vital public service that is a part of the nation's critical infrastructure. An analyst looking at profit margin might look for a higher profit margin relative to other comparable companies as well as a profit margin that is growing. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) required the USPS to create a $72 billion fund to pay for the cost of its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. In contrast, black Americans make up 13% of the national workforce, Hispanics 17% and Asian Americans 6%. 4One bright spot has been shipping and packaging services. 7 In 18 states and the District of Columbia, women make up half or more of Postal Service employees. The most popular areas of government are shedding the most workers, In an historic move, Census Bureau tries electronic outreach, Census Bureau hopes to use data from other government agencies in 2020, Job shifts under Obama: Fewer government workers, more caregivers, servers and temps, Defining generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins, Black eligible voters have accounted for nearly half of Georgia electorate’s growth since 2000, The Religious Composition of the 117th Congress, Slim majorities have become more common in the U.S. Senate and House, Are you in the American middle class? If you are wondering whether this is news you’re already heard, it is. Postal Service reported operating revenue of $71.1 billion for fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 - September 30, 2019), an increase of $514 million compared to the prior year. For this analysis, racial groups include those who report being only one race and are non-Hispanic. The postal rate varied according to "distance zone", the distance a letter was to be carried from the post office where it entered the mail to its final destination. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational, academic context and the like, and in the body of text discussing factual subject matter relevant to the fact being presented. The report says that if the enterprise had more operational flexibility, its losses would not be as large. Plus, you can schedule a USPS ® pickup from your home or office. "If the agency truly is to act as a business, it must do what failing businesses are routinely forced to do: right size its workforce and return to the basic services where it had peviously operated effectively. The postal service is a not-for-profit, self-supporting agency that covers its expenses through postage (stamp use in the United States started in … Postal Service. The Tax Foundation says it is doubtful that the Postal Service will be able to meet its obligations. Since then, the bulk of the cost of operating the postal system has been paid for by customers through the … The 1993 law would have required taxpayers to provide the USPS a total of $1.2 billion over 42 years. Despite a solid 1.5 percent rise in revenue compared to last year, USPS reported an operating loss of $1.951 billion. If anything, Neal Denton, former executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, said the change actually might have made the USPS “an easy target” for money raiders. Financial history summary. The total number of Postal Service facilities has fallen 9.3% over the past two decades, from more than 38,000 nationwide in 1999 to around 34,600 as of Sept. 30. Her Twitter handle is @DJAliMeyer, and her email USPS’s total unfunded liabilities and debt ($143 billion at the end of fiscal year 2018) have grown to double its annual revenue. But the Postal Service, already in a deep financial hole, now finds itself caught in a political firestorm. The USPS quarterly operating profit of $1.3 billion, he added, “builds on back-to-back years of operating profits each exceeding $1 billion, without a dime of taxpayer money.” The Postal Service has been identifying ways to cope with the decline of traditional mail over the years, only to have companies — and ultimately Congress — object. Use Click-N-Ship ® service to pay for postage and print a shipping label from your printer or at a Post Office ™ location. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Because colonists needed to send mail back to England, the first official postal service was established in 1639 when the General Court of Massachusetts designated Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston as the official mail drop for overseas parcels [source: USPS]. Each morning and weekday evening, we'll email you an exclusive summary of the news and exclusive, original reporting from the Washington Free Beacon. In 1982, U.S. postage stamps became "postal products," rather than a form of taxation. Postal Service turned a profit in a financial quarter for the first time in five years, though President Obama still proposed the agency slash 12,000 employees in his fiscal 2017 budget. The USPS announced in its fourth quarter financial statement that in FY 2019, it ran an $8.8 billion deficit, a 125 percent increase compared to FY 2018. "While the Service does have greater operational discretion than many federal agencies, it has much less than a typical private-sector business because Congress often micromanages its actions," the report says. Organizations wishing to mail at nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail prices first must be authorized by the Postal Service as eligible. Democrats, many outside analysts, Postal Service advocates and the agency itself dispute Trump’s contention that low package rates are the main driver of its money woes. In Hawaii, slightly fewer than half (45%) of Postal Service employees are of Asian origin, and 25% are of two or more races. The drop-off has been especially steep in first-class mail – a highly profitable product line that saw a 33.6% drop in the number of pieces of mail sent over the past decade – and in periodicals, down 41.3% over the same period. The United States Postal Service has lost $51.7 billion between 2007 and 2014 and has not earned a profit since 2006, according to a report from the Tax Foundation. address is meyer@freebeacon.com. As a result, reductions in payments for the Postal Service’s retiree obligations have a negative effect on the federal deficit because of the scoring process. In addition to your local Business Mail Entry Unit, Publication 417, Nonprofit USPS Marketing Mail Eligibility provides complete information about nonprofit eligibility, including the types of materials that may be mailed at the Nonprofit prices and instructions for applying for nonprofit mailing privileges To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you. However, the last year the Postal Service recorded any profit was 2006, and its cumulative losses since then totaled $83.1 billion as of March 31. Congressional Democrats want to pass … The U.S. While Gallup found in 2014 that 72 percent of their respondents said USPS is doing a good job and only 8 percent regard its performance as poor, the report finds that there have been issues with service. Postal Service after the latest Pew Research Center survey once again placed it at the top of the list of government agencies that Americans view favorably. In FY 2019, the USPS saw a decline of 2.6 percent in total volume of mail and package deliveries. This burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. She also interned with the Heritage Foundation and Pacific The U.S Postal Service reported a third-quarter loss of more than $500 million. This year, 91% of Americans – and equal 91% shares of Democrats and Republicans – had a favorable view of the agency. In colonial times, mail was simply delivered by friends, merchants and Native Americans. Postal Facts 2020 provides the public with information about the Postal Service. USPS has lost $69 billion over the past 11 fiscal years—including $3.9 billion in fiscal year 2018. The United States Postal Service (USPS; also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, including its insular areas and associated states. In D.C., 74% of Postal Service workers are women, and women account for around six-in-ten postal workers in Idaho, Alabama and South Dakota. We crunched the numbers to find out. The agency’s total revenue in fiscal 2019 was $71.2 billion, enough to place it 43rd on the Fortune 500 (higher than Intel) if it were a private company. Since then, it has lost $77.8 billion. Postal Service lost money in six out of the 10 years from 2001 through 2010, according to its financial reports. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational, academic context and the like, and in the body of text discussing factual subject matter relevant to the fact being presented. In the meantime, the agency has tried to save money in other ways, such as by shrinking and reshaping its workforce. "USPS is in desperate need of reform," said Curtis Kalin, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. 1 When Congress created the Postal Service to replace the old Post Office Department, it mandated that the new agency support itself through its own revenues, rather than relying on federal appropriations. Insufficient cost savings: The savings from USPS cost … It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. This metric measures the overall efficiency of a company in being able to turn revenue into profit. 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