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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPostal Service reports $5.2B loss in 3rd quarter
BY HOPE YEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported a quarterly loss of $5.2 billion and warned it will miss another payment due to the Treasury, just one week after its first-ever default on a payment for future retiree health benefits.
From April to June, losses were $2.1 billion more than during the same period last year.
The mail agency said it is being hurt significantly by mounting costs for future retiree health benefits. Those expenses made up $3.1 billion of the post offices quarterly loss.
Declining first-class mail volume also contributed to losses.
We have simply reached the point that we must conserve cash, Thurgood Marshall Jr., chairman of the Postal Services board of governors, said in explaining the payment defaults. He cautioned that the mail agency may have to delay other payments if necessary but that day-to-day mail service will not be impacted in any way.
more
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/09/postal_service_reports_5_2b_loss_in_3rd_quarter/
uponit7771
(90,335 posts)...and why are they still reporting on a loss?!?
USPS != Bain Capital
n2doc
(47,953 posts)elleng
(130,864 posts)they shouldn't report this 'phantom' obligation as a loss, and surely not more often than once. REAL operating losses are something else.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Always be there. But they were set up by GOP congressmen in the 1990's for a collapse by some perverse law that said they had to fund their retirements in a way that no company or agency possibly could do and keep operating in the black. No doubt FedEx and others lobbied their stooges to create this train wreck. The postal service is socialized as far as giving universal service to all, which the conservatives are determined to destroy along with the Commons. They are doing this from the ground up as well as from the top. Privatization is called the new apartheid. If you are able to afford outrageous cost increases for anything to fatten some private entity's pockets, you will be given service from schools, water, roadways, communications, health care, etc. If not, prepare to do without or die.
WCGreen
(45,558 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)I wondered about this myself--
Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, known as the Postal Clause or the Postal Power, empowers Congress "To establish Post Offices and post Roads".
History
The Postal Clause was added to the Constitution primarily to facilitate interstate communication, as well as to create a source of revenue for the early United States.[1][2] There were some early disagreements as to the boundaries of the Postal Power. John Jay, in a letter to George Washington, opined that the postal service should not be burdened with the responsibility for handling newspaper delivery, and also suggested that the Post Office be placed under the supervision of the executive branch (a suggestion which later led to the creation of the Post Office Department).[3] Thomas Jefferson feared that the postal service would become a source of patronage and a waste of money. Jefferson also expressed doubt at granting Congress the power to designate post roads, as he considered road building to be a state responsibility.[4]
[edit] Interpretation
The Clause has been construed to give Congress the enumerated power to designate mail routes and construct or designate post offices, with the implied authority to carry, deliver, and regulate the mails of the United States as a whole. An early controversy was whether Congress had the power to actually build post roads and post offices, or merely designate which lands and roads were to be used for this purpose, and to what extent that power could be delegated to the Postmaster General.[5] The U.S. Supreme Court construed the power narrowly during the early part of the 19th century, holding that the power consisted mostly of designation of roads and sites, but gradually gave way later on, allowing appropriation of land for postal purposes.[6]
The Postal Power also includes the power to designate certain materials as nonmailable, and to pass statutes criminalizing abuses of the postal system (such as mail fraud and armed robbery of post offices).[7] This power has been used by Congress and the Postmaster General to exclude obscene materials from the mails, beginning with an act in 1872 to ban lottery circulars from the mails, as well as the Comstock laws in 1873.[6][7] These attempts at limiting the content of the mails were upheld by the Supreme Court, but in the 20th century, the Court took a more assertive approach in striking down postal laws which limited free expression, particularly as it related to political materials.[6][7] The First Amendment thus provided a check on the Postal Power.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Clause
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)department. The biggest mistake this country ever made was requiring that the USPS be operated as a BUSINESS. It isn't. It is a taxpayer and user funded public service.
FSogol
(45,473 posts)Expecting a Government service to pay 100% of their operating costs and restricting them from raising prices is ridiculous. What other business has a limit on what they can charge?
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)called for in our Constitution, so one would think they would worship it like the military.
datasuspect
(26,591 posts)phantom power
(25,966 posts)bet it wouldn't be very much. And god forbid businesses would have to pay a little more to spam my mailbox.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)I am SO sick of getting 1-3 "offers" to get more credit cards each DAY in the mail. I don't need any more plastic.