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The USPS is self supporting from postage. Your taxes aren't funding a "broken" business model. But they are funding a bunch of people trying to interfere with,

by rblatz 6y ago

The USPS is self supporting from postage. Your taxes aren't funding a "broken" business model. But they are funding a bunch of people trying to interfere with, and force the USPS out of business.

missedthecue 6y ago
How much tax does the USPS pay? None. No income tax, no property tax, they don't even pay parking tickets. But for some reason, they've been losing money for decades. (yes, even before the whole pension debacle) UPS on the other hand pays income tax, pays property tax, pays higher wages, fully funds their pension plan, and does not have access to the same zero or low interest treasury loans that the USPS does and still makes a profit AND delivers more parcels every year than the USPS.
- kelnos 6y ago
  > But for some reason, they've been losing money for decades. (yes, even before the whole pension debacle) Citation needed? A quick search suggests that post-pension-debacle, the USPS has lost money every year, to the tune of several billion dollars. Pre-pension-debacle, things were mixed; most years they made a decent profit, some years they lost some money, though much less than they do post-pension-debacle.
varenc 6y ago
USPS is self supporting? It doesn't seem like it. According to this report by they feds they've been operating at a loss for most years since 2008. $2.1B loss in 2018. https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/FY%202018%20Financial%20Analysis%20Report.pdf#page=4 https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/FY%202018%20...
- kelnos 6y ago
  The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 requires the USPS to pay over $5B annually to pre-fund future retirement benefits (an amount greater than their usual yearly profits prior to this). No private courier would ever be saddled with a requirement like that. It's clear that this requirement was put into place by people who want to make the USPS look bad so it's an easier argument to kill it.

by rblatz 6y ago

The USPS is self supporting from postage. Your taxes aren't funding a "broken" business model. But they are funding a bunch of people trying to interfere with, and force the USPS out of business.

missedthecue 6y ago

How much tax does the USPS pay? None. No income tax, no property tax, they don't even pay parking tickets. But for some reason, they've been losing money for decades. (yes, even before the whole pension debacle) UPS on the other hand pays income tax, pays property tax, pays higher wages, fully funds their pension plan, and does not have access to the same zero or low interest treasury loans that the USPS does and still makes a profit AND delivers more parcels every year than the USPS.

kelnos 6y ago
> But for some reason, they've been losing money for decades. (yes, even before the whole pension debacle) Citation needed? A quick search suggests that post-pension-debacle, the USPS has lost money every year, to the tune of several billion dollars. Pre-pension-debacle, things were mixed; most years they made a decent profit, some years they lost some money, though much less than they do post-pension-debacle.

varenc 6y ago

USPS is self supporting? It doesn't seem like it. According to this report by they feds they've been operating at a loss for most years since 2008. $2.1B loss in 2018. https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/FY%202018%20Financial%20Analysis%20Report.pdf#page=4 https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/FY%202018%20...

kelnos 6y ago
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 requires the USPS to pay over $5B annually to pre-fund future retirement benefits (an amount greater than their usual yearly profits prior to this). No private courier would ever be saddled with a requirement like that. It's clear that this requirement was put into place by people who want to make the USPS look bad so it's an easier argument to kill it.