Projected Postal Service Pension Surplus Shrinks as Rates Fall

The projected excess in the Federal Employees Retirement System for benefits covering about 471,000 current postal employees shrank to $2.6 billion from $10.9 billion a year earlier, John Berry, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said in an Oct. 30 letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

The lower estimated pension surplus adds to the financial woes of the Postal Service, which is scheduled on Nov. 15 to report its loss for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. The agency has said it may lose $15 billion in fiscal 2012, during which it exhausted its borrowing authority.