Misinformation Obscures Postal Service’s Profitable Work

The USPS runs a net operational profit delivering the mail. Even with the worst recession in 80 years, even with Internet diversion, the USPS takes in more money from postal operations than it spends. Over the past four years, revenues exceeded costs by $837 million; last quarter’s net operating profit alone was $226 million.

The $20 billion in losses cited over the past four years has surprisingly little to do with declining mail volume or the Internet. Rather, it stems from the 2006 congressional mandate that the USPS prefund future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years, and do