Rate-Case Appeal Is a No-Lose Venture for USPS

Regardless of what happens in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the appeal is likely to be a winner in the court that really matters for the Postal Service—Congress. Win, lose or draw, there’s not enough money at stake in the exigency case (“only” $2.3 billion) to fix the Postal Service’s finances.

The only potential solutions big enough to stanch the bleeding seem to be reforming retirement-benefits payments that shift money from USPS to the federal government, reducing days of delivery, or some kind of radical downsizing. Congress is the key,