WEB OFFSET REPORT -- Looking to Offset Losses

About 15 years ago, the USPS began to suspect it was overpaying into the CSRS, Cooper says. "Since there was no real crisis at the time, it really didn't pursue any corrective action," he adds.

The situation changed when outside groups—PIA and others—began to raise this retirement issue, the public policy exec notes. "We made the point that, if the USPS is overpaying into the system, it is the rate payers that are picking up the tab. In response, the treasury finally did a study of the issue last year. It found that, by using the existing formula, the USPS not only was overpaying now, but would overpay some $78 billion over the next 30 years," Cooper concludes.