On Wednesday, June 23, 2010, at 2:30 p.m. in room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia and the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Management, Government Information, Federal Service, and International Security will hold a joint hearing entitled, “Having Their Say: Customer and Employee Views on the Future of the U.S. Postal Service.”

The economic downturn and the continued electronic diversion of mail, coupled with an aggressive retiree health pre-payment schedule have combined to put the Postal Service in financial crisis. A recent analysis of the future of the mail conducted on behalf of the Postal Service showed that mail volume may not recover along with the economy – further deteriorating the Postal Service’s financial condition in the years to come. Moreover, in its April 12 report entitled, “U.S. Postal Service: Strategies and Options to Facilitate Progress Toward Financial Viability,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the Postal Service’s current business model is not viable. To that end, the upcoming joint hearing is intended to provide customer and employee stakeholders an opportunity to discuss the economic difficulties currently facing the Postal Service and to respond to plans postal management and GAO have put forth to address them.

 “Having their say: customer and employee views on the future of the US Postal Service