NALC President Fredric Rolando’s statement on the May 11 release of the U.S. Postal Service’s financial statement for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2018, covering the months of January, February and March of 2018:
Today’s USPS quarterly financial report shows the Postal Service’s underlying business strength while also indicating the need to address external matters beyond USPS control.
For the first six months of FY 2018, the Postal Service is close to breaking even – showing a year-to-date operating loss of $302 million. Without the exigent stamp price rollback, the half-year would have an impressive operating profit of about $700 million. These figures, of course, involve only earned revenue; by law, USPS gets no taxpayer money for its operations.
This reflects USPS’ vitality and its importance to the public and our economy – as well as the need to resolve key public policy issues. In April 2016, the price of a stamp was rolled back by two cents, reducing postal revenue by about $2 billion a year. That was the first rollback of stamp prices since 1919 and it makes little financial sense because the Postal Service already has the industrial world’s lowest rates.
Fortunately, the Postal Regulatory Commission is in the midst of a legally mandated review of the postage rate-setting system. At present, USPS is constricted in its ability to adjust rates by no more than the Consumer Price Index, but the CPI is an economy-wide measurement of consumer goods and services that doesn’t fit a transportation and delivery provider. The PRC has the ability to correct this mismatch and relieve the resulting financial pressure.
Meanwhile, Congress should address the pre-funding burden it imposed in 2006, which requires USPS — alone among all public and private entities — to prefund future retiree healthcare benefits decades into the future. Without that $1.9 billion cost for the first six months of FY 2018 and the $1 billion cost of the price rollback, USPS would have a net profit of more than $1 billion.
Fixing the external financial burdens posed by the price rollback and pre-funding will allow USPS – which is based in the Constitution and which enjoys broad public and political support – to continue providing Americans and their businesses with the industrial world’s most-affordable delivery network.
Setting rates? I don’t understand ? Set rates for the public just to give discounted rates to businesses so the Postal Service provides free parcel shipping while cutting postal workers wages and benefits. Somebody needs to figure out where all the money is going. I’m carrying more mail and parcels now than I did 30 years ago. I have heard the gloom and doom story ever year for 30 years. Mail volume is dropping! The postal service is losing money and can’t afford to pay workers and provide benefits. Give me a damn break! Management is and has been like a parasite on a fattened hog. You can not expect Postal management that can not run a simple business to know how to count and take care of it’s on accounting?
Soooooo……. Rolando says we need to raise prices on 1st class stamps- for a part of this business that continues to decline-…… and eliminate the prefunding- that we haven’t paid in years and aren’t liable for since 2016. Well that’s a broken record. How about charging Amazon more and more for junk mail…… stuff that we have plenty of. Or how about requiring everybody to have a curbside box which would save billions a year in labor costs.
Hey Fred the way you make concessions to management and the horrible working conditions that carriers go through everyday. To me Fred you are management because you enable this garbage!
Instead of going after the union, you should defend the Postal Service and the union. Is it the union that wants to cut retirement benefits? Is it the union that ordered a close look at Postal Service operations? remember if the retirement benefits are cut, you can thank our great leader. He wants to end the S. S. supplement and the COLA’s for FERS employees. That means $ 1,300 per employee plus the cola per month. I suppose that’s the unions fault! you must give up so that the wealthy can hoard more money! When the Postal Service is gone you can work for as little as possible. Our leader will take care of you!
Actually yes, the union does want to mess with our retirement benefits. To the tune of an additional $135/month.
The same action would result in an increase for those still working health benefits too.
All backed by Rolando.
Hey Rolando ya twit, how about speaking for your workers as much as you do for the USPS for a change.
Worst President in decades.