WASHINGTON – Last night, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced the bipartisan Postal Reform Act of 2013 (S. 1486).
The financial condition of the Postal Service has been deteriorating for years, but the 2008 economic downturn and the near universal use of the internet for communications and commerce have hastened its downward spiral. The Postal Service currently maintains an outstanding debt of over $15.9 billion and lacks the operating capital to begin repaying that debt, let alone meet congressionally-mandated payments exceeding $5 billion due to the U.S. Treasury at the end of Fiscal Year 2013.
Congressional leaders have long called for legislation that addresses the systemic causes of the Postal Service’s difficulties, and this compromise builds on years of bipartisan, bicameral work. Without serious, long-term reform, this iconic American institution – enshrined in our Constitution – will take on more and more debt. The bipartisan Postal Reform Act of 2013 seeks to address the Postal Service’s financial challenges by helping it streamline operations and giving it new tools it can use to introduce innovative new products and generate additional revenue. It does this while preserving essential services.
Chairman Carper said: “One year ago, the United States Postal Service defaulted for the first time in its history. As Businessweek put it: ‘The U.S. Postal Service essentially went broke today.’ The agency was – and is – facing its worst financial challenges in 200 years. Over the past year, Americans have realized the hard truth that the Postal Service is on the verge of financial collapse. If it were to shut down, the impact on our economy would be devastating. Although the situation is dire, it isn’t hopeless. With the right tools and quick action from Congress, the Postal Service can reform, right-size and modernize. The bill that Dr. Coburn and I introduced last night presents a comprehensive and bipartisan solution to the Postal Service’s financial challenges that would prevent collapse, protect millions of mailing industry jobs, and enable this critical institution to serve the American public for years to come. This bill isn’t perfect and will certainly change as Dr. Coburn and I hear from colleagues and stakeholders, including postal employees and customers. But the time to act is now. It is my hope that Congress and the Obama Administration can come together to enhance this plan in order to save the Postal Service before it’s too late.”
Ranking Member Coburn said: “This proposal is a rough draft of an agreement subject to change that I hope will move us closer to a solution that will protect taxpayers and ensure the Postal Service can remain economically viable while providing vital services for the American people.”
Highlights of the Postal Reform Act (PRA) of 2013:
Pension Reforms: The PRA would require that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) use data in determining how much the Postal Service must pay into the two federal pension programs – the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) – that more accurately reflects the amount of the Postal Service’s projected liability, in light of differences between the postal and non-postal federal workforces. This reform is expected to reduce the amount the Postal Service pays into both FERS and CSRS and to result in a Postal Service FERS surplus. The Postal Service would be permitted to request and receive up to $6 billion of any surplus, which could be spent to retire Postal Service debt and give it needed liquidity.
In addition, the bill would allow the Postal Service and postal unions to bargain over the extent of new postal employees’ participation in FERS and the Thrift Savings Program (TSP).
Health Care Reforms: The PRA would eliminate the Postal Service’s statutory retiree health pre-funding and replace it with a less aggressive 40-year amortization of the Postal Service’s retiree health liability. This provision, combined with language allowing premiums for current retirees to come out of the account containing health care funds that the Postal Service has already pre-funded, could reduce the Postal Service’s total retiree health costs by roughly half. Those costs could be reduced even further through the implementation of provisions in the PRA requiring that 1) health plans be created to meet the needs of postal retirees enrolled in Medicare parts A and B, some of whom currently purchase full Medicare and Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP) coverage; and 2) postal retirees not enrolled in Medicare be given the opportunity to do so penalty-free. Participation in Medicare parts A and B and these new health plans would be voluntary, but these two provisions are expected to increase Medicare enrollment among postal retirees and significantly reduce the Postal Service’s long-term retiree health liabilities.
In addition, the PRA would also allow the Postal Service and the postal unions to bargain over the creation of a new health plan for postal employees, either within or outside of FEHBP.
Service Changes
The Postal Service last year proposed a service standard change for certain classes of mail that would have largely eliminated the overnight delivery of mail and led to the closure or consolidation of a significant number of mail processing plants. The PRA would place a moratorium on service standard changes and plant closings for two years, keeping all plants open as of the date of enactment in operation for the duration of the moratorium.
The PRA would codify the Postal Service’s current plan to find savings in its retail operations without closing post offices.
The PRA would preserve Saturday delivery for at least a year.
The PRA would require the Postal Service to use the most cost effective means of mail delivery, requiring centralized or curbside delivery for new addresses and business addresses. It would also require the Postal Service to seek to convert residential addresses from door delivery to centralized or curbside delivery on a voluntary basis.
Revenue and Innovation
The PRA would streamline the current rate-setting process, giving the Postal Service more authority to set prices on its own while preserving a more flexible CPI rate cap until 2016, when the rate cap would expire.
The PRA would give the Postal Service enhanced authority to innovate and introduce new non-postal products that take advantage of its retail and mail processing, transportation, and delivery network.
The PRA would authorize the Postal Service to offer services on behalf of federal, state, or local government agencies.
The Postal Service is prohibited under current law from shipping beer, wine, and distilled spirits. The PRA would lift this prohibition and allow the Postal Service to deliver beer, wine and distilled spirits under the same rules as private sector shippers.
Federal Workers Compensation Reform
The PRA contains the Workers Compensation Act of 2013, which reforms the workers’ compensation program for federal employees who are injured on the job. The Act would bring compensation levels for older workers more in line with retirement benefits, strengthen programs for helping injured workers get back on the job, make other updates and improvements.
I’m not worried so much about my job.30 + years as a carrier,when the whole country is on the verge of collapse!
To: Betb & Beanmaster:
Spoken like a couple of disgruntled craft employees who, by the sounds of it, probably have a terrible work ethic!!! I agree that there are managers out there that have no business being in the position their in, but there are a lot of craft employees that should’nt be employeed also. I’m sure that the both of you chose to work for the Post Office!!! The Post Office didn’t knock on your door and offer you the job. If you’re unhappy, find new employment. I’m sure that there are a lot of companies looking for unskilled workers with a high school education. Stop blaming management!! Look in the mirror!
Excellent business cents to move to streamline operations.
Consolidating delivery from small community post offices near higher level offices is a cost effective move to reduce cost as Postmasters responsibility will be reduced from managing delivery employees to selling stamps and boxing mail basically a retail window clerk with a PTF clerk. Long term these small office retail clerks should not be paid $60,000. plus as responsibility are no more than a lead station clerk whose salary is in $54,000. range. Processing mail at plant is more cost effective than having a higher level office process for 4-5 nearby smaller offices. City and rural carriers may report later as mail arrival is key to reducing office time and maintain carrier scheduled street time.
I have spent 30 years with most of it on T1 (grave yard shift) and have watched my $75,000 a year supervisor sleep most of the night, employees doing there on thing reading papers, crossword puzzles, surfing the internet, watching movie, sleeping, etc.all the while management walks by and never says a word about unproductive workers what they are doing, and custodians making $50,000 a year not to mention benefits are doing the lest about of work if you can find them.
Totally sell it to private sector, problems solved !Don’t worry about the mailing services at the rural sides, mostly people are online doing their transaction.
Nevermind you are correct…The Democrats say they love unions but they are doing nothing to help them….I hope people really start to realize that the Democrats are the problem…They get away with it because they have the media on their side and the worst president in history of the USA, Obama…..Most of the stuff that has gone wrong in this country recetly , the Democrats won’t do anything about it and when Republicans put any plan up they call it outragous…Way too many politicans in Washington and NO leaders and it starts from the top…So here comes 5 day delivery and the unions can do nothing to stop it…Thank You NALC,APWU NAPS…..You guys are the real crooks…
oops, looks like all that financial support and campaign support the unions provided the democrats won’t keep the democrats from joining the republicans in destroying
good paying, middle class jobs. big business
has taken over both political parties. we all know that the republicans would like nothing more than to destroy all the unions to appease their big campaign donors. but, when will the unuons realize that the democrats are accepting union money and union resources with their left hand, while
stabbing the unions in the back with their right hand?
I agree with Betb about the grievances. Management does not know how to do their jobs and follow the rules of the contract. Grievance money is a separate budget then the operating budget. I have watched managers lose the same grievances over and over again, because they know paying out the money won’t hurt the bottom line and it is used to upset workers that manager does not like.
Anyone who wants to become a manager or supervisor should have to take a test first and pass this test to show they are competent. Instead I have watched people who can’t tie their own shoes run operations, all the way up to the PMG!
We had a man who was a custodian one day, a maintenance supervisor the next telling techs and mechanics how to fix machines. Within months he was allowed to be an acting plant manager deciding how to process a million pieces of mail a night and knew nothing about operations!
Some clown from the district office we work for came down and ordered special flashlight for every tech in the building at $70 a piece just to see if a letter had an ID tag on the back or not. All that had to be done was to run that letter through a machine, which would even tell us what the code was! These flashlights were also ordered for the office this clown came from. About 120 of the flashlights were purchased and I don’t know of anyone who has ever needed to use it!
Postal managers are taught at classes that revenue comes from bulk mailers. The first time I heard this from a manager was at least 20 years ago. The latest annual report shows that junk mail is just over half the volume of letters, but only 1/3 of revenue. Don’t any of these managers and supervisors read the annual reports?
We all have to wait till ISSA and his cronies are gone. Buy FACE BOOK STOCK only wAy to Live Don’t rely on the P>O> there all out to kill good AMERICAN jobs. Plus its in the constitution you Dumb Bastards, They just don’t CARE they are the republican crooks. I’m making 12,000 a year less now!!! While post masters are still making bonasses. What a Joke, at the same time we are losing fake 15 billion a year they just rob us blind then won’t help us. Tired of the B>S> GO FACE BOOK ITS MY ONLY HOPE. out in 6
Is that it your missing about 300 pages get a grip we have 4 days of cash on hand
As a disability retiree, when i took the job in the USPS i was promised health insurance just like any other federal worker.
If you change ours than change all federal employees as the government is in the red.
Try looking at the managers. The amount of grievances.
When i worked management blatantly had no regard for the contract.
Too many supervisors and managers.
When needed them they were hidden away in an office.
Managers were allowed to spend thousands to get new furniture. The perfectly good furniture was put in storage.
Get rid of the poor managers and get some humans in there.
The list can go on and on.