WASHINGTON - The U.S. Her Twitter handle is @DJAliMeyer, and her email Prior Must See: Father Absolutely Nukes Loudon County School Board and Teachers in Viral Video, Ten Reasons a Post-Presidency Impeachment of Barack Obama Should Happen, Firearms Company Finds New Home After Passage Of Gun & Ammo Tax, Gun Control Group Has a Racist Take on Black and Brown Gun Owners, CCPA - Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Don’t look now, but the post office just turned a profit. Postal Service reported operating revenue of $70.6 billion for fiscal year 2018 (October 1, 2017 - September 30, 2018), an increase of $1.0 billion compared to the prior year. For the sixth consecutive quarter, the U.S Postal Service turned an operational profit when accounting for its controllable costs. Ali Meyer is a staff writer with the Washington Free Beacon covering (And even then, stamps will probably be hard to come by.) Postal Service . I’d assumed that this was pretty much never going to happen again, but against all odds the United States Postal Service has recorded a profit. USPS posted a net income of $307 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, the first such gain since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. And no.. this is not an article from The Onion. The major one has nothing to do with the mail and everything to do with congressional politics. The U.S. Is the USPS allowed to generate a profit? The U.S. In 2014, delivery-time targets fell short seven out of eight times and in 2015, on-time delivery from January to March fell to 63.1 percent, down from 84.1 percent in the same quarter last year. It’s our old friend, mandatory, baked in retirement plans and benefits which swamp any profits which the business might take in even if it were run in the most efficient manner possible. The net loss of nearly $2.3 billion comes on the heels of an already bleak fiscal year that saw a combined loss of $3.6 billion—$2.1 billion in quarter two and $1.5 billion in quarter one. If the USPS was a private sector company, that would translate to a pretty healthy profit. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that the Postal Service’s unfunded liabilities grew 62 percent from 2007 to 2013. Postal Service lost money in six out of the 10 years from 2001 through 2010, according to its financial reports. address is meyer@freebeacon.com. This brief spasm of profitability is based largely on a somewhat stronger economy, with more people buying and shipping things. While Gallup found in 2014 that 72 percent of their respondents said USPS is doing a good job and only 8 percent regard its performance as poor, the report finds that there have been issues with service. The U.S. All it would take is another even modest downturn in the economy and the USPS would be right back in the red. But packages can’t be sent in an email – yet – so that’s where the money is in this business. to the Free Beacon, she was a multimedia reporter with CNSNews.com “letters”) is pretty much over and we shouldn’t expect to see it come back unless an EMP knocks out the grid for a few years. The Tax Foundation says it is doubtful that the Postal Service will be able to meet its obligations. DoJ: Sedition charges in Capitol riot coming “very soon”, Flashback: When Joe Biden said only dictators legislate via executive orders, Goya Foods bans CEO from media appearances after questioning election results, The rewriting of history continues in support of Tom Cotton smear, Judge blocks Biden’s freeze on deportations, Morning Consult: Half of all Republicans want Trump playing a “major role” in the GOP, Democrats move to ban Trump supporters from federal jobs or joining the military, McConnell warns Dems: I will go scorched earth on your asses if you nuke the filibuster. Claim: The United States Postal Service (USPS) is losing money due to a 2006 law mandating it fund its pensions 75 years in advance. Early History of the U.S. Research Institute. Postal Service reported operating revenue of $71.1 billion for fiscal year 2019 (October 1, 2018 - September 30, 2019), an increase of $514 million compared to the prior year. Total operating expenses came in at $19.3 billion. Postal Service but incompletely depicted its financial status. In addition, the report finds that USPS has failed to make legally required payments to the U.S. Treasury and will default on its statutory obligations, which include the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund. Instead, revenue for the Postal Service has risen more than $500 million in the past nine months, driven by a 20% jump, or $3.4 billion, in sales from shipping packages that has … Post office workers have been useful to the police by helping to find criminals, investigating crimes, and gathering evidence. By the end of the decade, the semi-independent government agency 's losses had reached a record $8.5 billion, forcing the Postal Service to consider seeking an increase in its $15 billion debt ceiling or face insolvency. The USPS isn’t without competition so how did they climb back into the black? The United States Postal Service has lost $51.7 billion between 2007 and 2014 and has not earned a profit since 2006, according to a report from the Tax Foundation. USPS posted a net income of $307 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, the first such gain since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011. The United States Postal Service first began moving the mail on July 26, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the nation's first Postmaster General. "If the agency truly is to act as a business, it must do what failing businesses are routinely forced to do: right size its workforce and return to the basic services where it had peviously operated effectively. As noted, the increase is almost entirely due to package delivery. The days when the post was the primary conveyor of intellectual goods (i.e. Congress could probably step in and ease some of that burden but then they’d be taking on the unions along with a few other headwinds. No other agency or company in the country has to pre-fund for even one year; the Postal Service must pre-fund 75 years’ worth of these benefits in advance. Post office makes a profit Congress won’t let it keep Editor, Times-Dispatch: Robin Beres’ Commentary column eloquently discussed the value of the U.S. In fact, the USPS annual report detailed not only challenges but also several highly positive trends. The facts in this publication may be reproduced for the purpose of stating the fact itself, and in a business, informational, academic context and the like, and in the body of text discussing factual subject matter relevant to the fact being presented. In terms of USPS innovations, that’s them at their most efficient, by far! Postal Service announced Wednesday that it would end Saturday letter delivery beginning in August. All Rights Reserved. However, the last year the Postal Service recorded any profit was 2006, and its cumulative losses since then totaled $83.1 billion as of March 31. What happened to its profits prior to 2006? Operating revenue ticked up 3.3 percent to $19.3 billion between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2015, driven largely by a record volume of package delivery. Bipartisan Senate pitch: Let’s censure Trump instead of an impeachment trial; Plus: A bill of attainder instead? Postal Service letter carrier Michael McDonald gathers mail to load into his truck before making his delivery run in Atlanta on Feb. 7, 2013. Postal Service turned a profit in a financial quarter for the first time in five years, though President Obama still proposed the agency slash 12,000 employees in his fiscal 2017 budget. In 2006, a lame-duck Congress mandated that the Postal Service pre-fund retiree health benefits. Newsweek noted back in November that they were starting to get their head above water but more work remained. Does that sound likely to happen in an election year? "While the Service does have greater operational discretion than many federal agencies, it has much less than a typical private-sector business because Congress often micromanages its actions," the report says. The postal service is a not-for-profit, self-supporting agency that covers its expenses through postage (stamp use in the United States started in 1847) and related products. Seven months into the current fiscal year, the US Postal Service's revenue exceeds its expenses by $1.353 billion. The USPS loses money, but cash flow has been more stable. Postal Service turned a profit in a financial quarter for the first time in five years, though President Obama still proposed the agency slash 12,000 employees in his fiscal 2017 budget. In accepting the position, Franklin dedicated his efforts to fulfilling George Washington's vision. economic issues that expose government waste, fraud, and abuse. 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