has usps ever turned a profit

“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. Early History of the U.S. 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 USPS loses money, but cash flow has been more stable. address is [email protected]. "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 American postal service is on the verge of default. Claim: The United States Postal Service (USPS) is losing money due to a 2006 law mandating it fund its pensions 75 years in advance. All it would take is another even modest downturn in the economy and the USPS would be right back in the red. The U.S. "There is no turnaround in sight," states the report. The United States Postal Service on Friday reported total revenue of just over $17 billion for the third quarter of fiscal year 2019. The U.S. 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. This brief spasm of profitability is based largely on a somewhat stronger economy, with more people buying and shipping things. Profits grew $1.1 billion over the same period last year, when the Postal Service lost $754 million. 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. Excessive Losses. The pandemic offered the president his first opportunity to truly threaten the agency he calls Amazon’s “delivery boy.” And no.. this is not an article from The Onion. How can an organization this large function with a no profit requirement? The USPS is a quasi-government business that has many odd restrictions. Jazz ShawPosted at 4:41 pm on February 10, 2016, This is something akin to seeing a Pegasus in your horse stable one morning. 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 Tax Foundation says it is doubtful that the Postal Service will be able to meet its obligations. It’s also true that the Postal Service faces challenges; albeit not as often pictured. Recommended to you based on your activity and what's popular • Feedback WASHINGTON - The U.S. WASHINGTON - The U.S. 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. This calls for some cool headed thinking, a rational plan and some consensus in Congress on a path toward a solution. 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 (USPS; also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States, including its insular areas and associated states.It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. For the Founders, a well-informed citizenry, not profit-making for even letter delivery, was the reason the Postal Service was so crucial to the future of the republic. to the Free Beacon, she was a multimedia reporter with CNSNews.com 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. Ali Meyer is a staff writer with the Washington Free Beacon covering (And even then, stamps will probably be hard to come by.) where her work appeared on outlets such as Drudge Report and Fox News. economic issues that expose government waste, fraud, and abuse. 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. 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. Still, USPS has 500,000 employees and 600,000 retirees who receive health and pension benefits. Bipartisan Senate pitch: Let’s censure Trump instead of an impeachment trial; Plus: A bill of attainder instead? In terms of USPS innovations, that’s them at their most efficient, by far! "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. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed.\" 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. 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. If the costs of this retiree health care mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, the Post Office would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years. The U.S. Her Twitter handle is @DJAliMeyer, and her email 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 … Postal Service lost money in six out of the 10 years from 2001 through 2010, according to its financial reports. That $5.6 billion annual charge is the “red ink.”. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it would end Saturday letter delivery beginning in August. In other words: the Post Office is pretty much screwed. "USPS is in desperate need of reform," said Curtis Kalin, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. For the sixth consecutive quarter, the U.S Postal Service turned an operational profit when accounting for its controllable costs. If the USPS was a private sector company, that would translate to a pretty healthy profit. They Help To Track Down Criminals; Working for the postal service means more than just delivering the mail and fighting crazed dogs every day. "Although the Postal Service has not yet received an explicit taxpayer bailout, it has failed to meet its legal obligations for several years in a row," the report states. All Rights Reserved. If the USPS found a way to legally keep its profits is that good or bad? "The Postal Service will almost certainly register another multibillion dollar loss in 2015; for the first two quarters of 2015, it suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion.". 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. The agency has 300,000 fewer employees than it did a few decades ago. Prior The report says that if the enterprise had more operational flexibility, its losses would not be as large. Bulk mailings and junk mail aren’t all that profitable. The U.S. Copyright HotAir.com/Salem Media. The Postal Service also owes $11 billion to the Treasury and more than $59 billion in required but unpaid contributions to its employee pension and retiree-health funds. In terms of mail service by private citizens, that’s pretty much a given I suppose. Seven months into the current fiscal year, the US Postal Service's revenue exceeds its expenses by $1.353 billion. And the USPS can’t increase costs to fix its problem because the government has limited how it can increase price to the rate of inflation, currently 0.9%. House Dems wonder: Would any of Trump’s former White House aides be willing to testify against him at the trial? Research Institute. In fact, the USPS annual report detailed not only challenges but also several highly positive trends. Newsweek noted back in November that they were starting to get their head above water but more work remained. "The odds that a bailout will eventually become unavoidable increase as the sea of red ink continues rising.". 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. 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. A new analysis explains just how much the USPS benefits from the subsidies it receives from the federal government. Does that sound likely to happen in an election year? In the topsy turvy world of Washington, however, it means the USPS is still "bleeding cash"- … The U.S. 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. As noted, the increase is almost entirely due to package delivery. 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. She also interned with the Heritage Foundation and Pacific The USPS isn’t without competition so how did they climb back into the black? Is it really a good thing or not? In accepting the position, Franklin dedicated his efforts to fulfilling George Washington's vision. This entry was posted in Issues and tagged Government Spending. Postal Service letter carrier Michael McDonald gathers mail to load into his truck before making his delivery run in Atlanta on Feb. 7, 2013. Is the USPS allowed to generate a profit? 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. 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