In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, Robert Rapoza, President of the National Association of Postmasters (NAPUS) wrote:
The “Failure to deliver” editorial misdiagnosed the cause of the Postal Service’s challenges and suggested treatment that makes matters worse.
The $8.5 billion Postal Service loss that the editorial mentioned stems primarily from a law that foists a $5.6 billion annual payment on the USPS to prefund retiree health costs. Also, the government raised the Postal Service’s payment to the workers compensation fund by $2.5 billion. Ironically, two nationally recognized actuarial firms determined that the USPS had been required to overfund its pensions by $50 billion to $75 billion.
The Post, however, recommended that Congress extort the USPS to secure its surplus pension contributions. In part, The Post recommended weakening a statute, enabling the USPS to close “unprofitable” post offices. This recommendation is problematic. First, post office profitability is meaningless, because offices deliver and distribute mail – inherently “unprofitable” services. Second, many “unprofitable” offices serve rural communities and are the communities’ sole commercial and communications access points.
Third, closing all small post offices would save only 0.7 percent of the USPS’s budget. Before cutting services, Congress should treat the “most trusted agency” fairly, and the Postal Service must trim its administrative overhead.
Un fortunately, as newspapers continue to fail and go under, “yellow journalism” is rising. The newspaper industry has become more and more partisan in the last twenty years destroying the confidence that the public used to have in them printing factual stories. Somehow the printed media, and media in general don not see the connection.
The Washington Post storry is just another example of the arrogance of the industry. Factually, the story woulf get a grade “F” is written in school. The Postal Service has been a political football for decades as both parties have milked it as a cash cow. The current financial situation is completely the fault of Congress and the 2006 Postal Accountability Act. This forced the Postal Service to “pre-pay” $5.5 billion into funding retiree health benefits.
Ask Congress or the no longer reliable Washington Post why no other federal agency but the Postal Service has to do this? The answer is that they are stealing the money and forcing the Postal Service to stop delivering on a six day schedule. Write or call your congress reps and senators and ask them why?????????