The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors has reached a quorum for the first time since 2014. Finally, USPS can take much-needed action to stem multi-billion-dollar annual losses, which threatens the very future of USPS mail delivery.
However, the board shouldn’t seek more revenue by forcing USPS to raise rates on its package delivery customers. If done, this could cripple the growing e-commerce sector and probably wouldn’t actually bring in more revenue. In other words, USPS should consider more innovative methods so it can meet the many challenges that lie ahead.
In thinking and writing about postal issues for more than 20 years, I’ve come to conclude that right now the key to postal reform is getting the postal service to focus time, attention, and resources on using its ubiquitous national network for final mile delivery of mail and packages.
In case you aren’t aware, the financial state of USPS is dire. For fiscal year (FY) 2018, USPS operating revenues of $70.8 billion couldn’t cover its $74.7 billion in expenses, so it ran a $3.9 billion deficit. The USPS FY 2019 deficit is on track to reach $8 billion. Since the board’s last quorum, USPS has bled $30 billion. USPS hasn’t broken even since 2006.
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