Editor,
The Postal Service just released another successful quarter’s financial figures, reporting a $576 million operating profit for the second quarter of the 2016 fiscal year. This brings the total operating profit for FY 2016 to date up to $1.833 billion all without a dime of taxpayer money. The Postal Service funds itself by selling stamps and other products.
This continues what is now the fourth straight year of operating in the black, with $4.4 billion in operating profits since the start of the 2013 fiscal year. In the most recent quarter, package volume was up 11.4 percent and package revenue was up 16.2 percent over the same quarter of last year, and overall revenue was up 4.7 percent.
Lawmakers should strengthen the networks while addressing the onerous pre-funding of future retiree health benefits imposed by a lame-duck Congress in 2006. This burden accounts for the red ink, and addressing it would strengthen the Postal Service moving forward.
No other federal agency or private company is burdened with this congressional mandate. The time is now for lawmakers to eliminate the pre-funding of retiree healthcare, which currently has $50 billion stored away, enough to cover premiums for decades to come and to switch to a pay-as-you-go method of funding. Then, the Postal Service can continue to provide Americans and their businesses with the world’s most affordable delivery service.
Ronnie Roush, Letter Carrier
Carmel, Indiana
