The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: 2018

Last year, the U.S Postal Service (USPS) lost more than $2 billion. This operating deficit was not a rare occurrence, as the agency has run deficits regularly over the past decade. This is because plunging mail volume has cut into its revenues. It is also $15 billion in debt and has more than $100 billion in unfunded pension and retiree health benefits.

USPS’ financial travails are a particular problem because the Postal Service was designed to be financially self-sufficient. This means that unlike most federal agencies, it does not
depend on dollars appropriated from the Treasury by the U.S. Congress. Instead, it was given a monopoly on the delivery of most types of paper-based correspondence, and in exchange, it must deliver mail six days a week to nearly every home and
business in the nation….(Read more)