Update on the Postal Service’s Share of CSRS Pension Responsibility

May 7, 2018 (RARC-WP-18-009) When Postal Service employees retire under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), somebody has to pay for their pensions. For people who used to work for the former Post Office Department and then later worked for the Postal Service, the federal government and the Postal Service split pension costs. Under the…

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Without Serious Reforms, USPS Could Be Next Bailout Recipient

By Ike Brannon – December 14, 2017 Delivering mail to every address in the country, the USPS has a nearly daily impact on every American’s life. With over $121 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities, it could have an even larger impact in every American’s life if it cannot begin cutting costs and paying its…

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House Committee Hearing: Reforming the Postal Service – Finding a Viable Solution (video/testimony)

Hearing Date: May 11, 2016 TAKEAWAYS: Substantive and comprehensive legislative reform is urgently needed due to the deteriorating financial condition at USPS. Chairman Chaffetz announced plans to release a postal reform discussion draft in coming weeks. Lack of meaningful cost-cutting initiatives, aging delivery vehicles, and declining infrastructure contribute to the agency moving increasingly further away…

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USPS OIG Blog: Be Careful What You Assume – Postal Service close to being fully funded, potentially overfunded

February 16, 2015 What if your credit card company told you: “You will charge a million dollars on your credit card during your life; please enclose the million dollars in your next bill payment. It’s the responsible thing to do.” Doesn’t seem quite right, does it? Well, that’s what the U.S. Postal Service’s requirement to…

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Congress’s Research Arm Cites Retiree Fund as USPS’s Undoing

It also points to advertising mail as the key to growth, making a subtle case for the continuation of exigency. In a succinct portrait of the U.S. Postal Service’s decline since 2007, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) cites the Retiree Health Benefits Fund (RHBF) as the chief culprit and cast bulk mailers as the heroes…

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Letter to the Editor: Postal Service under attack

(September 12, 2014) The U.S. Postal Service as we know it is continually under attack in this Congress. It is most important to understand the USPS has the dubious distinction of being the only employer, public or private, required by the federal government to prefund retirement health benefits for 75 years out, for workers not…

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