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U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has said that the United States Postal Service will default on its obligations to the federal government on September 30, at the end of the current fiscal year. Now the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has launched a website to educate the public about the Postal Service’s financial troubles and some possible solutions. The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion in the last fiscal year. Oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican from California, and other committee members have said the result will likely be a taxpayer bailout.

SEATTLE — The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is proposing to cut its workforce by 20 percent and to withdraw from the federal health and retirement plans because it believes it could provide benefits at a lower cost. The layoffs would be achieved in part by breaking labor agreements, a proposal that drew swift fire from postal unions. The plan would require congressional approval but, if successful, could be precedent-setting, with possible ripple effects throughout government. It would also deliver a major blow to the nation’s labor movement.

The U.S. Postal Service lost $3.1 billion in the third quarter and warns it will default on payments to the federal government if Congress does not step in with help. [snip] Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 million pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period the previous year. [snip]Also, it is required to make an annual payment to the federal government of $5.5 billion. The postal service says high payroll and retiree costs and declining volume has put it in a severe bind. [snip] The postal service says it lost $5.7...

USPS Posts $3.1 Billion Loss In Q3, Warns Of Default By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in. Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online. The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds, has struggled to overhaul its business as...

The US Postal Service warned on Friday that it could default on payments it owes the federal government, just days after the US government itself narrowly averted a default. The government's mail service said it lost $3.1 billion in the period from April to June, blaming "the anemic state of the economy" and the growing popularity of electronic communications over old-fashioned letters. As a result of its mounting losses, the US Postal Service said it would not be able to make a legally required $5.5 billion payment in September to a health-benefits trust fund. "Absent substantial legislative change, the Postal...

There was a thread on FR not long ago regarding the post office going under, so I realize all that has been hashed out in the recent past, but this is pertinent information and comes straight from the horses patoot just this past week. I despise unions. They use scare tactics and lies to take the worker's money, live like kings, dole it out to democrats, and are in collusion with management against the workers. I believe we benefit when darkness is exposed to the light, so here's the latest scare tactics from the APWU...

Head of U.S. Postal Service says delivery could be scaled back to 3 days a week By Maeve Coyle Topics Domestic Issues With Internet usage rising and mail volume steadily falling, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned the U.S. Postal Service is going to have to make significant cutbacks that could mean no more Saturday service and eventually lead to mail delivery just three days a week. The Postal Service's "cashflow crisis is at a critical level," Donahoe told USA Today in an interview published Wednesday. Donahoe said eliminating Saturday mail would save around $3.1 billion a year for the cash-strapped...

Federal officials launched an investigation on Thursday after four 200-pound mailboxes were stolen in less than a week at multiple San Fernando Valley post offices, potentially leaving postal customers vulnerable to identity theft. The mailboxes stolen from offices in Pacoima, Glendale and Burbank were bolted into a concrete slab, U.S. Postal Inspector Renee Focht told the Glendale News-Press. No suspects have been named, but the thefts appeared to be a “recent trend,” Focht said. Investigators have not confirmed if all the incidences were connected. Focht advised concerned postal customers to check their credit reports and contact their banks. All of...

A pair of bald eagles nesting near the U.S. Post Office in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, has taken to dive-bombing customers, in one case drawing blood, authorities said on Tuesday.

By James Hamilton, EconbrowserFrom my ground-level perspective, postal mail is a dying industry, at least as far as it's used in academia. So I had some concerns when the Wall Street Journal ran this strongly worded editorial on Saturday: With their $15 billion line of credit from Treasury about to be exhausted, postal workers and management are now asking Congress to let them take a pass on $5.4 billion in legally required annual contributions to prepay for retirement health benefits. While there is honest disagreement about how much should be set aside, the Postal Service and unions essentially want to...

The U.S. Postal Service posted a $2.2 billion net loss in its second quarter and said it might be unable to pay its debts by September. The agency, which has been battling falling mail volumes and competition from FedEx (FDX.N) and United Parcel Service (UPS.N), said it expects to hit its borrowing limit by the September 30 end of the fiscal year, and will have to default on payments to the federal government unless Congress intervenes. "The Postal Service continues to seek changes in the law to enable a more flexible and sustainable business model," said Chief Executive Patrick Donahoe...

U.S. Postal Service to cut 7,500 jobs, close offices 31 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service said on Thursday it would cut 7,500 jobs and close seven district offices and 2,000 post offices as it handles less mail and faces greater staff costs and competition from FedEx and United Parcel Service. "It's critical that we adjust our work force to match America's changing communications trends as mail volumes continue to decline," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement. In November, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $8.5 billion for fiscal year 2010, its fourth...

The Postal Service is offering a $20,000 buyout to thousands of veteran workers as part of its bid to eliminate 7,500 administrative jobs, the agency announced Thursday. The struggling agency also announced plans to shutter seven district offices. The seven offices that are closing are Columbus, South East Michigan, Northern Illinois, South East New England, South Georgia, Big Sky and Albuquerque. There are 421 jobs spread across the seven offices, a postal service spokeswoman said. Eligible administrative employees will be offered the buyout package -- letter carriers and other union workers are not eligible. The postmaster first announced plans to...

The American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, union President Cliff Guffey announced today. “Despite the fact that the Postal Service is on the edge of insolvency, the union and management have reached an agreement that is a ‘win-win,’ proposition,” he said.“Throughout the bargaining process, the union has sought to negotiate a contract that would be fair to our members and that would enable the USPS to succeed in the future,” he said.  “The tentative agreement accomplishes those goals. “The new contract will safeguard jobs, protect retirement and healthcare...

The U.S. Postal Service plays two roles in America: an agency that keeps rural areas linked to the rest of the nation, and one that loses a lot of money. Now, with the red ink showing no sign of stopping, the postal service is hoping to ramp up a cost-cutting program that is already eliciting yelps of pain around the country. Beginning in March, the agency will start the process of closing as many as 2,000 post offices, on top of the 491 it said it would close starting at the end of last year. In addition, it is reviewing...

More than 800 U.S. Postal Service executives receive health insurance coverage at no cost, in just one example of the excess and mismanagement that's costing the agency $800 million annually, according to a Republican lawmaker. A USPS inspector general report released last week in response to requests from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, found the Postal Service pays the full health insurance premiums for 835 Postal Career Executive Service employees, OIG directors and Senior Executive Service members, a perk not available to other federal workers. Fifteen members of the Postal Regulatory Commission receive this benefit, according to PRC spokesman Norman Scherstrom....

Postal Service Thanked for Mother Teresa Stamp, Ceremony Honors Her Washington, DC -- The pro-life Catholic group that organized the petition in favor of the Postal Service issuing a stamp honoring pro-life luminary Mother Teresa is thankful to see the stamp issued. Meanwhile, those gathered for a special service in Washington, D.C., remembered her pro-life outreach. http://LifeNews.com/nat6680.html

When the U.S. Postal Service's top marketing officer agreed to hire Goldman Sachs nearly two years ago without a written contract, top executives inside postal headquarters scrambled to make the unauthorized deal square with postal procurement rules. But the no-bid contract they eventually awarded to Goldman Sachs was backdated and was for the wrong kinds of services: The company was hired under a banking services agreement, but Goldman Sachs' postal work didn't have anything to do with banking, records show. And the idea to hire the banking giant came from a top former postal executive who also served on the...

Let's imagine you and I have an extremely poorly managed lemonade stand. Sales over the years have been protected from competition by a government-mandated monopoly in the lemonade market...

, bills and even a college acceptance letter from 2007 were among 20,000 letters found inside the garage of a Philadelphia postal carrier. When the mailman missed several days of work in April, postal officials went to his Port Richmond home and found tubs and tubs of undelivered and unopened mail. The postal worker, who has yet to be identified, worked out of the Bustleton station in Northeast Philadelphia. The neighborhood most impacted is located near Castor Avenue and Benton Street. One of those affected was desperate to receive a $900 check in December 2007. The letter just arrived on...