A double whammy has hit the U.S. Postal Service. At the close of business on August 1, 2012, the Postal Service failed to make a $5.5 billion payment owed the U.S. Treasury. And on September 30, 2012, the Postal Service defaulted on another $5.6 billion payment. Will this $11.1 billion default impact postal contractors?  No it won’t, according to the agency. But it certainly won’t help those who are doing business with the Postal Service.Continue Reading Will the Postal Service’s $5.5 billion default impact its contractors?

Sounds crazy, but with a bit of accounting help from Congress, the U.S. Postal Service could go from pauper to prosperous faster than an Express Mail package. Even though the Postal Service is $13 billion in debt, has stopped making certain payments into the federal retirement system, and is projected to become insolvent and lose another $8 billion this year, it could happen. Because over the last 40 years, USPS has overpaid between $50 and $70 billion into the U.S. Treasury, or so says the agency and its independent regulators. Several bills are pending in Congress that could release these funds to the agency. Read on for the details. Continue Reading Can the U.S. Postal Service go from pauper to prosperous?

A new Congress heard testimony from a new Postmaster General and a panel of postal industry leaders on the state of the Postal Service at a hearing held on March 2, 2011.  Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe made his first Congressional appearance as head of the Postal Service when he testified at these hearings, ominously entitled: “Pushing the Envelope:  The Looming Crisis at USPS.”
Continue Reading Congressional Hearing on the Postal Service: “The Looming Crisis at USPS”