NAPS Makes Statement on USPS Feasibility Study – Congress Contacted

On September 15, 2011, the Postal Service announced plans to eliminate next-day delivery in connection with the realignment of its mail processing and transportation network.  

NAPS believes that the Postal Service’s plan to eliminate next-day delivery First Class delivery sets the Postal Service on a course to ruin.  By making the delivery of letters and cards, along with bills and payments, slower and slower, public respect and use of the mail system will erode.  This will create a death spiral that will contribute to the demise of the Postal Service.

The Postal Service is now in a financial crisis that was created by Congress and remains only for Congress to fix.  In 2006, Congress saddled the Postal Service with the requirement to set aside billions of dollars over an incredibly short period for 75 years of future retiree health care costs.  Congress did this only to satisfy its own bizarre budget scoring rules to assure that it could pass a postal reform law that year in a budget-neutral manner.  Now as a result, the Postal Service is going broke because it is paying for benefits of future postal employees so far into the future that it defies imagination.  A good portion of the overall payments are for employees who haven’t even been born yet.

The Postal Service's obligation to set aside reserves for its future retiree health costs should continue -- but be realigned on a longer time period and a more accurate basis.   Postal Service payments into the federal retirement systems should be recalculated and verified at the same time.  These are the common-sense actions underlying HR 1351.  They are the same actions that would be undertaken by any company in the private sector -- and without Congressional approval.  This legislation provides a good start for restoring the Postal Service's financial stability - instead of eliminating a fundamental service like overnight delivery that lies at the bedrock of the nation's postal system.

NAPS sent a letter to both the House and Senate regarding the USPS’s plant consolidation proposals with NAPS’ position. Click on the LINKs to read the letters.http://www.naps.org/images/uploads/NAPS Letter to House 9-15-11.pdf  http://www.naps.org/images/uploads/NAPS Letter to Senate 9-15-11.pdf