Postal Service To Miss $5.5 Billion Payment To U.S. Treasury - Bloomberg
The U.S. Postal Service affirmed it won’t make a required $5.5 billion payment due tomorrow to the U.S. Treasury for future retirees’ health care, an obligation the agency said must end for it to become financially viable.
The service has said for months it couldn’t afford the payment, which was initially due last September, nor a $5.6 billion payment required by Sept. 30 for this year. Postal legislation passed by the U.S. Senate on April 25 would slow the schedule for those obligations. The House hasn’t acted on a different postal measure aimed at changes to help the service cope with declining mail volume.
Mail volume peaked in 2006 and has fallen more than 20 percent since then as much of the service’s first-class mail has been supplanted by e-mail and electronic bills. The Postal Service’s share of the U.S. small-package shipping market fell to 14 percent in 2011, behind United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS)’s 52 percent share and FedEx Corp. (FDX)’s 34 percent, according to Bloomberg Industries.
The U.S. Postal Service affirmed it won’t make a required $5.5 billion payment due tomorrow to the U.S. Treasury for future retirees’ health care, an obligation the agency said must end for it to become financially viable.
The service has said for months it couldn’t afford the payment, which was initially due last September, nor a $5.6 billion payment required by Sept. 30 for this year. Postal legislation passed by the U.S. Senate on April 25 would slow the schedule for those obligations. The House hasn’t acted on a different postal measure aimed at changes to help the service cope with declining mail volume.
Mail volume peaked in 2006 and has fallen more than 20 percent since then as much of the service’s first-class mail has been supplanted by e-mail and electronic bills. The Postal Service’s share of the U.S. small-package shipping market fell to 14 percent in 2011, behind United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS)’s 52 percent share and FedEx Corp. (FDX)’s 34 percent, according to Bloomberg Industries.
