US Postal Service Announces Third Quarter Results

News

In August the US Postal Service announced third quarter results for the period ending 6-30-2016. Despite an operating revenue increase of $1.2 billion over the same quarter in 2015, there was a net loss of $1.6 billion.

Shipping and package volumes increased by $645 million or 18.1%. However, delivering a package involves considerable additional processing expense as compared to delivering First Class Mail. Those expenses include labor hours and transportation. According to the USPS’s Form 10-Q submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission, “For 2015, Shipping and Packages revenues would have needed to increase by 260% in order to make up for the impact of the contribution provided by the volume losses of First-Class Mail for that year . . .”

Preview of Designs for 2017 Stamps

News

  The US Postal Service has announced a selection of new stamps for 2017.  The subjects of the stamps include John F. Kennedy, Flowers from the Garden, Uncle Sam’s Hat, and Sharks, along with several others.  May-Anne Penner, U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services Executive Director says “Stamps are miniature works of art that tell America’s…

H.R. 5714 – The Postal Service Reform Act of 2016

Lobbyist Update

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved H.R. 5714 by voice vote on July 12, 2016. The Committee has requested that the Congressional Budget Office determine the cost to implement this legislation and to have that estimate available when the House reconvenes in September. This cost estimate will have a major impact on the legislation’s future consideration during the remainder of this 114th Congress.

The legislation seeks to put the United States Postal Service on a firmer financial foundation by refinancing USPS prefunding payments to the federal government for the retirement and health care benefits of postal employees; requiring that postal retirees use Medicare as their primary health carrier; allows USPS to raise first class mail rates by 1 cent to make up for the rate decrease in April; and gives the Postal Rate Commission the ability to adjust other postal rates.

H.R. 5714 authorizes the Postal Service’s to provide a new range of non-postal services to state, local and tribal governments and other federal agencies. It also creates a new position of Chief Innovation Officer to manage the Postal Service’s development and implementation of innovative postal and non-postal products and services. The current nine-member Board of Governors would be reduced to five, with authority to hire, hire and set salary for PMG & Deputy PMG.

Bi-Partisan Postal Reform Legislation in the House of Representatives

News

H.R. 5714, Postal Service Reform Act of 2016, was introduced in the House of Representatives on July 11 and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and to the House Ways and Means Committee for budget scoring. On July 12 the Oversight Committee issued a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further.