Donahoe Warns of Further Mail Delivery Cuts

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe cranked up the rhetoric about the survivability of the U.S. Postal Service when he said mail delivery may eventually have to cut down to three days a week.

Earlier this month, Donahoe reportedly warned that mail delivery may have to be reduced to three days a week in 15 years, if nothing is done to address USPS finances.

Or else he’s trying to shock Congress into paying the USPS serious attention while it squabbles over the national debt ceiling.

The USPS expects to lose $8.3 billion for the year that ends Sept. 30 and has already said it’s gonna miss its annual $5.5 billion payment to cover the healthcare costs of retired employees.

Back in May at the National Postal Forum in San Diego, Donahoe asserted that it was more important for the postal service to keep delivering the mail and paying its suppliers than to prepay this exorbitant sum which goes back to the U.S. Treasury Dept.

Keep in mind this $5.5 billion annual prepayment was part of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 which otherwise reformed the USPS. But this money, which is due every year until 2016, seems to be sowing the seeds for the USPS’s destruction.

Even without this obligation, the USPS would still be in the hole for $2.8 billion this year.

Meanwhile, the USPS continues to lose ground to electronic media.

Maybe the PMG is just engaging in scare tactics in an effort to try and achieve his goal of cutting out Saturday delivery. The USPS has said this would save the agency $3.1 billion a year.

But the Postal Regulatory Commission begged to differ, asserting this move would save a lot less and would’t show up for many years.

In any case, Donahoe may just be blowing smoke since Congress would have to approve any cutback in mail service.

One the other hand, his timing may be excellent.

Even though the USPS receives no money from taxpayers (except of course for postage), maybe the public would be less inclined to complain about reduced mail service when many government programs are facing the budget axe.