PRC: Fix Postal Pensions Before Cutting Mail Delivery
Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway warned against cutting universal mail service until Congress considers possible changes to the U.S. Postal Service funding of employee pensions and future retiree health benefits.
In testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Goldway said, “These are two unresolved issues that could have major immediate impact on the Postal Service’s financial crisis, as well as a material effect on the five-day delivery issue.”
The Commission is currently analyzing the potential impact of eliminating Saturday mail service.
Goldway emphasized that no decision has been made.
Only Congress can decide on whether to cut Saturday delivery but would likely look to the PRC for guidance on this issue. >To learn more click here http://directmag.com/postal/potter-five-day-senate-0322/index.html
She also noted that a recent PRC study for Congress found that a recalculation of the USPS’s liability for future retiree health benefits payments would reduce the total by nearly $35 billion, allowing currently mandated annual payments to be lowered by $2 billion a year while still meeting the original prefunding goals.
The Commission has also begun reviewing the Office of Personnel Management’s calculation of Postal Service pension funding, which the USPS Inspector General contends is overfunded by $75 billion.
“My colleagues and I support readjusting the payments to an affordable level, perhaps over a longer period of time and/or tied to the postal service’s ability to pay,” she said. “We see this as an essential part of any plan to help the Postal Service in the future.”
In her testimony Goldway challenged the USPS’s 10-year plan for dire forecasts of steep volume declines and huge debt, projections that have been questioned by Commission staff and by the Congressional Research Service.
“By concentrating on cuts at the expense of service and innovation, the postal service plan offers the path to obsolescence,” she said.
