These Data Points Show the U.S. Postal Service Is in Crisis

The U.S. Postal Service’s 10-year-reform plan toward profitability and improved performance is well underway, but by some metrics, things are getting worse not better. (Federal News Network)

The numbers: First-class mail delivery targets are taking a hit for fiscal year 2025, according to USPS’s latest filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission.

• The agency now expects to deliver just 87% of two-day mail and 80% of three-to-five-day mail on time—down from last year’s 93% and 90% goals.

• USPS reported a $9.5 billion loss in fiscal year 2024, a $3 billion increase from the agency’s $6.5 billion deficit in 2023, and nowhere near its goal of breaking even.

• In 2022, Congress provided USPS a $107 billion financial bailout to clear its obligations.

An eye-popping statistic: Putting aside fiscal year 2022 (when a new law changed the way the agency accounted for health care expenses), the Postal Service hasn’t posted a net profit since 2006.

The drama: Last week, GOP and Democrat senators grilled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a Republican donor and Donald Trump fundraiser, at an oversight hearing that often turned testy.

• Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky criticized DeJoy for converting 190,000 pre-career employees — who receive fewer benefits — to career roles, despite mail volume declining 80% since 1977.

• Paul also noted that the agency in its latest financial statement blamed 80% of its 2024 losses on pensions and compensation.

A dire prediction made by the USPS in its restructuring plan last month:

Bubba’s Two Cents

Look at your own mail - how much of it is junk? How much could be digitally delivered? Incepted as the most secure way for the government to deliver information to its citizens, the USPS is now effectively an e-commerce parcel delivery service that loses billions for taxpayers. If there’s a fix, I’m not seeing it.