United States Postal Service Loss

News this week came that the Post Office lost $7 billion dollars last year and this is after an accounting change postpones a $5 billion loss due to how pension contributions are paid. Worse, the Post Office’s business model is failing and, despite what really seems to be significant efforts at increasing efficiency, loses will only compound in the years ahead without major changes. But change is something the USPS is forbidden to do by law except with Congressional approval. And the Post Office will be out of money this fall, just in time to be a political issue during the Prsesidential campaign. The vast majority of Americans agree that we need a Postal Service. And we need that service to be a service, not just a profit driven business. As a nation we have always subsidized two things with our postal service-first rural America,  by maintaining daily postal delivery to every home in America for the same low price and second,  low cost newspaper, magazine and book delivery to maintain an educated populous. These, most Americans believe, continue to be worthy goals and it is these goals that contribute significantly to the Postal Service deficit. This is what is so frustrating about our current political process. Even though most of us agree about what we want from our postal service and even how to get there, given the political hostility in Washington the problems of the postal service will continue to be negotiated and argued until maybe this time it is too late.