The United States Postal Service lost $51.7 billion between 2007 and 2014, and hasn’t made any money at all in nearly 10 years, according to a new report.
According to a report from the Tax Foundation, the Postal Service has not earned a profit since 2006 and “will almost certainly register another multibillion dollar loss in 2015.” For the first two quarters of 2015, it suffered a net loss of $2.8 billion.
Furthermore, the Postal Service has failed to make legally required payments to the U.S. Treasury, and is also excepted to again default on obligations for its Health Benefit fund in 2015 and 2016. The Postal Service is required by law to aggressively fund that account.
“Although the Postal Service has not yet received an explicit taxpayer bailout, it has failed to meet its legal obligations for several years in a row,” the report reveals. “The odds that a bailout will eventually become unavoidable increase as the sea of red ink continues rising.”
The Government Accountability Office also found that the Postal Service saw its unfunded liabilities grow 62 percent between 2007 and 2014.
The Tax Foundation found that the losses would not be as large if the Postal Service had more operation flexibility. For example, the Postal Service “has wanted to move to five-day-a-week delivery since 2009, claiming it could save $3.1 billion a year without seriously inconveniencing most mail users,” but Congress has consistently blocked this adjustment.
In 2012, the Postal Service informed lawmakers it would run out of cash within a matter of days, and has defaulted on payments ever since.
Despite its woes at the bank, Americans remain generally pleased with the Postal Service. Americans rated it highest of 13 major federal agencies in November Gallup poll.
