Task force delivers report to remedy U.S. Postal Service

Without reforms, the U.S. postal system, which lost $69 billion in revenue between 2007 and 2018, will lose tens of billions of dollars more over the next decade.    A U.S. Treasury Department task force charged with reviewing the Postal Service’s operations has released its recommendations for how to turn the financially beleaguered agency around.
   The task force said its recommendations, which were outlined in the report “United States Postal System: A Sustainable Path Forward,” will set the Postal Service on a path to “sustainability without shifting additional costs to taxpayers.” President Trump initiated the task force through an April 12 executive order.
   The report does not call for abolishing the $71 billion Postal Service (USPS), which handles more than 146 billion pieces of mail and packages a year to nearly 159 million households and businesses.
   However, between fiscal years 2007 and 2018, USPS experienced net losses totaling $69 billion, and without changes to its existing business model for mail is expected to lose tens of billions of dollars more within the next decade, the task force warned. 
   “The USPS’ business model — including its governance, product pricing, cost allocation and labor practices — must be updated in light of its current operating realities,” the task force said.
   In its 74-page report, the task force made a number of recommendations to diminish USPS’ current financial woes, including developing a new pricing model that removes price caps and charges market-based prices for both mail and package items that are not deemed “essential postal services,” implementing cost-cutting measures, reforming employee compensation and considering new services that “exact value from its existing assets and business lines.” 
   The task force’s report, however, stated “any potential solutions considered should not disadvantage those living in rural or remote locations.”