Should we expect the Postal Service to make money?

From Marketplace, I'm Nancy Marshall-Genser, in for David Bancaccio.

The Postal Service says it's facing a severe financial crisis.

Postmaster General David Steiner testified before a House subcommittee this week.

He said the USPS was struggling and could be out of cash in less than 12 months

unless something changes. Marketplaces, Carla Javier, has more. The USPS says it lost $9 billion

last fiscal year. I remember when the average losses were $4.5 or $5 billion, but now the losses

are increasing over time.

That's Rick Geddes at Cornell. On the cost side, he says USPS has a universal service

obligation. It's basically to deliver the mail to every address it can six days a week.

And that can get expensive. To have all the trucks run six days a week. And that can get expensive.

To have all the trucks run six days a week, to have the carriers who walk their routes.

On the revenue side, lawyer and consultant Jim Campbell says letter volume has gone down precipitously.

And legislation limits the postal service's ability to raise prices.

So a combination of the price cap and the declining volumes hit the post office quite hard. The Postmaster General said Congress and the USPS could consider reducing the days of delivery, closing offices in rural or remote areas, raising stamp prices to a dollar or more, or significant financial reforms.

But with revenues unlikely to exceed costs, James O'Rourke at Notre Dame says Congress has to

decide if it wants a postal service at all.

We don't ask the Forest Service or the Weather Service to make money. They are a service

to the people of the United States.

It would be nice if the Postal Service could break even or at least come close.

But that, O'Rourke says, would take some heavy lifting on Congress's part.

I'm Carla Javier from Marketplace.

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