Last week, the United States Postal Service (USPS) released their Q3 financials, posting a staggering net loss of $2.2 billion. Unsurprisingly, the USPS continues to hemorrhage funds and is not yet independently sustainable without serious intervention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, system costs have grown, as product demand has shifted. To become economically viable, it is imperative that the USPS implement transparency in regards to its financials with respect to costs, pricing and prioritization performance.
These are serious problems that the USPS is facing. However, there are some promising indicators that change is coming to the USPS under the new leadership of Post Master General Louis DeJoy. DeJoy has implemented major reforms from delivery routes to other operational changes in order to cut operating costs. Additionally, other reform plans include long term pricing reform – the USPS has long been tight-lipped regarding their postal pricing methodology.
This is hopefully the start of additional reforms for the USPS, so that the agency can get back to serving the American public, as opposed to being a taxpayer bailout liability.