This is installment 1 of a three-part opinion and will cover the current status of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The connection to the local community is obvious, as the USPS offices in Geneseo/Henry County will be addressed.
Key Metrics
1. In FY 2025 the USPS recorded $80B in revenue and a $9B loss. First quarter of 2026 showed an additional loss of $2B.
2. The current USPS headcount is in
600,000 making an average wage of $66k/annum. Yielding total payroll of $40B. Payroll benefits are roughly 25% of wages, resulting in $50B in total payroll costs.
3. Using 2005 as a basis of comparison USPS volume of business has declined by 46%. During this same period employment has declined by 15%. The first- class postage rate has more than doubled from 37 cents to the current rate of 78 cents.
4. The decline in business is due to several factors. Significant ones are:
• The increased use of on-line banking and bill pay options and personal correspondence (the internet)
• Competition from private industry (FEDEX, UPS, etc.) for parcel delivery
• Decline in quality of USPS customer service
• Increasing USPS rates
5. The one and only USPS mandate is to provide mail delivery 6 days a week to every U.S. address. It would take an act of Congress to change this.
Financially and operationally the USPS is a loser. It costs us $111 dollars to generate $100 in income. Any loss the USPS experiences is papered over by the U.S. government at taxpayer expense, an annual bailout, in other words. Some might argue that the USPS is a “national good” and should be maintained as is. That is a naive conclusion. I argue the USPS has lost its relevance if it can’t prove itself to at least break even.
This is a classic example of the more you tax something, the less you get of it. The corollary to this is the more you subsidize something the poorer you become. Basic common sense and supply-side economics 101. QED.
Now that I have described the current situation, my next installment will be to suggest a local solution.
-Donald Crawford