“Both bills have elements that delay tough decisions and impose greater constraints on our business model.”-Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General of the United States

The Postmaster General was referring to bills proposed by the U.S. Congress.  He’s still pushing for the more drastic changes he wants, like ended Saturday deliveries, and laying off more employees than proposed by the Congressional bills.

The biggest postal union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, says it’s close to a cost cutting deal with the Postmaster General.

The USPS is dealing with a 20% drop in letter business, just for this year.  Also, Congress created rules that forced the self supporting USPS to pay into Federal retirement programs.  The payments stolen by Congress, I mean, paid in advance, amounted to a decade’s worth of retirement fund payments.  So far Congress has refused to refund the over payments, although their proposed bills would give some money back, but only for use to buy out thousands of Postal workers.

When Postmaster General Donahoe talks about a “business model” he’s referring to the fact that in the 1980s Congress forced the USPS to become self supporting, meaning no more tax payer support.  The plan meant for the USPS to operate as a private business, so far Congress has actually interfered with that.

Whether Congress gets its way, or the Postmaster General, the result will be thousands more people unemployed.

The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge (prices are controlled by U.S. Congress, not the USPS), and other products they sell.  The cuts being made to the USPS will have no affect on U.S. government debt!