While Weather Can't Stop the USPS, A Default Surely Can
Angelenos, be friendly with your neighborhood U.S. Postal Service (USPS) postmen and women. Come winter 2011, the organization will default unless Congress intervenes.
The head of the USPS reported the potential default in an interview on Monday, according to myFOXla.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe's commentary reflected the organization's known financial struggles, noting that the rise of email and online bill-paying have sliced into USPS profits while labor costs have risen.
Numerous changes, including cancelling Saturday delivery and laying off 120,000 workers, have been proposed by Donahoe to help close a projected $9 billion deficit in 2011. Congress must come to the rescue.
"Our situation is extremely serious," he told The New York Times. "If Congress doesn't act, we will default."
USPS will fail to make a $5.5 billion retiree health care payment in late September. By early next year, money to pay workers and fund other expenses is expected to reach depletion.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is slated to address the matter in a hearing on Tuesday.
