Postal Service head warns that agency will run out of funds in 12 months
The USPS director asserted that an increase of stamp prices to 95 cents would largely solve the agency's controllable losses while still offering the cheapest stamps among developed countries.
USPS Mailbox
United States Postal Service (USPS) Postmaster General David Steiner warned Congress that the agency risks running out of money in less than a year if measures to increase revenue are not implemented.
During a House Government Operations Oversight Subcommittee hearing, Steiner and lawmakers discussed different options to avoid a total disruption of the Postal Service. Steiner requested authorization for additional borrowing and raising the price of the first-class stamp from 78 cents to 95 cents, noting that the U.S. currently has the lowest postage cost in the industrialized world.
"Compare it to France at almost $3 and England at $2.50, and the longest distance those letters have to travel is about 600 miles smaller than the state of Texas. ... We deliver from the tip of Puerto Rico to the tip of Alaska for 78 cents. That’s a distance of 5,000 miles," Steiner explained according to the media.
Salvation in 95 cents
The USPS director asserted that an increase to 95 cents would largely solve the agency's controllable losses while still offering the cheapest stamps among developed countries.
Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, expressed opposition to the postage hike, and warned that tough decisions would be needed to address the situation.
Steiner also called for greater flexibility to borrow larger loans. "One easy action, increasing our borrowing authority, buys us time, time that we can use to best determine what the Postal Service should do to best serve the American public," he said.
Politics
Mullin proposes restructuring FEMA and eliminating spending review implemented by Noem
Sabrina Martin
USPS has suffered a drastic reduction in mail usage
The official noted that the USPS has suffered a drastic reduction in mail usage, going from approximately 213 billion items annually to 109 billion, representing about $81 billion in lost revenue at the current price of the stamp. In fiscal year 2025, the agency reported net losses of about $9 billion.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), expressed concern about quality of service and rising debt. Rep. Kweisi Fume, (D-Md.), reluctantly supported the proposal to raise the debt limit, saying, "Rather than do nothing and watch the Titanic sink, that we need to do something."
What is the USPS?
- It is an independent agency of the government, but is required to operate without reliance on general taxation.
- It offers first-class mail, priority mail, packages and other logistics services.
- It has one of the largest postal systems in the world, with millions of employees and thousands of post offices across the country.
- Its funding comes mainly from the sale of stamps and postal services, not taxes.
The post office began in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as the first "postmaster general" to organize an efficient mail system among the colonies. This makes it one of the oldest postal systems in the world, and it has continually evolved to adapt to technological and social changes.
LATEST
