UNITED STATES
The US Postal Service (USPS) will re-examine its Universal Service Obligation — a minimum level of service it provides to every address in the country — as the Agency’s financial crisis mounts.
Chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, Robert Taub said redefining the Universal Service Obligation would be the “single most important thing we can do for the Postal Service”.
Currently, the US Congress mandates the USPS makes deliveries six days a week.
This has led to economist Jennifer Bradley saying that society might value more services than the Postal Service can actually fund.
“If this happens, policymakers will need to determine if the needs are great enough to justify alternative funding, such as in the United Kingdom, where postal services are subsidised,” Ms Bradley said.
Mr Taub said lawmakers should take a closer look at what the public expected from the USPS, and how best to fund it.
“In the absence of a clear definition of its governmental mission of universal services, particularly given the Postal Service’s current financial challenges, each of us may have a different view of what the Postal Service must provide,” Mr Taub said.
The USPS currently receives no annual funding from Congress and, if expenditures continue at the current rate, it will run out of money in a few years.
Washington, DC, 10 June 2019
