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not2b | on: USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
In 2006 a law was passed requiring the USPS to fund pensions far in advance, a requirement no other business had, which instantly put them deep in the red. This wasn't fixed until 2022. But it was just this phony accounting that messed them up, more than the other factors you mention.
nonethewiser | parent | next
>In 2006 a law was passed requiring the USPS to fund pensions far in advance, a requirement no other business had, which instantly put them deep in the red. This wasn't fixed until 2022.

No because they are still deep in the red, about $9B a year.

toomuchtodo | root | parent
That’s $2B less than the first six days of the Iran war ($11B). We could just cut a check each year from the general fund. It’s a paperwork issue. The fact that we can spend $100B+ on an illegitimate conflict on a whim while costs like this are bikeshedded over boggles my mind.

US Military costs ~$1T/year and the Pentagon hasn’t passed an audit in the last eight years, comparatively, but not a lot of similar complaints of that waste versus pensions for workers operating and serving a national public service agency.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/12...

Electrifying the USPS light vehicle fleet is expected to generate up to $4.3B in lifetime savings over the fleet lifecycle, similarly.

https://huffman.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/electrify...

https://atlaspolicy.com/federal-fleet-electrification-assess...

toomuchtodo | root | parent
Additional follow on thought:

USPS and the US military are both, at their heart, logistics engines and systems, and both should be valued as such. "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." If you do not maintain and treat said systems with respect, the capability will not be ready when you need it, or will not contribute to the ongoing success of the jurisdiction in which it operates. The only difference between the two is that the US military happens to fight wars with what its logistics operation it provides itself.

The unsung role of logistics in the US military - https://news.mit.edu/2025/unsung-role-logistics-us-military-... - November 25, 2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_logistics

wallst07 | parent | next
>a requirement no other business

True, but isn't this because everyone knows that USPS is a dying business already?

kelseyfrog | root | parent
It's not a business; it's an independent agency of the executive branch. The persistent attempts to view it as a business are a category error and the difference between public and private sectors.
hammock | parent
Some would say it’s the unfunded pensions that are the phony accounting
not2b | root | parent
No one else had to set aside money 75 years in advance, for a debt not due for 75 years. That's not legitimate accounting.
prepend | root | parent | next
Yes. Organizations must fund pensions up front and not rely on future revenue to make up for shortfalls.

It’s weird how people bring this up. It was very unusual for the usps not to have to set aside money now to pay for pensions in the future.

NavinF | root | parent
"Contrary to statements made by some employee groups and other stakeholders, PAEA did not require USPS to prefund 75 years of retiree health benefits" https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-13-112.pdf

Also the 2022 Postal Service Reform Act eliminated the prefunding and ~$57 billion of overdue payments, but USPS finances were still dogshit afterwards: USPS revenue was $80 billion and expenses were $89 billion in FY2024

| root | parent | next
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mullingitover | root | parent
I don’t think of their finances as being dogshit because there aren’t revenue positive. It’s a fraction of a sliver of the federal budget to run a constitutionally mandated service.

The (non-navy) military has no constitutional mandate at all, it’s an industrial scale cash incineration device which the postal service can’t hold a candle to, and we don’t blink at it wasting 10x or more of the postal service’s opex.

NavinF | root | parent
Would you allow other companies to deliver letters and to deliver stuff inside mailboxes? I find it disgusting that a company with a monopoly on those two services still can't make a profit.
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