[Stardust]

Guy's, it's not online Bill pay that is killing the USPS. Consumer mail play very little in the revenue stream for the USPS. It's First Class business Mail that has been the life blood of the USPS. That is the volume that is declining at a rapid rate by either electronic suppression or business practice changes. While First Class for years subsidized classes of mail that could not support themselves, that cash cow is gone. Advertising mail is back on the rise, but it is being mailed at the Standard Class rate, which is close to half that of Fist Class. This volume shift is where 50% of the problem lies.

The other 50% is the mandatory pre-funding of Health and Retirement that the USPS is held to. The USPS must completely pre-fund the entire cost of all of theire employees, even the 18 year-old that starts off the street and is expected to work the next 50 years. The USPS has to completely fund that individuals retirement and H&W. Sounds like a great idea, but your companies do not do that nor does any other branch of the Federal Government. The GAO (Governement Accounting Office) is who did the math and determined how much the USPS has to pay annually into the fund. Last year, an audit was performed and deemed that the USPS has OVERPAYED what is needed by $75B, yes BILLION dollars. So, there is a fund sitting out there with $75B sitting in it that is not needed! This is not the first time this has happened. In 2000, it was discovered that the USPS had overfunded by $35B and the GAO had to go back to the drawing board to recalculate the fund amount. Obviously, this is the same accounting office that determines what our schools should be funded as well. Looks like they have things backwards.

Anyhow, that money can only be reallocated back to the USPS by Congress. It took until 2004 before Congress acted on behalf of the USPS the last time. Congress has not touched the most recent finding, and with our current economy in the shape that it is in, Congress has more worries than the reallocation of funding back to the USPS for it's current overpayment. If it takes until 2014 for congress to act, the USPS will be defunct!