economy virtually frozen, mail volume has plummeted. This grim prognosis for the Postal Service’s finances worsened considerably with the arrival of COVID-19 in the United States. In 2019, the USPS predicted that it would run out of cash by 2024, leaving behind about $120 billion in unfunded pension and other post-employment benefit liabilities that would have to be paid by other federal workers or U.S. It ran a deficit of $8.8 billion in 2019, with a cumulative $78 billion deficit since 2007. According to the USPS website, “If were a private sector company, the Postal Service would rank 44th in the 2019 Fortune 500.” REF Yet, if the USPS were a private-sector company, it would have entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings years ago as a result of 13 straight years of operating losses. The Postal Service remains a substantial business. REF In 2019, the volume of marketing mail exceeded First-Class mail by 38 percent. In 2005, the volume of First-Class mail (such as letters) was only slightly below that of cheaper mass mailings (such as advertisements).

REF With the exception of package delivery, every category of mail is shrinking.Įven the composition of mail is moving away from the sort of personal communication for which the service was originally designed. First-Class mail volume has plunged by almost 50 percent since 2001. As a result of these changes, the use of letter mail has shrunk dramatically. Consumers pay most bills online and are receiving an increasing portion of their bills electronically. Business-to-business correspondence is virtually all electronic. E-mail, texting, and social networking have largely replaced letter mail.

Businesses relied on it to contact suppliers and customers, making interstate commerce itself possible. In the past, it was essential to enabling communication among family and friends across the country. The United States Postal Service (USPS) was long a dominant force in American life.

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