GoEire.com - Guest Voice: Kelly Says Postal Service Needs Reforms

By Representative Mike Kelly

A few months ago, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe issued the following statement regarding the need to reform the United States Postal Service (USPS):

"Our customer's habits have made it clear that they no longer require a physical post office to conduct most of their postal business. The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, leaner and more competitive and it will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value."

The Postmaster General's vision for the Postal Service is based on the reality that the USPS has an outdated business model that fails to meet 21st Century needs, and if significant structural reform measures are not put in place, the USPS will not be able to compete in the digital age.

The truth is that the USPS will lose a record $10 billion this year because the increasing use of electronic, paper-free technology has caused a permanent decline in mail usage. In fact, volume has dropped over 40 billion pieces since 2006. As a result, Postmaster General Donahoe has called for the elimination of 220,000 positions over the next four years, a goal which could be met, in part, through attrition. Right now, there are 150,000 USPS employees who are eligible for retirement and another 100,000 who will become eligible in the next four years.

Since the USPS has not adapted to the changing market, it has been unable to reduce expenses, and is therefore drowning in a pile of debt.

I supported legislation that would reform the Postal Service through common-sense solutions that will save the USPS from imminent financial ruin, and secure the future of this treasured American institution.

The Postal Reform Act (H.R. 2309), which passed out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, would allow the USPS to use its discretion to shift to five-day delivery of mail; allow for the selling of advertisements on trucks; get rid of special rates and deals, like the one for national political parties; and cap the benefit levels enjoyed by postal workers at the same levels that other federal employees have. These and other cost-cutting and revenue-raising measures within the bill would save a minimum of $10.7 billion, which would not only meet, but would exceed, the current record-setting deficit.

Some have argued that, despite the nearly 20 percent decline in mail volume in the past five years, one of the primary sources of the Postal Service's financial woes is actually rooted in overpayments the USPS made into its decades-old pension plan, the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). However, this claim has been refuted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent, nonpartisan agency that investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars, in a report analyzing the USPS' current financial crisis.

According to the report, the USPS pension plan has not made any overpayments, as has been charged, and that "the current methodology used by OPM (Office of Personnel Management) for allocating responsibility for CSRS benefits between USPS and the federal government is consistent with applicable law." The study found that, "a transfer of CSRS funds would not be sufficient to repay all of USPS's debt and address current and future operating deficits related to USPS's inability to cut costs quickly enough to match declining mail volume and revenue."

Understandably, communities have expressed concern with some changes proposed by the Postal Service, including here in Erie. While the future of the Erie Processing and Distribution Center (EPDC) on East 38th Street is under review, I have written Postmaster General Donahoe to obtain further information about the EPDC study, and to answer questions about the effect its closing would have on its employees and the community. I have asked that he strongly consider the significant economic implications of closing the Erie facility as he makes his final determination.

In September, Postmaster General Donahoe said: "We need the flexibility to operate more as a business would, in order to return to sound financial footing so we can meet America's evolving mailing and shipping needs for generations to come." HR 2309 gives him that flexibility through common-sense solutions instead of budget and accounting gimmicks. The USPS is dangerously under water right now, but we can reverse the tide so that, instead of amassing more debt, the Postal Service will, as the Postmaster General envisioned, "continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value."

U.S. REP. MIKE KELLY, of Butler, is the Republican congressman for the 3rd District.

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