Like most businesses, the United States Postal Service has experienced declining revenues since the ìGreat Recessionî started in 2007.According to the Government Accounting Office, the Postal Service, which is funded solely by stamp sales (no taxpayer funding), made money in 2006. Since then, revenues have been declining, and expenses have not decreased enough to meet revenue shortages. Thus, the Postal Service is projecting a $6 billion deficit this year.Since the recession, many businesses have cut back direct mail advertising and, with e-mail and online bill payment systems, mail volume is down.But change hasnít been all bad for the Postal Service. Emerging lifestyle trends, such as mail-in ballots and Web-based services, such as Netflix, have been a plus. ìYou would not believe what Netflix has done for us. Theyíre a great customer, and we love it,î said David Rupert, a Postal Service spokesman from Denver.Rupert said the Postal Service has identified 80 rural post offices in Colorado that could be closed, if no other solution can be found to address the agencyís deficit problem.The Peyton post office, which handles mail for Falcon, is not on the list; neither are the Elbert and Calhan post offices, he said.A post office is placed on the closure list under one of the following criteria: it has less than two hours of work per day; less than $27,000 a year in revenue; or is in close proximity to another post office. Any one of those criteria would be enough to get a post office on the closure list, Rupert said.Another financial burden to the Postal Service is the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, passed by Congress in 2006.The act requires the Postal Service to pre-fund 75 years worth of postal worker retirement health benefits in 10 years, said Chuck Bader, treasurer for the American Postal Workers Union in Colorado Springs. Itís like buying a house but only having five years to make 30 years of mortgage payments, Bader said.Every year since President George W. Bush signed the act into law, the Postal Service has had to write a $5.5 billion check to the United States Treasury, Rupert said.On top of that, when the Post Office became the Postal Service in 1970, an accounting error was made, which required the Postal Service to overpay into the Civil Service Retirement Fund. ìAuditors hired by the inspector general and the Postal Regulatory Commission found that, bit by bit over 41 years, that accounting error adds up to between $50 to $80 billion,î Bader said.A bill, H.R. 1351, introduced by Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) would give the Postal Service access to the overpaid money so it can make the $5.5 billion payment required by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, he said.However, according to the Library of Congress Web site, H.R. 1351 has been stuck in committee since it was introduced in April.Another bill, H.R. 2309, introduced by Congressman Darryl Issa (R-Calif.), calls for the Postal Service to close post offices, cut delivery service to five days a week and lay off workers, Bader said.Issaís bill cleared its committee in October and has been scheduled for debate in the next couple of weeks, he said.If Issaís bill becomes law, the Postal Service will be able to break postal worker contracts and lay off an estimated 120,000 workers; close the 3,653 post offices on the nationwide closure list; and eliminate Saturday delivery.About 25,000 of those laid off will be military veterans, Bader said, adding that in Colorado Springs, 80 to 90 percent of postal workers are veterans.Rupert said the Postal Service is doing everything it can to cut expenses.ìWeíre cutting our city delivery options, cutting facilities in metropolitan areas, cutting every little thing,î he said. ìWe donít have any other options.î The Postal Service, by law, cannot offer new products, nor can it raise rates unless the Consumer Price Index increases.In October, the Postal Service got some relief: a change in the CPI allowed the price of a first-class ìForeverî stamp to increase from 44 cents to 45 cents effective Jan. 21. The price for international mail increased as well.ìWeíre a transportation company that canít factor the price of fuel in our costs because fuel isnít included in the CPI,î Rupert said.
