Government affairs

Today, President Trump issued an executive order (viewable here) to form a task force charged with evaluating the finances of the U.S. Postal Service including pricing, policies and workforce costs.

The task force has been instructed to regularly consult with the postmaster general and chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, and will be comprised of department and agency heads or their designees, including chair of the task force Steven Mnuchin (Secretary of the Treasury), Mick Mulvaney (Director of the Office of Management and Budget), Jeff Pon (Director of the Office of Personnel Management) and any other department and agency head the chair may designate.

In a report due no later than Aug. 10, 2018, the task force will provide a “thorough evaluation of the operations and finance of the USPS, including:

• the expansion and pricing of the package delivery market and the USPS's role in competitive markets;
• the decline in mail volume and its implications for USPS self-financing and the USPS monopoly over letter delivery and mailboxes;
• the definition of the "universal service obligation" in light of changes in technology, e-commerce, marketing practices, and customer needs;
• the USPS role in the U.S. economy and in rural areas, communities, and small towns; and
• the state of the USPS business model, workforce, operations, costs, and pricing.”

Once the evaluation is completed, the task force will develop recommendations on administrative and legislative reforms to USPS. According to the executive order, recommendations will consider the views of the USPS workforce and industry.

“NALC is hopeful that the inclusion of the Postal Service workforce in this evaluation and report will provide NALC the opportunity to provide input throughout the process,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said.

“We know that 90 percent of the Postal Service’s losses are not due to improper pricing, but are the direct result of the 2006 congressional mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance – an onerous burden that no other private or public entity in America is required to carry. NALC looks forward to working with the administration and Congress to address this issue and to restore financial stability to the agency while protecting the employees and the universal network that is so critical to Americans and their businesses, large and small.”