Alex Washburn / AP file photo

Trump Creates Task Force to Fix the Postal Service, Though Congress Already Has Its Own Ideas

Stakeholders welcome attention on postal issues, but major reform proposals are already well established.

President Trump on Thursday issued an executive order to create a task force that will develop recommendations to put the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service on firmer financial footing, which lawmakers, stakeholders and the agency itself cautiously welcomed while calling on Congress to take more immediate action on solutions that have already been proposed.

Trump’s order tapped Office of Personnel Management Director Jeff Pon and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to take four months to evaluate the Postal Service’s core functions and propose reforms to help put the agency on a better fiscal path. The directive came after Trump has for months criticized USPS for its contracts with Amazon that he deemed overly friendly to the online retail giant.

Trump said the task force should submit both administrative and legislative recommendations that do not shift any costs to taxpayers and “consider the views” of the Postal Service’s workforce, users and competitors. The executive order is similar to one President George W. Bush issued in 2002, which preceded the last major legislative USPS overhaul in 2006. Trump said his task force should evaluate the decline of mail volume, the growing role and pricing for package delivery, the agency’s impact in rural areas and the general state of its business model, workforce and operations. Perhaps most controversially, Trump said the task force should examine the definition of its congressionally mandated obligation to provide universal service “in light of changes in technology, e-commerce, marketing practices and customer needs.”

In a statement, the Postal Service said the task force “could” prove beneficial as a means to considering “important public policy issues.”

“An open and transparent review process in which the perspectives of all stakeholders are fully represented to develop reform proposals could benefit American businesses and consumers,” the agency stated.

USPS said as a more pressing matter, however, Congress should take up bills with bipartisan backing in both chambers that would eliminate many of the burdens causing the agency to post losses of more than $1 billion for 11 consecutive years. Those bills would eliminate the agency’s mandate to prefund future retirees’ health care benefits—lump sum payments on which the Postal Service has defaulted for the last few years—by shifting retirees to Medicare as their primary care provider and amortizing remaining liabilities over the next 40 years. They would provide a permanent boost to USPS prices, potentially reduce the agency’s liability to the Federal Employees Retirement System and allow it to pursue new lines of business.

Most postal observers, including key lawmakers, large-scale mailers, employee groups and postal management, believe those steps and others taken in the bill would provide significant, immediate relief to the agency. Before a down year last year, USPS had seen four consecutive years of “controllable” profits, a measure that does not account for losses stemming from the prefunding payments. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee unanimously approved a reform bill last year, while a similar measure introduced in the Senate in March has yet to receive a vote.

“I welcome President Trump’s engagement on this important issue and urge him to provide the leadership that is needed to finally get these reforms over the finish line," said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., author of the Senate bill and Congress' top advocate for postal reform. "What we don’t need, though, is to waste more time studying a problem that we already know exists. We know that the Postal Service’s financial situation is in a downward spiral. We know we need to act now."

President Trump’s own budget, released in February, contained USPS reform proposals similar to those being considered by Congress. Trump also suggested reforming postal employees’ benefits packages and reducing mail delivery from six days to five in certain cases.

Art Sackler, manager of the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, a group made up of large-scale mailers such as Amazon, the Association for Postal Commerce and the National Newspaper Association, said the best impact of Trump’s order could be the added attention it brings to the dire nature of USPS’ finances.

“We’re hoping the additional attention will spur more action with these bills,” Sackler said, adding the measures would “do a fair amount to enhance the Postal Service’s financial stability and mitigate liabilities.” He was hopeful the task force could help identify long-term to fixes to the Postal Service beyond what the current bills before Congress address, but expressed doubt the agency heads on the panel would have the time to address those issues in just 120 days.  

Stephen Kearney, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, similarly voiced support for the Senate bill but said it was a “step in the right direction” rather than a comprehensive fix. While he welcomed the task force as a means to take that wider approach, he was skeptical any suggestions they make would result in any action.

“Smart people are going to spend four months trying to look at USPS and come up with a solution,” he said. “Even if they make great recommendations, how do you implement them?”

Sackler expressed an openness to reviewing the Postal Service’s mandate to provide universal service, but said only minor tweaks should be considered. An elimination or major revision of that obligation, he said, would hurt businesses, citizens and the agency.

“There really is only one entity that is capable of delivering to so many rural places, or difficult to get to urban places, and that’s the Postal Service,” Sackler said.

NEXT STORY: How to Diversify Your Happiness

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.