{"id":4991,"date":"2015-10-30T09:52:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T14:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/?p=4991"},"modified":"2015-11-14T18:15:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-14T23:15:59","slug":"does-the-usps-lose-billions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\/","title":{"rendered":"Does the USPS &#8220;lose billions&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/super_mailman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/super_mailman.jpg\" alt=\"super mailman\" width=\"620\" height=\"412\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4993\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/super_mailman.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/super_mailman-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fun fact! The US Post Office is one of the very, <em>very<\/em> few parts of our federal government that is authorized by our Constitution:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The Congress shall have Power [&#8230;] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8212; US Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>(That same clause authorizes what we today call the US Interstate Highway System.)<\/p>\n<p>As for the USPS losing money, it does and it doesn&#8217;t. It routinely makes more than it spends on actual operating costs. The &#8220;losing billions&#8221; that people sometimes refer to pertains to payments made into a fund for employees&#8217; <strong>future<\/strong> retirement for the next 75 years. These payments are the result of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/truth-o-meter\/statements\/2011\/sep\/29\/save-americas-postal-service\/ad-save-americas-postal-service-claims-rule-congre\/\">2006 law passed by Congress<\/a>, and it&#8217;s a requirement that is imposed on no other public or private institution.<\/p>\n<p>But when you see people talk about the Post Office &#8220;losing billions&#8221;, that&#8217;s what they are talking about: failure to pay into a fund for the future health and retirement benefits for people who are not yet born.<\/p>\n<p>If I were conspiratorially minded, I would think that this unique requirement was imposed on the USPS specifically to drive it out of business, by the same people who today call for its privatization because it &#8220;loses billions&#8221;. But that&#8217;s just crazy, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fun fact! The US Post Office is one of the very, very few parts of our federal government that is authorized by our Constitution: &#8220;The Congress shall have Power [&#8230;] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;&#8221; &#8212; US Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 (That same clause authorizes what we today call the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Does the USPS &quot;lose billions&quot;? - Blackmoor Vituperative<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does the USPS &quot;lose billions&quot;? - Blackmoor Vituperative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fun fact! The US Post Office is one of the very, very few parts of our federal government that is authorized by our Constitution: &#8220;The Congress shall have Power [&#8230;] To establish Post Offices and post Roads;&#8221; &#8212; US Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 7 (That same clause authorizes what we today call the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blackmoor Vituperative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bblackmoor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bblackmoor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T14:52:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-14T23:15:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.blackgate.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/super_mailman.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bblackmoor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/bblackmoor_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bblackmoor_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bblackmoor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"bblackmoor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bb04cdbf863652f366c64e81805d6c4f\"},\"headline\":\"Does the USPS &#8220;lose billions&#8221;?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-30T14:52:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-14T23:15:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":216,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bb04cdbf863652f366c64e81805d6c4f\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/super_mailman.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.blackgate.net\\\/blog\\\/does-the-usps-lose-billions\\\/\",\"name\":\"Does the USPS \\\"lose billions\\\"? 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