The US Postal Service — Don’t just do something – Stand there!

But I’m sure our elected officials will do a much better job with your health care………

The U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported a $5.2 billion quarterly loss and said it was nearly out of cash and likely to exhaust its government credit line in coming months.

The agency said the loss was its widest since it began releasing quarterly financials in 2007. But Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the Postal Service would do whatever it takes to maintain its operations, even if that means defaulting on a second multibillion-dollar retiree obligation in as many months.

“We will do everything we need to do to make sure the mail is delivered,” he said. “Congress needs to act responsibly and move on this legislation.” Losses and defaults will continue, despite cost-cutting efforts, unless Congress passes a postal-overhaul bill, Mr. Donahoe said.

The Postal Service’s loss for its third quarter ended June 30 compared with a $3.1 billion loss for the like period a year earlier. Charges taken in connection to a mandate to prefund retiree health care drove the loss in the latest quarter, but declining first-class and advertising mail volume were a drag on revenue.

Mr. Donahoe said the Postal Service would pay its employees and critical vendors but might skip some payments to others.

Best comment:

The whole “deficit” for the USPS is money owed IN THE FUTURE for pension and medical retirement benefits.  Instant and easy solution: switch ALL USPS personnel, past and present, into Social Security and Medicare and abolish all other retirement plans.  Simple!  And if they don’t like it, let them eat cake. This way the USPS service and all outlets remain untouched, and everybody’s happy but for the temporarily disgruntled employees.  After this, we can make the same changes in Congress, the Senate, and the White House. It’s about time that “elitism” is abolished once and for all in this country “by and for the people.”

WSJ.com.