Mailing Industry Jobs at Risk if Congress Fails to Act on Postal Reform
Washington, DC – The U.S. mailing industry today expressed alarm about the rapidly deteriorating finances of the U.S. Postal Service after the USPS announced losses totaling $2.7 billion in Fiscal Year 2017. The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service (C21), a coalition of postal-reliant businesses and industries, urged Congress to take action on postal reform and approve recent nominees to be U.S. Postal Service Governors.
“These numbers are beyond troubling,” said Art Sackler, coordinator of C21. “Renewed declines in revenue and mail volumes are worsening an already bleak financial outlook. The surest way out of this is for Congress to pass the Postal Reform Act, bipartisan legislation that would shore up the Postal Service while saving taxpayer money.”
The Postal Service Reform Act (HR 756) received overwhelming support in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last March. It would shift postal retirees to the Medicare system, saving taxpayers more than $6 billion dollars and the Postal Service tens of billions more, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The bill enjoys strong bipartisan support in Congress and unprecedented unanimous backing by Postal Service leadership, the bulk of the private sector mailing industry and all four major postal unions.
“There are 7.5 million private sector jobs that depend on the postal system, and these jobs are at-risk unless Congress takes action on postal reform,” said Sackler.
C21 also urged the U.S. Senate to move quickly in considering the new nominees to be U.S. Postal Service Governors. Three nominees were announced last month by The White House.
More than 7.5 million private sector workers have jobs that depend on the mail, according to a recent study by the Envelope Manufacturers Association Foundation. The same study found that the mailing industry contributes $1.4 trillion in annual sales revenues to the economy.
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The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service consists of business mailing associations and companies – including newspapers, advertisers and catalogers, e-commerce and parcels, greeting cards, financial services, telecommunications, insurance and other statement mailers, high-tech businesses, small businesses of every kind – and their suppliers – paper, printing, technology, envelope manufacturing, mail services and other companies, who understand the essential role played by the U.S. Postal Service and want to see it sustained, reformed and strengthened to meet the demands of the future.
