By CAGW, Special for USDR
Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) reacted with alarm after the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released its third quarter financial report in which it documents a net loss of $586 million. The agency has lost more than $50 billion in the last eight years.
“While it may seem tempting for USPS backers to cheer the agency for only losing half a billion dollars, USPS officials continue to oversee an agency that is not covering its costs”
“While it may seem tempting for USPS backers to cheer the agency for only losing half a billion dollars, USPS officials continue to oversee an agency that is not covering its costs,” said CAGW Vice President for Policy and Communications Leslie Paige. “Moreover, agency executives persist in the misguided belief that financial salvation lies in starting new non-postal businesses.”
USPS Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett shrugged off the half-a-billion-dollar loss as the fault of “contractual increases in operating expenses, including wages, benefits and transportation.” However, Corbett did not mention the cost-saving opportunities provided to USPS by a source close to home. In its semi-annual report to Congress in May 2015, the USPS Inspector General (IG) found $1.4 billion in funds that could be “put to better use,” and $7.5 million in questionable costs in the past six months alone.
“The Postal Service’s substandard accounting, billion-dollar losses, and declining service quality highlight the need for the agency to focus solely on its letter mail products. Straying from its original mission will only compound USPS’s problems,” concluded Paige.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.