USPS Running Short of Cash…and Customers

The U.S. Postal Service has flashed another fiscal alert to its patrons in Congress–funds will run dry by next year without relief. The attached brief from the Cato Institute frames the falloff in usage that has precipitated the latest mail crisis. Simply put, even with the various (but limited) efficiencies this public corporation has been permitted, it hasn’t been able to shrink in tandem with its customer base. Given the already low prices for marketing mail, it’s hard to see that business being enticed back. The first-class letter, at 78 cents still a money loser, is supposed to be an American birthright but is close to being an artifact. (And, in any case, the real cost of sending meaningful content is now at least $6.08–the postage plus the cumbersome fixing of a bar-coded wrap so the USPS can track the item. I waited in the usual slow line to get that “Certified” delivery from NYC to Florida, which has now taken 4 days and counting.) The walls are crumbling on this operation and literally so in some of its thousands of antiquated post offices. The politics of postal reform remain fractious, but maybe a wave of digital-savvy congresspeople will help size this relic for today. –March 27, 2026

https://www.cato.org/blog/postal-service-out-cash