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3/19/2020

Postal Task Force Releases Report | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Postal Task Force Releases Report
December 4, 2018

Washington – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the Task Force report on the
United States Postal System. The report, United States Postal System: A Sustainable Path

Forward

, provides a series of recommendations to overhaul the United States Postal

Service’s (USPS) business model in order to return it to sustainability without shi ing additional
costs to taxpayers.
“The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path which poses significant financial risk to
American taxpayers,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “President Trump tasked us
with conducting a thorough evaluation of the USPS, and today’s report contains achievable
recommendations that fulfill the President’s goal of placing the USPS on a path to sustainability,
while protecting taxpayers from undue financial burdens and providing them with necessary
mail services.”
Between fiscal year (FY) 2007 and FY 2018, the USPS experienced net losses totaling $69 billion.
The USPS is forecast to lose tens of billions of dollars over the next decade. The USPS’s business
model—including its governance, product pricing, cost allocation, and labor practices—must be
updated in light of its current operating realities.
On April 12, 2018, President Trump issued the Executive Order on the Task Force on the United
States Postal System. The Executive Order established a Task Force on the United States Postal
System, chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury and including the Director of the O ice of
Management and Budget and the Director of the O ice of Personnel Management. The Task
Force was directed to evaluate the operations and finances of the USPS and to develop
recommendations for administrative and legislative reforms that will enable the USPS to create
a sustainable business model.
The Task Force’s recommendations include, but are not limited to:
Improving governance by strengthening the Board of Governors and developing
enforcement mechanisms to ensure financial commitments and reforms are met;

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3/19/2020

Postal Task Force Releases Report | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Clearly defining the Universal Service Obligation by specifying what are “essential postal
services,” or types of mail and packages for which a strong social or macroeconomic
rationale exists for government protection;
Developing a new pricing model that removes price caps and charges market-based prices
for both mail and package items that are not deemed “essential postal services”;
Modernizing the USPS’s cost standards and cost allocation methodology;
Pursuing cost-cutting strategies that will enable it to meet the changing realities of its
business model;
Reforming USPS employee compensation in a manner consistent with proposed reforms to
the broader federal workforce;
Restructuring retiree health benefit liabilities with a new actuarial calculation that is based
on employees at or near retirement age;
Exploring new services that will allow the USPS to exact value from its existing assets and
business lines, but that present no balance sheet risk.
The Task Force’s full analysis and complete list of recommendations can be found in the full
report.
View the Task Force report on the United States Postal System

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