Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
— Words chiseled in gray granite over the entrance to the New York General Post Office on 8th Avenue.
Many Americans no doubt connect the above-quoted familiar phrase with the US Postal Service. Back in 1914, one of the architects working on the design for the New York General Post Office — William Mitchell Kendall — was a fan of Greek literature, and selected the “Neither snow nor rain . . .” inscription, slightly modified, from Book 8, Paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus.
With a few additional words added, it could apply to the year 2020.
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. But a viral pandemic might.
The US Postal Service — transformed from a federal department into an “independent agency” in 1971 — has been struggling financially for decades. According to the US Government Accounting Office (GAO) USPS has, over the past 11 years, spent $69 billion more than it took in as revenue; its total unfunded liabilities and debt ($143 billion at the end of fiscal year 2018) have grown to double its annual revenue. Part of the problem stems from a requirement that the agency pre-fund the future retirement benefits of its 600,000 employees — to the tune of $5.5 billion per year.
USPS financial troubles have only grown worse as the volume of mail that pays most of the agency’s bills ― first-class and marketing mail ― has taken a nose dive since the coronavirus pandemic arrived. Some analysts are predicting a decline of up to 60% in mail volume this year.
During the CARES Act negotiations, the Trump administration blocked potential emergency funding for the agency, asserting that higher rates for Internet shipping companies — Amazon, FedEx and UPS — would fix the agency’s financial woes.
While assembling the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, Congress had originally agreed to a $13 billion direct grant — money that USPS would not have to repay. That effort was blocked by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who warned such a move could blow up the relief bill. The Washington Post quoted an anonymous Trump administration insider in an April 11 article:
“We told them very clearly that the president was not going to sign the bill if [money for the Postal Service] was in it. I don’t know if we used the v-bomb, but the president was not going to sign it, and we told them that.”
Yet during the coronavirus pandemic, many would argue that affordable postal services are more vital than ever.
“Just think about,” says Mark Dimondstein, president of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union. “In this pandemic… medicines are going into people’s homes through the post office,” he says. “Even in ordinary times, there’s 1.2 billion packages of medicine” and “just about all” of the VA’s medicines go through the Postal Service.
In a statement, USPS spokesman David Partenheimer said:
“The Postal Service appreciates the inclusion of limited emergency borrowing authority during this COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Postal Service remains concerned that this measure will be insufficient to enable the Postal Service to withstand the significant downturn in our business that could directly result from the pandemic. Under a worst case scenario, such downturn could result in the Postal Service having insufficient liquidity to continue operations.”
In other words, the post office could run out of money.
“The Postal Service is insolvent,” according to US Representative Gerry Connolly, chair of the House Subcommittee on Government Operations. “It needs debt forgiveness, not debt extension. And it needs an infusion of capital right now.
“The Postal Service has been struggling for 14 years, and it is an essential service we all count on. And if the airline industry qualified for assistance, it’s time for Congress and the White House to address their needs.”
The CARES Act appears to have delivered about $58 billion to the airline industry.
Without federal assistance, Connolly warned, the Postal Service could run out of cash by June.