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U.S. NEWS Friday 11 august 2017

Postal Service: More red ink, missed payments as mail slumps

By HOPE YEN ing system in nearly a half-
Associated Press century. The commission
WASHINGTON (AP) — The might limit how high prices
U.S. Postal Service warned could go, but the cost of
Thursday that it will likely a first-class stamp, now 49
default on up to $6.9 bil- cents, could jump. It’s not
lion in payments for future known how much.
retiree health and pension The Postal Service, an inde-
benefits for the fifth straight pendent agency, is trying
year, citing a coming cash to stay financially afloat as
crunch that could disrupt it seeks to invest billions in
day-to-day mail delivery. new delivery trucks to get
The service said it expect- packages more nimbly to
ed cash balances to run American homes.
low by October and to Mail volume is dropping
avoid bankruptcy would and demand for package
likely not make all of its shipping is surging due to
payments as required un- the growth of online retail-
der federal law. Postmas- ers such as e-commerce
ter General Megan Bren- giant Amazon. With the
nan stressed an urgent holiday season approach-
need for federal regulators In this Feb. 7, 2014 photo, U.S. Postal Service letter carrier Jamesa Euler delivers mail in the rain ing, Brennan said the Postal
to grant the Postal Service in Atlanta. Buffeted by threats from Amazon drones and Uber to delivery by golf cart, the belea- Service planned additional
wide freedom to increase guered U.S. Postal Service is counting on a different strategy to stay ahead in the increasingly temporary hiring and was
stamp prices to help cover competitive package business: more freedom to raise your letter prices. looking to expand its pack-
costs, citing continuing red (AP Photo/David Goldman) age deliveries in the morn-
ink due to declining first- pricing system for us.” growth in package delivery billion from the same pe- ings, evenings and on Sun-
class mail volume and the The Postal Service on Thurs- was unable to offset drop- riod last year. days. “The competition is
expensive mandates for day reported a quarterly offs in letter mail, which After a 10-year review, the most intense,” she said.
retiree benefits. loss of $2.1 billion, com- makes up more than 70 regulatory commission ap- The Postal Service is also
The Postal Service has al- pared to a $1.6 billion loss percent of total postal rev- pears likely to give the Post- urging Congress to provide
ready defaulted on $33.9 in the same period end- enue. al Service more flexibility relief from the mandate
billion in health benefit pre- ing June 30 last year. That Quarterly revenue came to to raise rates, marking the to pre-fund retiree health
payments. Left unresolved, came after double-digit $16.7 billion, a decline of $1 biggest change in its pric- benefits. q
the rapidly growing debt
means that American tax-
payers eventually could Seattle’s unusual $25 gun tax upheld in state court
be forced to cover the
massive costs when future
postal retirees seek to cash By GENE JOHNSON within the city’s taxing au- Cook County, Illinois, which the power to regulate fire-
in on the benefits to which Associated Press thority and its primary pur- includes Chicago, is appar- arms is by and large re-
they are legally entitled. SEATTLE (AP) — The Wash- pose was to raise revenue ently the only other jurisdic- served to the state.
The Postal Regulatory ington Supreme Court up- for “the public benefit.” tion with such a measure, Seattle’s measure was
Commission is making a held Seattle’s so-called The tax, which took effect according to both gun properly viewed as a regu-
decision on stamp pricing “gun violence tax” against in 2016, adds $25 to the rights groups and gun-con- lation designed to hinder
next month. a challenge from gun rights price of each firearm sold trol advocates. Seattle’s gun sales, not a tax, they
“Our financial situation is groups Thursday, leaving in the city plus 2 cents or City Council based its tax argued.
serious, but solvable,” Bren- the city as one of the only 5 cents per round of am- on that one, which took ef- In her opinion for the major-
nan said, citing an unrea- places in the country that munition, depending on fect in 2013. ity, Justice Debra Stephens
sonable rate cap that re- taxes the sale of firearms the type. It raised less than The National Rifle Associa- disagreed.
stricts stamp price increas- and ammunition to raise $200,000 in its first year, with tion and other gun rights State law “grants Seattle
es to the rate of inflation. money for gun-violence re- the money earmarked for groups sued over Seattle’s broad authority to tax re-
“We’re clearly looking for search. gun-violence research. tax, along with gun stores tailers for the privilege of
the PRC to establish a new In an 8-1 decision , the jus- One gun shop cited the tax and customers. They ar- doing business within city
tices ruled that the levy fell in moving out of the city. gued that under state law, limits,” she wrote.q