The US Postal Service filed its February Financial results with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Monday. Despite the continuing erosion of mail volumes, the USPS continues to operate at close to break even- just like it’s supposed to. Of course the bottom line on the USPS report doesn’t reflect that, because the agency has to book the “pre-funding” charges imposed by Congress in the 2006 PAEA law- charges that the USPS has no way of paying- having already socked away $44 billion in past profits in Congress’s “trust fund”. (Kind of jarring to see the words “trust” and “Congress” in the same sentence, isn’t it?)

Even looking beyond the politicians’ accounting gimmicks, however, the outlook is far from rosy. The USPS saw continuing declines in all classes of mail except for shipping services. First class mail for February was down 3.2% from the prior year, and 4.6% for the year to date. Standard mail declined 2.7% for the month, bringing the year to date drop to 5.6%. Shipping services February volume was almost double what it was a year ago, and is up 48% year to date. While that’s good news, the shipping segment is still just 17% of the agency’s total revenue, so the extra income doesn’t quite make up for the decline in mailing services revenue.

Another cause for concern is the fact that the USPS continues to have a problem matching workhours to volume: while total mail volume dropped by 1.8% in February, workhours actually increased by 1.3%. On the plus side, revenue for the month of February was up from the prior year by 2.9%, thanks to the January 22 rate increase, and the fact that this February had an additional business day due to leap year.

USPS February 2012 Financials

From the National Association of Letter Carriers:

March 27, 2012 — Should we call H.R. 2309 the Issa-Ross (So-Called) Postal Reform Bill—or could we realistically call it the Issa-Donahoe (So-Called) Postal Reform Bill?

Today, during a hearing of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe was asked by Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) about Donahoe’s support for elements of the service-destroying, job-killing Issa-Ross postal reform bill, H.R. 2309.

In response, the postmaster general admitted that he supports “practically everything in the bill.”

Amash: Chairman Ross and Chairman Issa wrote a comprehensive postal reform bill last year that was passed by the subcommittee and the full Oversight Committee. It is full of cost-saving measures that will revitalize the Postal Service. What parts of H.R. 2309 does the Postal Service support?

Donahoe: We support the FERS refund. We support the ability to move and consolidate the network. We support the ability to move to consolidate from six-day to five-day delivery. Practically everything in the bill, we are in support.

[Click here to watch this exchange on YouTube. It occurs about 3 minutes and 13 seconds into the video.]

“It’s disappointing that the postmaster general—who is tasked with ensuring the health of USPS and should be focused on growing and expanding the Postal Service—would so readily embrace legislation that threatens to dismantle USPS piece-by-piece and that has very little support in the House,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said.

Click here to read the NALC’s Fact Sheet on our many problems with H.R. 2309.

“Congress needs to do its part to create legislation that will strengthen and improve the U.S. Postal Service as an essential component of American infrastructure,” Rolando said. “Unfortunately, the Issa-Ross bill would do neither. It would, in fact, degrade and destroy the USPS.”