An idea launched on the Internet is becoming closer to reality, thanks to the timely intervention of a former U.S. Air Force pilot.

Oilman Ron Mercer and adman Bob Hammack hatched their plan almost two years ago: Save the U.S. Postal Service from going broke by switching from gasoline to cheaper natural gas.

Read more: Oklahoma City group trying to turn U.S. Postal Service on to natural gas | News OK.

WASHINGTON – Today, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released the following reactions to the announcement that the U.S. Postal Service lost $1.9 billion in the second quarter of fiscal year 2013:

“Today’s announcement that the U.S. Postal Service lost $1.9 billion in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2013 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” said Chairman Carper. “While this quarter’s losses are less compared to the $3.2 billion lost this time last year, a $1.9 billion dollar loss is nothing to celebrate. The reality is that any financial loss at this rate is unsustainable and threatens the Postal Service’s long-term viability. As I’ve said time and time again, Congress and the Administration need to come to agreement on comprehensive legislation that reforms, right-sizes and modernizes this American institution. Although the Postal Service has seen an increase in revenue from package delivery – which is encouraging news — much more must be done to make its outdated business model financially viable long term. It is critical that we complete the difficult work ahead of us and find a solution to the Postal Service’s serious but solvable financial crisis as soon as possible – and today’s financial report should underscore that sense of urgency. We can’t afford to wait any longer.”

“Today’s announcement clearly demonstrates why postal reform is imperative. Unfortunately, this $1.9 billion loss in the second quarter of this fiscal year is only a small fraction of the $15.8 billion the Postal Service has lost since last year,” Dr. Coburn said. “While reform is necessary, the Postal Service should not wait on a parochial-minded Congress and must immediately take steps within its control to secure additional revenue and achieve cost savings, including potential action to secure additional revenue through price increases. I will continue to support giving the Postal Service the independence it needs to ensure its long-term viability.”

Among the pundits weighing in on yesterday’s USPS financial report was Slate’s Matthew Yglesias. He’s billed as the web site’s “business and economics correspondent”, so you’d think he’d be fairly good at arithmetic, but I have my doubts…

Here’s some of Matthew’s take on yesterday’s report:

This issue of the payments to retirees is interesting. I’ve heard plausible defenses of it, but at the same time it’s true that private-sector firms don’t account in this way. That said, if you add a $1.3 billion first-quarter loss to a $1.9 billion second-quarter loss, then it looks pretty clear that the USPS would be losing money even without the question of the $5.5 billion.

If you didn’t know better, you would probably come away from reading Matthew’s piece with the impression that the USPS has already lost $3.2 billion, on top of the $5.5 billion it’s supposed to come up with on October 1.

It hasn’t.

Let’s see if we can help Matthew out here. First of all, the USPS’s PAEA pre-funding obligation for this fiscal year is $5.6 billion. Even though the USPS doesn’t have $5.6 billion lying around to send the Treasury, it does take a charge on its books each quarter for one fourth of that amount. This is pretty simple math- if half the fiscal year has passed, then the USPS has already booked pre-funding charges totaling $2.8 billion as of yesterday’s Q2 report.

Now take a look at the year to date “loss” the USPS reported yesterday- it comes to $3.130 billion. That means that without the pre-funding requirement, the USPS YTD loss would be $330 million.

So yes, Matthew, the USPS would still be losing money this year without the pre-funding. But why didn’t you bother doing the math and explaining exactly what that loss would be? Why did you instead leave the impression that the USPS is losing billions even without pre-funding? Why didn’t you mention that 89% of this year’s loss is due to pre-funding? Why didn’t you explain that the USPS has already stashed away $44 billion in past profits to meet the PAEA requirements?

You do know all of that, don’t you?

Slate: USPS losses mount..

May 10, 2013—Statement from Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, about the USPS financial report today.

The Postal Service’s financial report—which included the first revenue increase in five years—reflects an improving financial picture as the economy gradually improves.

Operating revenue in the most recent fiscal quarter was $121 million higher than the same period a year ago, while expenses fell by $1.2 billion.

This positive trend undermines the doom-and-gloom scenarios postal critics cite—and it shows the folly of reducing services to Americans, as the postmaster general seeks to do.

As Chief Financial Officer Jim Corbett stated, increases of 2.4 percent increase in advertising revenue from mail and a striking 9.3 percent jump in revenue from package deliveries—an increase of $267 million—largely offset a 2.7 percent decline in first class mail revenue.

Friday’s report shows the absurdity of taking the radical step of degrading the postal network by eliminating Saturday delivery. This would cost the USPS its competitive advantage, drive customers away, reduce revenue and make the Postal Service less able to adapt to an evolving society.

The report also shows the urgency of fixing the congressional mandate that the USPS pre-fund future retiree health benefits decades in advance. Pre-funding—which no other agency or company is required to do—accounts for 90 percent of this year’s red ink, according to the USPS report.

The sharp rise in Postal Service package deliveries, which reflects the opportunities offered by the Internet, outpaced the two major private competitors, the CFO reported.

This was accomplished with the smallest USPS career workforce since 1966, the USPS said, because of record worker efficiency.

The report shows the USPS moving sharply towards breaking even, despite a still struggling economy. The agency reported a $200 million operating loss in the first half of fiscal 2013; in the full fiscal year of 2011 it had a $5.1 billion operating loss, and $4.8 billion in fiscal 2012. Instead of the postmaster general’s “shrink to survive” strategy—which will only begin a death spiral for the USPS—what is needed is a dynamic business plan for the future to take advantage of the many opportunities for growth, including in the exploding package delivery market.

The US Postal Service today announced a second quarter “loss” of $1.9 billion. Most of the “loss”, $1.4 billion, results from bookkeeping entries required by the 2006 PAEA law, not actual cash expenses.  While the USPS has previously sought to have Congress modify the politically inspired PAEA retiree health benefit payment schedule, it now seems to have settled on a strategy that would allow it to eliminate Federal Employee Health Benefit coverage for current employees and retirees, slashing billions from its expenses. Here’s the USPS press release: Read the rest of this entry »

May 3 Bloomberg — U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe talks about the Postal Service’s projected loss, challenges and the need for legislation in Congress to help the agency cut costs. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s "Conversations With Judy Woodruff." Source: Bloomberg

Read more: U.S. Postmaster General Donahoe: Judy Woodruff – Businessweek.

WASHINGTON , April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service will meet May 10 in open session at Postal Service headquarters, 475 L’ Enfant Plaza , SW, Washington, DC. The public is welcome to observe the meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Ben Franklin Room on the 11th floor. The Board is expected to discuss the following items:

1. Call to order and remarks of the Chairman of the Board
2. Remarks of the Postmaster General and CEO
3. Approval of minutes of previous meetings
4. Committee reports
5. Quarterly report on financial performance
6. Quarterly service performance report
7. Tentative agenda for the June 18 meeting
8. Adjourn

Open session meetings of the Board of Governors are available on live audio webcasts at http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/bog/welcome.htm. Three hours after the conclusion of the open session meeting, a recorded audio file will be available for listening. In compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the audio webcast will be open-captioned.

CFO Briefing
Following the Board’s open meeting on May 10, Postmaster General & CEO Patrick Donahoe and Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett will host a telephone/web conference call to discuss the financial results in more detail. The call will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET and is open to the news media and all other interested parties.

To attend by phone with audio only: dial 866-966-6305 (meeting ID: 2207587).  

To attend the web conference and join with audio:
1) Browse to http://meetingplace4.usps.gov/join.asp?2207587
2) After the MeetingPlace window is open, click the Phone icon (under the Participant List or in the upper right-hand corner).
3) Click Connect Me, validate or update your phone number and click Connect Me again.
4) When the system calls you, press 1 to join.

The briefing will also be available on live audio webcast (listen only) at:
http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/cfo/welcome.htm.

Legislation to restore financial health to the U.S. Postal Service has gained more support in Congress, thanks in large part to the efforts of APWU members who have contacted lawmakers.

Support S. 316 and H.R. 630 Contact Congress Today! By Email: Click here to e-mail your legislators. By Phone: Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to reach your representative and senators. By Mail: Write to your member of Congress: [Name], U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. Send letters to your senators: [Name], U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Current Cosponsors of The Postal Service Protection Act Postal Reform That Makes Sense [PDF] Postal Service Protection Act     (S.316/H.R 630) Fact Sheet [PDF] [more about fixing USPS finances]

As of April 24, 20 senators and 120 representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of the Postal Service Protection Act (S. 316 in the Senate, H.R. 630 in the House).

The legislation would “go a long way toward solving the Postal Service’s financial crisis,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey.  “It would make many of the planned cutbacks in service unnecessary; give postal employees a greater sense of security, and give the American people a Postal Service they can count on for the future,” he added.

Guffey called on union members to continue reaching out to lawmakers who have not yet signaled their support for the legislation.

“Our members must make sure that lawmakers — and the public — realize that widespread plant closings will delay mail by two to three days all week long, in cities and towns across the country,” he said.

“Plant closures have already forced the USPS to eliminate 25 percent of overnight mail delivery,” Guffey noted in an April mailing to APWU members. “Another round of closures will cripple service, further weaken this great American institution, make it less relevant, and make it less competitive.

As key lawmakers in both chambers are said to be close to reaching a bipartisan agreement on postal reform, APWU Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid said, “Additional support for the Postal Service Protection Act can help convince lawmakers that Congress must act soon to pass a responsible bill that will improve service, protect postal workers, and strengthen the Postal Service in the digital age.”

The Postal Service Protection Act would:

• Fix the Postal Service’s immediate financial crisis by ending the mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees — a burden no other government agency or private company bears;
• Allow the Postal Service to recover overpayments the USPS made to federal pension plans;
• Re-establish overnight delivery standards for first-class mail, which would ensure the timely delivery of mail, help keep mail processing facilities open, and protect jobs;
• Protect six-day delivery;
• Allow the USPS to develop new products and services that would generate new sources of revenue, and
• Protect post offices by giving the Postal Regulatory Commission binding authority to prevent post offices from being closed based on the effect on the community and the effect on the employees.

April 19, 2013 — In his appearance Friday at the National Press Club, Postmaster General Patrick Donahue said that the Postal Service will have an operational loss of $1.7 billion this year.

“This reflects a sharp improvement in the financial picture at the USPS, as the economy improves,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said in a statement afterward. “And it is dramatically different from the doom-and-gloom scenarios postal critics cite.

“In fiscal 2011, the operational loss was $5.1 billion and in fiscal 2012 it was $4.8 billion. The 2013 figure of $1.7 billion stated Friday shows a positive trend, with red ink from operations down by about two thirds. Indeed, in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, the Postal Service had an operating profit of $100 million. All this occurred delivering six days a week.

“These figures—and this trend—show the folly of now taking the radical step of reversing decades of congressionally approved six-day delivery and eliminating Saturday delivery. This would cost the USPS its competitive advantage, drive customers away, reduce revenue and make the Postal Service less able to adapt to an evolving society.

“Instead of a ‘shrink to survive’ strategy—which will only begin a death spiral for the USPS—what is needed is a dynamic business plan for the future to take advantage of the many opportunities for growth, including in the exploding package delivery market.”

Alan Robinson notes that a reporter has suggested that the US Postal Service might run out of cash come October- and be unable to meet it’s payroll:

US Postal Service tells @macfarlanenews : “possibility the American taxpayer will be on the hook” for postal worker paychecks come October

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) April 15, 2013

The report was apparently based on comments made at a recent “Industry Focus Group”.

In a related item, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Postmaster General told Congress that “the post office will run out of money this year unless it gets help… as he sought permission to cut delivery to five days a week.”

Before you get too excited about the PMG’s dire warning (or reporter MacFarlane’s “scoop”), I should tell you that the PMG who issued that warning wasn’t Pat Donahoe- it was Jack Potter, and the Plain Dealer story is from 2009.

And they wonder why their warnings aren’t taken seriously?

Read more: USPS May Not Have Cash to Meet Payroll in October | Courier Express and Postal Observer.