Here’s a real postman bites dog story: Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe knows his agency is veering off a fiscal precipice — and he’s actually trying to hit the brakes.
“If we don’t do something about the costs of this organization, we will look like Greece,” he said at a conference Tuesday. “People laugh when I say that, but it’s true.”
And indeed, it’s hardly funny: The US Postal Service lost $3.2 billion in the last quarter alone. Donahoe wants to fill the hole by ending Saturday mail, closing barely used facilities, fixing outdated work rules and buying out thousands of employees.
He doesn’t spend his days lamenting the creation of e-mail, which has rendered the Postal Service . . . if not obsolete, then very close to it.
All of this might make him the last rational man in Washington.
Alas, he’s at the mercy of 535 members of Congress — eagerly pandering to their constituents and to the postal unions by keeping unnecessary post offices open and thousands of unneeded jobs alive.
Just last month, the Senate approved a $33.7 billion bailout for the Postal Service — against Donahoe’s wishes. The bill would eventually save about $500 million a year, but USPS is on track to lose $14.1 billion this year alone.
Molehill, meet mountain.
Donahoe knows there’s no easy fix; certainly the postal unions’ idea of shrinking annual payments for future retiree health benefits won’t get the job done.
“The idea [is] that if we just eliminate the prefunding [of fringe benefits] we’ll be OK — wrong!” he said. “That’s entirely wrong.”
It’s hard to believe, but there’s at least one clear-eyed public servant still alive and kicking in Washington.
Congress would do well to heed his advice.