The United States Postal Service (USPS) has been drifting into irrelevance, and borderline insolvency, for the last couple of decades. The organization has blown billions of dollars in recent years, always needing some kind of help or increase. Once again, USPS is in dire straits and is on the verge of becoming a "has been" in American culture.
U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner warned recently the USPS will run out of cash within a year, unless Congress lifts a $15 billion borrowing cap set in 1990. But regardless of however much they borrow; things are still dire. USPS has increased revenue in recent years, but their expenses still far outpace what they earn. Economics 101 tells anyone that is not a sustainable business model.
In 2025 alone, USPS reported losses of over $9 billion, and in the first quarter of 2026, have seen losses exceeding $1.3 billion. Total losses since 2007 have now eclipsed $120 billion, an absurd number.
Fox News contributor Ted Jenkin says a lot of the problem is the USPS did not keep up with technology advancement.
"The government way under anticipated what would happen when bills went to paperless email, and people did more things online," he says.
USPS did update their strategic plan two years ago, but it did not include any real financial projections on how the plans increased revenue or decreased expenses. The agency at one point even skipped on billions in retiree pensions and health payments, yet they still face this problem.
Throwing money at it is obviously not helping. So, the change needs to come from within the agency and government itself. At this point too, it is going to have to go well beyond increasing stamp prices.
"They could double stamp prices right now and it would not change the scenario," says Jenkin. "The easiest fix to me would be to deliver mail every day, instead of every other day...it would cut down on payroll...and most people, given what they get in the mail today, do not need their mail every day."
Changing up the schedule would certainly help in the wage department and the sheer man hours. But there is another option as well, and that is privatizing the entire agency. That, while a good option, does come with a hitch.
"Unless the government changes it...they still deliver everywhere in the United States...but places like UPS and FedEx will not necessarily deliver everywhere in the United States," Jenkin says.
Whether it is privatized or the agency undergoes an overhaul, something needs to be done to keep the U.S. Postal Service from collapsing entirely. But the days of throwing cash at the problem are over. It is time to look within.
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