Tom Carper, U.S. Senator for Delaware

Reforming the Postal Service

Home / Issues / Reforming the Postal Service

Our troubled economy – coupled with the continued migration to electronic forms of communication – is putting the future of the U.S. Postal Service in jeopardy. A recent New York Times piece put it this way: "The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it has never been as close to the precipice as it is today." A loss of the U.S. Postal Service and the valuable services it provides is an unthinkable yet very real possibility. Furthermore, the loss of an industry that employs some 8.5 million people and generates more than $1 trillion in sales and revenue each year would be devastating to our fragile economy.

Congress must act quickly to address this dire situation, and you can join the conversation by using the hashtag #USPS on Twitter, by following me @SenatorCarper on Twitter, and by liking my Facebook page.

The Bipartisan Solution: the 21st Century Postal Service Act

In April 2012, the Senate passed, on a bipartisan vote, the 21st Century Postal Service Act, authored by Sen. Carper and Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.). The 21st Century Postal Service Act would modernize the U.S. Postal Service and put it on a sustainable financial path forward, protecting the economic well-being of the $1.1 trillion mailing industry and the over 8 million American jobs that depend on a healthy U.S. Postal Service.

The 21st Century Postal Service Act would fundamentally reform the U.S. Postal Service in several ways, including:

  1. Ensure that the Postal Service pursues cost cutting measures in a responsible manner that does not do more harm than good to its bottom line.
  2. Provide communities impacted by changes to postal facilities an opportunity to participate in the deliberations on how best to meet the community's needs for postal retail access; and in the rare case when a Post Office is closed, the impacted community can appeal the decision to the Postal Regulatory Commission.
  3. Require the Postal Service to offer buyouts to employees to help reduce its workforce. This bill directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to refund the Postal Service for what everyone agrees has been an overpayment to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Using this refunded money, the Postmaster General estimates that the Postal Service can reduce its workforce by as many as 100,000 employees over the next three years, saving upwards of $8 billion annually.
  4. Allow the Postal Service to work with postal employee unions and OPM to develop a new health plan to cover postal employees. The Postmaster General estimates that a new healthcare plan could cut costs in half, while maintaining adequate benefits.
  5. Help the Postal Service recalibrate the pre-funding requirements for its retiree health benefits, amortizing those payments over time.
  6. Prevent the Postal Service from implementing five-day-a-week delivery for two years, ensuring that it has developed remedies for customers who may be disproportionately affected by changing service and exhausted other means for reducing costs and increasing revenue.

Related Pages

Postal Reform in the News
Sen. Carper on Postal Reform
Share Your Ideas to Reform the Postal Service
Full Text of the Postal Reform Manager's Amendment (S.1789)
Section-by-Section of the Postal Reform Manager's Amendment (S.1789)

Sen. Carper's Oversight of the Postal Service

Date Title
7/12/12 Hearing: "Nomination of Stephen Crawford to be a Governor, U.S. Postal Service"
6/21/12 Hearing: "Nominations of Hon. James C. Miller, III, and Hon. Katherine C. Tobin to be Governors, U.S. Postal Service"
1/11/12 Telephone Town Hall on the Future of the U.S. Postal Service
11/9/11 Markup of the 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011
11/2/11 Press Conference to Announce Bipartisan Agreement to Save the U.S. Postal Service
9/6/11 HSGAC Hearing: "U.S. Postal Service in Crisis: Proposals to Prevent a Postal Shutdown"
5/17/11 HSGAC Subcommittee Hearing: "Addressing the U.S. Postal Service's Financial Crisis"
12/2/10 HSGAC Hearing: "Finding Solutions to the Challenges Facing the U.S. Postal Service"
6/23/10 HSGAC Hearing: " Having Their Say: Customer and Employee Views on the Future of the U.S. Postal Service"
4/22/10 HSGAC Hearing: "The Future of the U.S. Postal Service"