The USPS crisis reached Congress in mid-March when Postmaster General David Steiner testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations that the agency would run out of money in less than 12 months at its current rate and may be forced to stop delivering mail.
Summary
- Steiner told lawmakers bluntly: “At our current rate, we will be out of business in less than 12 months,” adding that “less than a year from now, the Postal Service will not be able to deliver mail if we maintain the status quo”; pressed for a date, he said the USPS could use the money as early as October 2026 if it pays all obligations on schedule, or in February 2027 if it continues to delay other payments.
- The USPS lost $9 billion last fiscal year, $9.5 billion in 2024, and $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2026; has posted an annual loss nearly every year since 2007 as the volume of regular mail has declined by nearly 50 percent over the past 20 years.
- The agency is asking Congress to increase its borrowing limit with the Treasury Department and allow higher stamp duty rates; it is also exploring options including reducing delivery from six days to five or three days a week, closing post offices, and raising the price of first-class stamps from 78 cents to $1 or more.
The Federal News Network reported that the USPS has since taken one concerted action to save money: freezing contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System, a move that could free up up to $15 billion by delaying required pension payments through September 2030. The Postal Regulatory Commission granted a waiver allowing the postponement. That buys time but doesn’t fix the structural problem.
The USPS receives no tax dollars for operating costs. It finances itself through stamps and service fees. As email, text, and online payments replaced letters and check mailings, first-class mail, the institution’s most profitable product, fell in value. Amazon, the USPS’ largest package customer, has announced plans to cut the agency’s shipping volume by nearly two-thirds in September.
The practical consequences of the USPS financial failure extend beyond mail delivery delays. About 6 percent of diabetes medications in the US are delivered by mail. About 3.7 million Medicare enrollees live in areas where access to a pharmacy is limited and rely on mail delivery for medications. Rural communities, which are as legally entitled to delivery service as urban areas under USPS’s global service obligation, would be disproportionately exposed if service were to be discontinued. The Government Accountability Office released a report along with Steiner’s testimony calling the USPS business model “unsustainable” and saying “urgent action” is needed.
What Congress Is Being Asked To Do
Steiner’s request to Congress has three parts: lift the borrowing limit with the Treasury Department so the USPS can access more money, allow the agency to set rates more freely by removing the current rate increase estimate set by the Postal Regulatory Commission through 2030, and give the USPS flexibility in its global service obligation. Republican committee members pushed back, questioning whether the USPS had used all internal cost-cutting measures before asking for a bailout. Committee chairman Rep. James Comer noted that Congress has already passed the Postal Services Reform Act of 2022, which has saved the USPS $107 billion in total costs.
What Happens to Mail When Nothing Changes
As crypto.news reported, the federal legislative calendar in 2026 is under heavy pressure from the Iran war, the CLARITY Act negotiations, and the mid-year standoff; the USPS rescue bill will compete for the lowest time against all those important things. As crypto.news noted, disruptions to government-dependent services, including postal delivery of financial documents, checks, and regulatory notices, carry negative consequences for markets that rely on the flow of physical documents. Steiner told lawmakers simply: “The mail will stop” if the agency can’t meet its obligations, including the delivery of prescription drug packages.
