Possible coronavirus casualty: the U.S. Postal Service

For years (?decades) there have been people wanting to privatize the United States postal service.  It is effectively a monopoly, and would present opportunities for immense wealth to any person or corporation having control of the business.  As a public service it is expensive and chronically "loses money" because of various restrictions placed upon it. 

Now the coronavirus pandemic is dealing the USPS a potential death blow.

The U.S. Postal Service will run out of operational funds by the end of September unless Congress intervenes, Postmaster General Megan Brennan told members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in a Thursday video conference.

Mail volume has dramatically slowed during the coronavirus crisis due to widespread business closures, and the USPS is bracing for a steep drop in revenue. But its postal workers remain on the front lines of the crisis, handling prescription drug shipments, lab test materials and medical supplies that are crucial to efforts to contain the virus. Mail-in voting has also allowed the democratic process to survive in the era of social distancing...

The USPS said the pandemic will increase its net operating loss by more than $22 billion over the next 18 months and by over $54 billion over the coming years.  Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who is on the oversight committee, painted a dire picture of the agency’s operations in a Thursday afternoon tweet.

“The Postal Service will collapse without urgent intervention, and it will happen soon,” Connolly wrote, describing his talks with Brennan.

The White House is resisting efforts to provide financial support to the USPS.

Trump threatened to veto the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or Cares Act, if the legislation contained any money directed to bail out the postal agency, according to a senior Trump administration official and a congressional official who, like others in this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity...

Instead, Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) added a last-minute $10 billion Treasury Department loan to the Cares Act to keep the agency on firmer ground through the spring of 2020, according to a Democratic committee aide...

While the Trump Administration and Mnuchin pushed through private-sector bailouts in the Cares Act — $350 billion to the Small Business Administration loan program, $29 billion to passenger airlines and air cargo carriers, and economic incentives for the construction, energy and life sciences industries, among others — Mnuchin has signaled any postal relief funds in a “Phase IV” stimulus package under negotiation would amount to a poison pill...

Much of Trump’s invective on the Postal Service is aimed at Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post. Trump has advocated for increasing the prices on Amazon deliveries, against the recommendation of shipping experts and the agency’s own Board of Governors, a majority of whom Trump appointed.