‘USPS SERVES US Act,’ New Federal Legislation to Save the U.S. Postal Service, Introduced in Congress

WASHINGTON, DC (September 27, 2024) — Keep US Posted — a nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs, forestry and recycling interests, and small businesses — today declared support for new legislation to restore fiscal stability and public accountability to the U.S. Postal Service. The “USPS Services Enhancement and Regulatory Viability Expansion and Sustainability for the U.S. Act” (USPS SERVES US Act), introduced today by Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kans.), will empower the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to course-correct USPS decisions that are hurting its ability to serve the American people and driving it into financial ruin.

Specifically, the USPS SERVES US Act is intended to limit the negative effects of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year Delivering for America Plan (DFA). Launched in 2021, the DFA has caused the essential U.S. mail network to become prohibitively expensive for consumers and businesses, slower, and unreliable — all while USPS slips further into debt.

 “Since August 2021, there have been six unprecedented postage hikes — one every six months, well above inflation— that have hurt businesses, newspapers, nonprofit mailers, and individual Americans,” said Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kans). “With each price hike, demand for mail, which is still the biggest revenue-generator for the USPS, declines, access to our postal network is threatened, and the USPS slips further into financial ruin.”

 LaTurner continued, “The USPS lost $6.5 billion last year, and they are projected to lose an additional $8 billion this year. I have taken the lead introducing the USPS SERVES US ACT because Louis DeJoy won’t listen to reason and admit his Delivering for America Plan, with its focus on packages at the expense of traditional mail, needs to be amended. The package space is already crowded with carriers such as Amazon, UPS and FedEx, and yet, the USPS has continued prioritizing package delivery at the expense of traditional mail. Simply put, Louis DeJoy’s Delivering for America Plan has delivered a financial disaster.”

“Keep US Posted formed in 2021 to support the USPS and help introduce the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act of 2021,” said Keep US Posted Executive Director Kevin Yoder, a former Republican Congressman from Kansas. “Signed into law in March 2022, the Postal Service Reform Act financially stabilized the USPS through a series of reforms, including eradicating the requirement for the USPS to fund its retiree health benefits 75 years in advance — a move which alone saved the USPS $27 billion over 10 years. While the intent of the law was to prevent the need for twice-per-year postage hikes, the USPS announced immediately after the bill was signed that the frequent postage hikes proposed in the Delivering for America Plan would roll ahead.”

Yoder continued, “The PRC has admitted it doesn’t have the authority to stop the continuous rate hikes, even though it questioned their prudence. That means Congress must take action and pass the USPS SERVES US Act. If we don’t stop these destructive rate hikes, the price of a stamp could be $1.19 by 2030, and the USPS — the only courier able to serve every address in America — could be a defunct public service. We need Congress to pass the USPS SERVES US Act and defend the USPS, which has delivered for the American public since 1775.”

The USPS SERVES US Act is an alternative to a taxpayer bailout of USPS. It contains the following key reforms:

• Holds the USPS accountable for improving efficiency by imposing an X-factor reducing rate authority if productivity is not improved each year.

• Prohibits the PRC from creating a rate system with no price cap.

• Holds the USPS accountable for service performance by reducing rate authority if it fails to meet established service targets.

• Makes the PRC’s nature of service evaluations binding decisions, not just advisory opinions.

• Limits rate increase to once per year.

• Limits the imposition of “underwater surcharges” if service performance and cost efficiency are not maintained for the relevant products.

• Requires the PRC to apply each objective for rate setting in every proceeding.

• Creates a new volume-encouraging objective for evaluating rate increases.

• Establishes an autonomous Office of Customer Advocate within the PRC to represent monopoly customer concerns with the power to initiate proceedings on their behalf.

• Streamlines the PRC’s consideration of complaints.

• Empowers the PRC to reduce rates for affected parties if it finds a rate is unlawful.

• Requires the PRC to develop its own volume estimation model independent of the USPS.

• Requires arbitrators in USPS-Union contract disputes to consider the financial health of the USPS.

• Enables the USPS to invest retirement assets in private index funds such as those used by the Thrift Savings Fund.