The Postal Service saw a relief from legislative reforms and price increases in 2022, but still experienced a “controllable” loss due to ongoing volume declines.
The U.S. Postal Service saw its controllable losses increase by $2 billion in fiscal 2022 compared to the prior year, leaving it nearly $500 million in the red as inflationary pressures outweighed its boosted revenue.
When calculating all the items on the agency’s balance sheets, including those management considers outside of its control, USPS saw a new profit of $56 billion due to the one-time cash relief from the changes in the Postal Service Reform Act. The Postal Service saw its revenue jump by nearly 2% even as mail and package volumes both continued to slide due to the high price increases it has instituted.
Postal officials do not expect things to get better quickly. Roman Martinez, chair of USPS board of governors, said at a meeting on Thursday the agency faces “definite headwinds” and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy conceded he will not meet his goal of breaking even by fiscal 2023. Instead, the agency forecasted a more than $4 billion loss next year. While anticipated revenue will grow due to ongoing price hikes, already scheduled cost-of-living adjustments and transportation hikes will continue to be driven upward by inflation.