The U.S. Postal Service enjoys every advantage in the marketplace. It pays no property, income, or corporate taxes. It owns and occupies some of the world’s most strategic and prestigious real estate It has an unconstitutional monopoly on first-class letter delivery.
(By contrast, its package-delivery competitor FedEx pays billions annually in taxes.)
(To put these numbers in perspective, the budget for the entire State of Montana is about $5 billion annually.)
Despite its advantages, the U.S. Postal Service is on pace to lose $9 billion this year. The inefficient government agency has lost almost $30 billion over the past 6 years and lost more than $70 billion since 2007. This is greater than the GDP of many entire nations.
