Samuel Cahan, in his letter ("Fully fund U.S. Postal Service," Feb. 21), urges the federal government to fully fund the Postal Service, stating it's not necessary for it to make a profit.
What this letter writer, and apparently most Americans, don't realize is the Postal Service reported a $100 million operational profit for the first quarter of federal fiscal year 2013 (ending Dec. 31). And, up until 2007, it was profitable and had no debt. Then from 2007 to the present, the postal service had a loss of $31.8 billion.
What happened? In December 2006, the lame-duck Republican Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. This friendly sounding law forced the Postal Service to make payments of $5.5 billion per year to pay for its retirees' health benefits 75 years into the future. No other business in the world faces a mandate like this.
Last year, the Senate passed a bill that would modernize the Postal Service's operations and refund it $11 billion for overpayments into pension funds. But the House will not sign on to the bill. Instead, its members continue to push for privatization, citing the large losses that are, of course, due to the 2006 law.
This is just one more ludicrous situation brought on by Congress that is damaging the United States.
James D. Garry
Delmar