Source: Government Accountability Office

Last year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ran a deficit of $3.9 billion. Unfortunately, losses are the rule rather than the exception for the agency.

All this red ink has flowed despite USPS’s aggressive move into the parcel delivery business. These five charts depict the immensity of USPS’s financial challenges.

The Postal Service was designed to be a self-funding agency. From the early 1970s through the turn of the century, the agency frequently broke even. Rising mail volume and a monopoly on high-margin letter delivery brought in tens of billions of dollars annually…..(Read more)