[FINANCE.YAHOO] Last month United States Postal Service Postmaster Patrick Donahoe warned that the Postal Service was on the brink of default. He proposed cutting Saturday delivery service as a way to save $2 billion annually. But in a setback to the agency's cost-saving efforts, Congress has passed legislation requiring a six-day postal service delivery schedule. Now the Government Accountability Office has released a report finding that USPS is bound to Congress' spending agreement. The beleaguered mail carrier lost roughly $16 billion in 2012.Why? Would anybody really notice if they cut back to every other day?
The Postal Service is an independent agency, which means it is not funded by tax dollars. Instead, USPS functions like a business, making about $15 million in revenue each day on sales of postage, products, and services. Congress does not allocate money to support the mail service, but still holds legislative control over it.
Congress typically includes a provision in its federal budget each year that requires USPS to deliver mail six days a week and despite pleas from the Postal Service, politicians included it in their final resolution on Thursday.