MaggieD
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I really don't think they are subsidized but many people in here are making that claim. I hope that one of us in the thread has enough motivation and time to find out if the post office is subsidized or not.
It would change the way I feel about the subject if I found out that they were subsidized. I honestly don't believe that they are.
Doesn't take long:
The Post Office IS Subsidized | Stossel's Take Blog | Stossel | Fox BusinessNot paying parking tickets and monopoly powers are certainly a form of subsidy. In addition, The Post Office doesn't have to pay state or local taxes, and it gets to borrow billions from the government at reduced rates ($10.2 billion, by the end of this year, according to the GAO.) Last year, the FTC found that the Post Office received implicit subsidies of $34 to $117 million -- and that's not counting the monopoly, its biggest benefit.
From November 2012:
Just in time for Christmas season the U.S. Postal Service has presented taxpayers with a record deficit of $15.9 billion annual loss to go with a recently approved increase in postage rates, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The cash-hemorrhaging heavily-subsidized host of snail-snail mail edged closer to its own fiscal cliff as email and online transactions continue to cut into postal profits of outdated services in the Internet era. Meanwhile, private companies including Federal Express and UPS have captured much of the parcel/package business while the Postal Service depends on taxpayers to stay in the game.
The fiscal year ended Sept. 30 and follows the Postal Service's $11.1 billion default payment for retiree-health-benefit payments announced earlier this year.
U.S. Postal Service back for record $14 billion subsidy - Tampa Bay Tampa Top News | Examiner.com