USPS halts contributions to pension plan after warning of "cash crisis"

The U.S. Postal Service is suspending its contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System, a pension program for its workers and different civilian servants, arsenic the bureau struggles with mounting losses that enactment it astatine hazard of moving retired of funds. 

"The United States Postal Service is heading toward a currency crisis," USPS spokesperson David Walton said successful a connection to CBS News. "The measurement we are present taking to suspend FERS payments helps conserve currency for our operations and different indispensable payments."

The USPS contributes astir $400 cardinal a period to its worker pension plan, the bureau said successful a statement connected Thursday. The postal work said it volition proceed to nonstop idiosyncratic contributions to the status program and volition besides transmit leader automatic and matching contributions, arsenic good arsenic worker contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan, different status programme for national workers.

Out of currency successful a year

The impermanent halt successful contributions to the USPS programme comes aft Postmaster General David Steiner warned Congress past period that the postal bureau is heading for a fiscal situation without a people correction. Those changes could see raising the outgo of a first-class stamp to 95 cents oregon reducing transportation from its existent six days per week docket to 5 oregon fewer, helium said. 

Without specified changes, Steiner said, the USPS could tally retired of currency wrong 12 months, which could effect successful a stoppage of message delivery. 

The USPS has for years struggled with precocious costs and dwindling message volume, culminating successful a $9 cardinal nonaccomplishment successful 2025. Although the Postal Service has a 10-year plan to trim expenses and reconstruct profitability, the bureau inactive faces large fiscal challenges arsenic message measurement continues to diminution and transportation costs rise.

On Thursday, USPS Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann said successful a connection that the hazard of "insufficient liquidity for postal operations dramatically outweighs immoderate longer-term hazard to the pension funds from not making the presently owed payments."

Suspending payments to FERS volition escaped up astir $2.5 cardinal successful the existent fiscal year, the postal bureau said. 

The USPS said successful March that it plans to temporarily hike postage prices to screen mounting substance costs owed to the Iran war. The bureau said it volition adhd an 8% surcharge connected immoderate postage prices opening April 26, with those added costs remaining successful spot done Jan. 17, 2027.

Edited by Alain Sherter

In:

• United States Postal Service