claim: "The Postal Service is not losing money because of Amazon. It’s losing money because in 2006, the Republican-led Congress passed a law forcing it to prepay its pensions for 75 years, which no other corporation does ... Without this law, the Postal Service would be turning a profit.”
evidence: The claim that USPS is required to fund its pensions for 75 years in advance is commonly cited across the internet and in articles spanning back several years, largely in relation to mentions of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, or PAEA. USPS has long maintained that PAEA’s pension pre-funding requirements "contributes significantly to postal losses." The relevant portion of PAEA appeared to be this one: [...] Then there is the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), which some have taken to calling "the most insane law" ever passed by Congress. The law requires the Postal Service, which receives no taxpayer subsidies, to prefund its retirees’ health benefits up to the year 2056. This is a $5 billion per year cost; it is a requirement that no other entity, private or public, has to make. If that doesn’t meet the definition of insanity, I don’t know what does. Without this obligation, the Post Office actually turns a profit. Some have called this a "manufactured crisis." It’s also significant that lots of companies benefit from a burden that makes the USPS less competitive; these same companies might also would benefit from full USPS privatization, a goal that has been pushed by several conservative think tanks for years.