Will the USPS raise rates again? Debate swirls over financial future

The U.S. Postal Service faces massive losses and may run out of money next year, prompting a congressional hearing and debate over its priorities.

Six months after getting a new postmaster general, the U.S. Postal Service faces significant challenges as it tries to cut costs and stem massive losses while hand-delivering mail to virtually every address six days a week.

The service's woes come as President Donald Trump continues to attack mail-in voting, which he says is linked to "MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD." However, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud with mail-in ballots, and voting-rights groups fear his attacks will undermine overall confidence in the postal service. Trump has previously floated the idea of privatizing the service or combining it with another federal agency.

Congress is holding a March 17 oversight hearing on the postal service, and postal officials are expected to ask officials to let them borrow billions of dollars to keep operating in 2027, along with protecting their power to raise rates. Unlike the military or Homeland Security, the postal service is supposed to cover its own costs but has frequently fallen short.

"The financials are terrible and they're losing billions," said Leo Raymond, the managing director of the Virginia-based Mailers Hub, an industry association. "Congress has to decide what the postal service is supposed to do in the 21st century, because commercial ratepayers can no longer support all the costs of the postal service. The economics are changing but no one wants to deal with it."

The postal service's internal inspector general has repeatedly identified what it says are financial failures within the system, including last year spending nearly $19 million on unexpected higher labor costs as part of other cost-cutting measures. Last fall, the service reported an annual loss of $9 billion, which was a slight improvement over the $9.5 billion loss the year before.