The United States Postal Service (USPS) suspended employer contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) on Thursday, freeing roughly $2.5 billion in liquidity as the agency warned of liquidity pressures that could affect postal operations.
Beginning April 10, USPS will halt its $200 million every-other-week employer contribution to the defined benefit portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann said the risk to postal operations from insufficient liquidity “dramatically outweighs any longer-term risk to the pension funds.” Employee contributions to FERS and the Thrift Savings Plan will continue uninterrupted, the agency said.
The move follows cumulative losses of roughly $118 billion since 2007. USPS has separately proposed raising the price of a First-Class Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents, a roughly 5% increase that could take effect as early as July 2026, pending regulatory approval, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Costs Closing In From Every Direction
The pension suspension does not stand alone. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) imposed a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on third-party sellers using its fulfilment services from April 17, citing elevated fuel and logistics costs linked to rising oil prices.
Crude oil prices have climbed sharply amid geopolitical tensions involving Iran. Since late February, American drivers have collectively paid an estimated $8.4 billion in additional fuel costs, roughly $240 million per day, according to market estimates.
USPS and Amazon reached a tentative agreement on Monday to reduce Amazon’s package volume through USPS by 20%, a reduction from earlier proposals, the Wall Street Journal reported. Amazon’s packages account for roughly $6 billion in annual USPS revenue, making any volume reduction a direct hit to an agency already conserving cash.
Disclaimer: This content was produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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