WASHINGTON — The head of the U.S. Postal Service warned on Tuesday that the agency will be forced to make significant cuts to retail post office locations and other services unless Congress acts, as it faces widening losses and an ongoing cash crisis.
Postmaster General David Steiner told a meeting that the service would have to take drastic action to meet its obligations. "We will need to make drastic changes in the number of Post offices and marketing mail service levels, and we will need to look at other areas to generate the cash we need to meet our obligations to our employees and to the American public," Steiner said.
The Postal Service reported a net loss of $6.5 billion for the fiscal year ended September 30, compared with a $9.0 billion loss the previous year. Total operating revenue was $82.9 billion, an increase of $2.4 billion, or 3.0 percent, while the controllable loss narrowed to $2.4 billion from $2.7 billion.
Steiner said the improvement reflected stronger revenue generation, cost control and service performance, including a $2.4 billion increase in operating revenue, a $2.4 billion decrease in workers' compensation expense and a $277 million decrease in retirement expenses. But he stressed that the financial crisis continues despite those efforts.
"Because of our ongoing financial crisis, we are continuing to balance the needs of our daily business operations with our need to conserve cash," Steiner said. "We are also seeking legislative actions to establish a better and more durable business model for the Postal Service and for the benefit of the American public we serve."
The Postal Service, which is largely self-funded, has asked Congress to let it raise postage prices in January 2027 instead of waiting until July 2027, a move Steiner has said could generate between $600 million and $800 million in cash. About 58 percent of the service's 18,000 post offices lose money, and about 70 percent of its delivery routes are unprofitable.
Steiner warned earlier this year that the service would run out of cash in less than a year unless Congress allowed it to borrow more money and increase postage prices. In 2026 the Postal Service streamlined its networks, cut 19 million work hours and deferred $1.4 billion in pension contributions, and in April the Postal Regulatory Commission granted a temporary waiver of required pension payments.
The warning sets up a fresh fight over the future of mail delivery in the United States, with rural communities most at risk if unprofitable post offices are closed.
