{"id":535366,"date":"2026-04-17T04:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T04:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535366\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T04:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T04:38:09","slug":"usps-halts-pension-contributions-after-warning-of-looming-cash-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535366\/","title":{"rendered":"USPS halts pension contributions after warning of looming cash crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The United States Postal Service is suspending employer pension contributions for workers beginning Friday, citing a looming cash shortfall, the agency announced Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The move, which affects the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), comes just weeks after the Postal Service warned Congress it could run out of cash in under a year without significant reforms, including changes to pension funding and stamp prices.<\/p>\n<p>USPS emphasized that the pause will have no immediate impact on current or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/retire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:future retirees;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">future retirees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There will not be any immediate detrimental impact to our current or future retirees if normal FERS cost payments are temporarily withheld,&#8221; Postal Service Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/postal-service-says-cash-could-run-out-under-year-without-changes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Postal Service Says Cash Could Run Out In Under A Year Without Changes;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Postal Service Says Cash Could Run Out In Under A Year Without Changes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A United States Postal Service (USPS) worker delivering packages.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1242\" height=\"699\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/396696198d3f251311d207275aa8b19a.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A United States Postal Service worker delivers packages on Cyber Monday in New York Dec. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p> (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>USPS has previously reported mounting losses over the years, totaling $118 billion since 2007, as volumes of its most profitable product, first-class mail, fell to their lowest levels since the late 1960s.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxbusiness.onelink.me\/Zkcx\/7ux7xf3k\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Read On The Fox Business App;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Read On The Fox Business App<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The financial strain was further exacerbated by global tariffs, high inflation and recent spikes in gasoline prices, along with growing competition from private carriers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/amazon\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:such as Amazon;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">such as Amazon<\/a>, which now delivers many of its own packages.<\/p>\n<p>USPS said it typically sends the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees federal retirement accounts, about $200 million every two weeks to cover pension costs.<\/p>\n<p>By suspending the payments, the agency expects to free up roughly $2.5 billion in the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>While the agency has suspended its employer contributions, it said it will continue transferring employee payroll deductions into retirement accounts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/usps-could-slow-service-certain-areas-seeks-cut-costs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Usps Could Slow Service In Certain Areas As It Seeks To Cut Costs;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">Usps Could Slow Service In Certain Areas As It Seeks To Cut Costs<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"usps packages\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1242\" height=\"699\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2503a28e609ca62411ce90b454995830.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An Amazon Inc. package sits on a conveyor belt at the United States Postal Service Merrifield processing and distribution center in Merrifield, Va., Dec. 19, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, the agency said its Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a separate retirement savings program similar to a government 401(k), remains unaffected.<\/p>\n<p>USPS will continue processing employee-funded contributions and matching funds into the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), and noted that workers will be able to contribute more in 2026 under new IRS limits.<\/p>\n<p>In March, Postmaster General David Steiner told a House Oversight subcommittee that the Postal Service could run out of cash within a year without major changes.<\/p>\n<p>Steiner outlined potential cost-cutting steps, including reducing six-day delivery, raising first-class mail prices from 78 cents to $1 or more and expanding borrowing authority after USPS hit its $15 billion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/credit-debt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:debt cap;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">debt cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In order to survive beyond the next year, we need to increase our borrowing capacity so that we don&#8217;t run out of cash,&#8221; Steiner said in prepared testimony. &#8220;The failure to do this could lead to the end of the Postal Service as we know it now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Original article source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/usps-halts-pension-contributions-warning-looming-cash-crisis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:USPS halts pension contributions after warning of looming cash crisis;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link rapid-noclick-resp\">USPS halts pension contributions after warning of looming cash crisis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States Postal Service is suspending employer pension contributions for workers beginning Friday, citing a looming cash&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,82404,4176,13591,4174,4175,181479,182977,56,54,61098,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-535366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-contributions","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-pension-contributions","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-postal-service","15":"tag-the-postal-service","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-united-states-postal-service","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}