{"id":575138,"date":"2026-04-10T03:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/575138\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T03:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:14:12","slug":"usps-to-suspend-payments-to-employee-pension-plan-to-free-up-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/575138\/","title":{"rendered":"USPS to Suspend Payments to Employee Pension Plan to Free up Cash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>America&#8217;s <a target=\"_self\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/privatizing-usps-impact-on-business-nonprofits-rural-areas-2025-3\" data-track-click=\"{&quot;element_name&quot;:&quot;body_link&quot;,&quot;event&quot;:&quot;tout_click&quot;,&quot;index&quot;:&quot;bi_value_unassigned&quot;,&quot;product_field&quot;:&quot;bi_value_unassigned&quot;}\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">postal service<\/a> is temporarily halting payments to its employees&#8217; pensions to free up cash, citing fast-approaching financial troubles.<\/p>\n<p>\n                          Loading audio narration&#8230;\n                        <\/p>\n<p>The payment suspension to the Federal Employees Retirement System pension plan is set to take effect on Friday, the US Postal Service said in a document with frequently asked questions and answers. The FAQ attributed the pause in pension payments to &#8220;a pending liquidity crisis in which the postal service could run out of cash as early as February 2027.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>USPS chief financial officer Luke Grossmann said that the suspension would not cause &#8220;any immediate detrimental impact&#8221; to current employees or retirees.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The risk to the Postal Service and the American public from insufficient liquidity for postal operations dramatically outweighs any longer-term risk to the pension funds from not making the currently due payments,&#8221; Grossmann said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The pause is the latest sign of <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/businessinsider\/videos\/the-rise-and-fall-of-usps\/269268597771900\/\" data-track-click=\"{&quot;click_type&quot;:&quot;other&quot;,&quot;element_name&quot;:&quot;body_link&quot;,&quot;event&quot;:&quot;outbound_click&quot;}\" rel=\" nofollow noopener\">trouble for USPS<\/a>. Last fiscal year, the postal service lost $9 billion. More recently, it reached a deal with Amazon that will reduce the number of deliveries it ships from the e-commerce giant by 20%, <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/retail-consumer\/amazon-says-it-has-reached-deal-with-us-postal-service-package-deliveries-2026-04-06\/\" data-track-click=\"{&quot;click_type&quot;:&quot;other&quot;,&quot;element_name&quot;:&quot;body_link&quot;,&quot;event&quot;:&quot;outbound_click&quot;}\" rel=\" nofollow noopener\">Reuters reported<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>In a congressional hearing last month, Postmaster General David Steiner said the financial situation puts USPS at a &#8220;critical juncture.&#8221; Without action, Steiner said, USPS might not be able to deliver mail starting in early 2027.<\/p>\n<p>By suspending pension\u00a0payments, USPS\u00a0said it would\u00a0save $2.5 billion in the current fiscal year. USPS pays about $200 million every other week to fund the pensions. Contributions to employees&#8217; Thrift Savings Plans, a separate savings option for federal employees, won&#8217;t be affected by the pause, USPS said.<\/p>\n<p>The pension payment pause isn&#8217;t a permanent solution to the postal service&#8217;s financial problems, USPS said. The agency has cut costs and pursued new revenue, but said it also needs Congress to increase its funding.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Legislative action is desperately needed to return the Postal Service to profitability,&#8221; USPS said in the FAQ.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a story to share about USPS? Contact this reporter at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/mailto:abitter@businessinsider.com\" data-track-click=\"{&quot;click_type&quot;:&quot;other&quot;,&quot;element_name&quot;:&quot;body_link&quot;,&quot;event&quot;:&quot;outbound_click&quot;}\" rel=\" nofollow noopener\">abitter@businessinsider.com<\/a> or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here&#8217;s our <a target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10\" data-track-click=\"{&quot;element_name&quot;:&quot;body_link&quot;,&quot;event&quot;:&quot;tout_click&quot;,&quot;index&quot;:&quot;bi_value_unassigned&quot;,&quot;product_field&quot;:&quot;bi_value_unassigned&quot;}\">guide to sharing information securely<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"America&#8217;s postal service is temporarily halting payments to its employees&#8217; pensions to free up cash, citing fast-approaching financial&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7413,28,9074,114060,3901,252952,177207,252950,172144,39275,252951,7617,143482,31893,6208,1892],"class_list":{"0":"post-575138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-action","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cash","11":"tag-contribution","12":"tag-employee","13":"tag-employee-pension-plan","14":"tag-faq","15":"tag-last-fiscal-year","16":"tag-pause","17":"tag-payment","18":"tag-payment-suspension","19":"tag-pension","20":"tag-pension-payment","21":"tag-postal-service","22":"tag-risk","23":"tag-usps"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}