The United States Postal Service is limping along

This editorial first appeared in the Nov. 20 edition of The Orange County Register.

Forgive us if we don’t think it’s cause for celebration that the U.S. Postal Service on Friday, Nov. 15 reported a $5 billion net loss for its 2013 fiscal year – “a significant improvement over last year,” as our friends at the New York Times generously characterized it.

No, a $5 billion net loss isn’t as horrific as the record $15.9 billion loss the USPS posted in 2012. But it’s still pretty darn terrible. And it marks the seventh straight fiscal year that the postal service has finished in the red.

“We’ve ach...