No, it is not a "gouge". All of the gouging examples referenced are by private companies. The USPS is not a business and pretending it is, well, that's just ignorant of the law establishing the USPS and governing its conduct. The USPS has several legally-mandated duties that are contrary to what is required of private enterprises:
39 USC 101(a) states the fundamental policy of the USPS to place prompt and reliable service to the entire country above costs:
§101. Postal policy
(a)
The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, and supported by the people. The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind the Nation together through the personal, educational, literary, and business correspondence of the people.
It shall provide prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal services to all communities.
The costs of establishing and maintaining the Postal Service shall not be apportioned to impair the overall value of such service to the people.
Subparagraph (b) of the law requires deliveries to rural areas even if unprofitable:
(b) The Postal Service
shall provide a maximum degree of effective and regular postal services to rural areas, communities, and small towns where post offices are not self-sustaining.
No small post office shall be closed solely for operating at a deficit, it being the specific intent of the Congress that effective postal services be insured to residents of both urban and rural communities.
In other words, it is illegal for the USPS to decide that delivering the mail to Podunk, IA is unprofitable and therefore drop the route, and it cannot close the post office there just because it is a money-losing dog. Ever wonder why the USPS doesn't make you drive to an urban center to post a letter? Because the USPS cannot close your local post office just to save money.
"Gouging"--charging more than an equitable cost across all users--is illegal per subparagraph (d) of the law:
(d) Postal rates shall be established to apportion the costs of all postal operations to all users of the mail on a fair and equitable basis.
Profit is not the priority of the USPS, by law, as stated in subparagraph (e):
(e) In determining all policies for postal services, the Postal Service shall give the highest consideration to the requirement for the most expeditious collection, transportation, and delivery of important letter mail.
In addition to the above, in 2006 Congress established a pension funding rule for the USPS that is unlike anything in the private sector. Under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act the USPS is required, "beginning in 2007, to compute the net present value of the future payments required and attributable to the service of Postal Service employees during the most recently ended fiscal year, along with a schedule if annual installments which provides for the liquidation of any liability or surplus by 2056. [and] each year, to pay into the above Fund such net present value and the annual installment due under the amortization schedule." Cutting through the gobbledygook, the USPS has to prefund its retiree health benefits, something that no private employer is required to do under Federal law. That punches a giant hole in its finances every year. Try making Fed Ex prefund and see how much it jacks up the rates.
Now, as far as current services are concerned, two more misconceptions need correcting:
1. It is not the fault of Congress that the USPS is in financial trouble. The House passed a $25 billion funding package that it offered to reduce to $10 billion. The Senate and the current occupant of the White House flatly refused to consider funding the post office at any level because:
2. The financial crippling of the USPS is part of an intentional effort to impede the mail in order to discourage voting by mail--which the current occupant of the White House expressly admitted to (“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox, “That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it.”). Memos obtained by The Associated Press show that Postal Service leadership has pushed to eliminate overtime and halt late delivery trips that are sometimes needed to ensure mail arrives on time, and cuts to hours at post offices, including reductions on Saturdays and during lunch hours.
Alright, rant over. Now here's a card:
Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns it lonely eyes to you...