The Postal Service says it’s losing billions of dollars each year. To close the gap, it has proposed shuttering nearly 2,500 post offices nationwide, most of them in rural areas, along with possibly reducing deliveries to five days a week. But as with most information coming from Washington, DC, there’s more to this story.

The Postal Service actually is making a profit. Yes, that’s right—in operational terms, the Postal Service makes more money than it spends.

So why do we hear all those reports about the Postal Service losing tons of money?

Here’s what is really happening. Suppose you were required by law to deposit a huge portion of your earnings each year in a savings account to pay bills you won’t get until decades from now. Your neighbors aren’t required to do that, just you. Without that cash to use for everyday expenses, you would probably have trouble paying today’s bills. That’s essentially what’s happening to the Postal Service.