The Postal Service said its loss widened to $3.2 billion in the first three months of 2012 and repeated on Thursday its warning that it will likely default on payments to the federal government unless Congress passes legislation offering some relief.
The agency, which does not receive taxpayer funds and has been losing billions each year as Americans communicate online, said it lost $2.2 billion in the same period in 2011.
Postal officials are pressing Congress to pass legislation that would allow the agency to move forward with its five-year business plan, including ending Saturday mail delivery. In the meantime, they have sought ways to cut costs.
The announcement came a day after the cash-strapped mail service said it was walking back a plan to close thousands of money-losing post offices and would instead slash operating hours at 13,000 locations with low traffic.
“We are aggressively pursuing new revenue streams and reducing costs in areas within our control,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement. “These actions are not enough to return the Postal Service to profitability.”
The Postal Service lost $5.1 billion in fiscal year 2011 and was unable to make a massive annual payment for future retiree health benefits, which is required by law. The agency said much of the loss during the second quarter of 2012 came from setting aside funds for the $11.1 billion that is due this year.
Mail volume also fell 4.1 percent to 39.5 billion pieces from the same period a year earlier, as electronic communications drained both first-class and advertising mail.
The agency has asked Congress to end the retiree health payment requirement, let USPS pull its employees out of federal health programs and run its own plan, scrap Saturday mail delivery, raise rates beyond inflation, and give back a retirement-fund surplus estimated at about $11 billion.
The Senate passed bipartisan legislation last month that would allow the Postal Service to use the retirement-fund surplus to offer retirement incentives, spread out the health benefits payments over a longer time period, and let it end Saturday mail after two years.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
7 Responses
Good thing they weren’t selling horseshoes, fixing typewriters or doing ice deliveries on the side.
The obviously solution is to ban the internet.
My grandfather was a blacksmith and made a living on making and fixing horseshoes. When the motor vehicle started his business faltered and he retired.
The mailmen should be given an opportunity to earn a living with the new technology. You cannot stop progress.
My grandfather was a blacksmith and made a living on making and fixing horseshoes. When the motor vehicle started his business faltered and he retired.
The mailmen should be given an opportunity to earn a living with the new technology. You cannot stop progress.
UPS and FedEx make lot’s of money, the Postal Service is run by the Government and will never earn a dime
The Post Office is doing alot wrong. First is overtime they pay mailcarriers who are on their own for the day. In our neighborhood, the mailman can be sitting in an apartment building for up to 3 hours during which he is on the phone, has a family member bring him lunch and catching up on family news. Today for example he took a suntan for about over an hour on a stoop as i passed on the way to somewhere and he was in the same place upon my return about an hour or so later. Then when i went to see an elderly person in that apartment building he was sitting there today when i got there at 2:30 and still there when i left at 4:00. I did mention it to the supervisor when i was at the Post Office this week and he explained to me that the workers he is being sent is getting worse with some who literally speak no English. So if we have to manage without them or go private with mailing it may be for the better.
#4- If UPS and FedEx tried to make a living delivering junk mail, magazine, and first class letters (for the handful of people who haven’t switch to email), and delivered to any and all addresses (including remote rural areas and slums), they to would lose money. In fac, FedEx and the USPS have a profitable partnership for package delivery.
The best solution is to recognize that this is the era of the internet, and force everyone to use internet. It should be noted, that “home delivery” is a relatively new innovation, and they could deliver mail to a post office and allow people to pick it up (or pay extra for home delivery, as used to be the case).
They lost 3.2 Billion dollars, or 3.2 Billion packages? Its no surprise that the USPS is losing money. Their lack of courtesy, service, and most of all common sense is what is doing them in. Everyone dreads going to the post office, there are long lines, confusing out dated postal forms, and the tellers are frequently down right nasty. What the USPS needs is a CEO, that will be responsible for the re-management of the USPS.