Washington – The Postal Service is continuing to hemorrhage money, reporting a loss Tuesday of more than $2 billion over the first three months of the year and warning it could be forced to default on federal payments.
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Such a default would not interrupt mail service to millions of Americans, but it could further hobble an agency struggling with a sharp decline in mail because of the Internet and a tough economy.
The agency says the $2.2 billion loss covers Jan. 1 to March 31 – sharply higher than the net loss of $1.6 billion for the same period last year. The post office also said it will have reached its borrowing limit, set by Congress, of $15 billion by the end of the budget year on Sept. 30.
Unless Congress intervenes, the Postal Service said, the agency won’t have the cash for certain payment to the government, such as billions for a trust fund to provide health care benefits for future retirees.
“The Postal Service continues to seek changes in the law to enable a more flexible and sustainable business model,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe. “The Postal Service may return to financial stability only through significant changes to the laws that limit flexibility and impose undue financial burdens.”
Total mail volume, about 41 billion pieces, was down 3.1 percent for the January to March period, compared with the same time a year earlier, the Postal Service said. A modest increase in revenue from standard mail wasn’t enough to offset the revenue loss from less first-class mail.
In the last three years, the agency has cut over 130,000 jobs. And it’s making more cuts, with the elimination of about 7,500 administrative jobs in regional offices.
The Postal Service does not receive tax money for its operations.
I see a bailout coming.
i see the price of stamps going up
How come UPS and FedEx can keep up in these tiring times that the economy is down, and electronic mail is up?
Because they’re not a government agency! How smart do you need to be not to see that!?!
Healthcare here we come!
Aside from bills, invitations, and ebay users, who ever mails a letter?
Privatizing is a good idea. Maybe UPS or Fedex would buy off this business.
‘such as billions for a trust fund to provide health care benefits for future retirees.’
Therein lies the problem, eliminate this gimmick and they might even become profitable.
Did anyone ever notice that the only vehicles on the streets without license plates are the USPS vehicles???
That’s right, none of their trucks, cars, vans, etc. have license plates or registration stickers or even inspection stickers. (The only ID that the vehicles have is the serial number printed on the truck on the top corner.)
Aside for the fact that I see this as a MAJOR terrorist opportunity, (Anyone can buy a minivan and paint it the postal colors and will not be noticed or ticketed for ….) this also means that they NEVER GET PARKING TICKETS.
I see this all the time, the UPS truck can get numerous tickets for parking illegally but the USPS truck that is parked in the same zone will not get a ticket.
In Manhattan you can see this all the time.
This a major savings for the USPS and they still manage to lose money.
WOW!!!
My kids’ tuition “reminders” alone give the post office enough business to finance an entire army. And why couldn’t they deliver my sister Debbie’s chasuna invitations on time?
Time to end saturday service – it would save the usps
While there remains the need for the Postal Service to accommodate the traditional customers, it is appalling that there was no plan in place to go with the advances in technology. Every bank, credit card, and utility has gone paperless. There is even a beginning trend to avoid paper invitations to simchos. The frequent email reminders about conferences, events, solicitations, etc. are considerably cheaper than paper, more reliable, and require next to no time and effort. With all the other couriers around, the Postal Service has serious competition, and hiking rates is less of an option. Personally, I do not have the answer. But it appears that our wonderful government has been asleep at the switch.
My broker sends me a check by mail — I do not receive it — What is wrong. I receive the replacement check!! Something is fishy!!!
I haven’t been inside a post office facility in many years, as I don’t care to use their services. I buy my stamps on the Internet; if I have a package to send, I use Federal Express. When I lived in NYC, I never received someone else’s mail, as a result of a delivery error. However, in the community that I live in, I’ve received other people’s mail many times, because of the incompetence and the nasty attitude of some of the mail delivery personnel, who change routes quite frequently. In NYC, we had the same mail carrier for many years. Now, it seems that the routes of the carriers are changed monthly. Private businesses should be allowed to deliver first class mail, in the same manner that they are allowed to deliver parcels. Last, I thought that the post office wasn’t going to delivery mail on Saturday any longer? Was that cost saving idea blocked by some powerful interests?
each USPS emplyee makes good money plus benefits, but whenever one goes into there location it seems they don’t do nothing around there, awaiting for them half an hour minimum online to send an item or to pick up a package, and talk about loses, how about customer service? for once.
I do not care for Federal Express. When someone delivers a pkg to me, they bring it to the bldg across the street, one number off. Then they say that they delivered it. I prefer UPS overnight or UPS BL.
With service you get in the BP and Midwood Post Offices, it’s no wonder people are not using the USPS service.
So if they close on Shabbos they’ll save billions? Sounds like a wonderful idea to me.
And as much as everyone so far is yelling at the USPS, the article states that they do want to change some things, but cannot legally do so yet. So if they want to change, why are we condemning them?
As to them cutting benefits, many people chose their jobs based on the offered benefits above base pay. So the workers will be owed the money when they retire. And if the USPS doesn’t put in money ahead of time, what happens when people retire and there is no money there? What if the place you retired from decided to stop paying you since they had no money, G-d Forbid you would have no money and be retired.
I mean, it’s not ideal, but can’t they just up stamps another cent or two? $0.02 cents extra won’t break me, and I’m sure it will add up big for them.
And when it comes to postage, I had to send something to Singapore and the USPS was by far much cheaper.
They could easily cut spending, but it is much easier to go back to the government and demand more tax money.
There are 4 post offices within 3 square miles of my house. That is ridiculous. There is no reason for that. It is just a wasteful gluttony. One of them is in a shopping center where the 2 anchor stores have closed up shop. It is not a sorting or dispatch facility, just counter service. NOBODY uses this post office anymore. I go there to avoid lines as there is always at least 4-5 employees in the place, not doing a darn thing!
Also, I don’t need mail delivered every day. Do the even sides of the street 3 days/week and the odd numbers the other 3 days/week. We could cut the number of postal carriers in HALF.
There is no excuse for this kind of gross mismanagement.
One of the requirements for success in any business is efficiency. USPS has fared poorly. The costs of salaries and benefits are ridiculous. Retirement at age 45? Benefit packages that make CEO’s of major companies look like vagrants? How about customer service? In my experience, giving it a rating as poor is quite generous. My former letter carrier was wonderful, courteous, polite, and simply delightful. He is now living somewhere else, having retired with a huge pension at age 45. When I stamp a letter, I think to myself that this will pay for his resort home. His replacement is quiet, which is a good thing. When he speaks, he is plainly rude. He doesn’t do that often because he cannot hear you when you speak to him (he has his ipod stuck in both ears). At the Post Offices, it is really tough to accomplish anything. The lines are ungodly long and slow. No one answers questions anymore. There usually 2 open booths, despite the availability of many more plus long lines of customers. There is never anywhere to park. I bet if the USPS would work to attract customers, it would have a chance of succeeding – that and a bit of creative thinking.
One word “pensions”
Two words “lazy workers”