US Postal Service reports loss on shrinking mail volumes
November 16th, 2011 - 1:56 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Nov 16 (IANS) The US Postal Service (USPS) Tuesday posted a net loss of $5.1 billion for the 2011 fiscal year that ended Sep 30 as mail volumes continued to drop.
The year-end loss would have been about $10.6 billion had it not been approved by Congress to postpone a $5.5 billion payment for future retirees’ health benefits into fiscal 2012, said chief financial officer Joe Corbett.
The total mail volume declined by 3 billion pieces, or 1.7 percent, from 2010, mainly because of the recession and the increasing use of electronic communications, the USPS said.
It added that mail volumes have dropped more than 20 percent in the last five years, and the USPS has been in challenging fiscal situation for several years, reported Xinhua.
The USPS may run out of cash to operate by next September and will default on the benefits payment later this month, said Corbett, noting that the loss last year was $8.5 billion, including a benefits payment.
“To return to profitability we must reduce our annual costs by $20 billion by the end of 2015,” said Patrick Donahoe, postmaster general and CEO, adding that aggressive cost-cutting actions would be probable.
The USPS, a self-supporting government enterprise, is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, including 150 million residences, businesses and post office boxes.
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