Posted on 08/05/2011 9:22:36 PM PDT by Steelfish
USPS Posts $3.1 Billion Loss In Q3, Warns Of Default By Emily Stephenson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in its third quarter and warned again it would default on payments to the federal government if Congress did not step in. Total mail volume for the quarter that ended June 30 fell to 39.8 billion pieces, a 2.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, as consumers turn to email and pay bills online.
The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds, has struggled to overhaul its business as mail volumes fall. It has said personnel costs weigh heavily and is facing a massive retiree health benefit prepayment next month.
"We are experiencing a severe cash crisis and are unable to continue to maintain the aggressive prepayment schedule," Joseph Corbett, the agency's chief financial officer, said in a statement.
"Without changes in the law, the Postal Service will be unable to make the $5.5 billion mandated prepayment due in September." Congress, which last week ended a vitriolic debate about the U.S. government's debt levels and budget deficit, is now in recess until early September.
USPS cut work hours during the quarter by 3.1 percent compared to the previous year, when quarterly net losses were $3.5 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
the usps union was advertising on rush limbaugh
today; they said they don’t take taxpayers’ money.
Can we first thing, tell the USPS to stop lying to people in commercials that they don’t get ANY taxpayer money, that all their expenses are covered by stamps and postage?
They are at best, quasi-governmental. They are federal employees. They have federal retirement systems. It is a federal crime to steal letters, assault a postman, or get into an accident with a post office truck.
They ARE government. Period. Maybe stop lying and wasting USPS money on ad campaigns trying to convince us you’re not government and self-sufficient, when at the same time you’re begging for more money from the government.
If you’re a private self-sufficient entity, then either swim with fedex, ups and the rest, or drown. That’s what private sector companies do.
Just dammit.
Time for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and put USPS out for bid to private companies!
Eliminate the government and unions from mail delivery!!!!!!!!!!!!
The time for the USPS to go into true private recievership. USPS to UPS or Fedex would be a start in the right direction.
“The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds..”
Really, every time one turns around the USPS is there with hat in hand for a few billion more taxpayer $.
>> The mail carrier, which does not get taxpayer funds, has struggled to overhaul its business as mail volumes fall.
I’d really like to see USPS get through this without special financial assistance. Cut Saturday deliveries? Temporarily cut manager salaries?
>> “unable to continue to maintain the aggressive prepayment schedule”
Referring to the pension reserves?
I know the Post Office is inefficient, but the way they are micromanaged by Congress, there is no way they can succeed. The want to close a zillion old Post Offices, which Congress will not let them do, or raise the price of stamps or reduce service like not deliver on Saturday. With much reduced revenue because of the Internet, they need to do something but are blocked on all fronts, so they just bleed money.
Well, as a matter of fact, they're not.
I discovered this when somebody took me through the USPS P&L.
There was one line, under income, that indicated something like $800 million in receipts from the US Government.
Turns out this isn't a subsidy. Instead, it's largely the collection of postage due on franked mail and pre-paid response envelopes sent out by the government.
To my surprise, turns out the USPS isn't subsidized, after all.
Line up behind Fanny May and Freddie Mac. And learn to speak Chinese.
As a mail sorter, I would guess the MASSIVE amounts of government generated first class mail to account for roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of first class volume. I would call that taxpayer subsidized.
Strange - I saw a TV add the other day that said the USPS is totally self-sufficient and doesn’t require taxpayer money. It said they are totally funded by delivery fees (stamps and such).
Personally I have always found their service to be extremely reliable and effective. Whether they are efficient and properly managed I cannot say - but I still pay my bills via the mail and mail my packages via USPS and have no complaints.
P.S. - to ken21 - I didn’t word that reply correctly - I didn’t mean it to look like I was disagreeing with you.
RAISE THE RATES FOR JUNK MAIL.
I hate that sheit.
No kidding. Why not allow the USPS to charge full bore for junk mail? If that doesn’t work, then just kill it off. It’s pretty much obsolete and unnecessary.
better than giving money to the Taliban in Afghanistan,
which is what we do now
Most of my mail nowadays is junk. I have made online statements a habit so the days of the mail delivery is passé. The unionized labor force who service the post offices are not a paragon of service we cannot do without. I know my FedEx and UPS guys by name. Do not have a clue who puts me neighbors mail in my box at home
dump ‘em~
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