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Posted on 11/15/2011 2:19:21 PM PST by bestintxas
The U.S. Postal Service released its annual financial results on Tuesday, and they're nothing to write home about.
The agency reported an annual loss of $5.1 billion, as declining mail volumes and mounting benefit costs take their toll. The Postal Service said its losses would have been roughly $10.6 billion if not for the passage of legislation postponing a $5.5 billion payment required to fund retiree health benefits.
PrintCommentRevenues from First-Class Mail, the Postal Service's largest and most profitable product, declined 6% from the previous fiscal year to $32 billion. Total mail volume declined by 3 billion pieces, or 1.7%.
"The continuing and inevitable electronic migration of First-Class Mail, which provides approximately 49 percent of our revenue, underscores the need to streamline our infrastructure and make changes to our business model," Postal Service CFO Joe Corbett said in a statement accompanying the figures.
Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe said in the statement that the Postal Service must reduce its annual costs by $20 billion by the end of 2015 to return to profitability.
Last year's losses hit $8.5 billion, despite deep cuts in expenses and staffing. Mail volume is down more than 20% over the past four years.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
The USPS may be funded by sales, but they are billions in the red and they will be bailed out just like Bush and Obama bailed out GM and Wall Street.
We must stop all socialism.
....and if there is a market for those services a private company will perform them.
No market? Is that why some rural carriers put in 10 hour days today? So much mail for no market.
In addition, can I charge them or assign them a portion of my waste disposal bill since they are taking up 20 percent of my trash capacity?
“No market? Is that why some rural carriers put in 10 hour days today? So much mail for no market.”
Unless one is a Communist, the only way a market can exist is if the seller can make a profit.
They lose 10k per year, per employee. The answer is simple.
As opposed to a modest $5 billion loss? Compared to the national deficit and debt, it's a drop in the bucket.
They are not asking for a bail out. They are asking Congress to let them close post offices and reduce staff. Don’t blame to post office. Unlike a regular under performing business they are hamstrung by “Congressional oversight.”
No, they are constrained because they have a poor, outdated and obsolete business model in an industry where demand has fallen sharply.
The delivering of paper mail from house to house via a mail carrier is no longer needed and the USPS should go the way of the businesses that made buggy whips, typewriters and 8-Track tapes.
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