Posted on 08/05/2010 9:41:55 AM PDT by Zakeet
The U.S. Postal Service reported a $3.5 billion loss in its most recent quarter Thursday, as mail volume plummets and retiree health care costs mount.
The USPS, a self-supporting government agency that receives no tax dollars, said operating revenue declined 1.8% to $16 billion during the fiscal 2010 third quarter compared to a year earlier, while operating expenses spiked 4.2% to $19.5 billion.
The quarterly loss was the fourteenth in the last sixteen quarters, the postal service said.
"A significant portion of USPS losses in the past few years has been due to an unprecedented decline in mail volume -- down more than 20% since 2007," the USPS said in a statement. "The replacement of letter mail and business-transaction mail by electronic alternatives continues to cause downward pressure on mail volume."
"Securing the fiscal stability of the Postal Service will require continued efforts in all of these areas, as well as further review of retiree health benefit prefunding," said postmaster general John Potter.
"It also will require that the Postal Service gain flexibility within the law to move toward five-day delivery, to adjust our network as needed, to develop new products the market demands, and to work with our unions to meet the challenges ahead," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Was your ex-wife a postal employee?
When I was 13 I had a paper route delivering supermarket ads.
I got 2 cents per paper. What my Mom called throw-a-ways.
Now the postal carrier brings them.
And, they are not addressed to the house.
So, postal carriers are doing the jobs 13yo’s can’t get.
In the meantime, get rid of Saturday delivery except for guaranteed or express mail.
Cut the costs of stamps and packaging across the board - stop raising prices. When you're losing business, you don't fricking raise prices. It's economic illogically.
Buy-out retirees pensions with a lump-sum payment, and make the USPS non-union.
“I am currently using a computer that had a price of $4,500 brand new”
If you paid that much for a computer just to have an interface to the Internet, boy did you get screwed.
The real bargain is the flat-rate box. I can get 70 lbs. of lead bullets shipped for $14.
My pet peeve with the USPS is their lame tracking system. UPS and FedEx will tell me exactly where a package is. Ever try getting delivery confirmation for first-class mail? Either you suffer through antique, arcane “Certified’ mail with no tracking or spend big bucks for priority with delivery confirmation.
My email is NOT FREE!
That's what you get for buying a Mac...;) I'm using a 17" laptop that cost me $400. Considering the 40-50 e-mails I get every day, my computer cost-per-email is basically zero.
Every time I vote, they've earned their costs...
You are not answering the question. Admit it, DOD runs a 100% deficit every day, 365.
For paying your bills ~ maybe 10 items a month, your computer is robbing you blind.
How do they keep operation???
At the same time it runs everything you can run on Windows.
BTW, my last half dozen computers were Wintel and we built them out of parts ~ put our own label on them too.
The DOD returns security for this nation. According to your viewpoint the police run a 100% deficit every day, yet I value the safety and security they provide to my city.
Well then, considering I’m a technical professional who makes his living designing hardware and software for consumer electronics, and does it with this same computer, I may spend $3 per bill over the next 3 years, but I earn several thousand times that per month with the same piece of equipment.
Not a bad return on $400...
Haha you got me there!
What the hell is your point muawiyah, the DOD is not in the business of making money, or bringing home the ‘spoils’ of war. It is in the business of providing for the ‘common defense’. And no, the DOD does not run a ‘deficit’. Only an entity such as the post office can run a ‘deficit’ - it is supposed to be self supporting.
You are very short on the history of warfare. It’s purpose is not defense but to raid the neighbors and bring home the bacon.
Oh stop. You're going to give the Democrat lurkers headaches with those brain teasers.
Yes they get "special temporary supplmentals" when they get behind, in other words, irregularly scheduled bail-outs.
Pure BS, my misguided friend.
“
USPS posts $3.5 billion loss as mail volume plunges
“
Heck, hire that new cost-cutter Raul Castro to fix the USPS budget hole.
(/SARC...well at least a little)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.