US Postal Service Reports Loss of $1.9 Billion in 2nd Q

[freelunch]

WASHINGTON — The financially troubled Postal Service on Friday posted a net loss of $1.9 billion in the second quarter, which ended March 31, the same amount the agency lost over the same period in 2013, postal officials said.

Though postal officials said they undertook efforts to trim costs like cutting back the hours at many post offices, reducing staff through attrition and consolidating about half of the service’s processing plants, the agency said these actions were not enough to reduce its massive debt.

The agency owes $99.8 billion in benefit payments to its current and retired workers, which includes $16.7 billion of congressionally mandated payments into a future retiree health care fund. The Postal Service has defaulted on the health care payments over the last three years, and postal officials called on Congress to pass legislation to help the agency overhaul its business model. Bills are pending in the House and Senate.

“Without legislation our losses will increase in the coming years and we will likely be a significant burden on the taxpayers,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, the postmaster general.

Revenue from first-class mail, which provides the bulk of the revenue for the Postal Service, declined 1.4 percent from the same period the previous year, with a decrease in volume of 4.4 percent.

The agency’s shipping and packaging business continues to be a bright spot, increasing by 11 percent over 2013 second-quarter results, fueled by the growth of online shopping, Sunday deliveries in limited markets and aggressive marketing campaigns, postal officials said.

The agency hopes to make shipping a larger part of its revenue stream as other forms of mail decline.

Last year, the agency signed an agreement with the online retailer Amazon.com to deliver packages on Sunday in the New York and Los Angeles metro areas. On Thursday, Amazon and the Postal Service announced that 15 additional areas had been added, including Houston, New Orleans and Philadelphia.

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[janitor]

Maybe we should send them Moya,I'm sure she could fix it