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Friday, August 10, 2012

Postal Service Reports $5.2B Loss In 3rd Quarter

The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service on Thursday reported losses of $57 million per day in the last quarter and warned it will miss another payment due to the U.S. Treasury, just one week after its first-ever default on a payment for future retiree health benefits.

From April to June, losses totaled $5.2 billion, up $2.1 billion from the same period last year.

The mail agency said it is being hurt significantly by mounting expenses for future retiree health benefits. Those expenses, mandated by Congress in 2006, made up $3.1 billion of the post office's quarterly loss, while workers compensation tacked on another $1.1 billion in expenses. The agency's operating loss was $1 billion, mostly due to declines in first-class mail.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don’t really feel sorry for the post office. This shows what happens when you let the government run a business. I have never seen such a poor example of leadership like I have with the government. First, have you ever been in a post office that didn’t have a line? Shipping is not rocket science. The post office should take lessons from FedEx and UPS. You feel like a customer with them. They have worked on systems to meet the needs of today. The post office is still thinking 1970’s. Second, have you seen the price to ship stuff? Why would I take a package to the post office when I can UPS it cheaper and faster. The post office could have been the dominate force in shipping. They let FedEx and UPS come in and take over the biggest part. Just about everyone orders stuff on line. Who usually gets the product to you? I bet its UPS. The truth is you feel more comfortable with FedEx or UPS. When you ship with them you even get an updated tracking number that you can see the progress with the ship. How has the post office handled this? Oh they us tracking numbers but I bet you will not know where your product is. The bottom line is the post office needs to clean house and think to the future. It’s not going to be easy because the internet and other shipping companies have bet them to the punch.

Anonymous said...

Post office had money but government "borrowed all of it"
Research the facts

Anonymous said...

Why is everyone so eager to close the USPS and starting paying FedEx and UPS $1.50 to ship a letter?

Anonymous said...

12:23
As much as the government keeps bailing them out it might be cheaper that way.

Jim said...

I beleive the USPS did drop the ball by not getting into shipping when they should have and have a lot of ground to make up. And many post offices should be closed, yet no one wants their post office closed! Why? Who uses the post office any more??
Face it... the US would be lost without the Postal Service. May not want to admit it but there is still tons of mail that gets sent.
And people would be in an uproar if they raised the price of a stamp to 2.00. And that would still be worth it to send a letter across the country.
BTW hope you all know the postal workers do not get social security and their pensions are in jeopardy?