USPS Sees $14.1B Loss on Mail Volumes

[Javaman]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-15/usps-sees-14-1b-loss-on-mail-volumes-payments.html

The U.S. Postal Service may post a record $14.1 billion loss for the 2012 fiscal year as mail volumes continue to drop and Congress forces it to make a payment for future retirees’ health benefits, Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett said.

The service, which says it may run out of cash to operate by next September, posted a 2011 net loss that narrowed to $5.1 billion in the year ended Sept. 30 because a $5.5 billion payment was delayed into fiscal 2012, Corbett said today at the service’s headquarters in Washington. The loss, including a benefits payment, was $8.5 billion a year earlier.

In September, Congress delayed the benefits payment deadline until Nov. 18. If that remains in place, the Postal Service will default on the payment, Corbett said.

The service, which is supposed to support itself financially, is closing post offices and processing plants, cutting jobs and promoting the mailing of letters and packages.

more at link...

[deaniac21]

1. I'm gonna go postal!

[NYC_SKP]

2. I want the USPS to survive, but I wonder if they could at all without junk mail to deliver.

And I HATE junk mail.

For the good of the environment, I'd have to say bye bye to the USPS if they can't survive without junk mail.

I would prefer they remain viable, in business, and stop it with the 41 pounds/year (I think it's more) of crap waste paper in every box.

x(

[Marrah_G]

3. They can't survive without it

And frankly, neither could alot of small businesses. I work for a small insurance brokerage, we rely on direct mail. People either return a request for a phone callor they go on line and contact us that way.

You could always just recycle the mail.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Recycling the mail isn't green, it's just less wasteful than tossing it.

The carbon impact of printing and shipping and recycling and making ink and delivering is wrong, just wrong.

There has to be a better model.

[Marrah_G]

6. I wish there was too

But unfortunately the USPS is one of the last ways that true small businesses can compete with the big companies and their marketing campaigns.

[Javaman]

4. The post office is constitutionally mandated...

it will be interesting as to what form the post office takes after it's completely dismantled by the repukes.