Posted by
Defend America on Wednesday, March 03, 2010 6:40:05 AM
Postal Service expected to announce 'significant changes'
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The U.S. Postal Service will release projections Tuesday that confirm
for the first time the suspicion that mail volume will never return to
pre-recession levels. In response, the agency is pushing anew for a
dramatic reshaping of how Americans get and send their letters and
packages.
Customers are continuing to migrate to the Internet and to cheaper
standard-mail options, and away from the Postal Service's signature
product -- first-class mail, Postmaster General John E. Potter will
report in announcing the projections.
The Postal Service experienced a 13 percent drop in mail volume
last fiscal year, more than double any previous decline, and lost $3.8
billion. The projections anticipate steeper drops in mail volume and
revenue over the next 10 years, and mounting labor costs only
complicate the agency's path to firm fiscal footing.
In an effort to offset some of the losses, Potter seeks more
flexibility in the coming year to set delivery schedules, prices and
labor costs. The changes could mean an end to Saturday deliveries,
longer delivery times for letters and packages, higher postage-stamp
prices that exceed the rate of inflation, and the potential for future
layoffs.
"At the end of the day, I'm convinced that if we make the changes
that are necessary, we can continue to provide universal service for
Americans for decades to come," Potter said Monday. "We can turn back
from the red to the black, but there are some significant changes we
need to make."
The postmaster general called for many of these changes last year
but failed to convince lawmakers. This time he's armed with $4.8
million worth of outside studies that conclude that, without drastic
changes, the mail agency will face even more staggering losses.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/01/AR2010030103452.html?hpid=moreheadlines