Joseph Corbett

The U.S. Postal Service ended the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 (April 1 - June 30) with a net loss of $3.5 billion, compared with a net loss of $2.4 billion for the same quarter last year. Third-quarter mail volume totaled 40.9 billion pieces - down approximately 700 million pieces, or 1.7 percent, compared to a year ago. The USPS blamed much of the losses in the past few years to "an unprecedented decline in mail volume - down by more than 20 percent since 2007. The replacement of letter mail and business-transactions mail by electronic alternatives continues

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) today filed its 2009 fiscal year-end financial results, showing a net loss of $3.8 billion for the year — despite cost-cutting efforts resulting in $6 billion in cost savings and a $4 billion reduction in required payments for retiree health benefits. Cost savings reflect a reduction of 40,000 career USPS employees as well as reductions in overtime hours, transportation and other costs. The $4 billion reduction in required retiree health benefit payments was passed into law for fiscal 2009 to allow USPS to maintain fiscal solvency while continuing to provide universal, affordable service to the nation.

The U.S. Postal Service ended its second quarter (Jan 1 – March 31) with a net loss of $1.9 billion, as the economic recession and longer-term financial pressures, such as the diversion of letter mail to electronic alternatives, continued to reduce mail volume and revenue. Despite aggressive actions to reduce costs and grow revenue, the Postal Service will likely face a cash shortfall of over $1.5 billion at the end of the fiscal year.