"While it has helped us grow our Shipping Services businesses, it has had a significant negative impact on some of our much larger sources of revenue." Postal Service's losses shot up to $3.3 billion in the last three months of 2011, a tenfold jump from the same period a year before, as its customer base eroded with the growth of email and online billing. The Postal Service is seeking new leeway from Congress to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, raise stamp prices and reduce health and other labor costs. "Passage of legislation is urgently needed that provides the Postal Service with the speed and flexibility needed to cut costs that are not under our control, including employee health costs," said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. The number of items mailed during the last quarter was 43.7 billion pieces, a 6 percent decrease, much of it in first-class mail. "We have to make sure we are taking actions that are swift to maintain our liquidity and pay our bills," said chief financial officer Joe Corbett, warning that large losses will continue without changes. The Postal Service lost $5.1 billion the last fiscal year, which ended on September 30.
– The US Postal Service had a jaw-droppingly ugly holiday quarter, losing $3.3 billion despite a better-than-expected surge in gift shipments, the agency announced today. That's $3 billion worse than its figure for the same period in 2010, the AP reports, and at this rate the agency expects to run out of dough by October. The problem is that traditional mail delivery continues to plummet—it fell 6% in the first fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31. "Technology continues to have a major impact on how our customers use the mail," the postmaster general said, according to Reuters. "While it has helped us grow our Shipping Services businesses, it has had a significant negative impact on some of our much larger sources of revenue." Still, the Post Office would have lost only $200 million if not for payments it had to make toward the $5.5 billion it is required by law to set aside for future retiree health benefits annually, something no other government agency needs to do.