Postal service finances continued downward spiral in April
TweetThe US Postal Service lost an additional $385 million in April according to preliminary financial reports filed yesterday with the Postal Regulatory Commission. That brings the year to date deficit to $2.7 billion. At this point last fiscal year, the service’s net loss was just $22 million.
Mail volume was down across all classes, with first class down over a billion pieces from 2008, a drop of 12.3%. Advertising volumes were down by almost a billion and a half pieces, or 17.8%. Similar declines were seen in package shipping services. Periodical volumes were off by 6.8% from the prior year. The drop in total mail volume was 14.8%, which resulted in a revenue decline of 11.9% for the month.
The postal service reduced non-personnel expenses by 11.3% from April a year ago, but salaries and benefits, which account for the bulk of the agency’s costs, were down by just 4.3%. For the fiscal year to date, total expenses are down by just 3% from 2008, while total operating revenue is down 8.8%.
May 29th, 2009 07:15
why does management keep sending people all around the country on details and paying per diem & renting apartments etc if they are so worried about losing money, they want to cut things but do not put their money where their mouth is, you can’t tell me that we don’t have people locally that can fill these spots with little to no cost, if we had stock holders to answer to over half of HQ, Area & Districts management would be fired for their lame decisions & money spending
May 29th, 2009 09:06
Other thing is a contract with FedEx! Do you know USPS cut their hands by signing the contract with FedEx? they are paying 3 times more to move the mail! Plus USPS bound to give Guaranteed volume no matter what and if they cant give volume to FedEx USPS have to pay for the space in their (FedEx Aircraft!) isnt it a dumbest thing ever? and guess what? USPS says that FedEx is the first and most compititor in the industry!!! haha that means you sold the gun to the person who threaten to kill you!!!
GOOD JOB POST MASTER GENERAL AND ALL OFFICERS OF USPS GOOD JOB!!!
May 29th, 2009 09:44
No EAS at HQ’s or the AREA/district should make over $75k to work for the Postal Service. We are out of control with EAS salaries, some make over $180k or $160k and could do the same work for $75k. That will knock the deficit down quickly. If someone wants to make over $100k they should open their own business and not take it from the citizens when they never touch the mail.
May 29th, 2009 10:08
way too many employees doing very little at the plants. Need to consolidate plants and reduce plant employees by the thousands.
May 29th, 2009 10:14
Get rid of the 2% penalty and a lot more people would retire.
May 29th, 2009 11:02
Maybe NOW they will see the light!! Time to get rid of PEOPLE!!! Give some incentives to the 150,000 VERA people so they will GO!! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
May 29th, 2009 12:04
Maybe it’s just me… but we’re not getting people to buy stamps. If I couldn’t get people to buy, say cars for example, I’d probably lower the price until folks started buying again. Not us. We raise the price of stamps, and OH LOOK, our volume drops. My RCR shows a drop of roughly 20% since the raise in stamp cost. Do you think there could be a correlation?
May 29th, 2009 12:14
1 Supervisor to every 7 Craft employees nation wide. Hmm where should we trim the fat?????
May 29th, 2009 16:37
http://www.prc.gov/Docs/63/63271/PRC_APR_Final.pdf
pages 3 & 4 are telling…
http://www.prc.gov/Docs/63/63271/PRC_APR_Final.pdf
May 29th, 2009 18:01
.
May 29th, 2009 18:05
The USPS needs a total management change. The lack of smart people at the top is bringing the Postal Service down. Their mentality of “let’s squeeze the mailman” is the only vision they have. That won’t do it.
May 29th, 2009 20:00
If the rest of the USPS is ran like it is in Tulsa, than it is no surprise the whole operation is failing. The amount of waste in just this one city is absurd! The USPS is shelling out money on EEO cases, grievences, and just plain stupidity. They are losing multiple $300,000 EEO cases, I can think of at least four just recently. Grievence money has become the norm on every check, because management continually violates the contract that they signed off on. And what is even more outrageous is that no one seems to care. Millions are being wasted right here and this postmaster gets a bonus! If the rest of the country is like Tulsa, than we might as well lock the doors.
May 29th, 2009 21:08
Give early out with no penalty, tons will leave, TRUST ME!
May 29th, 2009 21:09
Why do we deliver mail on Saturday? Everyone usually needs the day off for one thing or another. I guess Mildred really needs her JC Penny bill on Saturday so she can pay it on Sunday! I dont think so lets wake up people!!! 1-6th of the workforce could be trimmed here as well as the gas, and electricity HELLOOO !!!
May 29th, 2009 21:12
It is pretty bad when you go to the NASCAR races and in the hospitality area is a tent set up for the USPS. This tent was paid by the USPS for use of upper management and executives, as was told to me by a host. These hospitality passes are $75 per person and the tent holds 100 people and each gets a gift bag at a value of at least $100. Where is the waste, they dont offer this to the craft employees. What else are they wasting money on without us knowing about.
May 30th, 2009 08:13
1. Close all facilities on Saturday-no retail, no delivery
2. Eliminate all small Post offices – 1 PO every 20 miles max.
3. Stop all special stamp issue-forever stamp, flag stamp, and post card stamp (customers can use stamps.com for special stamps)
4. stop giving bonus payments to managers,especially when the USPS is losing billions
5. stop relocation program
6. stop mystery shopper program
7. eliminate all area offices
8. allow business to advertise on Postal vehicles
9. make all city routes evaluated routes like the rural routes
10. replace the PMG and all other top management with a people from outside the USPS
I am sure there are many more ideas,but the USPS has to take drastic action ASAP. The mail is dropping and will continue to drop. More and more newspapers and magazines are folding. Credit card solicitations are decreasing. More and more people are doing ALL their transactions on-line. My son ( 32 ) hasn’t bought a stamp in 5 years. The next generation will never buy a stamp. Realize this and deal with this. Remember, actions speak louder than words. Selling greating cards in PO lobbies isn’t going to save the USPS>
May 31st, 2009 20:29
DOWNWARDS SPIRAL???….. HOW ABOUT CALLING IT WHAT IT IS …. A DOWN AND OUT …..NOSEDIVE!
June 3rd, 2009 23:39
Make the NALC like the rural carriers. That’s where all the savings would be!!
June 15th, 2009 21:08
eliminate FMLA. It is only an excuse for people to miss work and cause overtime pay.