Post office posts $1 billion loss

[951-Riverside]

Source: The Associated Press

The Postal Service had a net loss of more than a billion dollars in the third quarter of the fiscal year, the agency said Wednesday.

For the quarter ended June 30, the loss was $1.1 billion, which officials blamed on reduced mail volume in the slowed economy, coupled with rapidly rising transport costs because of high fuel prices.

Operating revenue for the quarter was $17.9 billion, down $437 million, or 2.4 percent, compared with the same period last year.

Operating expenses totaled $19.0 billion, an increase of $178 million, or 1.0 percent, from the third quarter last year.

Total mail volume was 48.5 billion pieces, a 5.5 percent drop from the same period last year.

The agency said its fiscal 2008 year-to-date net loss totals $1.13 billion.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/08/06/national/w105236D46.DTL&type=politics

[whistle]

1. Even withe the one cent increase on postage rates?

[high density]

32. For core products like First Class mail, USPS rate increases are limited to the CPI

So 1 cent was all they could do on First Class mail. The flaw is with the consumer price index, which doesn't seem to gauge anything useful these days.

[Occulus]

33. Well, gee, when mass mailers get $.33 stamps,

THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[high density]

40. To get that rate

The "mass mailers" must have a run of over 500 pieces (First Class) and presort their mail. The presorting effort helps out the USPS, and those savings are passed on to the customer.

[cap]

54. the CPI does not include energy these days

one of the key reasons why the Post Office is running a debt is not accounted for in fuel surcharges.

[SpiralHawk]

2. More FAIL - under the shadow of the republicon regime.

F-A-I-L

[MadHound]

3. I understand how high fuel prices can have an effect,

But the Post Office has been wasting money for years and years now, which I'm also sure is a leading cause for this billion dollar spill of red ink.

[grannie4peace]

4. i work there

i'm a rural carrier. & i'm just waiting for them to crumble... if they had better post masters & upper management they could rally their carriers to save their ass, but they have raped their employees for so long..... they are ready to drown in their own shit.:rant: :rant:

[AngryAmish]

29. I think you should take a deep breath.

And stay away from firearms.

[pattmarty]

5. PRIVATIZE, PRIVATIZE, PRIVATIZE!!!!!

[DangerDave921]

6. Shhh!

You're supposed to nationlize all businesses. Don't you read DU???

:)

[Auggie]

8. I'm sure it's headed there

[devilgrrl]

21. Yeah. Why do think the story's been published for?

My bullshit detector just flew out the window.

[Auggie]

23. I should have been clearer in my opinion. BushCo likely steered it

in that direction for his cronies to profit from.

[RebelOne]

22. Think so. My sister is a mail carrier in South Florida.

And she said there has been talk within the postal system about privatizing.

[kcass1954]

65. My husband's an expediter at SFMPC - 29 years last month.

He's worried about privatization before he can get the last 4 years in so he can retire. He's civil service, and we're counting on that CSRS pension for retirement.

[Born Free]

38. The republican goal is to PRIVATIZE!!!

That a boy! The republican goal is to bankrupt government, make it shrink so small it can drowned it in a bath tub.Nothing hurt the postal service more in the recent months than the high fuel costs, they have vehicles going everywhere, everyday , likewise they pay private contractors even if there is no mail, and this is also to the airlines to reserve space on the various flights.Don't forget FedEx, the postal service helps to subsidize them as well during these tough times. Yeah they have some poor management but that's more at the top of the then the bottom, and those decisions are intended to reach that PRIVATIZE!!! goal.

[struggle4progress]

44. Just the opposite, actually: there's no reason the Post Office should pay for itself

-- and until about thirty years ago, nobody expected that it would

Most of the problems date from that time

[galledgoblin]

61. agreed

this nonsense that public services must make a profit has given agencies across the board a millstone 'round their necks.

[dipsydoodle]

7. It's providing a public service

using a utility pricing structure. As such it doesn't exist to make a profit and the loss is completely arbitary.

[Puzzler]

12. The pundits that measure "losses" in organizations like the Post Office...

... always manage to forget the 200 million people (or so) who benefit hugely, and in many cases financially by the postal service. In a very real sense this is "profit". Even though it doesn't show up on the USPS's ledgers, it shows up on other businesses ledgers.

[PittPoliSci]

26. actually, since the 90s the USPS was permitted to make a profit.

most of the money, however, was pumped back into the USPS for technological improvements.

[Occulus]

34. Like the CIOSS?

Sheesh. That machine is a piece of shit. Odd, since it's based on the DBCS design, which is much less of a piece of shit.

Then there's the Low Cost Tray Sorter. I call it the Cheap-Ass Tray Sorter from Accu-Sort Systems- aka, the CAT'S ASS.

[PittPoliSci]

41. hahahaha

i know they've been updating the IPSS stuff and RCRs. Don't ask me what those mean, cause I have no idea :)

[mtf80123]

9. Plug-in Hybrid Electric

vehicle investment would not only solve their problem for the most part, it would also drive up demand and lower production costs for the consumers.

Japan's Postal Fleet going Electric
http://www.greendaily.com/2008/06/11/japans-postal-fleet-is-going-electric/

France Plans to Replace 48,000-Vehicle Postal Fleet with EVs
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/03/07/france-plans-to-replace-48000-vehicle-postal-fleet-with-evs/

US. Postal Service factoid:

We operate the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world with more than 219,000 vehicles driving more than 1.2 billion miles each year and using nearly 121 million gallons of fuel. http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/postalfacts.htm

[Xithras]

14. They are already looking into it.

Though I think they're looking more to hydrogen power than electric power. Most of the U.S. postal fleet runs in suburban and non-urban areas and travel long distances every day, making battery power impractical.

[mtf80123]

15. I understand the limitation of all electric.

However, Plug-In Hybrid Electric vehicles get 100 to 150 miles per gallon of gas. That would be the way to go.

[Xithras]

20. In a car perhaps, but probably not in a mail truck.

It's not like we can just give them all a Prius. Mail carriers have to transport large packages and sometimes more than a quarter ton of mail cargo as they go about their routes. That's why they drive those big van things, and not cars. A plug-in hybrid mail vehicle would be some type of new cargo van, and not a car. The weight and reduced aerodynamics alone are going to slash those numbers considerably.

There's a big energy difference between hauling 150-300lbs of people around in a small and light aluminum/plastic car, and hauling over a thousand pounds of people and cargo around in a compact cargo vehicle.

Personally, I think the post office is correct to pursue hydrogen in this case. It can be manufactured onsite (using only electricity and water), it can power heavier vehicles, and it produces LESS tailpipe emissions than a hybrid (as in...none at all).

[CanSocDem]

31. I drive a mail truck...

...550 kms per day, starting with about 2.5 tonnes of mail. The engine is a 4 cylinder diesel and I get about 20 MPG. There is lots of room for improvement on this. Did I mention the truck was manufactured in Japan....just sayin'...

.

[melm00se]

16. did you catch the

link off the "france" article?

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/07/24/postal-service-wants-to-green-90-of-fleet/

The U.S. Postal Service is participating in Project Driveway to identify new technologies in hopes of replacing almost 90 percent, or 195,000 of its delivery fleet with non-petroleum fueled vehicles. General Motors presented a Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicle to the Postal Service for testing in a mail-delivery environment.

[mtf80123]

17. No, I missed that

Thanks for pointing that out!

I wonder why this story about the American Postal Fleet has not made bigger headlines?

Great news if they follow through!

[NuttyFluffers]

68. they already tried it experimentally for San Jose fleet -- then under Bush was rapidly ended

(disclaimer: have relative that works in SJ regional USPS) it brought San Jose's fleet fuel operating costs down to 1946 levels -- in 2002. maintenance was clean as a whistle, and instead of 4 times a year for combustion engines, only needed routine maintenance checkups 2 times a year. further, breakdowns were almost non-existent in comparison. those sort of savings alone would push USPS back into the black or green.

unfortunately soon after the entire fleet was taken away and given their old combustion cars back under this regime. there is an obvious kickback effect going on and the obvious follow-up goal is privatization. let's see how many people in daily life are suckered into believing it, like dummies!
:evilgrin:

[Phred42]

10. You KNOW what comes Next

[Javaman]

11. so if the post office goes under what will become of the term...

"going postal"?

Us angry middle aged white guys need something to hang onto!!!!

[WriteDown]

13. Damn Email!

:evilgrin:

[heliarc]

46. Call me crazy,

But if we had been on the ball, the Post office would be everyone's ISP, and we would have municipal wireless coverage serving all of our neighborhoods like most of the rest of the industrialized world is moving towards. Instead, we have a bunch of monopolistic Telecom Companies sucking our blood with rates and piss-poor service...

[WriteDown]

56. Not crazy about this idea...

I'm still waiting for the tax on email which is bandied about every so often.

[heliarc]

64. I'd have a problem with that...

The tax on email is called "my cable bill" and it is about 45 dollars a month for high speed.

[snappyturtle]

18. A first class stamp was 34 cents when * came into office.

Here's a link to the history of postal rates:
http://www.akdart.com/postrate.html

Looks to me as if rates went up 3 cents while Clinton was in office and obviously, 12 cents with the present regime. Par for the course. eom

[Occulus]

35. Mass mailers get a $.33 stamp

And that's FIRST CLASS mass mailers.

I could puke up my entire digestive system.

[bobbert]

59. As said before, it has to be hundreds of packages pre-sorted by zip code

and placed in proper containers and taken to the main dock. This saves the post office a lot of man-hours and I think they actually can make more money on those 33 cent stamps than regular first class because of the amount of labor saved. It also helps everyone's mail get where it's going faster because the post office can only house so many employees, and if they had to sort thousands more letters....

edit: Plus, in order to get that rate, there's also a yearly 'membership' fee to do that. It also saves a lot of transportation and gas costs for hundreds of pounds of mail from a local post office to a main center.

[CrazyDude]

69. According to your link it went up 5 cents under Clinton, 8 cents under Bush n/t

[shanti]

19. major reason: electronic banking!

i rarely buy stamps anymore...

[Mendocino]

24. Go to five day delivery.

Cut fuel and labor costs by a sixth. With lower mail volumes and a aging labor force, offer a lucrative early-out retirement to long term employees. Nobody gets laid off, the unions are happy and the upper management leaches can bask in their "for sight".

[heliarc]

47. I want less advertising via snail mail too.

I'm sick of all that paper.

[jimshoes]

25. Ya think maybe because they started screwing around with

differing rates on bulk and presorted mail like magazines and promotional gimicks people and companies just quit sending out so many mailers bucause the rates went through the roof. Way to go Post Office. Cut your nose off to spite your face, did ya?

[PittPoliSci]

27. that probably has a lot to do with why my plant is closing.

I work at the Pittsburgh Remote Encoding Center, we found out a couple months ago our facility is being closed, not due to productivity, but rather due to "business." There you have it right there.

[Occulus]

37. I started at a REC site

Are you full time, or a casual?

IF you're full time (BIG if), they have to give you another job.

[PittPoliSci]

39. i'm casual. you should see the trouble they're having finding jobs for all the careers.

they are placing them within a 250 mile radius. i'm almost glad i'm not career on that note.

[OwnedByFerrets]

28. Those damn socialist programs will

suck this country dry.:sarcasm: :rofl:

[Muttocracy]

30. must be the anthrax screening cost - are they still irradiating the mail anyway? nt

[Born Free]

42. The distribution centers do have bio security systems installed

The detection systems constantly monitor/analyze the air close and around the incoming mail flow for any possible biohazard. I don't know how long they keep the scanned images, but they also scan every piece of mail that is sorted by the machines, a special barcode ( id tag) is sprayed on each piece, btw: the machines sort at about 10 letters a second with good mail, and they are pretty accurate at reading most hand written addresses - some writing is just too bad, even the humans have trouble. The USPS goal is to have a "lights out" facility without humans and they have been working towards that goal for years, but still too many things need some human help. They will still require maintenance people to maintain the machines and clean up the place.

[Muttocracy]

43. Wow. That explains the "nonmachinable surcharge" on a large box I mailed recently! nt

[Doremus]

36. Bullshit!!!

They have de-regulated so many classes of mail, there are very few left that ARE regulated, first class being one of them (and we know how often they raise stamp prices!).

They've raised the price of Priority mail 3 years in a row. In May 2007 they converted to dimensional pricing, meaning they charge by the cubic inch now, not only weight as in the past.

A one pound Priority package that cost $3.65 a couple of years ago is up to $4.80. If the box is over 12" square the cost goes up dramatically, and if it's more than a pound, even a few ounces, look out. For example, the cost to ship a package that's 1 lb. 8oz. to the West Coast from Ohio is $8.25, so long as the box isn't bigger than 12". Oversized (over 12") is wayyy more expensive.

For a federal agency that is constrained by law to "break even," they sure had a lot of retained earnings when I checked last year ($6M if memory serves). Now they're supposedly in the red $1.1 BILLION?

I call bullshit.

[Born Free]

45. FedEx takes care of the Priority Mail

The USPS picks up and delivers to the door, the sorting and shipping is done by outside contractors. I think it was Avery before FedEx, but they claimed the USPS didn't pay them enough. Outside contractors also do a lot of bulk mail, they have it broken down ready for the truck, well anyhow, it is supposed to be that way, if it is wrong the USPS sorts it properly. It is not too uncommon for the USPS to pay outside contractors and still have to do the work, but with all the big wigs in Washington deciding that it's better to privatize, the system is designed to help the private contractors look better at the expense of the regular USPS employees. Yep, it's a stacked deck and there are always ignorant people that buy into it and blame the wrong individuals, but then as you say it's all bullshit.

[Snarkturian Clone]

48. Between e-mail, on-line bill pay, downloadable software/movies,

is this really such a big surprise? Mail is becoming obselete.

[all.of.me]

49. I'm also wondering what it costs to re-tool every time ...

... they have a price increase. They talk about raising it a penny a year, but then they have to have all new stamps. What is that expense? Does a penny even cover it? I think all stamps should be Forever stamps. Just let them roll over into the next price range.

[earth mom]

50. I call BULLSHIT on this article too. * Co wants to privatize the Post Office in the worst way

so ANY & ALL bad press they can dig up or manufacture they WILL do so they can get what they want.

Too bad Postal Service is WRITTEN INTO THE CONSTITUTION. Guess they will have to completely shred The Constitution once and for all to get the Postal Service.

Btw, there is 29 BILLION in the Post Service Retirement fund. Wanna bet * Co wants that money and will do ANYTHING to get it?! :grr:


Fucking scum is all they are. :puke:

[anitar1]

62. Aren't parts of it already privatized? I am sure one of our

postal clerks told me that months ago.

[earth mom]

63. I think the Fed Ex contract is the only thing so far.

But the powers that be are working on privitizing it ALL, make no mistake.

Only thing stopping them is the Constitution and a strong Union.

[No Elephants]

51. Have catalog mailers pay their fair share

Just about the only things that show up in my snail mail box are bills, catalogs (way too many), birthday cards and Christmas cards. Everything else gets to me either free by email or cheaper by fax. Meanwhile, those of us who use the mail only to send greeting cards are subsidizing the catalog companies. Let them pay their fair share. Maybe we'll save some trees that way, too.

[minnesota_liberal]

57. To cut down on "junk mail"

The Direct Marketing Association has a mail preference service. I've used it and it seems to help.

https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/proto1.php

[mac56]

52. I've said for years now the USPS could show a commanding profit

if they would sell advertising on postage stamps.

[OneBlueSky]

53. the one dollar letter . . . could it happen? . . . n/t

.

[wordpix]

55. watch out, next step is to charge for emails

[lonestarnot]

58. Wait don't they have to privatize the P.O. first?

[slampoet]

60. This is FANTASTIC news. I Don't Want the Post Office to make money.

The post office gives at least 50-100 Billion dollars in increased revenue to the economy.

A one billion loss is a deal.

[bemildred]

66. Merrill Lynch loss reaches a larger-than-expected $4.6bn

Well, at least they aren't a bank run by "financial wizards" and such.

Merrill Lynch heaped further disappointment on its investors last night as the US brokerage reported that another $9.75 billion hit from the credit crunch had driven it to a larger-than-expected $4.6 billion (£2.3 billion) group loss in its second quarter.

Merrill’s fourth consecutive quarterly loss brought the group’s total loss for the past year to $18.65 billion, a period that has seen it take $43.4 billion in writedowns prompted by the fallout from the worst housing market since the Great Depression.

The group’s shares, which had jumped 9.75 per cent yesterday, fell by $2.88, or 9.37 per cent, in after-hours trading following the announcement. The rally had been prompted by better-than-expected results from Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase in the previous 48 hours that had given investors hope that the fortunes of the banking industry may be improving.

Merrill also announced the sale back to Bloomberg of its 20 per cent stake in the financial news and data group, for $4.4 billion in a move to bolster its capital reserves and said it was also negotiating to sell a controlling interest in its Financial Data Services division for at least $3.5 billion.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4354674.ece

[NuttyFluffers]

67. electric car fleet would easily cover that cost. besides, that $ is just a week in Iraq

i'd gladly give $1 billion a year to have one of the world's best, if not THE best, postal systems. if any of you have done intl shipping you must realize what a bargain it is to ship from West to East Coast compared to just about anywhere else on earth. that's one hell of an infrastructure -- even UPS, Fed Ex, et al use USPS to take up their excess. yes, they're really that big. and that sort of power and stability is something i want to keep.