Post Office Near Default? Losses Mount To $5.1B

[Purveyor]

(11-15) 15:16 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday it has lost $5.1 billion in the past year, pushing it closer to imminent default on a multibillion-dollar payment and to future bankruptcy as the weak economy and increased Internet use drive down mail volume.

The financial losses for the year ended Sept. 30 came despite deep cuts of more than 130,000 jobs in recent years and the closing of some smaller local post offices.

Losses will only accelerate in the coming year, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned, citing faster-than-expected declines in first-class mail. He implored Congress to take swift, wide-ranging action to stabilize the ailing agency's finances as it nears a legal deadline Friday to pay $5.5 billion into the U.S. Treasury for future retiree health benefits.

Congress is expected to grant a reprieve, but that will only delay the day of reckoning for an agency struggling for relevance in an electronic age. Based on current losses, the Postal Service says it will run out of money — or come dangerously close — next September, forcing it to halt service.

MORE...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/11/15/national/w130701S14.DTL

[The Straight Story]

1. Well, there is reason - see the following:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/sep/29/save-americas-postal-service/ad-save-americas-postal-service-claims-rule-congre/

[liberal N proud]

2. Just as planned by the GOP

Run a federal agency to the ground then sell it cheap to a private investor who will make billions from it.

[customerserviceguy]

3. There are only two ways to make money by delivering mail

First, up the price of first class mail, and drive the rest of the grandparents off to email. Second, up the price of junk mail, and really cover the cost of a litter delivery service. If you do only the first, you'll eventually have to do the second thing.

It doesn't matter to me which one some private investors or the USPS do.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Phony losses, imposed by lame-duck Republican Congress. nt

[nc4bo]

5. Phony as a $3 bill. But so many are buying the BS.

I'd love to see more tv commercials hit the airwaves to counter this bs.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. The Postal Workers Union has been running ads on MSNBC ...

I hope they're running them on other networks. They do a good job of explaining the issue in a very short ad.