The U.S. Post office lost $3.8 billion during fiscal year 2009, even though it cut $6 billion in spending by taking a number of cost-cutting measures, including cutting 40,000 full-time positions.
“The deep economic recession, and to a lesser extent the ongoing migration of mail to electronic alternatives, significantly affected all mail products, creating a large imbalance between revenues and costs,” Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett said in a news release.
“We undertook comprehensive cost-cutting measures across all areas of the organization,” Corbett added. “Most notably, we reduced work hours by 115 million, or the equivalent of 65,000 full-time employees — a larger number than the entire workforce at more than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies today.”
The Post Office doesn't plan to raise many rates. It does, however, want to reduce the frequency of mail delivery -- from six days per week to five days per week.
“We realize our customers are facing the same economic challenges,” Postmaster General John Potter said in a news release. “That’s why we are not raising prices on First-Class Mail, Standard Mail and our other market-dominant products in 2010.”
Interestingly, the Post Office says a new survey shows 94 percent of patrons rated its service “excellent, very good or good.” The survey covers July 1 to Sept. 30.
“We will continue to improve service,” Potter said. “In fact, we have implemented an even more demanding service measurement system that will allow us to see more easily where we need to focus improvement efforts.”
Comments