WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service said today it lost $2.4 billion in the quarter that ended June 30 as mail volume declined 14 percent, just days after the agency said it may be forced to close hundreds of facilities.
The Postal Service has lost $4.7 billion in the first three quarters of its current fiscal year, compared with a $1.1 billion loss in the same period last year. The last quarter marked the 11th of the last 12 that has seen the agency lose money, Bloomberg News reported.
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Officials have asked Congress for permission to end mail delivery on Saturday to help stem the losses, which they say could total more than $7 billion in the current fiscal year by the time it ends Sept. 30.
“We will continue to provide the dependable service our customers need,” Postmaster General John Potter said in a statement. “We also will keep a balance with our critical focus on reducing costs so that service is not diminished.”
Postal officials earlier this week released a list of nearly 700 mail facilities that may be closed to cut costs, although they emphasized that the list was preliminary and locations on it are not necessarily doomed. The list was submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent panel that monitors the Postal Service.
The list included the Valley Falls post office at 197 Broad St. in Cumberland, and the Mount Pleasant Station branch at 748 Mount Pleasant St. in New Bedford. The agency also announced that the lobby of Providence’s main post office on Corliss Street will no longer be open Sundays starting Aug. 16.
Last week, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, placed the Postal Service on its list of “high-risk” federal programs.
Additional information is available from the Postal Regulatory Commission at PRC.gov.
