House must act to stem losses, USPS says

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

With financial losses mounting, the nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service is urging the House to quickly pass legislation that would give it broad authority to close thousands of low- revenue post offices, reduce labor costs and end Saturday delivery.

At a meeting Friday, the Postal Service’s board of governors said that a bill passed by the Senate last week doesn’t go far enough to give the agency the latitude it needs. That bill would provide the Postal Service with an $11 billion cash infusion to help pay down ballooning debt but halt the immediate closing of up to 252 mail-processing centers and 3,700 post offices.

The Postal Service called the closings a critical part of its cost-cutting plan to save some $6.5 billion a year and regain profitability by 2015. Anxious for legislative action but uncertain when the House may act, the mail agency said it would proceed with planned closings after May 15, but in a “methodical and measured” way that considers the special needs of rural communities.

“The bottom line is that the Senate bill does not provide the Postal Service with the flexibility and speed that it needs to have a sustainable business model,” said Thurgood Marshall Jr., chairman of the postal board of governors. “Our financial condition has been deteriorating for several years, and we have been operating with a very low cash balance.”

At stake are more than 100,000 jobs, and the deteriorating situation has caused consternation in many communities across the country, particularly in rural areas which rely more heavily on postal service for the delivery of prescription drugs, newspapers and other services. The mail agency forecast a record $14.1 billion loss by the end of this year; without changes, it said, annual losses will exceed $21 billion by 2016.