Postal Service financials improve, but big losses continue [View all]

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Source: Washington Post

The U.S. Postal Service will announce its third straight quarter of losses for fiscal 2013 on Monday, but those losses are declining, and that has agency and postal labor officials cautiously optimistic.

The $740 million loss in the agency’s financial report is better than the $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion drops for the first two quarters and means the Postal Service’s troubled finances are trending in the right direction. The development might help push a divided Congress to reach a deal on overhauling the Postal Service, some say.

Losses for the agency this year have reached nearly $4 billion, a dramatic improvement after a loss of nearly $16 billion in 2012.

In a statement Friday, the agency credited the better numbers to increased efficiency, a decrease in workers’ compensation, and growth in shipping and package services.

Labor groups have said the Postal Service could virtually break even if not for a 2006 congressional mandate that requires the agency to pre-fund employee retirement benefits — a common practice in the private sector but unique to the USPS among federal agencies. That obligation eats up about $5.5 billion a year, which is roughly the amount the Postal Service is on track to lose this year. The agency defaulted on its scheduled payment in 2012 and got a reprieve from Congress for 2011.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/postal-service-financials-improve-but-big-losses-continue/2013/08/11/20984ada-012d-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story.html