WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday reported a net loss of $6.5 billion for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 and said it won’t break even next year as first-class mail fell at the lowest volume since 1968.
The Postal Service said revenue fell 0.4% to $78.2 billion.
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the loss includes $2.6 billion in inflation costs “above what we projected and what we were able to recover… We are not happy with this result.”
The agency has been aggressively raising stamp prices and is in the midst of a 10-year restructuring plan announced in 2021 that aims to eliminate $160 billion in projected losses over the next decade and had forecast 2023 as a of balance.
“Despite significant planned reductions in our costs of operations and growth in our package revenue, we will not achieve breakeven results in 2024,” DeJoy said, noting that USPS has reduced the $160 billion in projected losses in 2021 “unless of $60 billion.” DeJoy said.
The USPS is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring process. fake images
First-class mail volume fell 6.1% in 2023 to 46 million pieces and is down 53% since 2006, but revenue increased by $515 million due to rising stamp prices.
The net loss was also affected by the accounting for its underfunded pensions caused by actuarial revaluation and changes in discount rates.
USPS, which has 640,000 employees, reported a 2.6% increase in employee compensation and benefits costs to $52.8 billion.
USPS plans to cut $1 billion in transportation costs next year.
Total operating expenses were $85.4 billion for the year, an increase of $5.8 billion, or 7.3%.
USPS said that to preserve liquidity it did not make full payments of $5.1 billion owed by the retirement plan.
In April 2022, US President Joe Biden signed legislation providing the USPS with around $50 billion in financial aid over a decade.
Last month, USPS said it was seeking approval to raise the price of first-class stamps to 68 cents from 66 cents starting Jan. 21.
Stamp prices have increased 32% in the last four years since the beginning of 2019, when they were 50 cents.
First-class mail, used by most people to send letters and pay bills, is the highest-revenue class of mail, accounting for $24.5 billion, or 31% of USPS revenue in 2023.
Report by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Aurora Ellis
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Source: vtt.edu.vn