U.S. Postal Service Had $6 Billion Loss in 2010
USPS CEO John Potter
Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
John Potter, chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service.
John Potter, chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service. Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
U.S. Postal Service Had $6 Billion Loss in 2010
Jin Lee/Bloomberg
A postal worker sits in a booth at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) James A. Farley Post Office in New York.
A postal worker sits in a booth at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) James A. Farley Post Office in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg
The U.S. Postal Service, whose request for a rate increase was turned down this week, had a $6 billion loss in the fiscal year that ended yesterday, Postmaster General John Potter said.
The agency, which sought permission from its regulator to raise rates an average of 5.6 percent, had forecast a loss of $7 billion in the 2010 fiscal year. The loss is before a $2 billion non-cash adjustment for workers’ compensation liability, which is increasing because of lower interest rates, Potter told reporters today in Washington.
The Postal Service paid a required contribution to a fund for future retiree health benefits and may spend through its cash in the 2011 fiscal year, Potter said.
“Cash will be tight going through the year, particularly at the beginning of the year,” he said. The Postal Service could “literally run out of cash in September 2011 because we will have exhausted all of our borrowing authority.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net.
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