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Released: March 02, 2010

Postal Service to deliver bad news

Source: Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post (Free Registration)

The U.S. Postal Service will release projections Tuesday that confirm for the first time the suspicion that mail volume will never return to pre-recession levels. In response, the agency is pushing anew for a dramatic reshaping of how Americans get and send their letters and packages.

Customers are continuing to migrate to the Internet and to cheaper standard-mail options, and away from the Postal Service’s signature product—first-class mail, Postmaster General John E. Potter will report in announcing the projections.

In an effort to offset some of the losses, Potter seeks more flexibility in the coming year to set delivery schedules, prices and labor costs. The changes could mean an end to Saturday deliveries, longer delivery times for letters and packages, higher postage-stamp prices that exceed the rate of inflation, and the potential for future layoffs.

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