US Postal Service losses grow substantially

• 9 May 2022
• Transport / Logistics Services

The US Postal Service made a GAAP net loss of USD $639 million (£520.57m) in the second quarter ending 31 March of the financial year. This is substantially more than the $82m loss in Q2, 2020-21.

The postal operator is undergoing a set of reforms that include changing health benefits for its staff. According to a media release, after postal reform legislation it is to establish “the Postal Service Health Benefits program for the Postal Service’s employees and retirees and requiring their enrollment in Medicare; repealing the requirement that the Postal Service annually prepay future retiree health benefits and cancelling all past due prefunding payments; providing authority for the provision of certain services to state, local, and tribal governments; requiring the Postal Service to develop and maintain a publicly available dashboard to track service performance and to report regularly on its operations and financial condition; codifying delivery frequency at six days per week in those areas where it is currently provided; and requiring that the Postal Service maintain an integrated delivery network for mail and packages.”

Service improvements included increasing the average speed of delivery to 2.7 days for a First Class mailpiece, a 7% increase on Q2 last year. Some 87.9% of First Class mail was delivered during the quarter, up from 78.1% last year. One of the goals of the Delivering for America programme is to meet or exceed 95% on-time service performance for all mail and shipping products when the plan is fully implemented.

“During the quarter we made strong strides in on-time service performance, demonstrated the effectiveness of our network through the delivery of COVID-19 tests, and continued to aggressively implement key aspects of Delivering for America, our 10-year transformation plan,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “Our financial results this quarter demonstrate the challenging nature of the current inflationary economic environment as we make structural progress in balancing longstanding revenue and cost imbalances and returning the organization toward financial sustainability.”