USPS Ends Another Quarter in the Red

The U.S. Postal Service ended the second quarter of fiscal 2012 on March 31 with a net loss of $3.2 billion, following similar losses in the first quarter, the agency announced this week. USPS officials attributed the dismal results primarily to the agency's congressional mandate to prefund retiree health benefits, followed by a continued decline in first-class mail volume and a new drop in standard mail volume due to decreasing direct mail advertising. Total mail volume fell by 1.7 billion pieces over the same quarter in fiscal 2011, and operating expenses went up by $928 million -- or 5.1 percent. That increase was driven by expenses related to the retiree health benefits prefunding installment slated to be paid in the last quarter of fiscal 2012. The $3.2 billion in net second quarter losses are $1 billion more than USPS’ losses for the same quarter last year. The agency has lost $6.5 billion in fiscal 2012 to date. USPS continued to plug its own plans to shore up its finances. Those include moving to a five-day delivery schedule, having the flexibility to structure its own retiree health care program independent of other federal health care programs, and recovering close to $11 billion from its overfunding of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System. “We expect to retain the ability to continue high-quality delivery services to all of our customers, and continue to take all actions necessary to make sure that our employees and suppliers will be paid,” USPS Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett said in the announcement on the quarterly results.

Source: Government Executive & USPS Press Release

Mobile Barcode Update

Did you miss the Brown Printing Company webinar on the U.S. Postal Service 2012 Mobile Commerce Personalization Promotion? No problem, we have you covered. Just go to www.bpc.com/webinars and complete the form. You will receive a confirming email with links to the recorded session and you will also be able to download the presentation.

Preserving Nation’s Smallest Post Offices

The U.S. Postal Service announced a new strategy that could keep the nation’s smallest Post Offices open for business, while providing a framework to achieve significant cost savings as part of the plan to return the organization to financial stability. The plan would keep the existing Post Office in place, but with modified retail window hours to match customer use. Access to the retail lobby and to PO Boxes would remain unchanged, and the town’s ZIP Code and community identity would be retained. “Meeting the needs of postal customers is, and will always be, a top priority,“ said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe. “With that said, we’ve listened to our customers in rural America and we’ve heard them loud and clear – they want to keep their Post Office open. The new strategy would be implemented over a two-year, multi-phased approach and would not be completed until September 2014. Once implementation is completed, the Postal Service estimates savings of a half billion dollars annually.

Source: USPS Press Release

USPS Talks 2013 Promotions

Tom Foti, USPS Manager of Direct Mail and Periodicals, shared some very interesting information during his recent presentation at the IDEAlliance conference in San Antonio. Mr. Foti said the USPS wants to increase their promotional campaigns in 2013. They would include a coupon promotion in the spring; a Reply Mail promotion in the summer (This would possibly include a credit based on number of reply pieces returned); a Technology promo in the fall and another Mobile Barcode promotion in the winter. The USPS intends to share a 2013 calendar listing all of the promotions prior to the next rate case. There is also talk of a seasonal two-tier pricing for Standard Mail. Stay tuned!