Postmaster General John E. Potter will retire on December 3rd after nine years at the helm of the mail agency, the Postal Service said Monday. His deputy, Patrick R. Donohoe will succeed him.

In a statement, Potter did not elaborate on his departure, but singled out troughly 594,000 full and part-time workers. "I fully appreciate their support in maintaining the tradition of trust that dates back to Benjamin Franklin and the founding of our nation," Potter said. "It is our people that define our organization and it is their dedication and sense of purposthat drives our business."

Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Louis J. Giuliano called Potter "a steadying and far-sighted leader throughout a period of dynamic change in America's use of the mail and during times of economic uncertainty." "We unreservedly regard your tenure as one of great accomplishment," Giuliano said.

The Postal Service delivers an average of 584 million pieces of mail per day, operates the nation's retail network and is the nation's second largest civilian employer.

Once considered among the top political appointments in Washington, the postmaster general is now selected by the Postal Board of Governors, a panel of presidentially appointed officials that currently hail mostly from the corporate world.

It is not immediately clear why Potter decided to step down, though USPS staffers and others in the postal community -- a wide fraternity including the shipping industry, labor unions and large retailers -- signaled recently that he was likely to go after another record year of financial losses and failing to earn greater management flexibilities from Congress.

Potter has served as the 71st successor to Benjamin Franklin since June 2001, taking the helm three months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and anthrax scare that briefly crippled the nation's mail delivery system. He is the longest-serving postal boss since the 1820s.

A Bronx, N.Y., native, Potter joined the Postal Service in 1978, following in his father's footsteps as a postal clerk and regional manager. He met his future wife, a postal worker named Maureen, while working in Manhattan.

Source: Federal Eye - Washington Post