USPS predicts flat holiday season
Postmaster general John Potter expects mail volume to be flat this holiday season. The Journal of Commerce quotes Potter as saying this will reduce “the need for the outsourced transportation the USPS has turned into big business in years past for private carriers.”
The article continues:
The postal service will need “little if any” added air lift that it once contracted for to operate its sprawling “c-net” network, with private airlines hauling packages.
“We’ve got very good service with Fedex and UPS and with American (Airlines) and the other passenger airlines,” Potter said. “Our air service has never been better.”
The USPS has vast available capacity in its own networks after a sharp drop of 28bn pieces in its most recent fiscal year.
Potter is trying to cut operations, including post offices, to meet that smaller demand. For truckers and airlines, that means they can’t expect the seasonal surge the postal service used to provide.
“We are getting much better utilisation of our trucks, and we’re looking at volume being flat.”
