Author: Archive

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The cash-strapped (US) post office will receive a $175 million infusion of federal money to help it contend with the anthrax and terrorist attacks.

President Bush said Tuesday he has authorized immediate spending of the money on improved safety at postal facilities.

Postmaster General John Potter and Tom Ridge, homeland security director, have been meeting daily to discuss the anthrax attacks.

The agency had estimated its costs at $63 million from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, and the subsequent anthrax attacks have been adding substantially to that.

Oct. 23–The U.S. Postal Service was already in financial trouble when, on the morning of Sept. 11, its board of governors met to seek a rate increase to 37 cents for first-class mail. After the decision was made, they rushed to their windows to see smoke billowing from the Pentagon. Since then, the discovery of anthrax-tainted letters has put a tremendous strain on the quasi-private company, increasing expenses while the volume of mail, particularly from lucrative direct mail, has been plummeting. Postmaster General John Potter said Monday he plans to ask Congress for a bailout to deal with the organization’s soaring costs and plummeting revenue. “Other businesses have gotten relief in the form of funding, and we certainly . . . will ask for help,” Potter said on NBC’s Today show.

Could the USPS be the first major casualty of the war on terrorism? – A report by Alan M. Robinson of the Direct Communications Group.