STATEMENT OF JOHN E. POTTER,
POSTMASTER GENERAL/CEO, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS,
PROLIFERATION AND FEDERAL SERVICES
OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
The Mailers Council, the nation’s largest coalition of mailers and mailing associations, today called on the White House to create a Presidential Commission on Postal Reform to evaluate the United States Postal Service (USPS).
In a letter to President George Bush, Mailers Council Executive Director Bob McLean notes that the USPS has found it increasingly difficult to provide universal service at an affordable price. The USPS reported a loss of $1.7 billion in 2001 and projects a deficit of $1.5 billion this fiscal year.
Annual retirement plan costs will escalate to $14 billion by 2010. The difficulties of the USPS are so severe the General Accounting Office put the agency on its High-Risk List, primarily because GAO believes billions of dollars in taxpayer money are at risk.
Barthco International, a worldwide logistics firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pa., has announced today that it will partner with the U.S. Postal Service through an International Customized Mail Agreement (ICM) to transport overseas small parcel products to strategic U.S. Postal distribution points throughout the nation.
Read MoreThe U.S. Postal Service says it will save $200 million over the next five years by substantially simplifying its internal computer network.
With 130,000 users in 28,000 locations, the USPS network is the third largest in the world, surpassed in size only by retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the Defense Department, postal officials say.
But plans call for extensive centralization and simplification.
The network today has 13,000 servers at 11,000 sites, but when the overhaul is complete, there will be 1,500 servers at about 500 locations, according to two Postal Service officials, Bob Otto and Larry Wills.
More than 8,000 additional full-time jobs will be cut by the Postal Service this year as the agency struggles to contain its losses in the face of declining business. Postmaster General John Potter said Tuesday that a total of 20,000 career positions are being eliminated this year, all through attrition. About 11,800 positions have been cut so far.
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