For airlines already reeling from the financial and traffic fallout from September 11, there was little comfort from the most dependable of their businesses, the U.S. Postal Service.
Industry experts say the U.S. combination airlines got about $635 million from the USPS for mail traffic in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2000
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.
Read Morethe Post Office and U.S. airlines are formulating new security procedures that will allow the airlines to resume carrying priority mail in time for the busy holiday shopping season. The Federal Aviation Administration banned priority mail – typically parcels weighing up to 70 pounds with two- to three-day delivery – since the Sept. 11 hijackings. The agency ended its ban on airline movements of express mail and registered mail about 10 days ago. However, most express mail moves on cargo-only Federal Express planes.
Read MoreOct. 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.
Read MoreCould the USPS be the first major casualty of the war on terrorism? – A report by Alan M. Robinson of the Direct Communications Group.
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