Mail volume stable for 5^th year in row

The results and the USPS messaging remain the same.

An operating profit of $610 million and a reported paper loss of $5.6 billion because of non-paid prefunding of retiree health benefits.

USPS said it has done just about everything possible to cut costs, improve service and customer experience, and increase revenue. Workhours are up 30 million, from 1.128 to 1.158 billion, due to package growth. CPI doesn’t track changes in postal costs and therefore the price cap must be changed, says the Postal Service. Medicare integration will eliminate half of the Postal Service’s roughly $100 billion in unfunded liabilities.

A very positive point by USPS Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett was his emphasis on (in addition to growth in packages) the stability of First-Class Mail Presort and Standard Mail volumes, which resulted in volume only dropping from 154.0 to 153.9 billion pieces.

Let’s call mail volume even in a year with a major postage reduction in the second half.

It is now five years that USPS mail volume has stabilized between 150 and 160 billion pieces.